AIBU to very nervous about what Reeves is doing to the economy?

[ProudAmberTurtle]

The data for the last financial year is out and, for the first time in British history, the benefits bill (£333 billion) was higher than income tax receipts (£331 billion).

This didn't even happen during financial crises like when the banks were bailed out in 2008-09, or during Covid when the government paid private sector staff's wages.

What's worse is that the government did not predict this and the benefits bill is projected to rise significantly over the next three years to about £390 billion.

In fact, from what I can understand, income tax receipts have always been significantly higher than the benefits bill, and there's always been an understanding between the two main parties since the 1940s that that needs to be the case for an economy to function properly.

I've worked very hard for more than a quarter of a century and always plan for the future, ie paying the maximum in NI so that my partner and I will receive the full state pension. For the first time in my life, this year the amount I'm earning in savings is going up at below the rate of inflation, even though I've got the highest interest rate available, because I've hit an income tax threshold (£50k) which means 40% of everything I gain in interest goes to the Treasury. This means my savings are actually depreciating in value.

AIBU to think this is just the start? That it's inevitable that taxes will have to rise even further and the state pension will be cut?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/04/labour-welfare-bill-income-tax-revenue/

This.

Michelle Mone (and others like her) and her greedy money grab in the billions gets little attention yet someone getting UC topping up their minimum wage or helping pay their rent or pensioners (biggest amount of money paid by DWP is to pensioners) are labelled idle or spongers. People ignore facts and spread hatred. They are pointing their finger the wrong way.

I’ve not engaged with your posts so far because you seem be living in a parallel universe, but for clarity, and I won’t be debating you on this because all of the facts and information are there for people to read, and you either believe in that or you don’t: Brexit has been a disaster for this country and was led by charlatans based on false promises; the Tory government were guilty of both ineptitude and corruption during their handling of Covid.

If you’re advocating for greater social responsibility/conscience and more social action, then I agree with you. I also know that this can be inconsistent and variable; I think kids in poverty deserve a baseline provision of secure housing, being well fed, access to quality healthcare and a good education; unless you’ve got any other suggestions, then I think that’s the state.

He was clearly good enough to interview on paper. Interviews are also two way. Maybe he did want to work for the PP.
I doubt anyone is sabotaging interviews for the sake of £400pm and all the pressure and threat of sanctions that come with it.

People can't take responsibility when the costs of existing are spiralling and wages are stagnating. A full time worker on NMW can no longer afford to support their family on their wage alone. Not everyone can be a higher earner and not only high earners should be able to have children.

People they knew like Matt Hancock's pub landlord? That whole VIP lane for Michael Gove's mates, ignoring people with years of experience is a scandal.

Pretty sure she and her husband are being investigated by the NCA.

Yes all the gowns were unusable. The masks were useable. Suspected PPE fraud is what around £324million which is 2.4% of total PPE spend.

Someone on NMW should take responsibility for their own life and work to get off needing top ups and actually get a decent job. Surely it's the responsibility of all able bodies adults to be self reliant.

The NMW jobs need doing, and someone doing them should not on one hand be told that they do an important job, then on the other that they deserve to live in poverty.

NMW used to be enough to live. Now it is not, and that is not the fault of the people doing those jobs.

So who does the MNW jobs then? Those jobs will still be there, need doing and those doing them will still need top ups to afford to live.

"Someone on NMW should take responsibility for their own life and work to get off needing top ups"

Erm, if you aren't working, you aren't getting NMW.

So no NMW workers should have children? I earn above the NMW and am still entitled to UC. I already had my children when my husband had an affair and left though, where should I have put them? Post birth abortions for 15, 9, 6 & 4 year olds?

According to posts on here, they should just be for school leavers, SAHM returning to work, and retired people who want extra money.

Which is why it's daft to leave a job without getting another one and expect benefits.

As there should be assuming they are well enough to work.

It's not that binary. I see lots of people who, on the face of it, are "well enough" to work. Nobody's going to consider them though. They might have chronic mental health, undiagnosed and untreated. They might be low level substance users. Ex offenders. Former carers without paid work experience. Suffering trauma. Not at their physical or hygienic best because of entrenched poverty. Loads of stuff I've seen over the course of two or three decades in work but that is getting worse, post austerity. It's easy to blame people for their situation but if you do, you need to turn a blind eye to an awful lot of reality and be the kind of person who thinks that if they can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, so can everyone else.
I still think working or having some other routine in your life is a great thing but there has to be a better way to get there than being beaten with a great big stick and punished for things that are out of your control.

I can read both sides of the arguement from commentators on both sides. If it's so bad for us and the EU makes sense to make trade easier and smoother.

The Tory government made mistakes yes but the vaccine rollout was superbly done. We unlocked and didn't look back. Labour complained and wanted to delay.

Good to hear you approve of the UK's COVID response. A lot of people of your way of thinking thought it was appalling that furlough was paid out to so many. Almost as if the state was stepping in to support people in a time of need.

I'm positively relaxed about RR when I compare her to Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng!
A lot of the shit that's about to hit the UK is courtesy of Trump's war, which Starmer very sensibly avoided.

Everyone cannot get off NMW though can they when millions of people are paid it for doing jobs that are needed - care work, retail, cleaning, teaching assistants (all paid very low near to or at NMW) etc.

Most benefits are paid out in pensions. Then there is a very large group of people paid not enough to live on and so need top ups. These people cannot simply just earn more. The minute NMW is increased the companies all say they cannot afford to pay it, whilst at the same time ensuring shareholders and some such as CEO's are paid eyewatering salaries (even when running water companies that cannot provide clean water and sort sewage treatment out).

There's absolutely nothing wrong with earning minimum wage. It was put into place to stop employers exploiting their employees through low pay, not, as some people would like to believe, a marker of inadequate people. The kinds of people who look down their noses on NMW workers are at least as likely as anyone else to struggle to manage without them. Society would grind to a halt without essential yet poorly paid workers.

Yes, the TAs in my school are paid a few pence above NMW- they don't even get London Living Wage- and they are amazing!

Yep.

My son has 2:1 TA support at school. They are not paid nearly enough for how much they help my son.

Just the kind of person who Gdnddn says,
"should take responsibility for their own life and work to get off needing top ups and actually get a decent job."
Sometimes when people threaten to pack up and move to Abu Dhabi or similar, it's really hard not to cheer them on their way with a hearty Good Riddance!

I couldn't agree more.

TA's are the only reason why my son can access mainstream school. They are priceless for children like my son.

Why be the teacher's assistant when you can be the teacher? Something a TA can work towards.

TAs aren't all saints. My DS sometimes sees one from his old primary and remembers all the shouting and how horrible she made him feel.

A very good friend is teacher in the UAE. She likes her job, is paid well and her kids go to school for free!

So abolish all teaching assistants?

Why be the teacher's assistant when you can be the teacher? Something a TA can work towards.

Because not everyone has the resources to stop work to do a degree. And I imagine there are plenty of people who enjoy being a TA and have no aspiration to be a teacher.