He must have known what the OBR had said in September, that the increase in the shortfall from productivity was going to be almost entirely (actually it turned out more than 100%) offset by higher taxes caused by inflation. So he was dishonest. Much more seriously, he and his woeful Chancellor let speculation of £20bn of immediate taxes run rampant for weeks paralysing the economy and investment decisions and destroying the housing market. They are both an utter disgrace, not only playing politics with our economy but playing it so badly they have emptied a double barrelled Shotgun at their own feet.
Not to indulge in whataboutery (which I never would) but I recall the Conservatives fighting and pretty much winning the 2010 general election on the highly dubious (being kind) assertion that the UK was becoming like Greece. That was as broadly accurate in relation to the finances as it would have been about the weather.
I completely disagree. We were in at least as bad a situation as Greece in 2010. Fortunately we had more room for manoeuvre because we had never joined the Euro but we had a catastrophic structural deficit caused by the collapse in Financial Services tax revenues as well as a series of policies destined to drive public spending ever higher. If anything, I think the Tories understated the risks we were facing.
In contrast, I would agree that Sunak and Hunt really should have done far more to consolidate our accounts and reduce our deficit in the last Parliament. The criticism that difficult decisions were being deferred and the CSR was dodged (just as Brown had done in 2009) was entirely valid. Unfortunately, after this week they are still being deferred.
The Greek debt and deficit was far worse than ours though.
JUST IN: Judge Boasberg gives Trump admin one week to file affidavits from all officials involved in decision to carry out Alien Enemies Act deportation to El Salvador despite Boasberg's order to turn the planes around. 'Contempt prosecution' could follow
JUST IN: Judge Boasberg gives Trump admin one week to file affidavits from all officials involved in decision to carry out Alien Enemies Act deportation to El Salvador despite Boasberg's order to turn the planes around. 'Contempt prosecution' could follow
If a few of the little guys 'just following orders' get done then it may make the rest of the administration who are not Trump think about what they are prepared to do.
Ordinary people are noticing that taxes on working people are rising to pay for the lazy and feckless to sit at home.
The Tories need to really have a welfare reform plan and start to put together £100bn welfare cuts plan. We can no longer allow people to sit on their fat arses and do nothing, they're sucking the lifeblood out of the country.
Ordinary people are noticing that taxes on working people are rising to pay for the lazy and feckless to sit at home.
The Tories need to really have a welfare reform plan and start to put together £100bn welfare cuts plan. We can no longer allow people to sit on their fat arses and do nothing, they're sucking the lifeblood out of the country.
They're not doing nothing. They're producing thousands of kids who will become the next feckless generation. And on it goes.
He must have known what the OBR had said in September, that the increase in the shortfall from productivity was going to be almost entirely (actually it turned out more than 100%) offset by higher taxes caused by inflation. So he was dishonest. Much more seriously, he and his woeful Chancellor let speculation of £20bn of immediate taxes run rampant for weeks paralysing the economy and investment decisions and destroying the housing market. They are both an utter disgrace, not only playing politics with our economy but playing it so badly they have emptied a double barrelled Shotgun at their own feet.
Not to indulge in whataboutery (which I never would) but I recall the Conservatives fighting and pretty much winning the 2010 general election on the highly dubious (being kind) assertion that the UK was becoming like Greece. That was as broadly accurate in relation to the finances as it would have been about the weather.
I completely disagree. We were in at least as bad a situation as Greece in 2010. Fortunately we had more room for manoeuvre because we had never joined the Euro but we had a catastrophic structural deficit caused by the collapse in Financial Services tax revenues as well as a series of policies destined to drive public spending ever higher. If anything, I think the Tories understated the risks we were facing.
In contrast, I would agree that Sunak and Hunt really should have done far more to consolidate our accounts and reduce our deficit in the last Parliament. The criticism that difficult decisions were being deferred and the CSR was dodged (just as Brown had done in 2009) was entirely valid. Unfortunately, after this week they are still being deferred.
The Greek debt and deficit was far worse than ours though.
The bond markets got nervous during the negotiations for the Coalition. They were worried that the resulting government wouldn’t be able to deal with the deficit.
At 8-10% the rakes progress gets real rapid, real fast.
JUST IN: Judge Boasberg gives Trump admin one week to file affidavits from all officials involved in decision to carry out Alien Enemies Act deportation to El Salvador despite Boasberg's order to turn the planes around. 'Contempt prosecution' could follow
If a few of the little guys 'just following orders' get done then it may make the rest of the administration who are not Trump think about what they are prepared to do.
It would appear to the lay observer that Noem directly disobeyed the judge and Hegseth ordered a war crime
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age welfare benefits are now larger than pensions and are projected to be substantially larger at the end of the cycle. Labour are raising taxes on working people to pay the lazy and feckless and working people are fed up.
He must have known what the OBR had said in September, that the increase in the shortfall from productivity was going to be almost entirely (actually it turned out more than 100%) offset by higher taxes caused by inflation. So he was dishonest. Much more seriously, he and his woeful Chancellor let speculation of £20bn of immediate taxes run rampant for weeks paralysing the economy and investment decisions and destroying the housing market. They are both an utter disgrace, not only playing politics with our economy but playing it so badly they have emptied a double barrelled Shotgun at their own feet.
Not to indulge in whataboutery (which I never would) but I recall the Conservatives fighting and pretty much winning the 2010 general election on the highly dubious (being kind) assertion that the UK was becoming like Greece. That was as broadly accurate in relation to the finances as it would have been about the weather.
I completely disagree. We were in at least as bad a situation as Greece in 2010. Fortunately we had more room for manoeuvre because we had never joined the Euro but we had a catastrophic structural deficit caused by the collapse in Financial Services tax revenues as well as a series of policies destined to drive public spending ever higher. If anything, I think the Tories understated the risks we were facing.
