To think joke Chancellor Joke Budget joke Government

[Viviennemary]

Its absolutely scarey that this incompetent lot are running the country. Not as bad as Liz Truss but that's hardly a yardstick . Some old Labour. Squeeze the money out of the workers and give it away. They had a real chance to reform benefits they didn't. Now more handouts for folk with large families. While the rest of us pay.

I'm gonna be living on grass and pebbles if she takes anything more from me. I think it's also illegal to remove stones from the environment so I'll get arrested to boot 😭

I'm sure any money they do raise will be spent wisely and prudently and not at all wasted on the usual rubbish.

Joke thread. Is there a Reformnet where all this rancour can be ah....ventilated?

You don't want benefits reformed, do you? You want them stopped. Sod the vulnerable in society. It's their fault for not being rich/well paid/able-bodied.

Increased min wage
frozen tax bands
EV per per mile
extra council tax >£2m
reduction in salary sacrifice pensions
reduction in isa tax free

what have I missed? What is your concern about OP?

This is going to be an interesting and well informed debate, I’m sure.

Lots of workers claim benefits too. Lots of workers have help in the form of top up benefits, universal credit or help with rent and council tax. Some workers also get disability benefits.

Biggest spend from benefits is pensioners, the state pension is a benefit.

Me and my large family have one response to your complaining… (please see gif).

Maybe focus on your own life.
We struggle enough as it is, and believe me nobody will have less kids because they’re being forced to, so lifting this cap to stop kids living in poverty for the decisions of their parents was the right thing to do.
No matter how much you bitter folk seem to think it isn’t.

I’m willing to bet you’re above a certain age, own your own home/have social housing that your kids grew up in and gleefully took any handouts you could when your kids were small. It’s always the way with posts like these.

Edited to add: Maybe we should stop state pensions? No, because that would be abhorrent. People can’t help growing old, just the same as kids can’t help being born.
Most people I see using public services are elderly.
Buses with their passes, GP surgeries and A&E rammed full of them every time I go.
Should it only be the old that are looked after?
and who do you think will care for them if people stop having kids because they can’t afford to?

You carry on making spiteful, bitter threads.
I’m going to bed with a little bit of hope tonight that life might not be all that bad after all!

This government is worse than Liz Truss.

Our debt interest is higher than it was under Liz Truss.

Hopefully Reeves is on her way out, closely followed out by the rest of these incompetent idiots.

As a lifelong voter they’ve lost me. I will pay more tax, DH will pay more tax.
They’ve screwed our pensions.
Most people aren’t having children because it’s not a nice world to bring them into.
Having children is a lifestyle choice.

Basically Labour now means- aim low, don’t save anything, don’t get a good job, pop out as many kids as you can. 👍🏼It will not prevent child poverty- imo.

Benefits up, taxes up.

Basically if you pay your way, you are punished. Pay more for those that will not take responsibility for their unaffordable lifestyles.

I agree. I haven't had a pay rise for 2 years, and with the tax threshold staying the same it's getting horrendous. But yay, if you've got loads of kids you get more money. Make it make sense.

Its a benefit people have paid into with contributions.

Of course they haven’t 😂 some pensioners paid in. Some didn’t. Some only worked 30 years, some worked part time, some had their stamp paid by a working partner.

Besides which, absolutely none of them paid in the value you would need to build a pension pot that pays out £750 a month

Current Labour voters were wanted by oldies like me who can remember what they did last time they were in what would happen

and lo it’s come to pass

Couldn’t agree more

It may or may not be a good budget but I'm really sick of all this caricature 'political' commentary on so many threads, full of people claiming to know for a fact that the Labour government is being cretinously stupid and incompetent.

There is less and less actual political discussion on MN; more and more tribal hyperbole. I preferred it in the old days when our over-the-top forum fuming was restricted to little local squabbles like Moldies and Gina Ford, leaving us free to talk about politics in a more thoughtful and reality-anchored way than we seem to be able to do now.

£17.25 a week isn't going to encourage anyone to 'pop out as many kids as you can."

I'm old enough to remember what Labour did last time they were in. It was bloody great.

Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s.
Low mortgage rates.
Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.
Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.
Cut overall crime by 32 per cent.
Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.
Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18.
Funding for every pupil in England has doubled.
Employment is at its highest level ever.
Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries.
85,000 more nurses.
32,000 more doctors.
Brought back matrons to hospital wards.
Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament.
Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.
Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time.
NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice.
Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year.
Restored city-wide government to London.
Record number of students in higher education.
Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.
Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.
Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
£200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.
On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland.
Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.
All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday.
A million pensioners lifted out of poverty.
600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.
Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents.
Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.
Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.
Inpatient waiting lists down by over half a million since 1997.
Banned fox hunting.
Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution.
Free TV licences for over-75s.
Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals.
Free breast cancer screening for all women aged between 50-70.
Free off peak local bus travel for over-60s.
New Deal – helped over 1.8 million people into work.
Over 3 million child trust funds have been started.
Free eye test for over 60s.
More than doubled the number of apprenticeships.
Free entry to national museums and galleries.
Overseas aid budget more than doubled.
Heart disease deaths down by 150,000 and cancer deaths down by 50,000.
Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent.
Free nursery places for every three and four-year-olds.
Free fruit for most four to six-year-olds at school.

Blair’s Labour was great, I agree, shame he was a warmonger. I also can’t really pick many faults with this budget. We’re middle income earners and none of it really affects us. We don’t receive benefits but I think the cap lift is brilliant for those who do. We have an EV but meh, not really bothered because we still save overall compared to our old diesel. We don’t have a Band D or higher property. Great to hear min wage is rising and brilliant news for apprenticeships for young people.

To be honest, she taxed the wealthiest and I think that’s always the best solution.

LOL as if that is what they are getting. The average increase in benefits for larger families as a result of lifting the cap is £5000 a year. That is on top of what will already be a hefty package of handouts. It's not child benefit.

She didn't need to raise taxes, the updated forecasts meant that she wasn't in the hole she could have been. Taxes have been raised to increase welfare spending, simple as that. It is a choice that she has made in order to redistribute wealth. It's nothing to do with public services it is wealth redistribution to appease the back benches.

Love this.

Slthough l am one of the older people, but still love it,

They are doing what they can with a bankrupt country.

That's really interesting. Where did you read about the £5,000 increase please?

Yes interest is higher because our debt grew because of Truss and what her policies caused!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3xrz3drk9o