I always assumed that, in the (relatively) short term, Brexit would have a negative effect on The Economy. But the Europe I'd voted to join in the first Referenda had morphed into something I didn't recognise, and would never have voted for had I known how it would be changed from an Economic Union to a Political Union. Covid has seriously muddied the waters, as has The War in Ukraine, and it seems impossible, to me, to judge where we might have been without either event. (I assumed that it might take up to ten years to reverse the economic effects of Brexit.)
I was sat watching Reeves and after 2 mins the tv channel turned her off and went back to the studio.
Its farcical, and on-going, you would think they would learn from their mistakes, then again maybe not.
I cant argue with any of that, your point about short term negative effects is correct imo. I didn't expect anything else and found that perfectly acceptable. But the benefits were supposed to be enormous, not to mention the £350m a week savings Boris claimed. Other European countries have been equally affected by Covid and Putin but are generally doing as well if not better than us. If Brexit was such a hugely positive thing you'd think we'd be seeing some benefits by now. I can't see anything financially and the USP of 'controlling our borders' has become a joke. Now it seems we have years of austerity ahead of us.
On the face of it, the budget looks reasonable. The threshhold for the top rate tax reduced to £125k feels very anti conservative. The increase in the windfall tax is also positive. I'm content to pay my share in what's been outlined in the freezing of the income tax threshold and the country can't go on subsidising energy bills forever so it makes sense to strip that back a bit in April. Increasing tax on "green" energy and taxing electric vehicles feels like a backwards step though. There's very little about growth and long term solutions. I've no problem with "taking our medicine" but it's a bit harder to swallow when the same party asked us to do this a decade ago and it hasn't been a successful approach. I want to see the balance. I want to see the plans for growth. And I want to see the actual growth, not the bluster that is never delivered.
Indeed. I wonder what the economic damage would have been following Labour's suggestion of locking down earlier and harder for longer. Still, that would have been an uncontrollable global issue I suppose.
Did Labour suggest that as a single coherent strategy? Or are you fusing two discussions together to exaggerate a point? Are there countries who locked down earlier or harder who are suffering much worse than our economy right now as a result of those actions?
Nope. Consistently wanted to go in earlier and come out later. See Wales. Which is fine as an approach in itself, but the economic damage would obviously have been greater because you're shutting the economy down for longer.
I found the budget quite reasonable if I am honest. Quite a balanced economic package I think. Pleased to see at least some investment in education and care, and protection for vulnerable. I dont mind paying my way more at all. Personally think the conservatives are getting back to the day job at last. First few weeks of Sunak are encouraging. Hopefully we get a year of all parties pushing hard on policy, and not on name calling, so we taxpayers can see some greater light at the end of this tunnel.
Like them or loathe them, there is at least some competence involved now. Far from perfect, but a marked improvement.
I always thought we would have to pay a heavy price for Covid, things like furlough payments, eat out to help out, finding a vaccine and jabbing the nation, paying for premises for covid centres, and the huge extra pressure on our NHS system all came at a cost. Whoever was in power would of faced the same problems. Mistakes made by the incumbent Government (Tories) was not realising they would be dealing with the EU over Brixit with the EU throwing their toy out the pram. Too follow that the election of a completely unfit leader to run the country because Sunak wanted power by stabbing Johnson in the back.
They have made some mistakes, but I would be surprised if the majority of the challenge isnt down to Covid costs, Russian driven costs, Brexit associated shenanigans. Those things have enormous price tags, surely. Truss experiement will be next on the list I should imagine.
All things that a government is there to deal with FellTop. I used to joke with my staff and say I don't want to hear what the problem is, I want to hear what you are going to do to fix it. As far as I can see Hunt did what he promised to do, he raised income tax and cut services, but if we are all in it together it appears to me that wealth taxes are conspicuous by their absence.