In contrast, I would agree that Sunak and Hunt really should have done far more to consolidate our accounts and reduce our deficit in the last Parliament. The criticism that difficult decisions were being deferred and the CSR was dodged (just as Brown had done in 2009) was entirely valid. Unfortunately, after this week they are still being deferred.
The Greek debt and deficit was far worse than ours though.
The bond markets got nervous during the negotiations for the Coalition. They were worried that the resulting government wouldn’t be able to deal with the deficit.
At 8-10% the rakes progress gets real rapid, real fast.
Yes it was a crisis. But the Greek one was of a higher order.
I've seen this clip and variations shared across a lot of Instagram accounts. Labour's tax rises have shot to the top of my Instagram index measure. Ordinary people are talking about it and Rishi is getting a lot of love in all the comments sections.
The Tory party has been handed a huge lifeline. The nation is calling out for spending cuts on welfare, they must deliver a credible sounding plan to cut working age welfare.
I know I should be covering the budget but my brain is mush tonight.
No probs, TSE, I'll do it. Just quickly though. The 2 child benefit cap lifted. Headroom restored and doubled. Funded by extending the freeze on the personal allowance plus various bits and pieces. Markets happy, Labour MPs happy, SKS and Rachel Reeves therefore happy. Tories also happy (except Robert Jenrick) because Kemi Badenoch used her reply to audition for Mean Girls and kind of pulled it off.
And Sir Mellow Stride credibly accused Reeves of misleading the markets (and everyone else) about the unpublished OBR guidance, pre-budget.
He's developing signs of a public persona.
He's the sort of tory I'd be pleased to see prosper (within reason).
Pet Tory.
Yes, sort of. Although not quite as popular with my type as David Gauke. The great David Gauke. There are opposite equivalents, Labour MPs beloved of Tories. Frank Field was maybe the best example of that.
Shabana Mahmoud. Lord Glassman. I like Sharon Graham too.
Oh gosh yes, Lord Glassman. Why do you wish Sharon Graham was PM?
I don't wish she was PM, I do think she's one of the very few impressive and compelling figures I've seen on the Labour side.
Those figures have realised that a limit on the sort of pernicious progressivism must somehow be found, or all Labour stands for is progressive (in all senses) societal and economic breakdown.
Really? Sharon Graham? I haven't heard her railing against progressivism. Do you have an example of it to point me to?
Nobody said anybody had railed. It is a quiet understanding. Sharon Graham has criticised the Net Zero agenda and suggested that the Government should pursue cheap energy. Her actual idea is for the Government to be a major economic player, and to protect British industries - it's very old Labour and I don't agree with it. But it's at least an acknowledgement that the current settlement is eliminating her members' livelihoods.
The progressive perspective on the other hand is that there is no British industry they are prepared to defend, that indeed the notion of industry departing for China and India brings something of a warm fuzzy feeling. That's essentially destructive - ultimately self destructive.
megan kenyon @meganekenyon NEW: Your Party announces name options to be voted on by members this weekend with decision to be announced by Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday afternoon. They are: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, and For The Many.
Note Sultana’s preference - The Left Party - has not made the cut
megan kenyon @meganekenyon NEW: Your Party announces name options to be voted on by members this weekend with decision to be announced by Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday afternoon. They are: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, and For The Many.
Note Sultana’s preference - The Left Party - has not made the cut
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Steady on there. Sunak wasn't competent, he was crap. The fact that he was better than Starmer by a country mile doesn't mean he suddenly deserves glowing reviews.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age welfare benefits are now larger than pensions and are projected to be substantially larger at the end of the cycle. Labour are raising taxes on working people to pay the lazy and feckless and working people are fed up.
Quite a lot of the people on working age benefits will be working hard, they just don't get paid much.
Where are your numbers from? DWP has following for 25/26 - 55% of welfare bill on pensioners "Social security spending in Great Britain In 2025 to 2026 the government is forecast to spend £316.1 billion on the social security system in Great Britain. Total GB welfare spending is forecast to be 10.6% of GDP and 23.5% of the total amount the government spends in 2025 to 2026. Around 55% of social security expenditure goes to pensioners; in 2025 to 2026 we will spend £174.9 billion on benefits for pensioners in GB. This includes spending on the State Pension which is forecast to be £145.6 billion in 2025 to 2026."
Number of pensioners is increasing and the triple lock means that state pension will increase by at least inflation, no such guarantee for working age benefits. So it doesn't seem likely that working age benefits will overtake pensioner benefits in the next few years.
There's a lot of angry denial on here, the Conservatives were voted out because they were (very*) shit at governing, if the Conservatives were voted back in now they would be approaching Truss levels of incompetence.
Labour have been in for a year, it's tpo early for policy changes to have had much effect.*
*Truss^2, Johnson
*Or are you terrified that given time they'll have a positive effect?
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
megan kenyon @meganekenyon NEW: Your Party announces name options to be voted on by members this weekend with decision to be announced by Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday afternoon. They are: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, and For The Many.
Note Sultana’s preference - The Left Party - has not made the cut
Your Party or the Popular Alliance I’d put as the two more likely.
I've seen this clip and variations shared across a lot of Instagram accounts. Labour's tax rises have shot to the top of my Instagram index measure. Ordinary people are talking about it and Rishi is getting a lot of love in all the comments sections.
The Tory party has been handed a huge lifeline. The nation is calling out for spending cuts on welfare, they must deliver a credible sounding plan to cut working age welfare.
