[Politics] The Labour Government

[Bozza]

The Shadow chancellor is incredibly boring, with awful diction.

He was, but so is Reeves. Awful orators both.

Reeves needs to be very scripted, illustrated by when she was going through a list of numbers today and said "six point nought billion". "Six billion" would have sufficed.

In stark contrast is Darren Jones, currently defending things on BBC2 - bright and engaging.

 

[Weststander]

He was, but so is Reeves. Awful orators both.

Reeves needs to be very scripted, illustrated by when she was going through a list of numbers today and said "six point nought billion". "Six billion" would have sufficed.

In stark contrast is Darren Jones, currently defending things on BBC2 - bright and engaging.

Jeremy Hunt was great at these biannual events, some decent witty remarks lightening the dull numbers. Awaits nsc pile-on .

 

[Pavilionaire]

On both sides of the House there is a lot of rhetoric, playing to the gallery, the usual rabble rousing tricks. It is all so depressing.

You wonder for how long Labour are going to trot out the lines "14 years of austerity" and "the £22 billion black hole". The fact we're still hearing it is an indicator that things haven't gone to plan for them in these first 9-odd months.

The bottom line is for how long are Labour and the Tories going to ignore the numbers that 'Wrong to Leave the EU' is polling 55%, Right to Leave' is 30%, this 20%+ gap has persisted for over 2 years and Wrong has led continuously for 3 years 9 months. Even Farage openly concedes Brexit hasn't worked.

With no movement on taxes, no movement on the Brexit damage and a shitload of price increases due in April on on water, energy, National Insurance the table is set for the rest of 2025 to flatline.

Reeves proclaims Labour to be the party of change, but to me it feels like very little has changed. Indeed, I feel the next 4 years is all about waiting out Trump and waiting out Brexit, but even then with the amount of lying and misinformation going on there's no guarantee that common sense will ever prevail again.

 

[SouthSaxon]

On both sides of the House there is a lot of rhetoric, playing to the gallery, the usual rabble rousing tricks. It is all so depressing.

You wonder for how long Labour are going to trot out the lines "14 years of austerity" and "the £22 billion black hole". The fact we're still hearing it is an indicator that things haven't gone to plan for them in these first 9-odd months.

The bottom line is for how long are Labour and the Tories going to ignore the numbers that 'Wrong to Leave the EU' is polling 55%, Right to Leave' is 30%, this 20%+ gap has persisted for over 2 years and Wrong has led continuously for 3 years 9 months. Even Farage openly concedes Brexit hasn't worked.

With no movement on taxes, no movement on the Brexit damage and a shitload of price increases due in April on on water, energy, National Insurance the table is set for the rest of 2025 to flatline.

Reeves proclaims Labour to be the party of change, but to me it feels like very little has changed. Indeed, I feel the next 4 years is all about waiting out Trump and waiting out Brexit, but even then with the amount of lying and misinformation going on there's no guarantee that common sense will ever prevail again.

I’m pretty sure change is a four letter word in treasury corridors

 

[rippleman]

We have to pay our national credit card debt, which is huge.
Our debt as a country is 100% of our GDP. That means we owe more than our entire national output.
Not good. This is not party political, this is a country defining, future of UK issue.
We are borrowing 10bn a month to pay the interest on just our debt payments.
We are broke as a country.
We have zero growth as a country
We are taxing businesses more to employ people. We are taxing people who employ people more to employ people. This does not encourage businesses to employ to grow their business. Businesses are not hiring, business confidence is the lowest since 2019.
We have to get people off benefits and into work where they are productive and paying taxes, which fund our public services.
People not working do not add to a countries wealth. They add to its debt.

You have left out Sunak's failure to hedge (insure) against a rise in interest rates when he borrowed billions to pay for Covid (including significant amounts for friends and relatives for dodgy PPE contracts).

