The Labour Government

[Gaylord du Bois]

We absolutely do need to pay more but does anyone have any faith whatsoever in any party to spend the money wisely?

I know I don’t.

Urgent review ordered into asylum seeker taxi costs

Asylum seekers are travelling long distances for appointments, with one telling the BBC his journey to visit a GP cost the Home Office £600.

www.bbc.co.uk

Here's a good place to start.
It becomes blatantly obvious that some departments seem to have an open cheque book approach.
They should be looking at all government/local government funded transport. The figures for school transport, for instance, must be eye wateringly staggering.

 

[blueinsa]

Urgent review ordered into asylum seeker taxi costs

Asylum seekers are travelling long distances for appointments, with one telling the BBC his journey to visit a GP cost the Home Office £600.

www.bbc.co.uk

Here's a good place to start.
It becomes blatantly obvious that some departments seem to have an open cheque book approach.
They should be looking at all government/local government funded transport. The figures for school transport, for instance, must be eye wateringly staggering.

Ministers are often not equipped in skills or experience to run departments like this.

I’ve said it before, we should be looking to some of the brightest and best from the business world to come onboard and run from a financial point of view rather than the political one.

 

[bluethrunthru]

Urgent review ordered into asylum seeker taxi costs

Asylum seekers are travelling long distances for appointments, with one telling the BBC his journey to visit a GP cost the Home Office £600.

www.bbc.co.uk

Here's a good place to start.
It becomes blatantly obvious that some departments seem to have an open cheque book approach.
They should be looking at all government/local government funded transport. The figures for school transport, for instance, must be eye wateringly staggering.

Thing is to process these people they need to attend Home Office interviews - if people decide to wage war on a local hotel accommodating them (eg The Bell Inn) thus getting them moved to Walsall then your "win" is the cost of getting them from the new Hotel to those meetings or a Doctor of Dentist. If your complaint is they wander around and are a threat to your women and children then you don't want them on local public transport as for the cost of travel to education is sure £nil because the only people who come are young men of fighting age who we would not be required to school. Aren't they?

 

[hilts]

Or facts!

You're right the state pension should be higher, but that requires an uplift in taxes, that no one wants.

I would increase VAT on anything over £400ish. I would increase VAT on excessive energy use (a distant friend has an indoor swimming pool that he heats all winter. £10000 was his bill last year but still only paid 4% VAT on it). I would reduce VAT on "normal use" fuel to 3%.

I'm not a pensioner yet, but I genuinely won't need the state pension as I paid at least 9% into a company scheme from the age of 18. If I live an average time I will get about £220 000 from the state. I would advocate a voluntary buy out by the state. Lets say 50% up front but then no further call on the state if you take it. The long term liability to the state disappears.

I would have people who retire early as I did continue to pay NI whilst they are in pension drawdown.

I would remove stamp duty for pensioners downsizing(figures to be determined)

A one off wealth tax over £10m may work. There was already effectively a wealth tax on pensions when someone turned 75 and no one blinked an eye at that. That was removed along with the LTA on pensions. I know someone who has a very good pension fund benefitted by £750000 at the stroke of Jeremy Hunt's pen when the LTA was removed.

I have no problem with ideas and discussions outside of the state pension which always be there decent and for everyone, not sure about the buyout.

 

[hampshireblue]

I have no problem with ideas and discussions outside of the state pension which always be there decent and for everyone, not sure about the buyout.

It's radical but the benefits system comprises less than 5% to out of work benefits, the vast majority is the state pension followed by in work benefits. Unfortunately if nothing is done with the biggest part of the budget, the rest is tinkering around the edges.

The buyout could be in different forms, so say £100000 (pick a figure) worth of additional tax relief over 5 years. Just an idea but that would encourage the likes of me to draw down more and almost certainly spend in our economy. As it is, I'll take the full pension triple-locked, hopefully for 20-25 years and drip feed it back in to the economy over that period.

 

[Gaylord du Bois]

Thing is to process these people they need to attend Home Office interviews - if people decide to wage war on a local hotel accommodating them (eg The Bell Inn) thus getting them moved to Walsall then your "win" is the cost of getting them from the new Hotel to those meetings or a Doctor of Dentist. If your complaint is they wander around and are a threat to your women and children then you don't want them on local public transport as for the cost of travel to education is sure £nil because the only people who come are young men of fighting age who we would not be required to school. Aren't they?

I'm talking about education across the spectrum. Not migrant specific.
You see, this is why I very rarely venture into this forum because as soon as someone makes a post its often met with posts like yours which just shut down conversation and become a target because of perceived political bias.
I'll bid you good day.

 

[bluethrunthru]

I'm talking about education across the spectrum. Not migrant specific.
You see, this is why I very rarely venture into this forum because as soon as someone makes a post its often met with posts like yours which just shut down conversation and become a target because of perceived political bias.
I'll bid you good day.

to be fair you were posting in response to a Home Office report from the BBC on migrant specific costs - if you meant wider costs outside that specific point of reference you should have made it clear. If you meant education transport then thats an Education Secretary not Home Secretary brief.

 

[Blue Maverick]

Did you ever work with Sam Smart?

No but I know of him and have spoke to him

 

[blueinsa]

Did you ever work with Sam Smart?

I did for several years at Grimshaws in Bolton.

He worked delivering cars on his days off from the fire service

Top lad even if he is a Rag.