They had better or the political equilibrium of the UK will be overturned. The political classes are miles behind the voters. Loads of union flags on the lamp posts on my drive out of Middlesbrough. Where did that come from? Labour shellacked in a by election in Hetton le Hole this week by Reform. (Hetton is quintessential Co Durham pit village). Labour is, according to one if its own MPs, now the party for "graduates, welfare claimants, and immigrants" which is another way of saying they are stuffed. Kemi getting her mojo going is now the only thing standing between us and a far right government.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age welfare benefits are now larger than pensions and are projected to be substantially larger at the end of the cycle. Labour are raising taxes on working people to pay the lazy and feckless and working people are fed up.
Working age benefits are available to people in work. Presumably those workers are lazy and fecklless
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age welfare benefits are now larger than pensions and are projected to be substantially larger at the end of the cycle. Labour are raising taxes on working people to pay the lazy and feckless and working people are fed up.
Quite a lot of the people on working age benefits will be working hard, they just don't get paid much.
Where are your numbers from? DWP has following for 25/26 - 55% of welfare bill on pensioners "Social security spending in Great Britain In 2025 to 2026 the government is forecast to spend £316.1 billion on the social security system in Great Britain. Total GB welfare spending is forecast to be 10.6% of GDP and 23.5% of the total amount the government spends in 2025 to 2026. Around 55% of social security expenditure goes to pensioners; in 2025 to 2026 we will spend £174.9 billion on benefits for pensioners in GB. This includes spending on the State Pension which is forecast to be £145.6 billion in 2025 to 2026."
Number of pensioners is increasing and the triple lock means that state pension will increase by at least inflation, no such guarantee for working age benefits. So it doesn't seem likely that working age benefits will overtake pensioner benefits in the next few years.
There's a lot of angry denial on here, the Conservatives were voted out because they were (very*) shit at governing, if the Conservatives were voted back in now they would be approaching Truss levels of incompetence.
Labour have been in for a year, it's tpo early for policy changes to have had much effect.*
*Truss^2, Johnson
*Or are you terrified that given time they'll have a positive effect?
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Steady on there. Sunak wasn't competent, he was crap. The fact that he was better than Starmer by a country mile doesn't mean he suddenly deserves glowing reviews.
If only someone on PB had forseen how crap SKS was going to be!
megan kenyon @meganekenyon NEW: Your Party announces name options to be voted on by members this weekend with decision to be announced by Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday afternoon. They are: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, and For The Many.
Note Sultana’s preference - The Left Party - has not made the cut
They should have gone for something with raising in the title because of the potential for puns.
The far left independent Preston councillor Michael Lavalette --- YourParty has 50K sign ups for membership.
So tiny compared to the Greens then?
Yep. It would seem so.
I think in the end we will see Corbyn and a handful of others do a local deal with Greens not to stand against them and that will be it.
Sultana will lose Coventry.
50K membership was a couple of weeks ago. The Greens have shot up to IIRC 120K. Labour is on about 100K and the Tories less (not sure they publish it?), LibDems I think 60K or so? The figures all have limited links to actual polling levels, but reflect an influx of cash and enthusiasts, especially for newer parties - lots of older members of established parties don't like to stop being members but don't do anything else.
50K isn't a bad start, though the huge hiccup at the beginning meant they missed the chance of getting 100K+ right away.
megan kenyon @meganekenyon NEW: Your Party announces name options to be voted on by members this weekend with decision to be announced by Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday afternoon. They are: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, and For The Many.
Note Sultana’s preference - The Left Party - has not made the cut
Your Party or the Popular Alliance I’d put as the two more likely.
They both feel like names put forward by people who learned politics by watching Borgen.
megan kenyon @meganekenyon NEW: Your Party announces name options to be voted on by members this weekend with decision to be announced by Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday afternoon. They are: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, and For The Many.
Note Sultana’s preference - The Left Party - has not made the cut
Your Party or the Popular Alliance I’d put as the two more likely.
They both feel like names put forward by people who learned politics by watching Borgen.
Anecdatal... but yesterday evening they were talking about Kemi's blistering response to Racheal down at my local pub.
Cut through?
The Tories are absolutely on the right side of the argument when it comes to taxing workers to pay more welfare. The public doesn't support it and the Tories have to now press their advantage by pledging to reintroduce the 2 child benefit cap and creating a new policy of maximum benefits claimable by a single family. There's families out there who receive welfare which would require a gross salary in excess of £80k and that is not a safety net, it's a lifestyle.
This is the wedge issue that can catapult the Tories back into a firm second and make them visible again.
I’m just in a cab back from the pub. I mentioned Kemi’s HofC performance and both the mates I was with said they’d never seen anything like it, they loved it. Reform inclined for sure, but not at all politically engaged. They just want someone telling it like it is. No woke nonsense. We are at the stage where a black woman is the best vehicle for that.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
The statement is just incorrect, 55% of the benefit bill goes to pensioners and given the demographics it's unlikely to change much.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
That may well be true. And it is also likely true that scrapping the two-child limit will do a lot to alleviate child poverty.
Unfortunately it is also true that WWC voters associate it with helping the improvident and immigrants. Scrapping the limit has the makings of a political disaster. Labour MPs are completely out of touch with the red wall. Voters won't tolerate paying more tax to support welfare recipients during a cost of living crisis.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
That may well be true. And it is also likely true that scrapping the two-child limit will do a lot to alleviate child poverty.
Unfortunately it is also true that WWC voters associate it with helping the improvident and immigrants. Scrapping the limit has the makings of a political disaster. Labour MPs are completely out of touch with the red wall. Voters won't tolerate paying more tax to support welfare recipients during a cost of living crisis.
They knew the electorate were in the mood to reward parties who could blame a group in society for everything and make voters feel better through a bit of cathartic them-and-us action. It happens from time to time in most nations’ histories.