Hedging techniques for interest rate risk

A focus on Section G of the F9 study guide

www.accaglobal.com

Interest Rate Hedging – a summary introduction for borrowers and current market trends

Interest Rate Hedging – a summary introduction for borrowers and current market trends

www.irwinmitchell.com

 

[BBassic]

Reeves proclaims Labour to be the party of change, but to me it feels like very little has changed. Indeed, I feel the next 4 years is all about waiting out Trump and waiting out Brexit, but even then with the amount of lying and misinformation going on there's no guarantee that common sense will ever prevail again.

I was thinking about this earlier. It really doesn't feel like much has changed. Everything is stil expensive, everything is still getting more expensive. Life just trundles on.

I was going to say we're hearing less about Government scandals and MPs being duplicitious wankers but perhaps even that's because the news I consume in my lefty bubble just isn't reporting it

 

[dsr-burnley]

You have left out Sunak's failure to hedge (insure) against a rise in interest rates when he borrowed billions to pay for Covid (including significant amounts for friends and relatives for dodgy PPE contracts).

Hedging techniques for interest rate risk

A focus on Section G of the F9 study guide

www.accaglobal.com

Interest Rate Hedging – a summary introduction for borrowers and current market trends

Interest Rate Hedging – a summary introduction for borrowers and current market trends

www.irwinmitchell.com

Government bonds are almost always fixed rate so hedging isn't relevant.

 

[Hamilton]

Little disappointed in the lack of ambition in this government. Not that I'm about to vote conservative, lib dem or reform.

I mean, where is the tax on higher earners in the latest statement? I am fortunate to earn enough money that I am paying the top rate of tax. As well as clamping down on the burgeoning welfare bill we should be taxing wealth at the other end of the scale.

And where's the imagination? If we want to encourage those aged 16-24 into work then the tax threshold should be raised for them. Cut benefits where it makes sense, but reward and encourage work. If you are entering the workplace for the first time and you shouldn't be paying tax unless you're earning a significant amount.

For 16 - 24 year olds I'd raise the personal allowance from 12,570 to something like 20k.

There's 7 million 16-24 year olds in the UK. One million of those are not in education, training or employment.

It's estimated that 16-24 year olds contribute £50 billion in tax revenue (the 4.5% of total contributions).

A 1pm increase in tax would result in 6.5 billion in additional revenue, so there's no way we could offset this easily, but an injection of £50 billion into the economy would not only stimulate profit, it would also stimulate jobs. Yes, it could drive up inflation, but right now I'd say growth is a more important problem than inflation.

 

[Mustafa II]

Very impressed with everything this Labour government are doing under extremely difficult circumstances - and this budget is brave, bold and needs to be done.

We simply cannot afford to be a welfare state right now. We just don't have the money, especially now that we need to considerably increase our military spending.

Maybe in the future, when global politics has settled down, and the worlds' economy is in a better place, we might be able to afford to be excessively generous again.

But for now, difficult and unpopular decisions need to be made.. and that's exactly what this extremely impressive government is trying to do.

The tragedy is that many British people just don't understand that we can't just magic up money. The money needs to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, benefits have spiralled out of the control - sadly ruined by a minority taking the piss, and society becoming a bit too soft... and so our military spending has been too low, for too long - and really should be higher than will be budgeted - but we simply cannot afford any more.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Little disappointed in the lack of ambition in this government. Not that I'm about to vote conservative, lib dem or reform.

I mean, where is the tax on higher earners in the latest statement? I am fortunate to earn enough money that I am paying the top rate of tax. As well as clamping down on the burgeoning welfare bill we should be taxing wealth at the other end of the scale.

And where's the imagination? If we want to encourage those aged 16-24 into work then the tax threshold should be raised for them. Cut benefits where it makes sense, but reward and encourage work. If you are entering the workplace for the first time and you shouldn't be paying tax unless you're earning a significant amount.

For 16 - 24 year olds I'd raise the personal allowance from 12,570 to something like 20k.

There's 7 million 16-24 year olds in the UK. One million of those are not in education, training or employment.

It's estimated that 16-24 year olds contribute £50 billion in tax revenue (the 4.5% of total contributions).

