The General Election Thread

[malg]

Labour’s Hodge accused of tax hypocrisy
Vanessa Houlder, Jim Pickard and George Parker
A prominent Labour politician and a fierce critic of tax avoidance has been accused of hypocrisy after receiving shares in a family company from a foundation based in a tax haven.
Margaret Hodge, former head of Britain’s parliamentary public accounts committee, was among the beneficiaries in 2011 of the winding-up of a Liechtenstein foundation that held shares in Stemcor, the private steel-trading business set up by Hans Oppenheimer, her father.
The shares were brought onshore using a scheme, known as the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility, that offered reduced penalties and no risk of prosecution for Britons moving undeclared assets back to the UK.

<a class="postlink" href="http://m.ft.com/cms/s/0/4d9e16b4-ee3d-11e4-98f9-00144feab7de.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://m.ft.com/cms/s/0/4d9e16b4-ee3d-1 ... ab7de.html</a>

What an odious shitbag this People's Party multimillionaire is. Obviously I'm never going to vote for Lapaedobour but will one of you please explain why anyone does?

Because their dad did, and so did his dad.........and they're the party of the working man........and they're the party of the North.......oh, and they're not toffs........oh, and they'll re-privatise the railways and give it back to the people.......oh, and there won't be food banks......etc, etc.

 

[EalingBlue2]

I find it hard to believe how insular a lot of the tories seem to be on here, they just don't seem to realise just how hard very many of the electorate are having it as a result of this government's economic policies.
NONE of them have answered how, if as the tories claim, thousands more are in full time work, the coffers are not overflowing with the resulting rise in tax revenue, national insurance contributions and the i crease in VAT returns as the newly employed spend their wages.
the fact is, if the tories had been nearly as successful as they claim, they would be far ahead in the polls, the fact they will not gain enough seats to form a government says that for many, the tory led coalition has failed them.

Next election we will be 3 decades from the last Tory majority in parliament that says a lot about how successful they are - let's face it back the. Curle and vonk were starting for city - that was about when curle got his Derby goal

 

[Corky]

Hopefully people will get a conscience and vote Labour. Manchester always votes labour, and it shows what type of fans we are picking up now with some of the comments on here.

The Tory voters will only have themselves to blame when they get to 90 and there is next to no social care available. What is the point of pretending to champion the NHS but cutting social care so drastically creating a lot more need for the NHS?

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Labour’s Hodge accused of tax hypocrisy
Vanessa Houlder, Jim Pickard and George Parker
A prominent Labour politician and a fierce critic of tax avoidance has been accused of hypocrisy after receiving shares in a family company from a foundation based in a tax haven.
Margaret Hodge, former head of Britain’s parliamentary public accounts committee, was among the beneficiaries in 2011 of the winding-up of a Liechtenstein foundation that held shares in Stemcor, the private steel-trading business set up by Hans Oppenheimer, her father.
The shares were brought onshore using a scheme, known as the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility, that offered reduced penalties and no risk of prosecution for Britons moving undeclared assets back to the UK.

<a class="postlink" href="http://m.ft.com/cms/s/0/4d9e16b4-ee3d-11e4-98f9-00144feab7de.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://m.ft.com/cms/s/0/4d9e16b4-ee3d-1 ... ab7de.html</a>

What an odious shitbag this People's Party multimillionaire is. Obviously I'm never going to vote for Lapaedobour but will one of you please explain why anyone does?

That's years old and if you read the story properly it explains that the shares were moved out of Germany to Luxembourg by her father before the war (he was a Jewish refugee). They stayed there until Hodge herself made the decision to bring them onshore and pay any tax due. Even the Tories didn't make anything if this (probably because a lot of them had similar arrangements, certainly the Cameron & Osborne families).

 

[scotty123]

Hopefully people will get a conscience and vote Labour. Manchester always votes labour, and it shows what type of fans we are picking up now with some of the comments on here.

The Tory voters will only have themselves to blame when they get to 90 and there is next to no social care available. What is the point of pretending to champion the NHS but cutting social care so drastically creating a lot more need for the NHS?

So you are a better City fan than me because you vote Labour and I don't, give over you fuckwit

 

[The Northern Baptist]

This is something I've wondered for a while.

