Keir Starmer at it again..

[ROVERT47]

Massive majority, get all the tough stuff done early on then in about four years from now start giving the goodies out.

 

[Del Woppio]

I'll wait until the budget before I lose it properly, but I'm getting pretty pissed off that 'difficult decisions' are never targeted on business and the extremely wealthy.

The absolute bare minimum we need to see is equalising capital gains tax with income tax and increasing inheritance tax, but they really need to look at closing corporation tax avoidance loopholes and trust fund bullshit, adding a new income tax rate at 250k, excess profit tax on the energy companies and especially banks who have coined it in the last year. Some of that extra interest money needs to find its way to the treasury.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

In 1971, Margaret Thatcher took away free milk from School pupils and became known as the milk snatcher. Her reason was it saved money. Ultimately it didn’t harm her political career but during her time as Prime Minister Ken Clarke proposed removing it from nursery school children too…Thatcher said no as it would cause a “terrible row” and it wasn’t worth it.

This is the same. Even if you believe that a universal benefit for pensioners is a bad thing…this is terrible politics handled terribly. They have made a contentious decision and completely lost the narrative, and the argument. It doesn’t matter how often they repeat the £22 billion black hole, the mess they inherited or the rest of the scripted soundbites…what cuts through is that pensioners won’t get a winter fuel allowance. Without more mitigations, they aren’t offering any, this is an issue that will keep biting them every time the wind blows a bit chilly. Every time they announce anything that costs money it will come back to bite them.

This has caused a terrible row and probably wasn’t worth it.

 

[Dire Wolf]

Massive majority, get all the tough stuff done early on then in about four years from now start giving the goodies out.

Why is it that 'all the tough stuff' only ever affects the poorest? Maybe they should do the 'tough stuff' that hits the wealthy, the corporations, the bankers, the financial institutions? Never does though does it? And this 'tough decisions' line is just bullshit. Funny how after World War 2, when the country was in a huge economic hole, a progressive government still found ways to a implement a fully funded and working welfare state and NHS. The Tories were shit, but there is nothing, absolutely nothing that this government have done that makes me believe they are anything other than corporate lapdogs.

The contortions that people are going through to try and convince themselves that this government are better than the Tories is quite amusing. "They're fixing the mess left behind": the Tories used that line for a long time. "This isn't another austerity": leading economists have said that this is exactly what it is. "They're not as corrupt as the Tories": they absolutely have lobbyists and non-government 'advisors' influencing their decision making, and making money from it. "They're not as nasty and unpleasant as the Tories": tell that to the tenants of the MP landlords who are subjecting their tenants to squalid living conditions and making a fortune while doing it.

They are the Tory fucking B team.

 

[ROVERT47]

Fair play, i follow politics and have always been slightly to the left but it doesn’t keep me awake at night.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

If you think that Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer are even remotely on the same page then I don't know what to tell you.

 

[Del Woppio]

Clearly - but it's hard to ignore that most of the talking heads you've seen on the rounds in the last week have sounded extremely 2011 small c conservative

 

[Dire Wolf]

If you think that Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer are even remotely on the same page then I don't know what to tell you.

That's just such a lame argument. It isn't about the person, it's about the policies. Starmer isn't as scummy a human being no. But his party is owned (and I use that term very deliberately) by the very same people who were Johnson's puppetmasters. I mean, you can tell yourself anything you like to try and prop up your belief that they aren't as bad as the Tories, and fuck, I really, really hope they aren't. But the economic policies they are implementing tell me they are. In almost every way. And I'm sick of reading myself saying it, but they are 100% feeding the growth of the extreme right on a fucking daily basis. I don't hate them as much as the Tories, because at least the Labour Party has some decent people within it and at its foundations, but the leadership, the ministerial section of the party I despise and distrust on a nearly equal level as the Tory scum. Because in government they are acting like Tory scum.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I think that may be a matter of perspective

 

[Walshes Wolves]

I expect more from a Labour government, than to take money away from some of the poorest members of society. Somebody who has worked all their life and recieves a full state pension of under £1000 a month, should not have help taken away from them, it is inhumane, uncaring and disgusting.

Anything is better than a vile Tory government, but at the same time when a member of your own family steals money from you, it should hurt more, than when a stranger steals from you.

 

[Tredman]

Pensioners are not the poorest people in society. Paying benefits to rich pensioners while kids are starving should make people as angry as the small number of pensioners affected by not correctly means testing this benefit.

 

[BillyDee]

It isn't being completely removed, it's being means tested. Most people have supported it being means tested since it was introduced.

 

[Tredman]

It isn't being completely removed, it's being means tested. Most people have supported it being means tested since it was introduced.

Most of the issues seem to be whether the threshold for pension credit is set correctly - but then the threshold for all our taxes and benefits are set too low. Part of the tories stealth approach to increasing tax and reducing benefits

 

[Walshes Wolves]

Pensioners are not the poorest people in society. Paying benefits to rich pensioners while kids are starving should make people as angry as the small number of pensioners affected by not correctly means testing this benefit.

You are not a rich pensioner on under £12000 a year, on full state pension. These people are often weak, with many ailments and deserve to be looked after. The fuel allowance at least went some way to keeping them warm and it is wrong that these people are being targeted.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

You are not a rich pensioner on under £12000 a year, on full state pension. These people are often weak, with many ailments and deserve to be looked after. The fuel allowance at least went some way to keeping them warm and it is wrong that these people are being targeted.

The state pension isn't the only income for every pensioner though is it.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

They aren't. It is means tested.

 

[Dire Wolf]

Pensioners are not the poorest people in society. Paying benefits to rich pensioners while kids are starving should make people as angry as the small number of pensioners affected by not correctly means testing this benefit.

They are not the poorest, but those that are poor are the most vulnerable, especially to things like high energy costs, rising food prices etc. Old people will die this winter because they can't afford to heat their homes properly and energy companies are set to make billions in profits. A Labour government can do something about that, they are choosing not to.

 

[Johnny75]

You are not a rich pensioner on under £12000 a year, on full state pension. These people are often weak, with many ailments and deserve to be looked after. The fuel allowance at least went some way to keeping them warm and it is wrong that these people are being targeted.

They aren't.

Stop reading the Daily Mail, it's shit and it's ruining your brain.

 

[Hereford Wolf]

Its a mistake. I guess they realised that the day after announcing it.
Now they have to row back on the policy in a clever way without losing face or looking like they have changed their minds.
There will be something in the next budget, mark my words.

 

[Tredman]

They are not the poorest, but those that are poor are the most vulnerable, especially to things like high energy costs, rising food prices etc. Old people will die this winter because they can't afford to heat their homes properly and energy companies are set to make billions in profits. A Labour government can do something about that, they are choosing not to.

There is plenty which can be done without giving money to pensioners who are literally millionaires.

The issue is making sure those in need have access to things such as social tariffs for energy etc. That's an outreach issue and one which will have a long-term impact throughout the year.