We don't want the government to lurch to the left

[Bargepole45]

I am absolutely astounded that Labour think it's democratic to decide that they can lurch to the left despite being elected with a very clear promise to not tax and spend. I believe this is absolutely not what the general public want and I am really worried that the economy isn't going to survive this and we will end up with an IMF bailout that will lead to very painful spending cuts for our most vulnerable.

Please vote:
YABU :I want Labour to lurch to the left in order to increase taxation and spending
YANBU: I don't want Labour to lurch to the left and would be against further tax and spending rises

Selfish right winger is amazed that other people are not all like them . Too much time at the golf club bar i suspect

Which tax that you pay would you like to be higher?

He’s being a grown up. Why do WASPI women deserve compensation? Only 10% of the public think that they possibly deserve anything for the hardship of being too stupid to check when they get their pension. The welfare bill is unsustainable. It’s just a fact. It cannot be afforded any longer. The grown up thing would have been for him to have hold his nerve and gone through with his full proposals and to hell with the economically illiterate backbenchers. Now we’re in the position where he’ll be forced to revisit welfare cuts because the welfare bill is still unsustainable or wait until they’re out of power and let someone else do it.

The IHT for farmers had to be actresses as it was being exploited as a haven against IHT charges by the extremely wealthy. Starters error here was not doing it in a more sophisticated manner. ‘If you can prove you’ve farmed this land actively for x years you can pass it on IHT free’ etc would have been a better option.

These are all policies that needed to be followed through, for the right reasons, for the economic future of this country. Shame he went about it in such a cack handed manner.

@DiySteve
didn't say that he’d go
just that he’d screw up

we don’t need mystic Meg for that

If only Labour would lurch to the left.

In a way, I want a Rayner or Miliband government. It will be be so disastrous that it'll hopefully kill off the delusional taxandspendonwelfare forever world view for the foreseeable

I'm not. I'm already having to subsidised a poor school system by paying for extra tuition, and a failing nhs by paying for private nhs care for my daughter.

If someone could guarantee that more tax would equal significant improvements to education and nhs I'm all for it. We are already paying more than we ever have and services are getting worse. Labour put tax on private schools with the promise of money going to state schools to create rapid improvement. Where is this money, my daughters school definitely hadn't seen any of it, if anything their financial situation is much worse than under the previous government.

It's like anything, you want to get what you pay for. Many net contributors are paying what would buy a good private health care or private education. But that isn't what we are getting. If you paid for a 5 holiday and got a 2 one, you would definitely be upset about it.

Would it help the country?

Based on figures reported up to early 2026, over 15% of working-age adults in the UK are currently on welfare, with a total of approximately 6.5 million Britons claiming jobless benefits
.
Key figures regarding benefits under the current Labour government include:

• Total Claimants: Reports indicate a record 6.5 million people are on benefits, a figure that has risen by 500,000 since Labour came to power.
• Economic Inactivity: About 22% of people of working age (9.2 million) are classified as "economically inactive," meaning they are not in employment, seeking work, or training.
• Disability/Incapacity Rise: Roughly 4 million 16 to 64-year-olds in England and Wales claim disability or incapacity benefits, an increase from 2.8 million in 2019.
• Welfare Cost: The cost of the working-age benefit system is projected to rise from £48.5 billion in 2024 to £75.7 billion by 2030.
• Income Comparison:Approximately 1 million people receive more in benefits than they would in a full-time job.

The government has stated its intention to tighten eligibility for some benefits—specifically Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP)—in an effort to reduce the rising cost of health-related benefits

I’d like to think this would be the case. I fear more money handed out, higher taxes on some and Raynors undemocratic attitudes will be applauded by the left.

Are left wingers not selfish if they vote to spend other people's money on services and things that will directly benefit them? Ultimately they are voting to enrich themselves in the way that right wingers might vote to pay less tax so that they can keep more of their own money. It's just two sides of the same coin.

Turkeys generally don't vote for Christmas.

What I really want them to do is to go really far to the left and tax wealth! They won't though, and I don't think taxing work more is a good move.

I do think you need to get a bit of a grip though. Governments regularly do things they weren't voted in for, or don't do things they promised. Remember Boris's bus saying we'll give all the EU money to the NHS? Still waiting on that one! It's rubbish but they all do it.

You wouldn’t have put money on him staying last Monday, that’s for sure.

It's not two sides of the same coin what are you on about 😂

People that want higher taxes want them so we can provide good state services like NHS, education.

People that don't want taxes just want to hold onto their own money and don't care about making sure we as a society are providing for everyone

They are completely different

If this were true then people wouldn't become more right wing as they get older and wealthier. If left wing views were generally rooted in an interest in wider society then why would an individual's own financial circumstances change their political perspective?

Unless of course it's easier to be left wing when you stand to gain from public spending and know you're not the one footing the bill (selfish!). Then as you get older and acquire more assets and realise you are the one that's going to be paying then suddenly you aren't so keen on tax rises and left wing policies (also selfish!)

Pretending that the greater good is at the heart of many people's left wing views is just nonsense.

So don’t be surprised if Reform get in because the others have broken their manifesto pledges. I don’t like them, but I can see why we are at this point.

You were predicting Reeves would go the Monday after the budget weren't you?

Eta: oops apologies, that was a different poster.

completely agree with this. Tax wealth.

Which tax that you pay do you want to go up and by how much?

Can't tell if you're serious or not

If left wing views were generally rooted in an interest in wider society then why would an individual's own financial circumstances change their political perspective?

Greed!!

Mostly wealthy people in this country come from wealth, where it's the norm among their peers and families to hold onto wealth. That's how they're raised. The values that are drilled into them. Hoard it. Keep it away from the plebs. People that grow up in that environment generally don't develop socialist views

Given that Starmer has publicly declared himself as newly ‘working class’, presumably in an attempt to curry favour with the disgruntled constituents of the back benches, perhaps we should all follow his lead, and emulate the life style of said constituents?

That would definitely help to slash my tax bill.

I do both. Happy to pay more tax to support vital services. Also it would stop the disaffection leading the ill educated towards Reform.

I replied here and said I think they should lurch really far to the left and tax wealth. They won't though

You are right re breaking the manifesto on taxation but the country is much poorer after Brexit and austerity. Labour have kept to the majority of their manifesto pledges. https://fullfact.org/government-tracker/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAP2qBRjbGNrA-bK6mV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHn-JqcGaPSHQZ6c61yqiw3qMcvp-A2UjeqH3zGkEifa7m1hO6dgFgIsbP9V2_aem_ll2oZznNbNBR1gwG6AgseQ

You've completely missed the point.

Most people aren't wealthy or born into wealthy families and yet we can observe a significant trend towards people turning more right wing as they age and acquire assets. Why would this happen if their left wing philosophy was rooted in the greater good and nothing to do with their own personal circumstance? You wound expect their values to stay consistent but they don't.

Wealthy people are a red herring. I'm talking about the general population. Look at historical voting trends by age and you will observe this trend over time.

I find these posts really naive. Who are you going to tax that we aren’t taxing now? Do you really think that - given the straightened times we are living in - there is a straightforward way to raise taxes from the wealthy that won’t harm the long term UK economy, but Keir Starmer just decided not to do it? Do you think Jeir Starmer is getting back handlers from wealthy people not to tax them? What motivation do you think Keir Starmer has for currently not raising this tax from the wealthy?