We need a political party that will…

[Skippp]

I work in finance and this country is on the brink of collapse. It’s spending too much, it’s not growing the economy and needs someone to come in and make good decisions quickly if we are to survive. It’s in a really serious state now and action must be taken. I’vote Labour, and did so hoping Keir would be brave enough to take the hard decisions needed but he’s been a pathetic wet blanket. We need a government who:

1. get rid of the triple lock. It’s laughably unaffordable.
2. reassess the whole benefits system and get rid of disability payments for anything but the most severe conditions, increasing the amounts to those who have these conditions.
3. restrict benefit payments to those born outwith the UK to those that have been in full time work for a large proportion of their adult lives here.
4. Reduce the minimum wage to help companies hire again.
5. Reduce housing benefit. People will have to move to somewhere cheaper or landlords will have to drop prices to what people can afford.
6. Go to an insurance backed healthcare system like they enjoy in Europe.
7. Ditch 95% of planning regulation and get Britain building again.
8. ditch net zero. No one is going to run a successful business in a country with the highest energy costs on the planet.
9. Reopen Scotland oil and gas production (inc refineries) and explore for more areas.
10. Simplify income taxes. Roll income tax into NICs. Give everyone child care hours, child benefit, personal allowance and increase tax rates to pay for this. Stop artificially restricting people from earning more.
11. Simplify VAT. Drop the threshold to £20k to ensure no one has a ceiling on earnings.
12. Simplify IHT. 5% on everything. No nil rates or exemptions.
13. rejoin the single market and customs union.
14. Explain policies better! Tell people how unaffordable the triple lock etc is. Tell them what the single market and customs union non is and why you’re rejoining. Tell people what the ‘bond markets’ are and why they’re important. Tell people why paying for rich people’s child care is much better for the economy than forcing high earners to drop their hours.
15. Probably ought to start deporting economic migrants with no right to stay quickler to throw some red meat to reform voters.

We need a party to take on ALL of these policies and move AT PACE on them. Who’s the party that will do this? I thought it was Labour but BOY was I wrong on that!

What are people adding to the list?

Yes, the oft quoted Ming Vase strategy. Turns out it doesn’t work as well when you are in government.

we’ve only got into this mess because of top ups. Gordon Brown got it spectacularly wrong with working tax credits and it’s been abused so much with NMW becoming a maximum wage in a lot of jobs. Why, as a corporate, would you pay more if you know your worker will get a govt top up? As others have said, it’s even done in the public sector and I think this is just a sleight of hand to make it look as though the wage bill is smaller than it is. Either way, it’s gone on for so long it is nigh on impossible to solve.

Yes she did. Her parents bought her house for her.

Yes if I knew the government were going to make up the difference.

The cost of living issues being faced today are largely caused by the geopolitical situation we have no control over, i.e. the war in Ukraine and the war in Iran. However it suits opponents of the government to blame them and Labour isn't doing enough to make it clear the reasons for CoL issues are not down to their policy choices.

I'd be fine with paying more tax. In fact I voted LibDem at the election which resulted in the Conservative/LibDem coalition and I believe increasing income tax was a LibDem manifesto pledge. It doesn't have to be a massive increase to make a difference. But the wealthy in our society always scream loudest about tax increases.

All the noise around inheritance tax is a distraction - it is paid by the deceased's estate yet it's talked about as though it drives the deceased's surviving family into poverty. Drives me mad that there's this expectation to inherit and that those who have money think they should be able to ring fence it and get the state to pay for their care when they're elderly and can no longer live independently. I work to earn to enjoy life. I save in my pension to enjoy life once I've retired. I don't expect anyone to pay for me.

Partly, but that doesn’t explain why we have one of the highest, if not the highest, energy bills in the world for a major economy… making businesses uncompetitive on the international stage, and driving people into poverty.

Yes, we need to move to cleaner, low-carbon energy, but it’s entirely counterproductive to do so in the monomaniacal way the Government are doing. It’s completely counterproductive and will lead to a far less green policies when Reform win, partly as a result of the Government’s inability to be rational on this.

What is gained by clobbering British manufacturing by pricing it out of business, only to have ton purchase those things from overseas, powered by coal, apart from a wam fuzzy feeling that we’re “doing the right thing”.

