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?

Where are the public services getting more funding here?

The budget has just further increased the welfare budget by another few billion pounds per year, when will they get it through their heads that it is unsustainable and what happens then?
We cannot keep on increasing tax by stealth and not tackle the waste across public sector/NHS/civil service and the welfare system as a whole.
This is what is needed then we can properly fund the NHS, give benefits to those working and earning low salaries and the disabled etc etc.
But this isn’t going to happen, because no one has the balls to do it.

I agree with you OP! She’s got a near-impossible job, but on the whole is making good choices I think. There will always be winners and losers and some who don’t like it.

Lots I didn't like but was resigned to - but in the spirit of a "positive things about the budget" thread, I liked...

A) energy bills levy reductions for obvious reasons

B) cash ISA limits. It's actually quite shocking looking at the % of ISA assets which are in cash ISAs vs S&S (something like a 70/30 split).

Even if we assume a lot of the people with money in ISAs are near or past retirement, that doesn't justify being so averse to equities at all - retirement can last decades and in most years cash has below-inflation returns.

This is a massive problem if you are trying to get to a point (like Australia) where most people have enough in their private pensions to support themselves.

Thanks, I've corrected my post 🙏

Clearly you lack intellect! Many people bought their homes decades ago and no one had any idea house price would sky rocket! Having a 2million plus home does not mean you’re rich particularly if you live in London!

Multiple children is a life choice, and non working families are going to be getting anything up to 39K! Why should the tax payer pay for these families!

You're totally contradicting yourself, by saying those in 2million plus houses can afford it but then saying we should give those who sit in their a@@@@ more! Benefits were designed to support people in times of difficulty not a life on benefits! They should be getting no more than the living g wage which many are forced to scrape by on!

Yes, I am angry about the budget, I’m a middle earner who will now pay an extra £1000 a year in tax!

Agree, poverty is not the fault of the children whose lives it blights. And lots of struggling parents are neither lazy or feckless

I think it’s great too OP. Really refreshing to hear the wealthiest paying more and the poorest ending up wealthier. We’re somewhere in the middle so seemingly unaffected by most of it bar the weird EV tax which doesn’t really make sense given net zero targets but hey ho.

I think it’s ok, not as bad as everyone was making out.
I’m not sure what was going on with the reporting but it was worrying people that normally don’t even know it’s happening, lower earners that realistically were never going to be hit hard by it. My husband thinks the electric car tax is awful despite us not having an electric car.

i think the pension changes aren’t great, the threshold is too low, but I think they will u turn on this policy before it’s brought in

Such a well expressed, eloquent argument; it's like the Daily Mail.........

Are you for real? Or are you one of those who has multiple children and live on benefits?

More people are going to struggle as more will be paying more in tax or are you too ill educated to understand that?

Nor is the the fault of taxpayers who now have to pay more to support them.

millions of immigrants???

Worse off, but that’s how it should be. We are higher earners. Glad to see the two-child cap gone.

We really need to rejoin the EU if we want our economy to recover, though.

Do behave darling. It's utterly dreadful for the 'middle earners' (on MN that's 150k plus a year) Those awful poors with feral children who Simply Haven't Worked Hard Enough to rub shoulders with the 'educated strivers' are possibly going to be able to MANAGE. Imagine!!!
It's beyond appalling

I’ve been there on barely anything before with my oldest when I was 16 did you know under 25s get a lot less universal credit than over 25s? Even if they have kids and live alone. I’m extremely good at budgeting. I’ll be honest I found the jump from two to three kids financially not too bad, my younger two room share and I reused a lot of stuff. A £300 benefit rise for each child definitely isn’t warranted I mean people with jobs don’t get a pay rise when they have kids so why should people on benefits?

They aren’t. People keep posting on here oh good money going to the NHS or schools or public services. Did I miss something?

Err, rich people aren’t getting child benefit. It isn’t a universal benefit.

I agree OP - I'm happy about the removal of the 2 child benefit cap (I don't think children should be living in poverty, whatever their parents' choices or misfortunes) and I think the choices made about tax rises could have been far worse. Also happy to see a decent amount of headroom.

4+ kids by 4 different fathers? Not sure that was a requirement

Yes because it’s so RARE for the wealthy to be taxed higher. Did you miss the lsst 14 years of Tory rule ramping up taxes on higher earners while leaving lower earners untouched?

I think you may have misunderstood the advice tbh

Policies that are good for people do not always sound nice. Policies that sound nice are not always good for people. I think everyone understands this on an intuitive level but it gets lost in political debates.

It is in our collective interest that the economy is strong and we live within our means. Obviously (and sadly) this means that some people now will live in very difficult situations and won't have everything they want, possibly not everything they need. This does not mean we should jeopardise our collective future and the futures of all children in the UK to fix those difficult cases. This is not callous. This is weighing up the pain of many (the future population) against the not so many.

Good politicians would see horrible, painful, difficult situations and feel enormous personal empathy while still having the clarity of vision to not put the whole country on the path to economic ruin to rescue those cases. Labour has failed on this.

Good politicians would stand up and say the thing that needs saying which is that the pension triple lock is financially crippling the country and needs to go, even though pensioners vote reliably. Labour and Conservative together have failed on this.

Why is no one making the case for our children? For today's young? For difficult decisions that make the country stronger?

The budget is a pile of shit and you’re deluded OP.

Hope that clears things up.