The trouble was, Reform had already bagged the anti-foreigner brand. Copying them just wasn’t getting them anywhere. Nor was the anti-elite thing. That just lost them votes to the Lib Dems.
But then they remembered: how about something a bit more traditional Tory? Going after welfare claimants instead. Strivers vs skivers. Proper trad 1980s and 90s party conference material. And it seems to be working.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Steady on there. Sunak wasn't competent, he was crap. The fact that he was better than Starmer by a country mile doesn't mean he suddenly deserves glowing reviews.
If only someone on PB had forseen how crap SKS was going to be!
Shall we squabble about who it was?!
To be fair, I didn’t predict he would be a bad PM, I said he would never beat Boris in a contest because the public would never warm to him. I think I was right, the public never did and never have, but he became PM by virtue of a walkover, which I just didn’t factor in as a possibility
Lives alone in six bedroom Kensington home, bought for £4k in 1970 and now worth £4m. Lots of expensive antiques and £30k income. Pleading poverty.
Cherry on the cake is that she is a lifelong Labour voter.
If you look at an income distribution from GE'24, the highest incomes are most likely to vote Labour. I appreciate that income != housing wealth, and Labour voters weren't likely to be pensioners, but there is definitely a significant chunk of Labour voters that will be concerned about this kind of thing.
What I'd love to see is some polling of Universal Credit claimants. I would not be surprised at all if Labour aren't doing particularly well there. If we use social housing as a proxy, Reform will be doing pretty well and it'd telling that Farage came out in favour of ditching the two-child limit.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
That may well be true. And it is also likely true that scrapping the two-child limit will do a lot to alleviate child poverty.
Unfortunately it is also true that WWC voters associate it with helping the improvident and immigrants. Scrapping the limit has the makings of a political disaster. Labour MPs are completely out of touch with the red wall. Voters won't tolerate paying more tax to support welfare recipients during a cost of living crisis.
The fabled red wall has a lot to answer for.
Seeing as over 60% in the polling after the budget oppose the measure it is far more than just the mythical red wall, getting its usual kicking here.
Also,when you have stories like the ones in the Mirror of a single mother with three kids pulling in just over 6 grand a month already it is no wonder people question it.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Steady on there. Sunak wasn't competent, he was crap. The fact that he was better than Starmer by a country mile doesn't mean he suddenly deserves glowing reviews.
If only someone on PB had forseen how crap SKS was going to be!
Shall we squabble about who it was?!
To be fair, I didn’t predict he would be a bad PM, I said he would never beat Boris in a contest because the public would never warm to him. I think I was right, the public never did and never have, but he became PM by virtue of a walkover, which I just didn’t factor in as a possibility
If I’m honest I thought he’d be miles better than Sunak. I thought we’d get dull competence from him and Reeves whereas we’ve got dull incompetence.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
The statement is just incorrect, 55% of the benefit bill goes to pensioners and given the demographics it's unlikely to change much.
The state pension is classed as a benefit. Despite the fact that it is an insurance based thing you have allegedly paid in for. And "not in work" tends to exclude those on the sick.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Steady on there. Sunak wasn't competent, he was crap. The fact that he was better than Starmer by a country mile doesn't mean he suddenly deserves glowing reviews.
If only someone on PB had forseen how crap SKS was going to be!
Shall we squabble about who it was?!
To be fair, I didn’t predict he would be a bad PM, I said he would never beat Boris in a contest because the public would never warm to him. I think I was right, the public never did and never have, but he became PM by virtue of a walkover, which I just didn’t factor in as a possibility
If I’m honest I thought he’d be miles better than Sunak. I thought we’d get dull competence from him and Reeves whereas we’ve got dull incompetence.
I agree, I thought he would be boringly competent. Some people think he has been, but most don’t.
"‘I’ve paid millions in taxes – now mansion tax has ruined my retirement’ Three homeowners in the firing line of Labour’s new surcharge tell us how they’ll have to rethink their retirement"
Anecdatal... but yesterday evening they were talking about Kemi's blistering response to Racheal down at my local pub.
Cut through?
The Tories are absolutely on the right side of the argument when it comes to taxing workers to pay more welfare. The public doesn't support it and the Tories have to now press their advantage by pledging to reintroduce the 2 child benefit cap and creating a new policy of maximum benefits claimable by a single family. There's families out there who receive welfare which would require a gross salary in excess of £80k and that is not a safety net, it's a lifestyle.
This is the wedge issue that can catapult the Tories back into a firm second and make them visible again.
It's worth pointing out that the benefit cap (£22k per household, effectively frozen for the last decade despite inflation) is still in place - a few left wing think tanks are making a fuss about it now because it keeps quite a few kids in poverty.
There are lots of exemptions to it, not all benefits are capped etc etc - but I suspect Labour have kept it because it's a good counter to your argument. Expect to see it deployed in the coming days.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
That may well be true. And it is also likely true that scrapping the two-child limit will do a lot to alleviate child poverty.
Unfortunately it is also true that WWC voters associate it with helping the improvident and immigrants. Scrapping the limit has the makings of a political disaster. Labour MPs are completely out of touch with the red wall. Voters won't tolerate paying more tax to support welfare recipients during a cost of living crisis.
The fabled red wall has a lot to answer for.
Seeing as over 60% in the polling after the budget oppose the measure it is far more than just the mythical red wall, getting its usual kicking here.
Also,when you have stories like the ones in the Mirror of a single mother with three kids pulling in just over 6 grand a month already it is no wonder people question it.
The story is plainly ridiculous. £72,000 for having three kids?
