so if we really are all in it together - let's march

[sanfairyann]

can't even keep up with the tally so far but it's all anti-family and pretty much nothing else. Does Dave think we're all too busy with the kids to do anything about it? Here's a quick run through some of the cuts announced so far (thanks to guardian, link below)

abolition of Child Trust Funds;

the Health in Pregnancy Grant;

Surestart Maternity Grant for second child;

uprating of benefits by the CPI rather than RPI;

the three-year freeze on child benefits and the introduction of housing benefit limits.

Pensioners and the childless remain unscathed so far. www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/07/family-unfriendly-con-dems
if we're ' all in this together' then let's stick together - and protest together.

cuts to cb are just the thin edge. The Lib-Con coalition think we should all be left to sink or swim. End up on benefits cos you lost your job? Well you should have thought of that before you had those 3 kids. scrounger. No extra money coming your way. What's going to happen to your children if you aren't given any money to feed them? I am imagining they will be taken off you and put in care. What kind of society allows that to happen?

www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/07/child-benefit-conservatives-jeremy-hunt

I am very up for some kind of protest - at all these family centred cuts - there's a lot of us on here - we can make a difference

Here's a list of tory policies which attack women, families or children (mostly taken from this thread)

abolition of Child Trust Funds;



the Health in Pregnancy Grant; 



Surestart Maternity Grant for second child;



uprating of benefits by the CPI rather than RPI; 



the three-year freeze on child benefits and the introduction of housing benefit limits.

up to 60% cuts to budgets for SureStart' (which will affect tonnes of stuff, including subsidised childcare places, one o'clock clubs and much much more)
cuts to the Building Schools for the Future program

capping benefits / housing benefit? which will have effects such as families where the chief income earner is made redundant also loosing their homes and having to uproot children from their schools, friends etc so as to move to areas with cheaper rent and often also worse job prospects and schools

Have I missed anything?

Oops, I'll try that again without the strange bits! Not sure where they came from!

Here's a list of tory policies which attack women, families or children (mostly taken from this thread)

abolition of Child Trust Funds;

the Health in Pregnancy Grant;

Surestart Maternity Grant for second child;

uprating of benefits by the CPI rather than RPI;

the three-year freeze on child benefits and the introduction of housing benefit limits.

up to 60% cuts to budgets for SureStart' (which will affect tonnes of stuff, including subsidised childcare places, one o'clock clubs and much much more)
cuts to the Building Schools for the Future program

capping benefits / housing benefit? which will have effects such as families where the chief income earner is made redundant also loosing their homes and having to uproot children from their schools, friends etc so as to move to areas with cheaper rent and often also worse job prospects and schools

Have I missed anything?

If you are willing to add in something about invisible disabilities being badly looked after with this new ESA, then I'm in. Though I may need some hep marching, seeing as I can't stand for too long.

we can do a sit down protest - so much more comfy!

spookykalooki - I also shudder to think what's going to happen to people with mental health disabilities/aspergers/autism/other invisible disabilities. All I see so far is attacks on the most vulnerable with no ministers standing up and saying they are going to protect the weak and vulnerable. that's why it's turning to some kind of bear pit fight out there in Jeremy Kyle land. they can smell the blood.

You'll probably have more to add in 11 days.

I'm IN.

and we at least might be taking a more personal interest in those unemployment benefit cuts

What would you cut instead?

instead of tagetting child centred investments? personally I'd be starting with withdrawing from any country we are currently occupying. save a bob or two. then I'd be adding to income tax for everyone in the higher rate tax bracket and talking a lot about tax avoidance rather than benefit culture. I'd not bother introducing a married couple's allowance - save a billion or so - either.

here we go. I waited til the review and guess what ...

cuts affect families with children the most

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/spending-review/8079211/Spending-review-2010-cuts-hurt-families-with-children-most.html

it's not even a guardian link nor a left wing think tank

meglet...i'll come to the gallery with you after the march!

I'm in, but it Scotland.

Robin Hood Tax seems to be getting a lot of interest, not just from me - though I could do with more support on my thread in politics topic. They have lots of organisations supporting them, not just UK but globally.

I have e-mailed my local paper about it.

in Scotland that is.

