You are funny - still in the zone indeed 😂I'm not even a Labour voter - I tend to lean more towards the Lib Dems and only vote Labour on a tactical basis because I live in a safe Tory seat and they were more likely to win than the Lib Dem's.
You are just being disingenious with this whole 'people who like Labour can't see the truth' nonesense when you are being exactly the same in talking about how terrible they are.
You asked a question about why she held a press conference, I answered it and pointed out that pre-announcing budget measures is hardly unique. Nothing I said was a defence of her in any way.
Why do you think she held a press conference? And why do you think the Tories used to leak all their budget plans before the actual statement?
I certainly don't like Rachel Reeves as a chancellor and as I have already said numerous times on this thread and others, I don't agree with any changes to the pension allowances, ISA allowances, or with raising taxes on basic rate tax payers and if they economy tanks as a result then I will happily call them out.
Yes, I would prefer a centre left party in power over a right wing party, because their values align with mine, for the most part, at least.
But regardless of values, all factual evidence says that good public services are the bedrock of a good economy and that is what I will judge a government on. To have good growth which puts money in everyone's pockets, you need a healthy, educated and happy population and you need good infrastructure like housing, roads and broadband.
What I object to is people saying things that are factually incorrect and can be easily disproven like 'Labour are always terrible for the economy' - when under almost every measure economic and public service measure, the last Labour government performed better than the Tory government before it and the one after it.
Blair and Brown did a pretty good job of fixing the mess from the Thatcher / Major years - education improved, the health service improved, the economy improved, the tax burden decreased and public debt was kept low, but everything they achieved has been utterly destroyed in the last 14 years
Are you really going to try and argue that public services and the economy were better 12 months ago than they were in 2008, or even 2010 (despite the financial crash)?
I really don't understand people who say that things were better under the Tories when they have utterly destroyed the fabric of our public services first through privatisation in the 80's and 90's and then through ideologically driven cuts under the last Tory government. They even increased taxes to the highest rate since 1949 and people still try to say that Labour are the party of high taxes.
I will call out people who say that 12 months of this Labour government hasn't improved anything, when again, key measures such as economic growth, education funding and NHS waiting lists are getting better despite the fact they are dealing not just with years of ideological destruction of the public sector, but also with global issues like Trump's tariffs and the war in Ukraine.
Labour have been power for 15 of the last 45 years, and in the years they have been in power, by every measurable standard, services and the economy have improved.
Do I think tax hikes, in the way that has been suggested are wrong? Absolutely!
It doesn't change the fact that we need to pay more tax as a country but there are better ways of doing it and it needs to come with fundamental change. However, I'll hold my nose and swallow it as long as public services continue to improve, because it is only through improving services do we stand any chance of being able to lower taxes in the future!