Labour - death by a thousand cuts…

[MyNameIsX]

Labour - another day, another calamity…

Utter treachery and deceit from our illustrious government.

The Government’s own estimate of the cost of giving away the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius is almost £35bn, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act – far higher than the £3.4bn figure Sir Keir has previously used in public.

Labour ministers now face claims that they misled Parliament and the press with an “accountancy trick” to hide the size of the bill from taxpayers.

Under the terms of Sir Keir’s deal, the UK will give up the Chagos Islands by the end of this year and lease back the Diego Garcia military base, a facility built there in the 1970s that has been used by UK and US forces.

The cost of the agreement has been fiercely disputed. Sir Keir claimed in May that it would be £3.4bn over 99 years, accounting for inflation and other discounts, but the Conservatives said it would total £30bn.

An official document produced by the Government Actuary’s Department shows the cost of the deal was first estimated at 10 times Sir Keir’s figure, at £34.7bn, in nominal terms.

It explains how the cost was lowered by the Government using inflation estimates, then reduced again under a controversial accounting method sometimes used for long-term projects.

The total cost, which ministers refused to release to Parliament, is equivalent to 10 Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, or more than half the annual schools’ budget.

No it isn't. We're hardly Greece.

Have you told the OBR because they have been ringing the panic bell for some time?

I mean even The Grauniad is finally admitting it

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/08/labour-austerity-elections-spending-cuts

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/labour-seen-biggest-factor-behind-countrys-economic-woes-three-five-think-recession-likely-within

@Lifeinthepit I’d assumed the US would be against it but they’ve lukewarmly waved it through. And Starmer has said, in response to criticism from Farage or someone, that Russia would love it if the deal fell through! Hard to understand exactly why they’d be keen on us keeping strategic land near shipping routes, but that seems to be the official line.

The thing is a hall of mirrors. I’ve never been so bewildered by a policy.

More hysterics.

I want the economy to thrive so that people have jobs. That includes NMW jobs.

Labour's increases to NMW and NI have been particularly disastrous to SMEs and to low paid workers. Young people in particular can't get work.

And if you bother looking at the numbers (which Labour clearly misjudged) it's obvious why.

NMW for adults over 21 went up: from £11.44 to £12.21
NI Increased from: from 13.8% to 15%
NI Threshold change: from £9100 to £5000

Full time NMW pre-Reeves: £21,049
Employer NI: £1649
Employer total cost: £22698
Employee gets: £18,674
HMRC gets: £4024

Full time NMW post-Reeves: £22,466
Employer NI: £2620
Employer total cost: £25086
Employee gets: £19,695
HMRC gets: £5391

tldr:

So it's a 10% increase in cost to the employer for a full time NMW worker - £2388
The NMW worker gets a 5.5% raise - £1021
And HMRC get a 34% raise - £1367

HMRC get more of the extra money than the employee - not only in percentage terms but even in absolute terms!! (unlike when sunak did it, also against an entirely different economic backdrop)

All paid for by the employer, who now has to cut their staff by 10% just in order to stand still - in an already challenging, high-inflation economy with reducing demand and increasing costs.

What Labour and their supporters simply can't seem to understand is that it's what actually happens that matters - the consequences to real people - not your imagined ideological, simplistic utopia. 'if only x... then the world would be so wonderful' - when anyone with the slightest thought can see that x won't ever happen without entirely predictable side-effects, and so you need to do 'y' which is perhaps less purist but gives better actual results for everone.

Institute of Directors

https://www.iod.com/news/uk-economy/iod-press-release-business-confidence-loses-half-the-gains-made-since-november/

Gosh anyone would think there was only one man who can save us. He's too modest to wear a cape and has absolutely no experience and three MPs. He's busy selling the idea that the UK is totally broken and paving the way for Faragenomics! You sell everything off and launch the UK as a PLC.

The sky's falling down! Quick look in a pub and find Farage!

Where have i even mentioned Farage?!

You were claiming there were no issues with economy, I am merely pointing out that's simply not true! Thar public opinion doesn't believe it to be true either.

Jesus you are triggered aren't you?
How come Labour are obsessed with Farage?

I think it’s stock response these days.

I didn't say there was no problem with the economy, the Tories completely fucked it up. I'm disputing the claims that the economy is broken.

They are immensely triggered by him aren't they?
The accusation used to be of being a Tory bot, now it's being a Farage fanatic 🤣

Because every thread seems to be about Reform. No one is looking to the Tories to save the country.

Actually Labour inherited a growing (albeit slightly) economy. They have fucked it up every which way.

No-one on here has said Tories were amazing but you can't use whataboutery to avoid admitting that Labour are abject failures.

Will every criticism of Labour be met with accusations of fangirling for Farage?

I guess that's easier than accepting that Starter misled Parliament and has signed us up to a £35 billion pound policy that practically nobody wants?

Read your first answer to me back to yourself, hardly a calm reply is it? I understand Labour are petrified of Reform but there's 1 simple answer: stop fucking everything up! If they did that then they wouldn't have anything to fear from Reform.

Labour aren't abject failures.
https://fullfact.org/government-tracker/

Every time they speak Labour seem to make things worse. Truly awful. I’m expecting a recession as well. Anyone could tell you what the NI changes would do to jobs. It feels ideological more than anything else. Even Reeves would have known the impact on jobs.

Idk they need new lines. I’m pleased to see that old Tufton one appeared below, very June 2024

Although more are feeling the reality of Labour by now. £50bn down.

FFS you chose a government website to try to prove they aren't failures 🙄
Try again, I posted IPSOS which is at least more independent!

How is the super massive black hole doing? Government borrowing Vs GDP, unemployment rate, number of small businesses closing etc etc etc?

They need to take money off everyone - none of this tantrums cos of wfa or pip -just take a small amount off everyone.
if they pick on one group (most likely to be working people) we are stuffed.