Regular reminder: The United States does not have a health care system; it has multiple systems. Among them are two that have some similarities to the British NHS: https://www.va.gov/health/ https://www.ihs.gov/
And a single person in the US can be covered by more than one system; for example, a poor older person might well be covered by both Medicaid and Medicare.
Not complicated enough? There are actually 52 Medicaid systems, one for each state, one for DC, and one for Puerto Rico.
I say this not to defend any of the systems, but to point out that criticisms of one do not necessarily apply to others.
(For the record: I am enrolled in a Medicare Advantage program, through Aetna.)
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
That may well be true. And it is also likely true that scrapping the two-child limit will do a lot to alleviate child poverty.
Unfortunately it is also true that WWC voters associate it with helping the improvident and immigrants. Scrapping the limit has the makings of a political disaster. Labour MPs are completely out of touch with the red wall. Voters won't tolerate paying more tax to support welfare recipients during a cost of living crisis.
The fabled red wall has a lot to answer for.
Seeing as over 60% in the polling after the budget oppose the measure it is far more than just the mythical red wall, getting its usual kicking here.
Also,when you have stories like the ones in the Mirror of a single mother with three kids pulling in just over 6 grand a month already it is no wonder people question it.
The story is plainly ridiculous. £72,000 for having three kids?
Misleading. Iirc her take home pay from her job is around £2,800pcm. Additional benefits for her and her three children bring that up to £6,000 pcm. That's quite a lot (obvs) but it includes childcare so she can go to work.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
That may well be true. And it is also likely true that scrapping the two-child limit will do a lot to alleviate child poverty.
Unfortunately it is also true that WWC voters associate it with helping the improvident and immigrants. Scrapping the limit has the makings of a political disaster. Labour MPs are completely out of touch with the red wall. Voters won't tolerate paying more tax to support welfare recipients during a cost of living crisis.
The fabled red wall has a lot to answer for.
Seeing as over 60% in the polling after the budget oppose the measure it is far more than just the mythical red wall, getting its usual kicking here.
Also,when you have stories like the ones in the Mirror of a single mother with three kids pulling in just over 6 grand a month already it is no wonder people question it.
The story is plainly ridiculous. £72,000 for having three kids?
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
That may well be true. And it is also likely true that scrapping the two-child limit will do a lot to alleviate child poverty.
Unfortunately it is also true that WWC voters associate it with helping the improvident and immigrants. Scrapping the limit has the makings of a political disaster. Labour MPs are completely out of touch with the red wall. Voters won't tolerate paying more tax to support welfare recipients during a cost of living crisis.
The fabled red wall has a lot to answer for.
Seeing as over 60% in the polling after the budget oppose the measure it is far more than just the mythical red wall, getting its usual kicking here.
Also,when you have stories like the ones in the Mirror of a single mother with three kids pulling in just over 6 grand a month already it is no wonder people question it.
The story is plainly ridiculous. £72,000 for having three kids?
Misleading. Iirc her take home pay from her job is around £2,800pcm. Additional benefits for her and her three children bring that up to £6,000 pcm. That's quite a lot (obvs) but it includes childcare so she can go to work.
As I said misleading...
Here's where Andrew Neil puts the blame. Reading between the lines it's the cost of borrowing....... BREXIT!
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
That may well be true. And it is also likely true that scrapping the two-child limit will do a lot to alleviate child poverty.
Unfortunately it is also true that WWC voters associate it with helping the improvident and immigrants. Scrapping the limit has the makings of a political disaster. Labour MPs are completely out of touch with the red wall. Voters won't tolerate paying more tax to support welfare recipients during a cost of living crisis.
The fabled red wall has a lot to answer for.
Seeing as over 60% in the polling after the budget oppose the measure it is far more than just the mythical red wall, getting its usual kicking here.
Also,when you have stories like the ones in the Mirror of a single mother with three kids pulling in just over 6 grand a month already it is no wonder people question it.
The story is plainly ridiculous. £72,000 for having three kids?
Misleading. Iirc her take home pay from her job is around £2,800pcm. Additional benefits for her and her three children bring that up to £6,000 pcm. That's quite a lot (obvs) but it includes childcare so she can go to work.
Giving anyone £38k a year in benefits is obscene, never mind giving that to someone earning earning £42k. Why should I, currently bringing up two kids on a fraction of that, be forking out a huge wedge of extra tax so she can get £72k/year? That the system funds people like her to that extent is wicked and iniquitous. It's also completely unaffordable.
And if the argument is that it's because of the cost of living in London - well, don't live in London if you can't afford it then. Pouring benefit cash into inflating London rents is insanity anyway, it's basically just a "greedy landlord subsidy".
The left-wing London boroughs are going to swing like anything from Labour to Green next year. Places like Lewisham and Southwark. Wouldn't be surprised if the Greens win an outright majority in some of them.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age benefits are larger than state pensions.
Benefits going to those people of working age who are not in work are far lower than those received by pensiiners though
That may well be true. And it is also likely true that scrapping the two-child limit will do a lot to alleviate child poverty.
Unfortunately it is also true that WWC voters associate it with helping the improvident and immigrants. Scrapping the limit has the makings of a political disaster. Labour MPs are completely out of touch with the red wall. Voters won't tolerate paying more tax to support welfare recipients during a cost of living crisis.
The fabled red wall has a lot to answer for.
Seeing as over 60% in the polling after the budget oppose the measure it is far more than just the mythical red wall, getting its usual kicking here.
Also,when you have stories like the ones in the Mirror of a single mother with three kids pulling in just over 6 grand a month already it is no wonder people question it.
The story is plainly ridiculous. £72,000 for having three kids?
Misleading. Iirc her take home pay from her job is around £2,800pcm. Additional benefits for her and her three children bring that up to £6,000 pcm. That's quite a lot (obvs) but it includes childcare so she can go to work.
