2024 UK politics - now with Labour in charge
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Your mother in law sounds like a proper caricature I'd love to see a sitcom based on you visiting for holidays
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
I guess they are still trying the 'betrayal' line on whatever topic they can. I still think no-one will take them (or anyone else parroting their taking points) seriously until they change their tone and own up to the mess they've left for adults to clean up. They've not yet accepted the message that the electorate gave them.
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I’m sure you told your wife off for not being more sympathetic?
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Possibly, but it feels like they were pouring petrol on their reputation towards the end.
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One can only surmise that they'd given up caring about their reputation for fiscal responsibility in return for short-term electoral gain. Though I suppose that's been their story since Brexit & Johnson, so it's no surprise.
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It keeps on getting worse. I hope they find some civil servants who will be willing to spill the beans about how it was allowed to happen, asking with the use of Ministry accounts for party political purposes and outright lying (as evidenced by the multiple community notes on Tweets).
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This was just asking questions for guidance last year, right?
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I don't think so. All this 'we didn't know the real state of things' is just leftiebollox.
Quote:
"It is easy – perhaps too easy – to criticise the new Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, for shameless dishonesty. She might claim that it is only now that she has had a chance to properly examine the books, to look at all the “unfunded” spending commitments, and to assess where the tax revenues will come from, that she is able to conclude that everything is far worse than she realised.
But the Office for Budget Responsibility was already meant to have laid out all the financial pressures on the government, and she promised during the election campaign that she had enough information to rule out any major tax increases. There ought to have been nothing in the “books” that should have come as a surprise, and especially not for someone like Reeves, who is constantly boasting of her financial expertise. "
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
One lie is that they say they didn't know. The other one is shamelessly exaggerating the issue to pre-justify taxing us even more.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I'm not sure that "she should have known Hunt was a lying sack of shit" is the great attack line you think it is.
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To go from "Pensioners mustn’t be forced to bear the brunt of Tory economic failure." to "Oh look, there's some problems the Tories have left us - pensioners, it's your time to shine" is more than just compromise.
It's the right decision, but it would have been last autumn as well.
It means that nothing is safe given this justification - they could make stupid decisions on all sorts of things to avoid having to raise income tax or NI at all.
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When did they stop blaming the previous Labour government for financial woes? Surprised they haven't trotted that one out yet.
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Would like to read something neutral on this.
Reeves is clearly big bath accounting and the Tories were unlikely to want to confirm funding for everything possible (e.g. public sector pay rises), but I don't know whether is anything more dubious.
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This is an interesting summary.
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I'd be intrigued if anything comes out that is widely seen as neutral.
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Nothing new in that, but a bit surprised that the BBC have come out from under their rock.
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I'm pretty sure various bodies (neutral or otherwise) were flagging up the dubious nature of departmental savings in the Conservative budget (and by implication in Labour's plans) at the time Hunt announced he was lowering employee NIC. Reeves seems to be claiming it was even more than that, but from memory a £20bn hole was discussed before the election.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
That's a different hole - that's still there and undiscussed so far.
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Hunt this morning was very evasive over whether he had authorised £6.4bn additional home office spending on asylum and immigration this year. He kept saying that it wasn't going to be that high because the Rwanda scheme would have reduced costs by deterring people from arriving, which is laughable when talking about this year's spend.
The biggest number in there (about half of it) is increased pay in line with independent review bodies, which is a choice, and the Conservatives were planning to keep public sector pay down, meaning big real terms pay cuts. I don't think that is something that can be described as a hidden cost.
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Draft revision to the NPPF looks very useful. Significant relaxation on upward extensions. Grey Belt defined as a new category and development on previously developed Green Belt made easier. Easier to increase density of suburban areas.
All good stuff.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
That makes it sound like both of them are playing games.
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Feels like a lot more than playing games.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
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Reeves trying to blame the Tories for anything and everything is pretty real. I know you really want to believe that all her claims are true as you've joined the ranks of Labour voters.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Anyway, what are your thoughts on Reeves cutting back on infrastructure projects while lining the pockets of the public sector? How do you think that will stimulate the growth that Labour have promised?
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
She's done well to spend that much on asylum and Ukraine in a couple of weeks.
There's a big number of 8bn general overspend using up all the contingency because the budgets weren't adjusted for the higher than expected inflation since 2021. She hasn't done that in the last three weeks either.
It feels a bit like these could be part of the reason for the early election, because they weren't going to magically disappear.
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Imagine blaming the people who have run the country’s finances for the last 14 years for the state of the country’s finances. The cheek of it!
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She may have a legitimate point, but hasn't she spoilt that by blaming the Tories for the public sector pay increase. Also, calling another politician a liar is quite strong even if that is the generally held public opinion of most politicians.
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