Rishi thinks we've turned a corner. Does it feel like we have

[Justkeepswiimming]

Rishi keeps saying we've turned a corner, but does it really feel like we have. Do people feel better off, or less worse off.

A case in point from my very small world view. I know a mum of a 4 month old and a 3 yo who has today lost her home. The rent was put up from £600 pcm to £875. She's had to move in with her parents until temporary accommodation becomes available.

Housing is just one of the things that absolutely do not feel lime they are improving and have only got much worse under 14 years of the conservatives. So how can we trust that the next 5 years will be any better.

He's talking the words he thinks we want to hear, but why not have delivered it before if that's what they could do?

I don't see elaborate agreeing to increase the tax free threshold so pensioners aren't taxed on their syaye pension....

Alot of what you want is more socialist values which is more labour and the conservative values are more about less state intervention

The Conservatives are failures in their own terms; I never expect them to deliver good public service. They never have. The quid pro quo is that I pay a lot less tax. But what I have now is high tax and terrible services.

All Labour threaten to do is use some of my tax for better public services. That is fine.

Not quite sure what that typo is supposed to be saying, but it's a hollow laugh from me if the Conservatives are now trying to claim credit for reintroducing age-related personal tax allowances which they removed. Like many of their empty promises for this election - if it's such a great idae why haven't they done it in the 14 years they have had?

The Tories have turned a corner on the road to nowhere.

Want to place a bet with the bookies on that? You'll get fabulous odds. Because it isn't.

Not sure if this was a rhetorical question but it based on the fact that no one really knows who will win until the vast majority or all votes have been counted

feel free to disagree as you will as it does not suit your agenda but come 5th July, it will either be the Tories in number 10 or Labour slipping through the back door with a coalition partner. Either way, its not great for England and much worse if labour and Co get the chance to run England into the ground

Every time labour has been in office and the last time was 15 years ago, labour has historically left number ten with a higher unemployment rate than they first dropped in

@bombastix

"But what I have now is high tax and terrible services.

All Labour threaten to do is use some of my tax for better public services. That is fine."

Unless of course under Labour you have much more higher taxes and no better services.

This is not a criticism of Labour but just a recognition that when they win things are not going to be that different. Except higher taxes.

@1dayatatime i just don’t think that’s true, Labour didn’t get everything right last time (as no government does) but one thing they did improve was the NHS - introducing targets for being seen & treatment worked. I was starting a family when Labour were in, everyone got child trust funds to start savings for them, a health in pregnancy grant, children’s centres running free activities, child benefit was universal. The circumstances for average people were just better.

Some of the things Rishi is now throwing out do appeal e.g sorting out the inequality in child benefit threshold. Some things don’t e.g. national service.

The key for me is that I don’t believe the Tories. They’ve had 10 years to sort out the unfair child benefit system (that they created) but haven’t, so why now? The lies and corruption (cronies health contracts) during Covid really were the final straw. So they might be pledging all sorts but why should anyone believe them?

Considering the cheese at my local Tesco has a security tag on it, I don't bloody think so 😂

Of course getting in via a coalition would be completely legitimate and not at all a matter of 'slipping in by the back door', unless you were someone who didn't believe in British democracy.

The bookies have an excellent track record of being right about election outcomes.

And no, there's no miracles expected from Labour- but at least we can have a steady hand, grown up and serious government and gradual improvement.

😭😭😭

Put a bet on that, go on!

That daft load of bollocks mantra about 'slipping in by the back door' is hilarious. He must be doing it for a bet.

it will either be the Tories in number 10 or Labour slipping through the back door with a coalition partner

One of the many good things about July 5th is that DSC will stop trotting out this rubbish.

That’s because Labour don’t massage the figures like this lot. The Tories force people into work, even though for many that means 6 hours a week on a zero hour contract, and then they say that they’re “employed”. It’s all bollocks. They won’t be honest about the numbers of under-employed people either.

I sincerely fucking hope so; it's such a load of shite.

Serioulsyl!!
😂

Also, DSC doesn't even seem to understand how the UK is governed. Although I suspect that is deliberate along with the typos that they forget to make at times.

100% deliberate - no-one is that dim in reality.

Exactly this. ^

There is no corner the Tories could turn now to convince me they deserve to stay in power. Public services in this country are on their knees. Labour might not have the answers and they clearly won't have the necessary budget, but I truly believe they want to make things better, whereas the Tories just want to line their own pockets (and their friends') and boost their personal profiles to secure their post-Parliament employment prospects. They have made this nation as inward looking as they are.

I don't see elaborate agreeing to increase the tax free threshold so pensioners aren't taxed on their state pension....

Pensioners aren't taxed on their state pension. In the hypothetical future world where they might be it will take a £2000pa uplift on their pension (compared to today) for them to pay the princely sum of £15pa. And that's likely to take at least 2 years to get to that point (so, 2026).

Now, I think it's a bit daft to spend admin resources giving the money with one hand to then spend admin resources to take it back with another but cannot see how £1.25 out of £1125 per month is going to make a difference to anyone.

My guess would be that there will be pressure by then to uplift the personal allowance for everyone as it will have been frozen for 7 years by that point, despite high inflation in that period (making it a significant cut for workers in real terms). So, even if it happens, it's likely only to be for a year or so while the allowance freeze for workers comes to an end (2028).

Yes. The number of unemployed is 4.9 million. The number of underemployed (people who don’t get enough hours to live on and want more hours) is over 7 million. The number of people on zero hours contracts has gone up 500%(!!!!) since 2010. They’re just splitting one job between numerous people and hey presto, that’s five people who are no longer “unemployed”. The reality is they might as well be.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2881jmwjlmo

There's so much to like on these threads, but the moment I always look forward to most is when @frankentall finally cracks and says what we're all thinking in the most eloquent and appropriate way. Hat's off to you - never change.

"underemployed"😂

The fact remains that labour has historically come in to office with a low unemployment number and left the the country truly f'd up with a higher unemployment rate and that by dear is just another fact!!

Some insights here into unemployment rates .https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/6744/unemployment/the-uk-unemployment-mystery/

Particularly interesting are the high levels of unemployment during the Thatcher years compared to the Blair years (employment was at its highest level recorded at the time during some of the Blair years) I left school in the early 80s and remember the appalling youth unemployment during Thatcher's time in power.

The article also shows the four fold growth of zero hours contracts during the last 15 Tory years.

Very telling that whilst the Tories would have us believe unemployment is up, productivity is down AND the BBC are reporting today that unemployment is at a two year high. If we've turned a corner it's down.