Am I the only one that thinks that the budget is good?!

[isitactuallybadthough]

NC’d for obvious reasons.

I mean it seems that they’re trying to help the working class?

I am not on benefits. I’m also not lucky enough to live in a property worth over £2,000,000. But surely the worst off in society will be better off under this? With the energy bill cut and two child benefit scrap? Also books for libraries, national wage increases. I do understand people feeling frustrated at the pension/ISA parts, that will probably affect DH and I but overall I’m pleased as the worst off will be slightly less worse off?

It’s disingenuous to keep posting the Gareth Morgan “report” - for want of a better word. Are you really suggesting the CfSJ are tweaking their figures? If so, perhaps you should let them know rather than keep dismissing it on here?

FWIW - and this has been pointed out to you previously by other posters - it’s Gareth Morgan who appears to be comparing apples with oranges. His workings appear to resemble that of a GCSE psychology assignment where you need to include stats.

Try reading the press release you posted.

This is the 22 page report, note the actual report not the press release. Please tell me which page the workings for those two (non) comparable examples are on.

https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/CSJ-Benefits_Budget.pdf

CSJ are a right wing think tank, whose expertise is in lobbying for conservative economic and social policy (mostly, for cutting benefits), with limited technical expertise in welfare system modelling.

Gareth Morgan is a widely respected independent expert, with decades of experience in providing technical, non-partisan, evidence-based consultancy services in the area of welfare system modeling.

Who ever to believe??

Teach me to speed read and run😂

Please point to wherever in my post I said that the Tories had done well?

I’m a high earner and proud to pay my taxes.

You are proud to pay for children to stay in poverty and the limited life choices that comes with that?

Yes, give your self a big charitable pat on back.

Also worth pointing out that while I have very little time for the Tories, you’re being slightly disingenuous about their record on welfare.

Under the Coalition, welfare spending as a share of GDP peaked at around 12% in 2012/13, largely in response to the economic downturn post financial crash.

They Tories then reduced it to 10% pre-Covid, after which it spiked again

So the Tory record is probably best reported as around the 10%.

The same old straw man gets wheeled out: question a Labour policy and suddenly you’re a deranged right-winger.

In reality, only the uninformed think Labour’s habit of taxing everything owned by workers, actually lifts children out of poverty. It’s a feel-good fantasy worthy of Steven Spielberg, designed to win brownie points from the uneducated, the resentful, and the well-off do-gooders who love the warm glow of their own ‘tax sacrifice’. It’s pissing in the wind while the structural challenges remain. With so little growth, what exactly is Labour going to do when they run out of other people’s money to spend in their race to the bottom?

I’m not sure I understand your response. You might find this useful https://ifs.org.uk/articles/closer-look-child-poverty-understanding-problem-and-potential-policy-solutions

There’s lots of other research on the effect of child poverty on economic growth and society. For example children left to live in poverty are more likely to end up in the criminal justice system, more likely to be unemployed and have poor health outcomes.

I think people are realising. It all hinges on jobs and that’s the problem for Labour.

I mean how was that pie under Tory rule…
https://ifs.org.uk/publications/conservatives-and-economy-2010-24 “on a per person basis, economic growth has been slower than in the US, the EU27 and Germany in that time. The slowdown has been particularly stark given that the UK economy, and its productivity, were growing quite quickly prior to 2008”.

If you’re looking at GDP as the measure of growth, it’s always something strongly effected by external factors and things outside the control of the government of the day. A logical comparison is probably the GDP of other developed nations https://ifs.org.uk/sites/default/files/2025-10/Final_The_IFS_Green_Budget_2025_full_report_amended%202.pdf optimistic prediction here that the UK will be second in the G7.

But I honestly hate party politics. It’s such a distraction and a waste of time fighting between parties and even worse when it’s infighting. 🤦🏽‍♀️ And I’ve tried focusing on what’s published by independent bodies rather than some of the headline grabbing from both the left and right wing press.

but what I do think is really interesting is the research on the links between child poverty and wider society.

Gosh, everyone obsessed with the Tory pie when I never even mentioned it….

Are they? 😂 I mean the prior 14 years of the Tories is the obvious comparison isn’t it? Otherwise what’s your more tax and less growth under Labour relative to?

either way - let’s agree a bigger pie and less party politics for all!

Do you think this is good?

Jobs growth collapsed before the budget at fastest rate since pandemic
Employment across the private sector fell by 1.8 per cent in November, the steepest monthly decline since July 2021 and further job cuts are planned

Employment across the private sector fell by 1.8 per cent in November, the steepest monthly decline since July 2021, according to figures from the Bank of England.

Interesting that the 1.5% growth during Labour's first year is being attributed to growth in late 24, partly due to policies inherited from the Conservative administration (Sunak and Hunt who were doing a good job after years of chaos).

Also attributed to inflation and high tax receipts from public sector wage increases.

Not growth thanks to investment.

The covid spike ended by 21/22 (welfare spending at 10.1%) and then spiked again in 22/23, back up to 10.9%.

For fairness, though, and having deep-delved into the data to ensure best comparables (as different sources use cash spending only, some roll in services in kind), it is expected to increase from 10.9% to 11% for Labour's first full year, and to 11.4% by 29/30.

The bulk of that 0.4% increase being due to the triple lock (which was also the primary driver of the increase at the end of the last Tory government).

Pension reform is what is really needed, but is also probably political suicide.

Agree @NiftyBird

But it’s bonkers that given the cost of the state pension, Labour is introducing policies affecting those trying to save into a private pension. I’m not surprised as their approach since taking power has not been remotely cohesive.

I don't agree. The salary sacrifice scheme was inaccessible to lower earners, and the £2k cap is unlikely to impact medium earners. It will likely have some effect on upper-mid/high earners, but mostly top earners.

It essentially became a tax planning tool disproportionately used by high-earners, and ballooned in popularity, meaning less and less tax revenue.

We can't afford the state pension as it is, so I think its a sensible change - albeit it simply papers over the cracks of a house that is fast approaching structural collapse.

It wasn’t inaccessible to lower earners as long as they stayed above minimum wage. There have been people on MN on relatively low salaries saying they used it. They probably aren’t going to be massively affected though.

However, if you’re categorising people earning over £100k as high earners, I don’t agree. Yes, relative to the average salary, but not in reality after costs of living. We are like frogs in boiling water, accepting higher taxes on lower salaries. If tax bands had kept up with inflation the 40% rate should be somewhere around the 70k mark.

Tax reform is needed, this in itself would likely lead to higher tax receipts. Labour is playing the equivalent of whackamole instead of dealing with our problems strategically. This latest budget was a perfect example.

if you’re categorising people earning over £100k as high earners, I don’t agree

They’re in the top 4%. I don’t see how they could be categorised as anything else.

Lifting the cap gives families more money today, but it doesn’t give them any tools, they are just better fed (parents dependent) in poverty. It rewards fertility, not productivity. Productivity is the only real way to break the cycle and get out of poverty.

Pissing.in.the.wind.

We need degrowth anyway as we live on a finite planet that is rapidly running out of resources

I think I explained what I meant. Like I said, frogs…

What does ‘degrowth’ look like?