Council workers have had 15 years of austerity below inflation pay rises under the Tories. Prior to that council workers had their pensions cut and their retirement age to get their pensions extended. About time they got a decent pay rise.
To be honest mate, I want our bins emptied and our streets cleaned, I've seen what they get paid and it's not alot for doing such a shhite job, especially when you consider how much people get paid just for sitting on their arse at home or in an office all day.
i sat on my arse in an office all day , except when travelling to other sites , and deserved every ****ing penny some days
I worked in Local Government for 14 yrs a while ago and the situation was bad then and I imagine even worse now because instead of paying and looking after the people that actually do the work they employed swathes of Middle Management (for want of a better description) to prove that they could justify the year by year increases in Council Tax and the steadily decreasing level of service they provided I think the point Diego was making is that Councils appear to be spending far too much on trying to prove they do what they are paid to do rather actually doing what they are paid to do
Yeah you are right, too many middle managers employed who are not needed, much like the NHS, leave the staff to get on with their job, and stop spending out on cost cutting exercises that end up costing more in money and lives in the longer term. Labour are right about one thing, it's going to take a decade to put everything right. The only bit I'm currently disappointed with is let's be hitting the people at the top and the greedy corporates as was banged on about when the Tories were in power, rather than looking at those further down the ladder! Otherwise as is being currently said, they will just be another Tory party flying different colours. I'm prepared to look past the winter allowance but too much of that and then it will be clear it's the same trough with a different party feeding out of it. The glasses for passes is not a good look either, when Kier previously spoke about cronyism and promised this sort of shhite wouldn't happen under his watch. I don't care if it was only a pass, you're promised to set the new standards of behaviour, get on with setting them.
I'm watching this with interest. They need time to sort it, but in their manifesto they said that they were going to close loads of tax loopholes that the rich exploit and end non dom status and other 'tax perks' that the rich use to avoid paying their fair share. As for the winter fuel allowance, I actually think it should only be for those on pension credit or other benefits, rather than a blanker benefit for all pension age people. My old dear gets it and she doesn't need it at all, she's comfortably off and just sticks the money in the bank and there are thousands like her. I think it's far smarter to target benefits to people who actually need it.
Yeah let me know when it happens lol I don't disagree about who the winter fuel allowance should be for, that's not my point nor has it been at any point, except for bantz. My point is Labour have gone and done what the tories do, instead of starting at the top, start lower down the ladder. Not forgetting this is the same Labour party, the same Starmer that were ready to bury the Tories for suggesting meddling in it. You for one without a doubt would have kicked off if this had been done by the Tories. It don't matter to me one iota but it's the principle of the thing, whether red or blue they are as bad as one another, shhite on the poor and look after the wealthy, except anyone that is a pensioner and might have a few bob more than some. We all know what's coming next, another ploy used by the Tories, let's start blaming those on benefits lol. So much for going after the corporates....oh yeah I forget it takes time, taking people for fooking mugs that's what is and it works everytime.
I'm keeping my eye on their pledges to cut the tax loopholes for the wealthy. But ultimately, Starmer is just another cog in the corporate machine. Like I say, I get why they've ended that blanket WFA benefit. Fiscally it makes sense, from a PR perspective it's a disaster, because it just looks like they are going after old people. And then it spawns the kind of ******ed memes you see from the Take back are ****ry lot ..... Starmer would rather let a load of immigrants nick your houses than pay for your Granny's heating etc.
I think after the fire in Dagenham last night and another in London today in tower blocks I think cladding is going to pop up it's ugly head again, another problem from the Tories that's going to get dumped in Labour's lap, only knows where he's going to find the money to sort that - unless they dump the cost on home owners, but doubt many of them can afford it. Bad as all that cheap housing up in Aberdeen that's going to be bulldozed and any owners are only going to get something like 60% of the value in some cases.
Banning smoking and vaping in more areas, good. I'd really like to see them go after the tobacco companies more, make them pay much higher taxes on their profits, make the business completely worthless.
What’s good about it? Will cost pubs and they’re welcome to ban smoking in their gardens if they choose to. Comes across as all a bit nanny state. Banning outside sports grounds. Good luck with that.
Yeah I'm with you on this one. I gave up smoking 4-5 years ago now, and I don't vape because it's just not for me, but all this nanny state stuff makes me want to have a cig now, just to see who I can piss off for the day. If it ever gets banned completely and I wanted a smoke I'd happily turn to the black market. Also it would throw a spanner in the works for cannabis, while other countries are happily making it legal.
Good source of relatively uncontentious tax revenue, tobacco is. Not sure why you'd want to choke that off tbh.
Exactly mate. No one works down coal mines anymore, so we can't count on that to kill em off in early retirement...
Obesity is the biggest killer in the UK now I believe. Can't wait for them to start imposing restrictions on all this junk food, and when people complain, well you allowed them get away with being a nanny state over smoking, it's the green light to do whatever they want to do now.
My bonus largely relies on this country being full of fat ****s with no knowledge of nutrition so preferably not. It’s usually tax as the solution. I’d like them to subsidise good things instead. The argument is that eating healthily is expensive which isn’t necessarily true but does require more ability than lobbing a pizza in the oven or ordering a Maccies on Deliveroo. Make it cheap to have chicken and veg. Incentivise people to get steps in and be active in some way. Not everyone will just as millions still smoke and get pissed regularly but constantly punishing bad behaviour clearly isn’t very effective so try something else.