Giving anyone £38k a year in benefits is obscene, never mind giving that to someone earning earning £42k. Why should I, currently bringing up two kids on a fraction of that, be forking out a huge wedge of extra tax so she can get £72k/year? That the system funds people like her to that extent is wicked and iniquitous. It's also completely unaffordable.
And if the argument is that it's because of the cost of living in London - well, don't live in London if you can't afford it then. Pouring benefit cash into inflating London rents is insanity anyway, it's basically just a "greedy landlord subsidy".
I was shocked by it, but also saddened. I don't know how much money it takes to being up a family. I was surprised that it was so much. It made me feel rather poor. Some members of my family "married up" and conversations can be difficult, with one relative with a mortgage costing £4,000 pcm. Mine is less than a tenth of that.
So when I see people with benefits of over £3500 a month, I'm just wearily depressed. That's more than my takehome pay
Giving the oldies a higher personal tax allowance was a bad enough idea but keeping it at the same level but not bothering to get the tax due sets an appalling example.
Er, more specifically the basic state pension and *only* if no other income. The issue is more fairness within the oldies. I can't see it myself, given the insane marginal tax rates implied if only by comparison between oldies. Graun is rather more downbeat:
' Steve Webb, a former pensions minister and now a partner at the consultancy LCP, said the idea of not levying income tax on one set of retirees “raises several questions of fairness”. [...]
He said the new scheme would risk penalising people with small private pensions who would not be protected from tax compared with those who have no private pension who will be protected.
“This penalises those who have saved, even modest amounts. And the new rules will mean that a pensioner just above the tax threshold will pay no tax whilst an employee on exactly the same income will pay both tax and national insurance contributions which seems unfair.”
Webb added that there was no costing for the policy in the budget documents, suggesting this may still be at the ideas stage. The main document states: “The government is exploring the best way to achieve this and will set out more detail next year.”'
But remember the point I made earlier - that the Tories messed up tax for almost all of us and made us do tax returns just to make life a bit easier for those in precisely the OAP plus a little bank interest bracket. Edit: so things like that could just happen.
An employee on full time minimum wage will already be well over the basic rate tax threshold anyway
I’ll tell you what though, if the question is what’s the best use of Ode To Joy since Beethoven rolled it over himself, the answer is Die Hard. And you can’t even argue with that. Nor the fact Die Hard and Pride and Prejudice are the same Fairy Story.
I sometimes find my sheep acting it out. Die Herd they call it, or Die Herder.
There should be more polling on splashing vinegar on backed beans.
Tl;dr - welfare not out of control. But large rises in spending on pensioners and disabled have hidden falls in spending on working age people.
And scrapping the triple lock alone doesn't save much on pensions. To do that, you'd need to actually reduce the value of the state pension.
I'm not sure your summary is quite right. It looks as if spending on working-age people is roughly static but the proportion of that which goes on sickness and disability benefits has risen sharply. Whether that is a genuine rise or just category-labelling at the DWP is not clear.
And the common device of plotting against GDP is unhelpful to analysis because neither benefits nor pensions are linked to GDP.
So pre-budget clamour was ignore the OBR as they are an unelected bunch driving government decisions. So come the budget, the OBR was ignored and this is some sort of crisis?
Anyway she needs the money for the chav breeding programme that so upsets SandyR.
So pre-budget clamour was ignore the OBR as they are an unelected bunch driving government decisions. So come the budget, the OBR was ignored and this is some sort of crisis?
Anyway she needs the money for the chav breeding programme that so upsets SandyR.
She initially benefited from resigned acceptance in some quarters that we needed taxes to go up. But they only needed to go up because of her continued welfare splurges.
megan kenyon @meganekenyon NEW: Your Party announces name options to be voted on by members this weekend with decision to be announced by Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday afternoon. They are: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, and For The Many.
Note Sultana’s preference - The Left Party - has not made the cut
The left behind party.
Even before launching, they’re halfway to making complete arses of themselves.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age welfare benefits are now larger than pensions and are projected to be substantially larger at the end of the cycle. Labour are raising taxes on working people to pay the lazy and feckless and working people are fed up.
Working age benefits are available to people in work. Presumably those workers are lazy and fecklless
The corollary of "I'm paid a shedload of money because I'm worth it" is "They're paid a pittance because they are lazy and feckless." We are in one of those bits of history where the rich (let's face it, most of us here, in the grand scheme of things) have lost the common sense to keep that bit quiet.
Can we have a second election and give people the bring to get Sunak and Hunt back now they know the full facts about Starmer?
Hunt was hiding the public finance truth just as Reeves has done.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
Yes there was, the money would have come out of welfare cuts.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
Take a chill pill
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
Working age welfare benefits are now larger than pensions and are projected to be substantially larger at the end of the cycle. Labour are raising taxes on working people to pay the lazy and feckless and working people are fed up.
Working age benefits are available to people in work. Presumably those workers are lazy and fecklless
The corollary of "I'm paid a shedload of money because I'm worth it" is "They're paid a pittance because they are lazy and feckless." We are in one of those bits of history where the rich (let's face it, most of us here, in the grand scheme of things) have lost the common sense to keep that bit quiet.
Which is ironic given how many senior people in corporate and government roles are paid a shedload despite being lazy and feckless.
So pre-budget clamour was ignore the OBR as they are an unelected bunch driving government decisions. So come the budget, the OBR was ignored and this is some sort of crisis?
Anyway she needs the money for the chav breeding programme that so upsets SandyR.
She initially benefited from resigned acceptance in some quarters that we needed taxes to go up. But they only needed to go up because of her continued welfare splurges.
