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.

Except that the market has responded favourably to this budget. The pound is up and borrowing costs are down so the debt will cost us less. The opposite of what happened after the Truss / Kwarteng budget.

I don't think anyone wins from this budget, yes benefits are increased for some families but with cost of living increases and millions more low earners now having to pay tax it seems like giving with one hand and taking with the other. Rachel R could have taxed wealth but she choose to tax workers - 26 billion pounds of tax rises, highest ever. I couldn't believe it listening to her speech today.

And yes the money markets responded favourably of course they did - the whole budget was about appeasing them and hence the rich bankers and ultra rich keep on getting richer and life just gets harder for the rest of us.

Do most people work as cleaners or are there more working in shops and for bigger employers? Because it is medium sized employers who won’t expand - they are already in a holding pattern because last year’s budget means they (not just farmers) are having to salt money away for the taxes on their businesses when they are handed on. So businesses are not growing and employing more people and now they have an added disincentive to do so.

Agree with this. It's a budget, some people win, some don't. Most of us don't. It has been like that since forever. People need to stop being hysterical.

Do people realise that part of the benefits you get for children often includes support with childcare costs?
Why is the narrative always about young feckless (sluts) with multiple children from multiple fathers rinsing the state and spending it on fags and fake nails?
My friend- late 30s. 3 very young kids, working part time in a low paid job, working around husbands hours. Husband buggered off, child support agency worse than useless. She gets zero for the 3 rd child. She can’t afford nursery and after school club so quits work and is unemployed.
The vast majority of lone parents are women and the children of lone parents have worse outcomes statistically. It’s a no brainer to enable these women to work and contribute, and improve their situations (often situations not of their making).
Any one of the smug, middle class mothers with their 3 of 4 tousle headed moppets and high earning husband could find themselves high and dry when hubby decides to run off to Dubai with his personal trainer. Good luck getting maintenance if he doesn’t want to pay it..

It's a total joke! Felt like she was just lulling numbers out of thin air as the new things she's brought in like libraries for schools, health hubs, AI/ automation will cost lot more to implement!

How much will face to PIP assessments cost? Im not against benefits but it does wind me up that people who earn a good I come can still claim PIP as it's not means tested whilst people that can't work at all due to a disability end up with the same amount as someone earning 80k a year! I'm not going to go on as I'd be typing all night!

People should not have children that they can't afford to pay for and therefore bring those children into a life of poverty , expecting other people pay for said children.

People should not have children that they can't afford to pay for and therefore bring those children into a life of poverty , expecting other people pay for said children.

It's not like any other budget. The only winners are the workshy.

😂

Also except that unemployment is going up and economic growth forecast has been downgraded. Business leaders and entrepreneurs as well as top rate taxpayers are fleeing the country. The country is literally in an economic doom loop and there will be more tax rises. No matter how big a fan you are of this hapless Labour government, you cannot free this up as anything other than a disaster.

@Hellohelgawhy are you happy about this?

Don't have a problem with much of this budget and I dont think most of it will last particularly long in a lot of voters minds. Freezing taxation thresholds has worked incredibly well as a stealth tax for a long time and they seem to be getting away for it for the time being.

Of what has happened thus far I think this government will be remembered for the U-turns on disability benefit / winter fuel allowance reforms + now the 2 child cap lifting.

Unfortunately doing the latter whilst failing to do the former has played 100% into the hands of the likes of Reform etc.

I think a lot of the electorate would have preferred to have seen the money used for more targeted action on child poverty in larger families, rather than simply handing out more money that can be spent elsewhere. Healthy food vouchers / rebates on kids clothing and school supplies / fuel allowances / transport allowances etc.

You need to consider take home pay not net adjusted income to be making any accurate comparisons. It won't be anything like 5-6x fwiw.

Yes it’s called Twitter/X

Out of interest, where does all the benefit money paid out go? Is it being hoarded and scurried off shore or does it go straight back to the economy and supermarkets; paying VAT, fuel duty, alcohol duty, cigarette duty, sugar tax.

I'm not advocating for a life on benefits, it should be a welfare state to help people to work but let's not pretend they are sitting in mountains of cash while the silly workers work.

There’s always BlueSky for those who want less criticism.

I think it might have to do with how many people actually contribute and pay tax. I have a feeling that % people paying in to the system in the Nordics is higher than UK. Hence they manage to get better services. Saw on the news today - around 43% of UK adults do not have an income high enough to pay income tax. That is huge. How do you expect to have good services if 43% of the population is contributing nothing.

They also have higher wages, meaning people on lower incomes can afford to pay more tax. When we raise our wages, we apparently ruin thousands of businesses.

The idea that the rich are taxed less is bollocks too. They pay more tax but the tax jumps are more even, so there are no massive jumps between tax brackets.

I think the answer to that is both.

Literally no one is happy about this.

How have they screwed your pension? You will still get income tax relief, just not the 8% or 2% national insurance. It will 'cost' me £160 a year and DH about £500. I'm ok with that. I wish they'd been brave enough to remove the triple lock for state pensions.

A significant number of people don’t seem to understand what the NI element of salary sacrifice is at all. Either that or we’re surrounded by drama llamas who just love any excuse to throw themselves around like a fainting Victorian

The same people who told you Brexit was a brilliant idea, that Truss and Kwarteng were economic geniuses, that austerity was the price we had to pay for the greed of bankers, and that asylum seekers and migrants are the root of all the UK’s problems are now telling you to be angry that the government has allocated an additional 0.25% of the budget to helping bring children out of poverty, and right whingers are lapping it up.

No wonder this country is in the state it is.

I’ve yet to read the budget in detail but I am glad they removed the 2 child cap. We need more future workers to pay for the elderly - (pensions, healthcare, social care, subsidised transport etc).

It’s either more homegrown kids or more immigration, it can’t be neither. The current tax base is too small.