General Election June 8th

[Ancient Citizen]

Yes and at the end of that rainbow might be the pot of gold he is looking for to give everything to everyone.

Ha! Just beat me to it.
And unfortunately, nobody's ever found that pot of gold.

 

[worsleyweb]

I will just comment on the 3 parts I have highlighted.

1. The deficit is still under this govt spiralling out of control. They have failed regardless of anyone else.

2. It has not been a hard road for all. Some have lost or paid more. Efficiency or austerity, call it what you like has hurt certain people harder. Namely those with less in the first place.

3. Who was to blame for the real economy being in a mess. Those who gambled on markets. Which then resulted in the tax payer bail outs which resulted in point 2.

At least accept some of the above if you do care.

Who can solve it or make it better is now the argument for tomorrow to decide.

Last point, we all know you are a tory. No need to remind us every day.

The defecit has been reduced from 122 million a year to 47 as the toriea have not imposed cuts as harshly as was first envisaged. They have done a bloody good job in dire circumstances. Let them continue and our country has a chance to prosper.

 

[Chippy_boy]

As for the final line, yes I do remember us being the sick man of europe and lots of strikes. However we dealt with the unions by smashing them instead of removing the underlying causes of why they were militant.

I don't regard putting sensible protections on secondary picketing and preventing union bosses from taking workers out on strike without a proper mandate, as "smashing the unions".

Most people understand that workers' pay rises need to be reasonable and affordable. Not so high as to damage the competitiveness or even the viability of the whole business.

Unfortunately some militants refuse to accept this and demand unreasonable increases and don't care about the consequences. We cannot allow people like that to bring the country to it's knees, in support of unsustainable pay demands.

 

[jonmcity]

The defecit has been reduced from 122 million a year to 47 as the toriea have not imposed cuts as harshly as was first envisaged. They have done a bloody good job in dire circumstances. Let them continue and our country has a chance to prosper.

Well the top 5% earners may prosper!
The rest of us will pay for tax cuts for the rich. The Nurses will keep having wage deflation which is a scandal, and the police force will keep being cut.
The NHS will be privatised, but that's OK if you can afford health insurance for your whole family.

 

[pirate]

I am sorry but that is simply NOT true.

I am a Tory and I care about all of those things. Every Tory I know cares. The government cares.

They also realise that you cannot spend more money on everything when you don't have enough money.

Think on that, please. Making cuts is never popular, but is sometimes necessary. Do reflect on this. It is sometimes necessary.

If a Labour government does not understand this, what will happen to the economy when more cuts ARE needed and they cannot or will not make them?

The answer is, the same thing that happened last time. Lots and lots of tax rises and a deficit spiralling out of control. That is what Labour left behind last time. And Brown was far more responsible than Corbyn or McDonnell, I assure you!

It's taken 6 years to try out the wheels back on, and run the country responsibly. And it's been a hard road for all. I get that. But these painful cuts have been a direct consequence of how the economy was left when the Tories took over. Labour spent money we did not have and could not afford and we've been paying for it ever since.

Making cuts is never popular, but what the tories are cutting and propose to cut are appalling and the rationale for the cuts is appalling.
The biggest brunt of the cuts is on the poor and vulnerable. If their proposals hit all levels of society equally, or heaven forbid, the richer taking on more responsibility, then I think I would be able to support them.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I will just comment on the 3 parts I have highlighted.

1. The deficit is still under this govt spiralling out of control. They have failed regardless of anyone else.

2. It has not been a hard road for all. Some have lost or paid more. Efficiency or austerity, call it what you like has hurt certain people harder. Namely those with less in the first place.

3. Who was to blame for the real economy being in a mess. Those who gambled on markets. Which then resulted in the tax payer bail outs which resulted in point 2.

At least accept some of the above if you do care.

Who can solve it or make it better is now the argument for tomorrow to decide.

Last point, we all know you are a tory. No need to remind us every day.

1. Not true. It was £170bn in 2010 and the Tories have managed to reduce it by about 75% it's been brought under control. Did you not know this? Serious question, btw.

2. I agree it's been harder for some than others. No-one's been having a ball these past 6 years, I assure you. I haven't had a pay rise in as long as I can remember. Perhaps 2008, not sure. But do you remember interest rates being 5, 6, 7% and mortgages costing 2x what they cost now? That hit people very hard too.

3. The last Labour government turned a surplus into a deficit by overspending, before the crash. The crash just made worse what was already out of control. Check the stats.

The worst excesses of the banking sector were in the US with reckless lending to people who could not pay. That's what caused it all. We were burned along with everyone else, not helped by a relaxation in banking regulation introduced by Gordon Brown (and supported by the Tories).

This has hurt everyone, including people - like me - who's fault it was not. But we needed to fix the economy. We could not jusr pretend it hadn't happened, much though it seems people want to.

 

[jonmcity]

We can afford to support the banks to the tune of £1,162 Billion, but cannot pay for social care, and give nurses a pay rise in line with inflation. Priorities all wrong.

Provision of cash in the form of loans to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and insolvent banks to support deposits, and the purchase of share capital in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group.
Peak support (£bn)
Guarantee commitments 1,029
Cash outlay 133
Total peak support 1,162

 

[Chippy_boy]

Making cuts is never popular, but what the tories are cutting and propose to cut are appalling and the rationale for the cuts is appalling.
The biggest brunt of the cuts is on the poor and vulnerable. If their proposals hit all levels of society equally, or heaven forbid, the richer taking on more responsibility, then I think I would be able to support them.

How is raising the personal allowance, raising the minimum wage and taking the poorest out of tax, whilst at the same time bringing more people into the higher 40% tax hand "hurting the poor most"?

The better off have had to pay more tax. I know I have. The less well off have had to pay less. Pensioners' income has gone up considerably.

I do hear you and of course there's been benefits changes that have hurt and if you have less money you feel it more, but it's just not true to think that better off people have been favoured.

 

[Chippy_boy]

We can afford to support the banks to the tune of £1,162 Billion, but cannot pay for social care, and give nurses a pay rise in line with inflation. Priorities all wrong.

Provision of cash in the form of loans to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and insolvent banks to support deposits, and the purchase of share capital in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group.
Peak support (£bn)
Guarantee commitments 1,029
Cash outlay 133
Total peak support 1,162

Would you honestly rather peoples' life savings were just wiped away as RBS (Nat west) and Lloyds went bust?

The government had no choice.

 

[jonmcity]

No we should have given people their money back and let the shareholders loose their investments.