Starmer son finds a quiet place to study for GCSEs

[justasking111]

Can't berate Starmer for this but think some parents will be aghast.

"PM suggests £20,000 accommodation donation was for 'son to find somewhere for GCSE revision' | Evening Standard" https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-donation-son-gcse-housing-acoommodation-prime-minister-b1183972.html

Can't stand Sir Keir personally. I have always said he's nothing but another Tory in a red tie. However, any sentences written after 'according to Guido' should be read with applied scrutiny.

Thanks for this - I found this bit very interesting:
“The 2018 Baines Cutler report estimated that removing the VAT exemption would result in a net cost to UK taxpayers “for very many years, maybe permanently”.[49]It stated that every student that left independent school would result in an ongoing cost to the government of £10,000 per year and a one-off cost of £10,000, compared to a scenario where no pupils left the sector. The ongoing costs would come from lost VAT (from schools claiming back VAT on their purchases and pupils leaving the sector) and the cost of educating those pupils in the state school system. The £10,000 one-off cost would be for capital investments needed to accommodate more pupils in state schools.[50]”

So it's of no financial advantage just ideological 🙈

I suspect the media will be going through all donations registered with a fine tooth comb now. We'll see what rises to the surface.

A fish rots from the head down.

I expect that there are some newby MPs who will be feeling very let down now.

They are all over the shop

The annoyance for me is anyone suggesting this would happen got loads of flack

'It comes amid warnings by advisers that thousands of wealthy foreigners with non-domicile status were looking to leave the UK.' from the article

I get the sense Reeves is lagging behind so badly, it doesn't inspire confidence

I think they lack competence, and broader financial acumen.

Being ideological probably doesn’t help either.

Maybe they put the warnings down to "right wing biased sources" and didn't believe non-doms would leave.

Or they knew the warnings were accurate but the policy would help them get elected and it'd be fine, they'd think of something to raise money in other ways once in power.

The second possibility is risky - they're in danger of having to raise / save money in ways that piss off people who can't just leave, unlike non-doms, but who do have votes.

I mean, you can see their logic with VAT on private schools and axing the Winter Fuel Allowance for many pensioners - most of them vote Tory, they thought, so Labour won't lose votes it already had. Though events at the Labour conference should have given them food for thought

So what do they do? Take cutting / tax-raising measures that affect (even more) possible Labour voters? Keep blaming the Tories for five years? Hope the economy perks up in five years time and everyone feels better off (and that was the entire basis of their manifesto)?

Yes both

I think anywhere they say 'we are pragmatic' means we fucked up and got it wrong

It's on all the stuff that I said was the wrong way to go, if I could see it why not the chancellor and PM?

I think hopeless doesn't cover it

Bar VAT which will likely go the same way and will be damaging but I doubt they budge

Shock horror!!! report commissioned by the Independent Schools Sector, finds VAT on fees would be a disaster.

More independent research - IFS - shows it would raise £6bn over the course of this Parliament.

I think they lack competence, and broader financial acumen

Yes Cameron (Brexit) Osbourne, Johnson, Sunak, Truss and Kwarteng has these by the bucket load didn't they?

What a fantastic place they have left the UK after 14years, no growth, a shattered NHS (14000 deaths each year caused by AE failings, 8m on waiting lists) crumbling roads and buildings..... what a legacy.... no wonder the idiots focus on a suit, they ve nothing else to say.

Care to address today and tomorrow?

Old flip flop Starmer and Reeves, when they actually look at the economics rather than the ideology.

The promised 6,500 teachers will prove interesting when they raise fuck all from the PS VAT raid.

'Smash the gangs' - it's now we are pragmatic because it won't work
Nom dom - ditto

If only they'd square up to the VAT damage

Round here we have these things called libraries ...

And noise cancelling headphones.

V good…

What even is the noise?

Can someone say why a band of journos would be outside Keir's door when he's doing press events up and down the country due to actual campaigning

It's nuts how he's lied about this

One of the apologists will be along in a moment to assert that only Tories tell porkies.

Sausages if you will.

I would actually like a sensible centre left party running the country.

Sadly there ain't no such thing.

Independent schools: Proposed VAT changes - House of Lords Library (parliament.uk)

I think they lack competence, and broader financial acumen

It's much worse than this - lack of competence (assuming there's some intellect) can be compensated by hiring experts or at least listening to those who have competence and experience.

The fundamental issue is that they put ideology above actual outcomes and this is what I find terrifying.

Not an educational advantage, no. A way to prevent an educational disadvantage, maybe.

I cannot be too detailed for risk of outing but suffice to say, I know of Reeves limitations only too well. It speaks volumes that she was considered the best candidate for Chancellor.

@@MoneyNeverSleeps

Indeed! it's scary, isn't it?

What I struggle with is that all MPs are supported by an army of civil servants with many years of experience who will crunch the numbers and advise ministers on the facts, pros and cons.

Are they wilfully ignoring people who are more intelligent/experienced?

Do you think Sunak was incompetent when he had to find a way to deal with the Covid lockdown months, being Chancellor at the time?

Are any of you able to address the policies of the current Labour government rather than continually looking to deflect?