Fully recognise that I am going to get shouted down, but here it goes anyway! (someone has to, for the sake of balance).
Whether you agree with them or not, the platform that Labour stood on at the last election was very clear and ultimately they will be judged on their manifesto promises and what they have done across their term in office at the next General Election, not as some seem to be suggesting, over their first year.
The moderates within Labour are still scarred by the 1992 General Election defeat, specifically in respect of the issue of tax, so it is understandable, despite the fact that they would have won a majority, to adopt the position they did on tax. It has ironically meant that they have painted themselves into a corner, and it will be interesting to see how the Chancellor raises taxes without touching the big three.
However, going back to Bill Clinton when he was president, '“it’s the economy stupid”. The economy and specifically economic competence remains the biggest single factor that influences how people vote in General Elections. I think this is something both Starmer and Reeves understand, which is why their focus is on getting the economy growing again. The economy they inherited was not good, and is not easily or quickly turned around. It seems very clear to me that they are betting everything on the economy improving, and the signs are there that the tide is turning with the recent news about inflation.
They never had my confidence to start with but their time in government has shown how completely incapable and how devoid of principle they are. There’s the backing for Israel’s genocide for as long as they could and the most token statements against it once they couldn’t.
They’ve gone after the vulnerable and the disabled and and only backed down once it appeared they couldn’t get away with it scot free. And their decisions have paved the way for a hard right government in Reform that will attack my family directly and indeed in Kent already is.
So my answer is there is nothing - not a thing - the chancellor can do in the budget. She could unveil the most miraculous economic miracle that turns this country into an economic paradise that lives happily ever after. I’ll still want her and this vile government out.
I understand how you feel, but I do struggle to understand why you wouldn’t recognise or acknowledge anything positive, but I guess some men just want to watch the world burn.
You can’t draw any conclusions atm about the next General Election. It is far too early.
I think it would be near impossible for any Government to please everyone all of the time, so by your logic, you would struggle to support any party in Government. Personally I think you have to display some balanced judgement, and look at a Governments overall record, and if by and large the Government has made things better for the country, irrespective of political colour, they have my support. That’s my outlook anyway for what it is worth.
So if this government made clear they wanted to make it harder for people like my daughter by making access to benefits more difficult but then couldn’t do it because they bottled it when there was actually pushback, then I should in 2029 give them credit for not actually doing it even though they clearly intended to and absolutely would do it as soon as they thought they could get away with it?
No. Of course I’m not saying you should forgot that that move on, but that you should weigh this against everything else they have done. For arguments sake, if by the end of their term in Government, they have made real progress in improving the NHS, improving public services more generally, reduced poverty, and increased living standards for the majority of the country, then personally I think you have to consider everything in the round. @RockyMaivia this is what I mean by balanced judgement.
Okay. You use terms like ‘weigh’ but that’s relative to what’s happening. The opinion against this government, as of now. Is overwhelmingly negative. There’s no balance in creating false positives.
If anything, your position, while you’re entitled to it to say as you like. Is arguably more unbalanced.
I think the current public opinion is based on the fact that people want change and want to be better off. Things are pretty awful when it comes to the economy. Any Government would struggle to make an impact in the short term, but Labour, rightly or wrongly, have set their stall out on a longer term plan. This won’t deliver in the short term. Add to that the concerns and constant coverage of the immigration issue, of course the Government are going to be unpopular.
However, it is still possible to recognise the positive things the Government are seeking to do.
They haven’t got a clue about growing the economy. The decisions they are making are weakening an already crippled economy,
If they seriously had any true intention of growing the economy, the first thing they would look at is lowering energy costs. They are instead looking to tax their way to prosperity and it never works.
The problem is that Energy is privatised in this country. The Government is seeking to increase supply as quickly as they can, with new solar and nuclear, but that takes time. There was a rumour they are considering cutting VAT on energy bills from 5% to 0%, but this is pretty much all they can do, unless they offer further help to subsidise peoples bills, but they need to find the money to do that.
The energy crisis is essentially a result of successive Governments failure to invest in our own infrastructure which has left us open to foreign interests. The irony with this country is that people are becoming obsessed with immigration, but don’t have the same attitude with foreign countries owning our key utilities, such as energy and water, both of which should be owned by the Government for the benefit of the country.
Spot on. They’re perceptions how how growth works is fundamentally flawed, they genuinely thought by virtue of not being the Tories, billions of pounds investment would flow in because they’ were coming in as “stable” govt and adults, Reeves actually said this but non of this shit actually matters.
They overpriced the value of Labour taking office and though they could get away with constricting business with more taxes and regulation.
What they need to do in the next budget is essentially pointless, reality is its not going to be a pro growth budget, it going to life preserver taxation budget for this government. They going to touch the rates of income tax in addition to other stuff targeting middle classes as its the only way to ensure they have enough headroom to prevent a repeat this budget on a yearly basis in the run up to the next GE.
As for growth, this government and parliament doesn’t really have the ideas or grapes to facilitate growth at the level needed., it just the simple reality the rate of public spending far exceeds growth metics hence record levels of borrowing. They have made some good noises in some areas and made right long terms decisions but its not enough.
The levels of nominal growth under this cannot sustain public spending, if you’re unwilling to make cuts you have to make drastic measures, they need to repeal the TCPA, BSA and deregulate the banking industry to turbo charge growth
