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?

No misogyny here, but nice try.

Yes it’s odd that people complain about speculation. Doing a doom press conference weeks before the budget was a choice and people will talk about the supposed ‘pain’ and ‘difficult decisions’

They are leaking and releasing things deliberately to see the reaction of the public. If they didn't we wouldn't have all these bloody stories. I just can't it for it to be over, I'm sick of hearing about it.
Yes of course they can't just spend loads of money but they knew all of this during the election campaign and I think made promises they won't be able to keep (but obviously have to wait and see!)

Well.wheb they refuse to explain the details of this blackmore they need to fill...where is the transparency? Why do they need to hide that? Maybe because if we knew why we have to fill that hole it would not be in their favour....

So the trust is already being eroded if not.lost

Labour are amateurs. Take the attack on non-doms, why concentrate major tax raising from a small cohort of the population and then drive them overseas based on no more than one hooky piece of academic literature. Many of us see stupidity for what it is, and few will stick around to pick up the pieces.

No I’m not on glue, maybe you are if you think this goverment has been a “car crash”.

God yes. Couldn’t agree more. They campaigned to get in, but seem to have overlooked their planning for actual governance.

It’s easy in opposition to shout down your opposition and give sound bites, it’s far harder to be the government that has to implement working policies.

Having said that, I have to admit that the last Tory government was an utter shambles with their continued infighting and I’m really not surprised they lost the election. I don’t rate either of the candidates that are the final two in the selection process of who will be leader either.

Labour are amateurs 🤣🤣🤣

Compared to the pros of the Tories? Liz and Boris being fine examples. Not sure what they were pros at mind you.

Not prepared for quite the depth of the shit the Tories had left them, yeah

No, no, you are right.

Starmer and Reeves are clearly pros when it comes to collecting the lovely goodies - my bad.

I'd say they need to cut the benefits bill for a start. It's out of hand. Also better of pensioners can pay national insurance. No reason why they shouldn't. I don't like Labour but the Tories were horrendous.

You seem rather delicate OP.

i for one am glad that the papers are highlighting the pitfalls of some of the policies they could’ve brought in (like the impact on pensions tax relief for higher earners).

Reeves could have just chosen to reverse the latest NIC cut and would’ve plugged a massive chunk of the gap. Instead she’ll have to make smaller cuts in a number of areas and piss a wide range of people off in doing so.

A lot of it is ideological like cuts to IHT (posited) and the WFA (actual) so no wonder the UK press don’t like it

I think the coverage reflects the absolute chaos of the Labour government.

They never should have pledged to not raise taxes for 'working people'. It was an illogical pledge that has now severely limited their options when looking to raise huge amounts of money. They are stuck looking at changes that have a very real prospect of either costing the country money directly or indirectly through seriously restricting growth.

Nine years ago, Ms Reeves had her parliamentary credit card suspended because she owed more than £4,000 of unauthorised payments.

A Freedom of Information Act request revealed that Ms Reeves, then shadow work and pensions secretary, was one of 19 MPs to have their cards suspended by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) after failing to show spending was genuine.

And she’s Chancellor? Jesus wept…

we were reading an article from a year ago about pensions and personal tax allowance, how this was going to create problems for future governments.
a stealth tax.
as it has but no one will remember that, least of all DH who rants about it and starmer and reeves so much that I cannot listen

The best thing they could do is overhaul the system - the below stats highlight the current model is not easily sustainable

https://www.poverty.ac.uk/report-benefits-tax-welfare-system/%E2%80%98most-households%E2%80%99-now-net-recipients-state-money

In 2022, 53.8% of UK individuals were net recipients of benefits, meaning they received more in benefits than they paid in taxes. A much higher proportion of retired individuals were net recipients than non-retired people.

Here's a breakdown of how the UK government is expected to spend its social security budget in 2024 to 2025:

Pensioners: 55% of social security spending is expected to go to pensioners, with £167.6 billion spent on benefits for this group.

Working age and children: £138 billion is expected to be spent on benefits for working age and children, including Universal Credit and non-DWP welfare spending.

Disabled people and people with health conditions: £89 billion is expected to be spent on benefits for this group.

Housing benefits: £35.3 billion is expected to be spent on housing benefits.

The only reason labour are in power is people wanted the tories out. As was also reflected in the low voter turnout.

Well, be careful what you wish for.

And no, I didn’t vote for either of them. But “the tories did…” isn’t going to fly for long. Labour bankrupted the country last time they were in power, and they too are already lining their back pockets.

IMO world politics is screwed.

@Zonder

What say you?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/01/iain-duncan-smith-among-19-mps-to-have-official-credit-card-suspended

Not as simple as that as this article shows.

Sorry, who’s the encumbent Chancellor. The one who will make decisions on the 30th, the pre-effects of which are already being felt by many?

Remind us of her name please?

Read the article.

I have.

Try not defending the indefensible for just once. Your credibility is in tatters because your beloved party are Teflon to you.

That was changing anyway it was announced at last Tory budget

You haven’t or you wouldn’t continue arguing a non existent point.

Earlier this year, as shadow chancellor, Ms Reeves told GB News that checking her bank statement made her “wince” as she found that “the money coming in is increasingly short of the money going out”. This was at a time when MPs were earning more than £86,000.

This is someone who worked at the Bank of England and whose household income – including her senior civil servant husband’s wage – must be four or five times higher than the UK average.