Its like then government are trying to put us on a starvation diet with net zero….oblivious to the ramifications. As anyone who has tried to lose weight knows, starvation diets are entirely counterproductive and self-defeating ultimately.

The IHT moaning is ridiculous. Most of the value of an estate is through house price rises - which is untaxed. The recipient receives this money - which they have not earned - tax free. Why should money earned by hard work be taxed, and unearned money not be taxed? It makes no sense.

It would make more sense to drop the IHT rate to something like 5% on everything because 40% is big enough for the wealthy to go to great lengths to avoid being taxed. Drop it to 5% across the board and you’re likely to raise far more money overall - esp from the wealthy - as people wouldn’t make such an effort to avoid it.

@Skippp It would make more sense to drop the IHT rate to something like 5% on everything because 40% is big enough for the wealthy to go to great lengths to avoid being taxed. Drop it to 5% across the board and you’re likely to raise far more money overall - esp from the wealthy - as people wouldn’t make such an effort to avoid it.

you’d still get people screaming about how unfair it is because the wealthy would be able to find the money to pay and the less well off would still have to sell the ‘family home’ to settle the IHT bill.

But I agree with you, and I’d make it 10%. I’d also bin the 7 year rule as well.

I wonder how many people away from the north West have heard of the latest bonkers net zero plan?

While researchers are busy coming up with ways to make concrete with lower carbon emissions, some of which is already being sold by people like Tarmac, plans are going through to dig up the ground and lay a pipeline 60 miles across the Peak Park, Derbyshire, Cheshire and the Wirral to pipe CO2 from concrete works in the Hope Valley and Staffordshire to an empty oil field in the Irish see.

It's utterly barking mad.

That you Katie?

Even when Dad's do pay it "doesn't count" for benefits.

I think if a resident parent wants to claim benefits the non resident parent should be assessed and their contribution paid into a state account to offset some of the benefits costs. Non payment treated like non payment of tax is.

The parents should have to decide who is the resident parent and if they can't a court decide. The parents should be paying for the child in the first instance not the state.

The house building is carrying on here, in a nice bit of the SE, but the new home sales are stalling. 5 years ago developments would be sold off plan, now completed developments are advertising 75% sold.

Planning permission has been granted for a further 5000 houses but there is very little developer interest. One of the problems with having a few large volume house builders is that they can deliberately reduce building of it looks like their profits might be affected.

Scandi suicide rates being high is a bit of a myth. It was true in the 50s and 60s but there has been concerted efforts to bring it down. They are now right about the European average.

I'm sorry for the loss among your family, but the figures don't bear out that suicide rates are particularly high.

“But the wealthy in our society always scream loudest about tax increases “. I agree with that @Fast800goingforit. You see it on hear a lot.

Can you run for govt please? 🙏

Yes we need much better civic education.

Yes the CMS is a joke far too often at the moment. That must change..

I didn't ask if you would be fine paying more tax i asked if you would be fine with your wages being cut and the company you work for keeping the profit

But then you also wouldn't be able to have more then 6k in your account. They would have full access to your account, you would have to have regular meetings. There will be payment errors made so come April you may owe them money. Also if you end up in hospital for more then 28 days they stop paying you. Being on uc isn't as simple as they just give you money

Also stop saying some women have a penis. Everyone knows they don't and he just makes himself look so stupid. He should have stood up to his back benchers. An amoeba has more backbone than Starmer.b

What profit? There was really interesting research done recently about how much profit people thought businesses make. People thought a hospitality business made about 15% profit. They make 1-5% profit. Supermarkets 2-4%.. margins are minuscule hence NMW rises firms have no choice but to cut staff.

Reeves boxed herself into a corner by ruling out most things before she even got in.

My God, break out the champagne, I actually agree with one of your posts!

That's not quite what you asked and if I've understood correctly that was your query to Skippp on her post about benefits topping up wages. As long as a person came out with the same amount, what's the problem?

UC is designed to make it better to be in work and get a top up than be economically inactive and on benefits. The majority of UC claimants are in work.

For me, as I am not in receipt of benefits, I would happily earn a bit less by paying more in tax to support those who need it in our society and pay for public services.