General Election - 4th July 2024

[johnnytapia]

I love an election all-nighter it has to be said. Get stocked up in front of the telly from 10pm onwards and bring it on.

I might break the habit of a lifetime and give BBC1 a wide berth. Not sure I can stand a full night of Laura K without a high risk of hallucinations/nightmares.
Will have to hop between ITV, Sky or Channel 4 who look like they’ve got an interesting mix of on air talent lined up.

In fact I’m even sad enough to watch those occasional re-runs on BBC Parliament when they replay election night coverage from yesteryear.

Anyone else looking forward to it, or is it just me?

I love it.

 

[Vic]

So what is the first thing Labour do when they come in, the first 100 days are very important, I’m assuming there will be a budget, but parliament are on summer holidays aren’t they? Or is that stopped now because of the election. I’m assuming Labour don’t know the true state of the finances, they could be in for a real shock, what would you do at the start, there are so many issues, do they settle the doctors pay dispute, what about Rwanda, stop the boats etc Im glad I don’t have to do it.

Don't worry. Sunak thinks the economy is fine. There's plenty of money. How else could they have cut NI? (Oh, yeah... froze allowances.)

 

[johnnytapia]

Yes I’m working in London on Thursday but will be home before the polls close and then home to watch the outcome. Lots of the more interesting results won’t happen early on, because Tory seats are generally larger in physical size.

Obviously really interested what happens in Stratford. And Cheltenham. As Alex Chalk is a ****.

Bring me the head of Gullis. That’s the one I want above all else. I know the Stoke NEU are trying to get as many of our members in for the c(o)unt.

 

[johnnytapia]

#pubsnob

Pubs nob or pub snob?

 

[Sale Moor Blue]

You weren't the guy I spoke to yesterday who blames Labour for the last 14 years?

What a stupid comment

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

You weren't the guy I spoke to yesterday who blames Labour for the last 14 years?

That’s what Tories are doing, and their voters now think politicians are all the same.

Some proper mind-fuck going on there.

 

[feedmpenzaandhewillscore]

So what is the first thing Labour do when they come in, the first 100 days are very important, I’m assuming there will be a budget, but parliament are on summer holidays aren’t they? Or is that stopped now because of the election. I’m assuming Labour don’t know the true state of the finances, they could be in for a real shock, what would you do at the start, there are so many issues, do they settle the doctors pay dispute, what about Rwanda, stop the boats etc Im glad I don’t have to do it.

Need to get the economy going, all the red tape from Brexit is hampering and costing businesses money to actually trade in Europe it’s the elephant in the room and no one seems to want to address is so they don’t upset voters that voted for brexit. We need to be back inside the single market but that’s not being talked about by either parties.

Interest rate cut needs to happen to make borrowing cheaper for companies.

Rwanda needs to be scrapped as it’s a money drain and not exactly deterring people form crossing.

 

[Vic]

What a stupid comment

Oh.. maybe it was you!

 

[Vic]

That’s what Tories are doing, and their voters now think politicians are all the same.

Some proper mind-fuck going on there.

They don't really. It's just a comfort blanket for not recognising which party has trashed the reputation of all politicians, not just their own party's.

 

[SkyBlueFlux]

There's been a lot of talk about the UK's tax burden - i.e. its tax revenues as a % of GDP. Specifically, the fact that it is the highest it's been since the 60s. While it's great that the Tories are getting a kicking over it, this narrative worries me a bit, because it seems to suggest that high tax burden is inherently a bad thing and it should be used as a stick to beat anybody who increases it. But this is a vast oversimplification (as usual), it's not just that the tax burden is high that is the problem - it's the compounding nature of this when you pair it with wage stagnation, high inflation, and tepid growth over two decades. Ultimately, it's not about the value of the tax burden, but upon whom that tax burden ends up falling.

I found this useful article from the IFS that demonstrates the point with some charts. Our tax burden is now circa 35% - high for us, no doubt. But the EU average is more like 40%, in France it is close to 45%. In the US it is drastically lower (and the quality of their public services probably reflects that).

When you look into the differences between us and other EU nations, we are pretty close to the average for most forms of taxation. The big difference seems to be social security contributions on median earners (in our case NI), and it's not the employee contributions that are a lot different, it's employer contributions. In Sweden an employer would contribute about 3x more on an average earner's salary into their social security compared to our NI system. Combine this with the fact corporate tax contributions are actually also often slightly lower. The word of warning here is that social security systems differ greatly from country to country, and what people get for that will vary.

So in sum, this narrative that we are a high tax country is actually not a correct assessment. It would be more correct to say, we are a country that places a similar tax burden on individuals as most developed nations, but because of lower taxes and contributions from businesses, the services we get for our individual contributions are comparatively lacking. This is compounded by problems around things like planning laws, project/change management, and inefficiencies in public services, which also don't help.

https://ifs.org.uk/taxlab/taxlab-key-questions/how-do-uk-tax-revenues-compare-internationally