To think few lives have improved due to Labour’s policies

[Sandysandytoes]

I knew they wouldn’t benefit me - but I thought they might help some people.

Train drivers have more money but other than that I’m struggling. I’ve lost my job as a direct result of their policies, it would be nice to find some positives.

YABU = my life had improved as a result of Labour’s policies.

YANBU = it hasn’t improved or has got worse

If you’ve voted are you able to share your reasons?

I can’t see anything at all that’s improved, for anyone.

I'd imagine dropping the two child benefit cap has helped a lot of families?

And subsidised childcare from 9 months.

Definitely not for the increasing numbers of unemployed. Apparently the next u-turn will be on the young person's minimum wage. Labour have priced them out of the jobs market.

I think the things I want fixing - nhs waiting lists, social care for vulnerable older people, protection from discrimination and bullying at work, an option for secondary schools with more than a 50% 5 recognised passes at gcse, a coherent response to the climate crisis- are going to take more than 12 months. Nhs waiting lists are coming back down but we don't feel it because they are still at insane levels.

Also, there's what didn't go wrong.

I'm not a fan but I think they are doing a better job than is visible

I think Starmer has been good at international trade agreements which will benefit us all in the long run. Bad on a lot of other things.

Would I trust Andy Burnham, Farage, Polanski, Ed ‘women can have penises’ Davey more? No. Badenoch? Possibly.

Wasn't that something Jeremy Hunt initiated?

They have:

Failed to implement the Supreme Court ruling on women, deliberately, obfuscating

Stalled the economy and hiring with the NI increase, meaning there aren't as many jobs

Likewise the workers bill will make employers cautious about hiring although I suppose at least they rowed back on day 1 rights. Small mercies.

Slowed the rental property market with the renters reform bill, there will not be as many properties to rent

I think the things I want fixing ... are going to take more than 12 months.
12 months? They've had nearly 2 years! When are they going to get moving on anything.
My life hasn't improved. A lot of my friends are no longer keeping up to date with news because they are sick of hearing about everything being so miserable, with no sign of hope.

Yes, it was Jeremy Hunt who introduced subsidised childcare from 9 months.

They've successfully squeezed the middle earners. If that is considered a success. They've made the lifestyle difference between being on benefits or working full time on NMW almost the same. Not sure that is considered a success. They've increased the number of illegals arriving on boats...etc etc.

I supposed you'd have got a boost if you were on minimum wage. But you'd have to cross your fingers and hope you weren't next in the rapidly increasing unemployment line.

I've also lost my job due to their increased employer ni. My employer is closing their entire uk operation as its just too expensive to hire us now. Will never ever vote for Labour. . I hate them.

NHS waiting lists were already coming down. It's simply the case that we have been playing catch up since covid. They were coming down under the Tories and they are still coming down under Labour. They would come down no matter which party was in - Labour are fooling people into believing it is their policy, it's not, its just circumstance.

Social care has not been improved at all. It needs a huge overhaul and some of the NHS money diverting into social care. I think all of us that work across integrated care hoped for change but, so far, there is none - neither visible, nor invisible.

Are the public aware of budget cuts in the NHS? How well known is it that the mental health budget has actually gone down under Labour?

But there are some winners. Families being the main ones. There are also huge swathes of losers. Businesses are being hammered for tax and the tax system is becoming more and more complex. This in turn means employment is dropping and unemployment is rising. That means our welfare budget goes up and people are becoming less healthy (not working often impacts both physical and mental health) so more pressure on the NHS.

There are also a huge number of organisations, mostly charities, that have had their funding cut or reduced but as these are individual organisations, this isn't hitting headlines.

There may be a longterm winner. Labour are quietly stripping out the waste from the NHS. I am astounded that this is not hitting headlines - they are doing exactly the same to the NHS as the Tories did to Local Gov. The media called that austerity. Whilst it hasn't gone completely unnoticed and I have heard a couple of decent political commentators asking why Labour's cuts are not classed as austerity whereas Tory cuts were, the public and many of the usual media outlets are not using that label. The reason it may not be a bad thing is that the NHS is a train wreck in terms of efficiency, systems and modern people management. Local government is far far better value for money to the tax payer as a result of Tory 'austerity'. Hopefully Labour will do the same for the NHS.

I’ve noticed it’s harder in my workplace since the NI went up, when people are leaving they are not replacing them.

My niece is going from a zero hours contract to a minimum guaranteed hours one and doesn’t want this because it’s going to make it hard for her when her uni workload is heavy.

I bet you do. Many will be feeling the same. The attack on jobs is woeful, particularly for younger people.

I mean how long did it take the rich good ole boys to f it all up? I expect it’s going to take more than 18 months to fix it, especially with all the populist wanking currently going on to distract from the real work.

if really hasn’t, it’s actually made it worse for a lot of families, and will push more chikdren into poverty, and over crowding. Not all, but some.

And they only closed the entire UK operation because of the increased NI costs?

I think it’s too soon to say tbh. Where we are now took years of mistakes.

Tbh I’m not sure we are “fixable” now, just a doom spiral.

DH and I are worse off, due to VAT on school fees. Our main worry though is for our teenage kids. Youth unemployment has massively risen due to the additional taxes on business and rise in min wage. It's now so hard for young people to get a job, either PT employment while they study, or a graduate job. There is a huge shortfall between the number of UK graduates (approx 1 million per year) and the number of graduate jobs available (approx. 200,000 per year). Add to that the shortage of housing and the CoL and things are so difficult for young people and this govt has made things much worse with their anti-business and anti-growth policies. I knew they were going to be bad and I knew they'd raise taxes to hand out more benefits, but they've been even worse than I was expecting.

My life is unchanged but I don’t expect much after only 18 months.U

Especially to significantly impact what took 15 years before them to implement.

Like jobs decreasing And youth unemployment figures rocketing? Surely not even the most loyal Labour want that.