Off Topic Starmer/ Reeves: last man standing

You live in an imaginary internet world of buzz words I'm afraid. All I've done for you is present basic, economic facts. Which, by the way, all the world must adhere to.

 

The facts are money has gone upwards and it needs pulling back down. Prove my imaginative thinking wrong.

 

I've always been Labour and I'm a party member. Always thought it would get worse before it got better but it's becoming a bit ridiculous now.

The promise not to increase taxes was a stupid pledge to make, but going after pensions might be the final straw in my membership. People have worked bloody hard to build up a pension pot to support them when they retire. If they bring in this £2k max contribution before having to pay national insurance I'll be stopping my pension contributions and sticking the equivalent in an ISA or something similar.

 

Lifelong Labour voter here also 40+ years. First the WFA, then mandatory digital id to spy on innocent members of the public, now this. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. Starmer is handing the keys to power to the vile Farage on a plate.

 

A big part of having to raise taxes is the welfare benefits cost, which is rising steeply. Starmer/Reeves chickened out when Labour MPs refused to back it. The fowl is coming home to roost.

Other countries are in a similar fix. You get elected by giving benefits away, you get voted out by taking them away.

France has a bigger problem than the UK with its state pension benefits... which it can't afford.

Perhaps if Starmer said back the welfare cuts, or I will call a general election?

Atm f agash/deform would walk a GE and a lot of labour MPs would lose their seats

 

Looks like Starmer could face a challenge in two weeks when the budget is released...

BBC News - Starmer will fight attempts to replace him, allies say
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y0z2q2g2ro

Those names being discussed by Labour MPs as potential candidates to displace Sir Keir include some of his closest cabinet allies, especially Wes Streeting, the health secretary, and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

Some also speculate about the ambitions of Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, and backbenchers including the former transport secretary Louise Haigh.

 

Was reading that. I dont think they will wait for the local elections in May, unless he really steps up. He needs a really big moment or two. I dont see the budget being his friend though.

He is now, according to some, the most unpopular PM since opinion polls were started. If his chancellor does somsthing like take away NI allowance on pension contributions I can see the party moving. It would be a horrible policy that would again cost businesses in a big way. At a time when unemployment has reached a 5 year high, which I daresay is down to Labour policies on NI, it would be a difficult policy to defend.

All that said, if the alternative is Streeting I am not sure what the Labour MPs really hope to achieve

 

Yeah, they said on the bbc that the NI allowance is rippling through now, affecting jobs, 170,000 down. Cannot see any real leaders lined up so probably a false flag. However, it's a chip away at Starmers standing. He desperately needs to deliver something.

 

He does need to deliver!

 

According to Barry Gardiner on Newsnight, this is NO. 10 attacking Streeting... not an attack on Starmer but his team getting rid of an old Blairite Streeting.

 

This budget is going to be a humdinger mind. Seems obvious we need higher taxes and / or spending cuts just to live as we are, but now apparently the two child benefit cap could be lifted and the WASPI decision on compensation is to be reconsidered. I'm no economist but it just doesn't add up.

 

The tax rises are not going to keep the economy partly afloat.They will do the opposite in the medium term. The markets are demanding rises or cuts to spending

I'll repeat the ugly figure: UK borrowed £150bn last year. Over £100bn if that was gobbled up on interest on previous debts alone.

Think about that. It's as if you were borrowing money to live on, but most of it was going on the interest on the money you borrowed before .

Clearly not tenable. Tax rises will make it worse, as people will spend less. Many small firms will bite the dust. Then more tax rises will be needed . It has all happened before.

Sooner or later, the state will have to be reduced in size. Either government does it, or the markets will do it.

It has been growing at an unsustainable rate for nearly twenty five years, so there will be a lot of fat to trim.

 

I dont believe any govt will do what is necessary. It will cost them power. Their only interest is to win power or retain it.

An overhaul of public services is needed. I dare say if I posted what I thought should be done there would be reactions on this little thread that demonstrate why politicians wont make the right decisions.

 

Didn't the tories get us to believe austerity was required for 5 years or so? Where's labour going wrong? What's labour going to do? I wait with baited breath.

 

Finally, might be getting through to a few ministers, well done to health secretary for cutting middle management type jobs, he needs to tell doctors you want payrises we want prod improvements
Now the rest of the civil service

 

I agree with you there mate, one problem though, there’s a difference between “ for cutting “ and “ cutting “ I don’t believe anyone has been cut yet has there?

 

It's certainly not easy, the subject is not covered properly at all. News coverage is infantile, lacks depth and as we have seen recently, is not at all certain to be presented accurately.

That said, the money is running out, and history tells us quite clearly what will happen.

A lot of things are wrong, it is not just the bloated size of the state. Five percent unemployment sounds bad but it is much worse. The effective end of face to face interviews has seen those not working and living on welfare explode.

The insane destruction of good jobs by an insane energy policy. ( Nissan will close inside ten years unless this is reversed). Many others are going or will go

Not to mention the toadying up to China, who promised almost nothing and take everything through aggressive state subsidies. And now Hermer has openly abused the US.

Not going to be pretty unless radical change is implemented. Very quickly.

 

Reading an article yesterday, he is negotiating with treasury where to get redundancy money from, then can start cuts, but as you say are the cuts actually removing roles that are not required or is it another form of austerity and just getting rid of anyone who want to go including skills still needed

 

All anyone ever says is just tinkering. Just looking for a headline.

The language around the subject is infantile as well as the news coverage. Since 2010, public spending has soared to the current levels, and was soaring even without the COVID explosion . But all you hear are "cuts!" , or " austerity!" and this from so called "journalists."

High spending and austerity are mutually exclusive terms.

Depending on how you look at the descriptions, there are around 500 QUANGOs. They consume around £400bn every year. Very little oversight if any is applied to them, and the idea of redundancies from them is as rare as a living dodo. And when they happen, the individuals usually pop up in another.

Many of them were founded to avoid a government of the day from doing something. But they are almost all still there, and they grow like a virus on a dish.

And it is not just the financial black hole they make. These bureaucracies tie businesses, individuals and commerce up in a giant morass of overlapping regulations, often designed for the sole purpose of having something to police. They are like Japanese knotweed. Planning is a very good example of this but there are umpteen others.

A determined review and cull of many is required, and an instruction for each of them to get by on less each year for a full parliament, I'd say maybe 3%, should be given. Some would remain, many would not.

That's what needs to happen. But the results and benefits come in some ten years after, so they don't do it. They all do what Starmer has done, create more QUANGOs. Almost thirty new ones have been created since they came to power. More on the way