I went to the anti war protest, dragged myself down from Birmingham, cost me a fortune and got man handled by a police man (so not all bad )
They didn't listen then and they won't listen now.

The problem with the people who are complaining about the cuts is that they aren't coming up with an alternative solution other than ignore it and hope it goes away.

rally in Edinburgh tomorrow people 11am Market Street

I'll be taking my kids as dp working, so don't let no childcare put you off. The wee ones can let off some steam in P St Garden after the rally is over... Hope to see y'all there. Don't just get angry, get publicly angry

byrel, there are ways and means of cutting. No-one is arguing that the deficit needs to be addressed. The problem with what Gideon is doing is that it is one big gamble. He is gambling on firstly the private sector coming to the rescue, and secondly the economy not slowing down. If the private sector does NOT step in (and frankly I'm not sure it will, given that currently the biggest jobs market is in employing cheaper labour from Eastern Europe, and this CANNOT be addressed because of EU regulations - why would they employ more expensive UK citizens? Incidentally, if your family is in Poland for example, you can still claim child benefit and send it back....), then we are facing ENORMOUS amounts of unemployment, with what goes along with that - lower tax revenues, higher welfare payments. Similar if the economy slows down, you get more job losses, lower revenue, higher welfare payments.

What I would do is to raise the higher bands of income tax by 2 and 4 p respectively (42p and 54p), for a fixed period of 4 years. I know there is inertia in changing these things, but bear in mind that 4 years time is just before the next election, so there will be a big incentive to stick to the 4 years. Introduce a tax such as the Tobin tax. Leave VAT at 17.5%, and don't touch universal benefits. Scrap Trident. Eliminate as much Whitehall waste as possible (eg there is a new nursery in Whitehall for looking after children of MPs and other House of Commons staff - it cost £1million to build and is currently losing about £5k a WEEK.

With increased revenues taken PROGRESSIVELY from the better off (ie not a regressive removal of a flat rate benefit, which always impacts the least well off the most), cuts could then be taken over a longer period, and monitoring the effect they have on the economy so that if it shows worrying signs of slowing down, ministers could think again.

Chuck in the change to WTC which may affect carers and the disabled disproportionately, and the end to mcuts to mobillity for those getting it in resi care (that being what pays for things like wheelchairs) and i''m in, i'll even try and travel up from Wales if I can get cover

Oh and my preferred way of raising money:

CGT on private rental income except where the tenant is on HB for minimum 2 months at start or during duration of lease.

So, if you help sort out the massive HB crisis, you get to save a few £.

I tell you what most annoyed me

NC standing up and just dismissing any opinion other than 'mya ren;t they fab' on the enws this AM (and davey too, he was sat there, no doubt concealing the button for the probe mounted in NC's brain- you;d ahve to see the footage to get that joke I suspect)

Have the guts to accept or argue with critics not just dismiss them out of hand.

They are laughable about the IFS - before the election they considered them a 'highly respected an independent organisation'. Now they are 'wrong' and 'frightening people'.

The Coalition are pure evil imo. And they seem to have this notion that if they say it's 'fair' enough times then it will be.....because that's how it works when you're rich - say what you want and you get it. Except this doesn't work like that, and the more they say it is fair, the more blinkered and selfish they appear.

Gideons isn't it better for private rental income to be taxed as income tax as income tax is taxed at a higher rate.

Let ,me pull up some details on teh exisitng status quo before I reply on that

I came up with the idea when CGT on private rentals was floated alst eyar and weveryone cried foul; I figured a tax relief on whatever might encourage people to let to those who will soon face potential homelessness.

OK so

LLs already pay tax on property rental via PAYE or delaclaration; that is how it should be

CGT However on sale of a property is pretty low (I should probably point out that we were landlords once so am not anti LL I promise! A solicitor handled all the relevants for us though).

Usually I err towards minimal admin but it seems quite a bit of LL outgoings are tax deductible anyway so any LL is going to be already keeping records, filling in forms anyway.

We don;t want rent rises- too much risk ATM- but we *do& want hosuing kept in teh availability pot: so yes I woudl go for CGT overall, an extra 5% on it but that's removable if the HB qualifications for your last tenant are reached.
It woudl not ahve to be full HB- working poor amde especially vulnerable by some recent changes.