 

[Chippy_boy]

OK, a change of tune from my usual negativity, this video is uplifting, made me extremely proud and even quite emotional. And is something to get truly excited about.

 

[John John]

Much like Brexit you will lose this argument as well.

Labour, Tories, Reform and even the Lib Dems are now saying something has to be done about illegal immigration.

Racists are everywhere these days!

We should ask people like you to pay extra tax because you are happy to spend it on people who have contributed nothing. Then people like me should be allowed to pay less tax because I don't agree it is spent on asylum seekers who are living in hotels with spending money and 3 meals a day as well as free dental and medical care. Can you afford to pay for it because I can't . Billions a year on chancers whose first act is to destroy their documents because a lot of them are from countries with no problems. We have enough lazy fuckers in the UK without importing them

 

[hampshireblue]

We should ask people like you to pay extra tax because you are happy to spend it on people who have contributed nothing. Then people like me should be allowed to pay less tax because I don't agree it is spent on asylum seekers who are living in hotels with spending money and 3 meals a day as well as free dental and medical care. Can you afford to pay for it because I can't . Billions a year on chancers whose first act is to destroy their documents because a lot of them are from countries with no problems. We have enough lazy fuckers in the UK without importing them

I don't wanna pay for......what a stupid, lame argument that is. Extend it out to child benefit, libraries etc and you soon realise how crazy even having that thought is.

 

[Blue Maverick]

Or facts!

You're right the state pension should be higher, but that requires an uplift in taxes, that no one wants.

I would increase VAT on anything over £400ish. I would increase VAT on excessive energy use (a distant friend has an indoor swimming pool that he heats all winter. £10000 was his bill last year but still only paid 4% VAT on it). I would reduce VAT on "normal use" fuel to 3%.

I'm not a pensioner yet, but I genuinely won't need the state pension as I paid at least 9% into a company scheme from the age of 18. If I live an average time I will get about £220 000 from the state. I would advocate a voluntary buy out by the state. Lets say 50% up front but then no further call on the state if you take it. The long term liability to the state disappears.

I would have people who retire early as I did continue to pay NI whilst they are in pension drawdown.

I would remove stamp duty for pensioners downsizing(figures to be determined)

A one off wealth tax over £10m may work. There was already effectively a wealth tax on pensions when someone turned 75 and no one blinked an eye at that. That was removed along with the LTA on pensions. I know someone who has a very good pension fund benefitted by £750000 at the stroke of Jeremy Hunt's pen when the LTA was removed.

I discussed your buyout with a few lads who have all retired some are now receiving the state pension others due it soon. They all said they’d have took a lump sum if it was tax free over say 5 years, so let’s say £20k. With their fire pensions they’d spend 50% and save the rest for a rainy day, by then they’d be 72/3, mist of them would’ve done what they wanted by then and could live quite comfortably on what they had left. You don’t know how long you’ve got so get it spent before the bastards use it for your care home

 

[blueinsa]

We should ask people like you to pay extra tax because you are happy to spend it on people who have contributed nothing. Then people like me should be allowed to pay less tax because I don't agree it is spent on asylum seekers who are living in hotels with spending money and 3 meals a day as well as free dental and medical care. Can you afford to pay for it because I can't . Billions a year on chancers whose first act is to destroy their documents because a lot of them are from countries with no problems. We have enough lazy fuckers in the UK without importing them

You have read my post wrong mate and out of context.

I have a problem with illegal immigration and what I see as a lack of control full stop.

 

[Don Karleone]

Unsurprisingly ignored.

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

See the useless bastards are now ‘pausing’ the northern powerhouse rail. Burnham will be livid, and rightly so.
So much for cancelling HS2 but ring-fencing £12b for that railway upgrade.

Really got no idea what this shower are up-to and can only imagine a few of them have had thousands on Farage being the next PM!

 

[Postman Pep]

Unsurprisingly ignored.

To be fair the 'noticing' of this of this story, that has been in the public domain for at least 18 months, has only just reached the Tory MP/Daily Mail level. Maybe if the lobby hacks start noticing it might filter through in here ...

 

[Don Karleone]

To be fair the 'noticing' of this of this story, that has been in the public domain for at least 18 months, has only just reached the Tory MP/Daily Mail level. Maybe if the lobby hacks start noticing it might filter through in here ...

Yeah I saw some Tory MP talking about it earlier with a shit ton of whataboutery underneath it. It’s another story that has been known about for years but is only now getting leaked.

 

[Postman Pep]

Yeah I saw some Tory MP talking about it earlier with a shit ton of whataboutery underneath it. It’s another story that has been known about for years but is only now getting leaked.

Yep;)

 

[Chippy_boy]

Yeah I saw some Tory MP talking about it earlier with a shit ton of whataboutery underneath it. It’s another story that has been known about for years but is only now getting leaked.

Nope.

When this first came to light, they passed this off as an oversight, a mistake. The electoral commission accepted this and fined them accordingly.

What's now come to light is that this was perhaps not a mistake, but deliberate non-disclosure - a criminal offence in itself. I gather there was correspondence between the allegedly guilty parties and their lawyers advising them that the donations must be disclosed, and on the face of it, this advice was actively ignored. Not an oversight at all.

If this proves to be the case, heads will roll, at least. It's far more serious than we were initially led to believe.