Anyone else irritated by the media coverage of budget?

[flymetothemoo]

Clearly, if it was at all possible then Labour would want to spend billions / on public services, fixing everything. The fact that they are having to be so frugal is NOT what they would choose, politically or materially!

Clearly it's the last government's fault we are in this position. And yet Labour are the bad guys, according to the press, and even the BBC and the Guardian are contributing to this stoking of negativity and fear.

What are they supposed to do in terms of the budget?

They must find the money from somewhere. They've promised to protect working people, employees NI, income tax etc. So they have to find it from somewhere. It might be employers, or inheritance tax loopholes, or benefit loopholes.

They are damned if they do and if they don't aren't they?

Can I have both? 😁 Perhaps I could partially reverse the NICs cut and have employer's NIC increased.

Yep

The harsh fiscal reality line is from this press release, which has a lot more context.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-governments-first-budget-will-invest-in-britains-future

Starmer will pledge ‘better days are ahead’ with an economic plan that will rebuild Britain and deliver sustainable, long-term investment to put more money in people’s pockets and deliver stronger public services.

Bit more positive, eh?

Reversing the NI cut would be political suicide & it would go completely against Labours promises, the media and some on here would have a field day.

Bottom line is Hunt set this trap for Labour, Hunt & Sunak knew it was totally unaffordable and a responsible Chancellor/PM would never have done it, but he carried on with an eye to the 2029 GE, fuck over Labour and hope no one forgets... remember what happened when Brown took away the 10% rate? Tories never let us forget this...

Tax cuts have to be funded through economic growth, not further tax rises and spending cuts.

'unprecedented economic challenges'
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c079nmk0rd5t

It’s a shame the tories felt the need to make the cut in the first place, there was no need

They thought that and the empty promise of tax cuts would win them the election. I see Hunt is now rubbishing the OBR. The desperation is palpable.

I take a more sinister pov.... they knew they'd lose, they made the first cut and it made no difference to polling, so they cut it again... all done to screw up Labour: support the tax cut and tie labour into funding it.. with the negative press its generated.
OR oppose it and lay themselves open to Labour increase your taxes...

Same with little funding for the pay rises they themselves set the agenda for.

I think it was all done solely to make sure Labour are in for one term only.

I can’t disagree with any of that.

I would prefer to halve the size of the state and have much less tax to pay. Both Tories and Labour have been very high spending. The last Tories imposed on those on £70k plus (the top 10%) the highest tax burden for 70 years.

@Xenia Exactly. That’s also a recipe for no growth. All the heavy lifting is coming from the private sector. All the money goes for wage increases in the public sector and the bottomless black pit of the NHS and there’s no growth or improvement at all. So we just carry on doing it. What did Einstein say about “insanity”?

So what would you both cut? Which of our already decimated public services would you decide we no longer need?

I’d ensure we had more privatized services.Some need removing or charges made. I also want productivity. Just pouring money into poor services doesn’t help them be efficient or better. We know that. So not all cuts at all. Better management for a start.

If it works out like this and growth is stifled by policy then it will come round to public sector anyway

Privatisation is exactly why we keep pouring money into the NHS yet little/nothing improves.
These private companies all have to make money, have their own, costly, duplicate back office functions and the only way they can get the HC staff is to offer exactly the same T&Cs as the NHS, inc job security and pensions, so we end up paying twice and still cannot deal with poor quality staff.

We ve had 40 years of out sourcing in the public sector, what have we gained?

How on earth do you measure the productivity of a nurse or a physio etc? all this would do is make sure the most poorly didn't get treated/moved out quickly, as they'd mess up the figures, a physio wont spend time on a difficult to treat patient, why would they?

A friend in radiographic has taken up crochet. Her department is so rationed. She turns up for work and sees few people. Whereas a friend working on reception in the private sector a pantechnicon turned up twice a week containing scanners and MRI machines rather like the vets. It was a production line. I had to use this service during lockdown. Parking up in the car park. Climbing the stairs to the wagon. Into the machine, scanned and out. Husband waiting couldn't believe how fast it was.

I see the latest non-tax on working people is to add two quid a day to their bus fares

The scheme, bought in as a CV measure only, was coming to end at the end of this year, in a way, Labour have extended it.

Not all who use the buses work.

The Westminster government doesn't set bus fares, silly sausage.

Oh, you are talking about the cap in England, sorry.

Fast doesn't necessarily equal good. MRI scanners in a truck tend to give poorer quality imaging. The NHS often has better quality scanners than the private sector, and the reporting is definitely better- ours is outsourced and they are often very poor. if you're lucky you recognise the name of a trusted colleague doing extra private work, but some of the reports are unreliable - and the reporting is also very slow.

Totally agree OP

Really makes sense doesn’t it. Don't want to be too green and look after people on lower wages

The cap was only introduced in 2022 and was always going to be temporary, though, even under the Tories.

Wales and Scotland have never had the fare cap.