A 1pm increase in tax would result in 6.5 billion in additional revenue, so there's no way we could offset this easily, but an injection of £50 billion into the economy would not only stimulate profit, it would also stimulate jobs. Yes, it could drive up inflation, but right now I'd say growth is a more important problem than inflation.

Because they stupidly tied their own hands by committing to no new taxes when trying to get in.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

On both sides of the House there is a lot of rhetoric, playing to the gallery, the usual rabble rousing tricks. It is all so depressing.

You wonder for how long Labour are going to trot out the lines "14 years of austerity" and "the £22 billion black hole". The fact we're still hearing it is an indicator that things haven't gone to plan for them in these first 9-odd months.

The bottom line is for how long are Labour and the Tories going to ignore the numbers that 'Wrong to Leave the EU' is polling 55%, Right to Leave' is 30%, this 20%+ gap has persisted for over 2 years and Wrong has led continuously for 3 years 9 months. Even Farage openly concedes Brexit hasn't worked.

With no movement on taxes, no movement on the Brexit damage and a shitload of price increases due in April on on water, energy, National Insurance the table is set for the rest of 2025 to flatline.

Reeves proclaims Labour to be the party of change, but to me it feels like very little has changed. Indeed, I feel the next 4 years is all about waiting out Trump and waiting out Brexit, but even then with the amount of lying and misinformation going on there's no guarantee that common sense will ever prevail again.

Now, if we hadn’t spent all that money extricating ourselves from Europe we just might have something like a funded NHS and a better basis for an armed relationship with them. Cameron has a lot to answer for. We were played by our own government by only getting the positives and none of the potential negatives.
We would look a right load of nuggets asking to go back and the terms would be horrendous.
What a jar of Branston.

 

[SouthSaxon]

Cameron has a lot to answer for..

I’ve long believed that smug, supercilious bastard did more damage than anyone except maybe Truss.

Austerity and Brexit - some legacy.

 

[fly high]

For 16 - 24 year olds I'd raise the personal allowance from 12,570 to something like 20k.

For 16 - 24 year olds I'd raise the personal allowance from 12,570 to something like 20k.

But they will be mega pissed off with their drop in income when they turn 25.

 

[JBizzle]

On both sides of the House there is a lot of rhetoric, playing to the gallery, the usual rabble rousing tricks. It is all so depressing.

You wonder for how long Labour are going to trot out the lines "14 years of austerity" and "the £22 billion black hole". The fact we're still hearing it is an indicator that things haven't gone to plan for them in these first 9-odd months.

True, although also because it may take a lot longer than 9 months to make a dent in repairing the last 14 years.

The bottom line is for how long are Labour and the Tories going to ignore the numbers that 'Wrong to Leave the EU' is polling 55%, Right to Leave' is 30%, this 20%+ gap has persisted for over 2 years and Wrong has led continuously for 3 years 9 months. Even Farage openly concedes Brexit hasn't worked.

Totally agree. Everyone is terrified to reopen Brexit

With no movement on taxes, no movement on the Brexit damage and a shitload of price increases due in April on on water, energy, National Insurance the table is set for the rest of 2025 to flatline.

This baffles me. Why the heck don't they take the regulators to tasks?

Reeves proclaims Labour to be the party of change, but to me it feels like very little has changed. Indeed, I feel the next 4 years is all about waiting out Trump and waiting out Brexit, but even then with the amount of lying and misinformation going on there's no guarantee that common sense will ever prevail again.

Agreed

 

[Machiavelli]

My typo

But if you are happy with the government refusing to put in protections....maybe they are the right kind of slaves so don't matter



https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ye-to-slavery-over-solar-panels-made-in-china

You're speaking of a fait accompli, that article says nothing of the sort -- the language is about being 'accused' of something that they haven't done, or that they 'must not do something'. The key part of it is as follows:

The protections were added to the government bill in the House of Lords via an amendment from the cross-bench peer David Alton, which said the new body must not spend money on solar or other materials where supply chains had “credible evidence of modern slavery”.