Depends on your POV. Ignoring the outliers the DM like to highlight, existing on welfare is not easy, especially if you have children. Also as others have pointed out, the State Pension is not that generous so the majority are just getting by. Then take the sick and the disabled, who have to live some sort of normal life if they are not invited to take part in mainstream employment. So essentially we are not a wealthy enough nation to allow everyone to live a normal life so we compromise - and then complain until such time as you find yourselves in the deplorables categories that are the rage fodder of the Daily Mail.
In looking at some of the drivers for welfare*, SKS and Reeves are putting in some interesting changes even if the effects are not yet seen. If the work out, Reform are toast. And if they have changes at CCHQ which rein in some of the more batshit Kemi ideas, the Conservatives may actually stage a comeback.
*Needs more work to prove the changes in Renters Rights Act, minimum wage and Employment Rights Bill will have the effects intended.
Tl;dr - welfare not out of control. But large rises in spending on pensioners and disabled have hidden falls in spending on working age people.
And scrapping the triple lock alone doesn't save much on pensions. To do that, you'd need to actually reduce the value of the state pension.
Average earnings growth is currently running about 1% ahead of inflation, so if the lock were to be abolished immediately, we’d save 1% of (i.e. avoid extra costs of) total state pension costs in the first year, probably growing every year thereafter. How is that not a significant amount?
megan kenyon @meganekenyon NEW: Your Party announces name options to be voted on by members this weekend with decision to be announced by Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday afternoon. They are: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, and For The Many.
Note Sultana’s preference - The Left Party - has not made the cut
Comments
https://www.thetimes.com/money/tax/article/mansion-tax-budget-westminister-3sprzqr89
Lives alone in six bedroom Kensington home, bought for £4k in 1970 and now worth £4m. Lots of expensive antiques and £30k income. Pleading poverty.
Cherry on the cake is that she is a lifelong Labour voter.
JUST IN: Judge Boasberg gives Trump admin one week to file affidavits from all officials involved in decision to carry out Alien Enemies Act deportation to El Salvador despite Boasberg's order to turn the planes around. 'Contempt prosecution' could follow
https://bsky.app/profile/joshgerstein.bsky.social/post/3m6pu2cw3zk2a
Totally losing the plot.
There was no £ for an NI cut months before the 2024 GE and he knew it.
At 8-10% the rakes progress gets real rapid, real fast.
The one thing this Labour exercise in taxing working people to pay for welfare has done is swing the people who feel bullied by the "it's just being compassionate" nonsense about benefits to finally say enough is enough.
I think Labour are heading for a wipeout. The delusion that they can come back from this is truly laughable. They're actively wrecking the economy and destroying jobs as well as the life chances of young people by pricing them out of the jobs market.
I really can't think of a government that was worse. Even Liz Truss wasn't this bad as she had the wherewithal to resign and hand over to someone competent. The worst part is that there's no one in Labour who can take over and tackle the welfare bill because the back benchers are all twats.
The non strategic ones will get upset over short term changes. The smart guys (see above) have done their due diligence on this government.
The bit about Treasury spads who don’t know how the government debt works has been in research notes across the City.
Both blue and red Tories have been increasing the tax burden for the last 15 years whilst allowing the welfare bill to spiral upward.
The main element of welare expenditure is pensions and because pensioners vote in huge numbers all Govts have caved. To ignore that element of welfare and try to target the tiny percentage that makes up working age benefits is ridiculous.
Although i loathe SKS and austerity Reeves to claim they are worse than unfunded tax cutter Truss says more about your bias than having any basis in reality
(I’m presuming you mean in terms of total Govt spend.)
I'm going for 'Forward Party'
Aaron Bastani
@AaronBastani
·
1h
The Greens just raised more £ from this video, in half a day, than they did across the first half of 2025.
Members, money, polling all 📈
https://x.com/AaronBastani/status/1994518226517303683
Sherelle Jacobs
The Greens are about to devour Labour
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/28/green-party-revolution-poised-wipe-out-labour/
Egalitarian
Socialist
People’s
Alliance for
Institutional
Revolution
That’ll show em.
Andrew Neil
@afneil
This will be a tough weekend for the Chancellor.
I've seen this clip and variations shared across a lot of Instagram accounts. Labour's tax rises have shot to the top of my Instagram index measure. Ordinary people are talking about it and Rishi is getting a lot of love in all the comments sections.
The Tory party has been handed a huge lifeline. The nation is calling out for spending cuts on welfare, they must deliver a credible sounding plan to cut working age welfare.
Increasing the fiscal headroom is an argument Reeves could have made . A buffer to protect the UK from global shocks .
Instead we got weeks of drama over the alleged black hole .
The progressive perspective on the other hand is that there is no British industry they are prepared to defend, that indeed the notion of industry departing for China and India brings something of a warm fuzzy feeling. That's essentially destructive - ultimately self destructive.
megan kenyon
@meganekenyon
NEW: Your Party announces name options to be voted on by members this weekend with decision to be announced by Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday afternoon. They are: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, and For The Many.
Note Sultana’s preference - The Left Party - has not made the cut
I think in the end we will see Corbyn and a handful of others do a local deal with Greens not to stand against them and that will be it.
Sultana will lose Coventry.
Where are your numbers from?
DWP has following for 25/26 - 55% of welfare bill on pensioners
"Social security spending in Great Britain
In 2025 to 2026 the government is forecast to spend £316.1 billion on the social security system in Great Britain. Total GB welfare spending is forecast to be 10.6% of GDP and 23.5% of the total amount the government spends in 2025 to 2026.
Around 55% of social security expenditure goes to pensioners; in 2025 to 2026 we will spend £174.9 billion on benefits for pensioners in GB. This includes spending on the State Pension which is forecast to be £145.6 billion in 2025 to 2026."
