Absolutely rinsed in this budget - almost £1k a year worse off.

[Mushroo]

Honestly in despair at this government. On a very high level calc, we are so much worse off!

We both pay a lot into pensions, so the NI change is about £700 a year worse off.

We have an EV car, so based on our 4k a year mileage, it’s about £120 a year. (Although how it will be enforced I have no idea).

Stagnating tax thresholds, probably about £100 a year between us.

Council tax F house (4 bed end terrace, not a mansion, needs renovating). So risk of revaluation after having paid a fortune in stamp duty. We didn’t get first time buyer stamp duty relief because we bought about 2 years too early, and we moved before Covid so no relief there either. So overall we’ve paid about £30k in stamp duty already over our lifetime.

Weve already had the private school hit (which is a separate debate and we’ve accepted that) but wow, we are just being kicked on all sides.

We are classic ‘middle earners’ - earn about £70k each, but have mahoosive mortgage and pay over £2k a month in nursery fees already.

Every measure just seems to have a negative effect on our lifestyle, which is ‘comfortable’ but increasingly squeezed.

You maybe right, in 2022, the Tories held a 12% lead over Labour.

Or as someone once said "a week is a long time in politics"

My own feeling is when it comes to picking a Govt, rather than answering a polling question, people wont go for Reform, even after all we've seen, only 26% of the electorate say they'd vote Reform in a GE , with Con/Lab on 19% each
(YouGov December 1st)

I don't understand how the Tories have totally failed to make hay, given Labours unpopularity.

Who will be first past the post is anyone’s guess but unless Labour pull off something truly staggering it won’t be them.

Reform have a 7pt lead over Labour, they don't have the party machine, the volunteers, they wont get much air time unless they pay for it.

But Labour will get hammered in the locals next year but thats no predictor, super low turn outs and still 3 years out.

Plus the polling doesn't ask 16/17yo's who don't support Reform nor will be voting in the locals

I would assume that's a median salary in any of the counties listed above other than maybe very low earning European countries like Spain and Portugal. Everyone I know in the US makes more than £100k easy and me and my partner both make more than that in the UK. We are comfortable but certainly not rolling in it.

Either way, salaries in general in the UK are dog shit, my main point still stands.

Surely to be £700 worse off on the NI front, you’re putting around £35k into pensions between you a year… seems a lot on your incomes and/or if things are tight.

You are mistaking opinions for facts. Your opinion does not equate to facts.

It’s the OBR’s opinion - as you’d see if you read the BBC link above. I’ll take their opinion over yours.

Then you assume wrong

True enough - and neither does yours.

If you struggle to understand, that’s on you.

I don’t think it’s me who doesn’t understand. This seems pretty unambiguous to me.

When questioned on whether the impression provided by the chancellor during her press conference was a "false one", Prof Miles told the committee: "I don't think it was misleading, for my own view, for the chancellor to say that the fiscal position was very challenging at the beginning of that week."

He also said: "My interpretation was, and others might interpret differently, that the chancellor was saying that this was a very difficult Budget and very difficult choices needed to be made.

"And I don't think that that was in itself inconsistent with the final pre-measures assessment we'd made, which, although it showed a very small positive amount of so-called headroom, it was wafer thin."

Here is some facts for you - OECD forecasts growth and slower inflation for the UK, among the highest in the G7.

440k more people in work than 12 months ago.

FTSE over 1400 pts higher now than it was in July 2024, same with the All share and 350... all substantially up.

CEO of St James Place, says UK great place for business, great people and is optimistic for the UK.

Is everything fantastic? no of course not but its also not the Hell hole you paint either.

The only way Labour stand a hope in hell of getting back in is to unpick all of the stuff they have done by election day.

Cool

Over the last 20+ years we pay more and get less back. Councils funding has been cut so much that they are now charging its residents for everything to make up the shortfall. I thought this govt would be different but they are all the same, screw the working class and dont upset the wealthy and bankers.