Too many fake current affairs posts on MN

[inthetrenches1]

I’ve never started a post before (I don’t think?), I’m an on-off lurker for a while, but what’s become apparent is the number of posts on MN that have clearly been posted by political parties opposing the government. It’s just another tactic used these days like creating online petitions and fake polls about issues/fake issues to get sectors of society riled up about things they were never worried about before.

Misinformation filtering into society is at an all-time high. You can see them a mile away on here. Next time you see a “I’ve seen a poll saying Reform are more popular than Labour” just remember it’s probably a lackey of Farage and Tice’s, with seven mobile phones and three laptops, thirty different fake profiles on the go, gleefully making up these baseless posts on here and on social media.

If you want to leave a comment feel free, I only came here to post, I probably won’t be reading the replies

What a load of rubbish.

The OBR didn’t support the black hole claim.

Virtually everything you’ve said is untrue and just Labour propaganda.

One simple fact, for example. The last government started proceedings to recover the money from Mone. Why is that never mentioned by Labour supporters?

It kind of did. https://fullfact.org/economy/22-billion-black-hole/#what-the-obr-has-said

It is true that the OBR review does not confirm Labour’s £22 billion figure, but the £9.5 billion figure referenced in the review does not necessarily prove that the £22 billion figure published by the Treasury under Labour is incorrect either, and the OBR did not say that the government “made up” this figure, as has been claimed.

This is because Labour’s figure includes pressures which were identified after OBR prepared its forecast and so were beyond the scope of the OBR’s review. (This includes pressures that emerged while the Conservatives were still in government and some which were linked to decisions taken under Labour—for example, its decision to accept 2024/25 pay award recommendations in July).

It's all twisty spin and rubbish and we are being gaslighted. Again. By another government. Surely the country deserves better.

Gaslighting by another government? We dont need very long memories to remember that the previous government left a mess. Whether it's 9bn or 22bn we know they left the country in a terrible state so bickering over that sounds more like gaslighting.

There have been some better signs the last few days. Can't you be happy and admit that maybe something is going better?

No. It isn't better and it's going to get a lot worse. For my own family already and for the country. Apart from selected favoured groups that pass the socialist test like public sector workers.

That's mad. The socialist test like public sector workers?

I can't even respond to the rest of your post, it is so ... Something.

It's very simple. If you are a public sector worker such as a train.driver (already very well paid) you are fine.

If you work in the private sector, own or work for a business, are a farmer, are a pensioner, are someone who wants to pass already taxed income on to your kids, are a young person hoping for a part time job to get you through uni you are not fine. This will become clearer as 2025 progresses and unemployment rises.

We don't need to be emotional about other people's posts. We just need to see what happens this year. Because I can tell you from what I have already seen in my area re the private sector it's not looking good and it is as a direct result of the Budget.

Still mad. Can't agree with you there.

Doesn't really matter if you agree or disagree with me. We can all stick our heads in the sand or we can look down the track and see what's coming.

Figures on private sector contraction since GE / budget back you up

I think that proves me right: the OBR did not support the claim made many, many times by Reeves and Starmer and others to have been left a £22bn ‘black hole’.

Read the first paragraph again.

The OBR published its review of its March 2024 forecast on the same day as the Budget. It’s important to note that the review did not set out to confirm or refute Labour’s £22 billion ‘black hole’ claim, but rather to “assess the adequacy of the information and assurances provided to the OBR by the Treasury regarding departmental spending” ahead of the March 2024 Budget.

This is interesting. And yet people try to use it as evidence against the government.

I have done.

I said that the OBR didn’t support the government’s claim about the ‘black hole’. I did not say that the OBR claimed the government to ‘have made it up’.

The pp I was answering said “But let me repeat: that ‘fiscal black hole’ that people think is perpetuated on these threads, was due to misreporting by the previous government as confirmed by the OBR.” The ‘fiscal black hole’ is obviously what Labour have been repeating ad nauseam as £22bn. The OBR did not back that up.