But Labour MPs are likely to be whipped on Tuesday to strip out the amendment, though some concessions may be forthcoming, with the government saying it was already taking action on the issue with an existing solar taskforce chaired by Ed Miliband, the energy secretary.

On Tuesday morning the housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, said he could already guarantee solar panels used by the government would not have been made by Uyghur people in China.

 

[chip]

Very impressed with everything this Labour government are doing under extremely difficult circumstances - and this budget is brave, bold and needs to be done.

We simply cannot afford to be a welfare state right now. We just don't have the money, especially now that we need to considerably increase our military spending.

Maybe in the future, when global politics has settled down, and the worlds' economy is in a better place, we might be able to afford to be excessively generous again.

But for now, difficult and unpopular decisions need to be made.. and that's exactly what this extremely impressive government is trying to do.

The tragedy is that many British people just don't understand that we can't just magic up money. The money needs to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, benefits have spiralled out of the control - sadly ruined by a minority taking the piss, and society becoming a bit too soft... and so our military spending has been too low, for too long - and really should be higher than will be budgeted - but we simply cannot afford any more.

Not sure putting an extra 250 000 people into poverty, including 50 000 children, is anything to be impressed by. Tax and/or NI should go up and more so for higher earners.

 

[Machiavelli]

Little disappointed in the lack of ambition in this government. Not that I'm about to vote conservative, lib dem or reform.

I mean, where is the tax on higher earners in the latest statement? I am fortunate to earn enough money that I am paying the top rate of tax. As well as clamping down on the burgeoning welfare bill we should be taxing wealth at the other end of the scale.

And where's the imagination? If we want to encourage those aged 16-24 into work then the tax threshold should be raised for them. Cut benefits where it makes sense, but reward and encourage work. If you are entering the workplace for the first time and you shouldn't be paying tax unless you're earning a significant amount.

For 16 - 24 year olds I'd raise the personal allowance from 12,570 to something like 20k.

There's 7 million 16-24 year olds in the UK. One million of those are not in education, training or employment.

It's estimated that 16-24 year olds contribute £50 billion in tax revenue (the 4.5% of total contributions).

A 1pm increase in tax would result in 6.5 billion in additional revenue, so there's no way we could offset this easily, but an injection of £50 billion into the economy would not only stimulate profit, it would also stimulate jobs. Yes, it could drive up inflation, but right now I'd say growth is a more important problem than inflation.

Rather than this, I think RR would be far better placed in reversing the employers NI rise, which will lead to more recruitment.
That's the easy bit though. It'd require one or some combination of the following: raising other taxes; cutting spending; or shifting the deficit/debt requirements.

 

[Mustafa II]

Not sure putting an extra 250 000 people into poverty, including 50 000 children, is anything to be impressed by. Tax and/or NI should go up and more so for higher earners.

NI already has gone up. Can working people really afford even more tax increases? I would say, mostly no, they can't.

I do agree with your view that they could be looking to raise more tax, but I'm not sure taxing high earners is the way to go either - as we need to attract the best people to the country at this critical time.

It's sad that we are in such a position that we have to make life difficult for people - but I'm sure many of the of the 250,000 you are alleging will fall into poverty, will find jobs and be better off for it overall.

 

[Weststander]

Regarding young adults and perhaps older, imho the key is proper vocational training (not faux apprenticeships) in skilled trades and professions. The German model.

In the medium to long term this would solve the lack of labour in the construction sector, also create new entrepreneurs that would help exports in certain sectors eg engineering.

High paid jobs once trained up.

In the short term we should allow skilled individuals in to the UK on special visas, without the daft punitive fee. Very much needed to kickstart the new homes vision.

 

[mile oak]

I dread to think what these LIEbour loonies will do next to destroy the economy and country. It's aonder no one stood up and smacked that two tier Kier sometimes you simply cannot reason with idiots spouting trash like him. Anyone else think the budget speech was dragged out unnecessarily long?