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

Tell me what is "left wing" about having a significant proportion of your workforce requiring UC top-ups to meet a basic standard of living because we've had 30+ years of government who pander to business, refuse to tax them properly, and refuse to legislate to compel them to pay reasonable salaries in the first place.

It's not down to lack of money, because they are still pulling enormous profits out of the UK economy every single year, so clearly this is by design and with the complicity of government, and since the UK has had exclusively right of centre governance since the advent of Tax-credits, UC top up and suchlike, I'm baffled as to how this can possibly be painted as a situation resulting from "left wing" policies or perpetuated by "left wing" politicians.

Maybe that cafe should pay better wages then? My heart bleeds

Oh no @ArseInTheCoOpWindow knows much better than all your silly statistics. All the young people she knows are staying put. I think we should disband the ONS and just rely on her to produce all government statistics based on people she knows.

@Bargepole45 but if Reform aren’t going to improve anything why vote for them? Another protest vote? as I said didn’t we learn from Brexit? I have seen a fair few posters on MNs say they would vote Reform but I’ve never seen a reason why.

I ran an SME for years. I paid a lot of tax. I eventually sold the business and paid an absolute fortune more in tax. I had no problem with that, because I recognise that I never would have made a brass farthing without my employees, or if I had set up the same business in a developing nation.

I don’t think that anyone should expect those things for nothing.

Virtually all of us do one or both, I should think. Why do you think, therefore, that there isn’t universal agreement with your view?

a) we are all too stupid to see what you can see

b) not everyone votes solely for policies which will enrich them personally

So in Scotland the recent budget saw real terms increases to the benefit and NHS budgets. Everything else saw a budget cut. As someone whose tax just keeps rising here in Scotland I am getting less and less back in public services because the increase in spending on welfare. Tax goes up, benefits in terms of public services fall. This cannot go on exponentially. Something has to give. My housing costs are still astronomical.

Yeah and all those fleeing the country will be the patriotic type. Although it doesn’t extend to supporting their country in difficult economic times.

The hypocrisy makes me sick.

195,000 UK graduates and young professionals left the U.K. in the year up to June 2025.

We have had years of underinvestment in the young and policies that have made life harder for them. Of course more will leave.

Well, despite being a widow on a state pension, I certainly still pay tax. As I have since I was 16.

This government are hopeless - but lurching further left will put them out of power forever. 🙄

I won’t vote reform. I’ve voted Labour in the last 4 or so general elections, but I’ll switch to Tory if the alternative is Andy Burnham or Angela Raynor etc.

You are right. My 7 year old son pays VAT so everyone is technically a tax payer these days. Are there many net taxpayers though? No! Do a lot of people stand to personally gain from increased spending knowing they won't be funding it themselves? Absolutely. Some do believe in the greater good but I believe most don't. I'll say it again. Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.

@Mishmosher but with an ageing population, a shrinking tax paying population and our models eg state pension, NHS & social care tax can only go one way.

In the 60s it was 4/5 workers to 1 pensioners we are now not far off 2:1 which is why successive governments have relied on immigration.

Well yes, because evidently there is a total absence of critical thinking, and such a lack of grasp on reality, that a significant proportion of the UK electorate are somehow of the opinion that uber-right wingerism is the solution to the outcome of decades of incompetent right-wing governance

It's this total cognitive dissonance that results in Reform voters being labelled "thick", because there is no credible way that anyone with any sort of intelligence could possibly conclude Reform offers anything but accelerated misery and chaos, especially when they are now not much more than a dumping ground for the very worst people associated with Johnson and Truss's calamitous governments. People want to make sense of it, and the only thing that makes sense is that prospective Reform voters are indeed both gullible and thick as two short planks.

@Mishmosher I have no idea who to vote for as I said upthread this mess was years in the making so requires years to fix, people want quick fixes though. We need cross party consensus imo.

The majority of the profits made by companies goes to pay the pension funds that invested in them. Maybe we cut the need for these profits and issue a mass produced socialist pensioner uniform and equal food rations - would that be left wing enough for you?

@XDownwiththissortofthingX aren’t a lot of Reform voters on benefits?

Completely agree with this

There seems to be naive economics at play. Due to low wages and high housing costs and cost of living those on low wages, despite lower taxation, receive top up benefits. These benefits are not felt by the receiver as increased disposable income that may be spent to improve the local economy but go straight to pay for increased living costs.

If you increase taxation for lower paid workers you also have to increase benefits unless there is a reduction in housing and living costs.

Wages need to be sufficient to pay for housing and living costs. Without state back up of profits to employers and landlords.

This will be painful for employers and landlords who have come to rely on state benefits but is a necessary correction.

Anyone that loses their job or home through no fault of their own due to this should receive state support and possible compensation.

Low wages and high living costs funded by state benefits have to end.

I was responding to a poster in denial if you RTFT

The absolute same argument could be made for Labour who have caused untold damage to the economy and are in absolute chaos after such a short time in power. They certainly aren't a nice consorting with the wrong sorts or corruption. Raynor keen on increasing everyone else's taxes but dodging her own.

If your sat there still arguing that Labour are the way forward then what does that make you?

Do you include State Pension, since it forms the most significant chunk of the Welfare budget, in the term "benefit"?

please do your market research elsewhere

Reform has the answers ..
https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/matt-goodwin-reform-no-children-tax-b2915266.html

Nice try, but I don't vote Labour, I'm not advocating for this Labour government, and I'm in total agreement that they are an incompetent shambles.