What do with think will be in Labour’s budget?

[tenpairsofshoes]

They don’t seem to be giving much away but any indication that they might help kickstart the economy or are we just going to get £2 bus fares, £45 off our elec bill a year and petrol prices on google map? None of Labour polices seem to help anyone that is really struggling but isn’t in receipt of UC! I’m speaking as a single mother who is trying to sell a property to move on with my life but can’t. Yes I know I’ve very fortunate to have bricks and mortar but that doesn’t mean I’m loaded (because the property isn’t worth much)! I feel like everyone is expecting the chancellor pull a rabbit out of a hat but I think we’ll all be very disappointed/pissed off!

@blossomtoes

I suppose if someone offered all you privileged people nine fivers you’d all turn them down because that amount isn’t worth having?

The government is not offering nine fivers up front. It's 12p per day which after one year will add to £45. As others have posted, by the time the £45 is accrued it will have been consumed by food inflation and higher unit rate for gas consumption.

@HelpMyBlackLabradorVotesReform

There investments people make to save money in the future. Gas is only ever going to go up in cost.

Several replies to this:

Not everyone has gas in their home.
Not everyone can afford the upfront costs.
Not every home is suitable for installation of energy saving devices.

I can't see it changing having much impact but for our holiday home where we only use gas a little bit in the summer we'll save a bit from the reduced standing charge

It's estimated that 3% of households in the Uk have a second home. Not a high number.

Healey isn't giving anyone £45. People who live in inefficient houses who need the heating on most of the day are giving £45 to people who live in efficient houses who don't need to heat them much of the day.

None of points justify why high gas users should subsidise low gas users. If you burn the gas you should pay for it.

The 45 quid was used for the purposes of the ongoing discussion.

I don’t welcome AI led depopulation, but I do agree it’s ridiculous there’s so much petty squabbling over one fairly low key policy change.

My perspective is that this is a common sense way of making the way people are charged for gas fairer - you use more, you pay more, you use less, you pay less. It may also save some people some money.

I genuinely don’t really see why the opposition are wasting time and energy objecting.

@HelpMyBlackLabradorVotesReform

People who live in inefficient houses who need the heating on most of the day are giving £45 to people who live in efficient houses who don't need to heat them much of the day

How? Are those who live in inefficient homes going to physically handover 12p per day to those who live in efficient homes?

How will the owners/tenants of inefficient homes be able to identify the homes that are considered to be energy efficient?

It’s probably more the idea that people should be grateful. I don’t see why. Perhaps they’ll say sod you it’s a paltry amount and food is going up more anyway. We’ll see soon in any case.

You’re obsessed with one word. It might be a paltry amount to you, there are people to whom it isn’t. I’m pretty comfortably off and even I don’t consider £45 paltry.

@HelpMyBlackLabradorVotesReform

If you burn the gas you should pay for it.

People do pay. It's called standing charge and meters.

Not aimed at you, but can we please cut the crap.

The UK welfare budget is currently circa GBP 334 bn, and this government are fucking around with rounding errors elsewhere.

Suggestions that posters are therefore ‘privileged’ or that they should show some ‘gratitude’ is utterly bonkers.

Not any more. It’s called paying for the amount of gas you actually use now.

But it is isn't the government giving anyone any money. They are telling the gas companies to charge some people more and some less by changing the method of billing. It is neutral to the government. It is a smart move from the Chancellor - announce something on budget day that costs you nothing but it is easy to present as saving people money.

I'm not actually sure it will save low income families much as they don't tend to invest in the the efficiency of their homes and are often at home more during the day timne and needing to use gas for heating. The correlation between income and gas use isn't particularly strong.

It's got people talking about the positioning of the deckchairs rather than the upcoming icebergs.

It's got people talking about the positioning of the deckchairs rather than the upcoming icebergs.

I agree, but the iceberg will not be avoided. Burnham is evidently banking on a ‘do nothing’ budget as part of his delaying tactics. Right now, I will take that over Reeves’s vindictive, class warfare budgets.

It’s nuts. Plus who speaks for others anyway, well off Labour supporters don’t need to do that. I’d not want to read being used to sell in a party policy on mumsnet.

On the wider public we’ll see whether the online and radio commentary matches the Labour benign posts.

Haven’t read about one thing in this budget that will help me, as a single parent and part of the squeezed middle, in this cost of living crisis! Unless they pull a rabbit out of the hat, they won’t get my vote at the next GE! All Burnham’s ‘I’m a man of the people’ is just a clever bit of PR to divert from his government’s inadequacies! I also hope to see a hike in defence spending, which will justify why Healey resigned and why we have a new PM in place. If not it proves Labour are a bunch of bullshitters, just like the previous lot!

@BIossomtoes

It’s called paying for the amount of gas you actually use now.

Which will have a higher unit cost per kilowatt hour.

Gas is about 8p/kWH. Saving 12p per day is 1,5 kWH.

An average kettle cost 7p per use. So, nothing to be saved.

"Privilege" and "gratitude" are just thread derailing devices.

Envy and entitlement are as much a problem in this country as the greed / selfishness of billionaires. Those who contribute and / or try to minimise their dependence on the state are being bled dry by both sides.

Surely if you are middle class you will benefit from the reduction of import tax on chocolate covered waffles?

@HelpMyBlackLabradorVotesReform

I'm not actually sure it will save low income families much as they don't tend to invest in the the efficiency of their homes.

Could it be that low-income families tend not to invest in the efficiency of their homes is because they can't afford to?

There is a breakeven point. If you use 12,500kWH you are better off paying a fixed standing charge with the lower variable amount. If you use less than 12,500kWH you are better off paying just the higher variable amount.

It doesn't really matter why they don't.

Not sure about billionaires but totally agree re people minimising dependence on the state. The trouble is it’s a shrinking pool. And Labour always going for those people doesn’t help with that.

@HelpMyBlackLabradorVotesReform I said I earn a middle salary.

@HelpMyBlackLabradorVotesReform

If you use less than 12,500kWH you are better off paying just the higher variable amount.

Average UK home uses between 2500-3300 kw per year. Well below 12,500kw

My parents pay 8p and 25p per kWH for gas and electricity respectively. So, a 12p per day saving equates to 1,5kw for gas or 0.5kw for electric. In practical terms that equate to :

Two more boils of a kettle, or
Two more hours of central heating

Whoopee!

A far far far more effective measure would have been to look at businesses electric standing charges. It is crippling fruit and veg production in this country.

https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/markets-and-trends/input-prices/nfu-seeks-fairer-electricity-charging-system

piddling about with £45 is irrelevant and costly. Make some real change to things that make a difference