Number of pensioners is increasing and the triple lock means that state pension will increase by at least inflation, no such guarantee for working age benefits. So it doesn't seem likely that working age benefits will overtake pensioner benefits in the next few years.
There's a lot of angry denial on here, the Conservatives were voted out because they were (very*) shit at governing, if the Conservatives were voted back in now they would be approaching Truss levels of incompetence.
Labour have been in for a year, it's tpo early for policy changes to have had much effect.*
*Truss^2, Johnson
*Or are you terrified that given time they'll have a positive effect?
The political classes are miles behind the voters.
Loads of union flags on the lamp posts on my drive out of Middlesbrough. Where did that come from?
Labour shellacked in a by election in Hetton le Hole this week by Reform. (Hetton is quintessential Co Durham pit village).
Labour is, according to one if its own MPs, now the party for "graduates, welfare claimants, and immigrants" which is another way of saying they are stuffed.
Kemi getting her mojo going is now the only thing standing between us and a far right government.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-information-and-guidance/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-information-and-guidance#:~:text=Ireland Social Security.-,Social security spending in Great Britain,35.3 billion on housing benefits.
50K isn't a bad start, though the huge hiccup at the beginning meant they missed the chance of getting 100K+ right away.
This is why rates shouldn't have been abolished and stamp duty is a problem.
Unfortunately it is also true that WWC voters associate it with helping the improvident and immigrants. Scrapping the limit has the makings of a political disaster. Labour MPs are completely out of touch with the red wall. Voters won't tolerate paying more tax to support welfare recipients during a cost of living crisis.
They knew the electorate were in the mood to reward parties who could blame a group in society for everything and make voters feel better through a bit of cathartic them-and-us action. It happens from time to time in most nations’ histories.
The trouble was, Reform had already bagged the anti-foreigner brand. Copying them just wasn’t getting them anywhere. Nor was the anti-elite thing. That just lost them votes to the Lib Dems.
But then they remembered: how about something a bit more traditional Tory? Going after welfare claimants instead. Strivers vs skivers. Proper trad 1980s and 90s party conference material. And it seems to be working.
You really couldn't make it up!
It will be a generation before the Tories are forgiven
To be fair, I didn’t predict he would be a bad PM, I said he would never beat Boris in a contest because the public would never warm to him. I think I was right, the public never did and never have, but he became PM by virtue of a walkover, which I just didn’t factor in as a possibility
What I'd love to see is some polling of Universal Credit claimants. I would not be surprised at all if Labour aren't doing particularly well there. If we use social housing as a proxy, Reform will be doing pretty well and it'd telling that Farage came out in favour of ditching the two-child limit.
Also,when you have stories like the ones in the Mirror of a single mother with three kids pulling in just over 6 grand a month already it is no wonder people question it.
Three homeowners in the firing line of Labour’s new surcharge tell us how they’ll have to rethink their retirement"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/budget/ive-paid-millions-in-tax-mansion-tax-ruined-my-retirement/
There are lots of exemptions to it, not all benefits are capped etc etc - but I suspect Labour have kept it because it's a good counter to your argument. Expect to see it deployed in the coming days.
https://www.va.gov/health/
https://www.ihs.gov/
And a single person in the US can be covered by more than one system; for example, a poor older person might well be covered by both Medicaid and Medicare.
Not complicated enough? There are actually 52 Medicaid systems, one for each state, one for DC, and one for Puerto Rico.
I say this not to defend any of the systems, but to point out that criticisms of one do not necessarily apply to others.
(For the record: I am enrolled in a Medicare Advantage program, through Aetna.)
Here's where Andrew Neil puts the blame. Reading between the lines it's the cost of borrowing....... BREXIT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OBq0YkkYuM
https://x.com/JohnRentoul/status/1994330150163362207
And if the argument is that it's because of the cost of living in London - well, don't live in London if you can't afford it then. Pouring benefit cash into inflating London rents is insanity anyway, it's basically just a "greedy landlord subsidy".
Panic.
So when I see people with benefits of over £3500 a month, I'm just wearily depressed. That's more than my takehome pay
https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/comment/is-welfare-spending-out-of-control/
Tl;dr - welfare not out of control. But large rises in spending on pensioners and disabled have hidden falls in spending on working age people.
And scrapping the triple lock alone doesn't save much on pensions. To do that, you'd need to actually reduce the value of the state pension.
I’ll tell you what though, if the question is what’s the best use of Ode To Joy since Beethoven rolled it over himself, the answer is Die Hard. And you can’t even argue with that. Nor the fact Die Hard and Pride and Prejudice are the same Fairy Story.
I sometimes find my sheep acting it out. Die Herd they call it, or Die Herder.
There should be more polling on splashing vinegar on backed beans.
Beans on toast -splash splash, yum yummy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/hockey/articles/c4gexz4l0z1o
And the common device of plotting against GDP is unhelpful to analysis because neither benefits nor pensions are linked to GDP.
F1: no sprint/qualifying tip. The sprint qualifying was rather unexpected.
https://morrisf1.blogspot.com/2025/11/qatar-2025-pre-sprint-and-qualifying.html
Anyway she needs the money for the chav breeding programme that so upsets SandyR.
It warms my cockles to imagine how the chancellor must feel at reading these front pages.
Even before launching, they’re halfway to making complete arses of themselves.
In looking at some of the drivers for welfare*, SKS and Reeves are putting in some interesting changes even if the effects are not yet seen. If the work out, Reform are toast. And if they have changes at CCHQ which rein in some of the more batshit Kemi ideas, the Conservatives may actually stage a comeback.
*Needs more work to prove the changes in Renters Rights Act, minimum wage and Employment Rights Bill will have the effects intended.