The NHS relies, or we are led to believe it does, heavily on foreign doctors and nurses. Without immigrants the NHS wouldn't function we are told.

Why is this? We can't we staff the NHS with british people?

Is it that there isn't enough people wanting to get into the medical profession, or do we not have enough talented people in the first place?

 

[Corky]

Hopefully people will get a conscience and vote Labour. Manchester always votes labour, and it shows what type of fans we are picking up now with some of the comments on here.

The Tory voters will only have themselves to blame when they get to 90 and there is next to no social care available. What is the point of pretending to champion the NHS but cutting social care so drastically creating a lot more need for the NHS?

So you are a better City fan than me because you vote Labour and I don't, give over you fuckwit

The 'aspirational' voters make me laugh.

 

[Metal Biker]

Hopefully people will get a conscience and vote Labour. Manchester always votes labour, and it shows what type of fans we are picking up now with some of the comments on here.

The Tory voters will only have themselves to blame when they get to 90 and there is next to no social care available. What is the point of pretending to champion the NHS but cutting social care so drastically creating a lot more need for the NHS?

"Labour" in name only.

These goons aren't Labour, not traditional Labour anyway. They've lost mine and quite a few other Labour voters over the years because of it, hence why they aren't streets ahead in the polls like they would be. Nu-Labour brings out the "NHS stick" to beat the Tories whenever they're losing and it sickens me.

"The NHS needs more funding and the Tories want to cut it!" "The NHS has enough funding, it needs to be run better and stop being so wasteful!". Nu-Labour and Tory views on the NHS; its all I ever hear, time after time after time. Hopefully Nu-Labour voters will realise they've been conned by this shower and NOT vote them in power, which is all they really want, not to help us.

 

[Corky]

Hopefully people will get a conscience and vote Labour. Manchester always votes labour, and it shows what type of fans we are picking up now with some of the comments on here.

The Tory voters will only have themselves to blame when they get to 90 and there is next to no social care available. What is the point of pretending to champion the NHS but cutting social care so drastically creating a lot more need for the NHS?

"Labour" in name only.

These goons aren't Labour, not traditional Labour anyway. They've lost mine and quite a few other Labour voters over the years because of it, hence why they aren't streets ahead in the polls like they would be. Nu-Labour brings out the "NHS stick" to beat the Tories whenever they're losing and it sickens me.

"The NHS needs more funding and the Tories want to cut it!" "The NHS has enough funding, it needs to be run better and stop being so wasteful!". Nu-Labour and Tory views on the NHS; its all I ever hear, time after time after time. Hopefully Nu-Labour voters will realise they've been conned by this shower and NOT vote them in power, which is all they really want, not to help us.

I was on about social care funding, which isn't NHS, it is the council's responsibility, and having massive cuts in areas of most need (like the north west), coupled with an ageing population, it is a massive time bomb.

 

[malg]

Hopefully people will get a conscience and vote Labour. Manchester always votes labour, and it shows what type of fans we are picking up now with some of the comments on here.

The Tory voters will only have themselves to blame when they get to 90 and there is next to no social care available. What is the point of pretending to champion the NHS but cutting social care so drastically creating a lot more need for the NHS?

Jesus. Do you really, genuinely, believe that post, or has Rascal got hold of your log in details?

 

[law74]

If that's what you want then can fully understand why you want the Conservatives or UKIP.

Thankyou.

Tell you what - there could be an entirely separate thread to discuss the level to which the public sector is in many way hideously bloated and the source of so many wasted £billions that if made efficient it Wold go a long way to balancing the books.

The big lie put out by so many is that cuts to the Public Sector = less nurses, doctors, police etc. This is bollocks, put out there for political sound bytes and believe by the gullible masses.

In fact there is such a massive volume of bureaucracy and admin which is what needs shaving - and the increase in the pay in that sector over the past 20 years is, I think I would be proven in saying, way above that in the private sector.

But as I say this is the stuff probably of a different thread.

Thats is great to know, I will have to tell my niece that tonight, after she has been told this week that due to staff shortages (she is a mental health nurse in the NHS) that she will have to cover three hospitals over a forty mile radius, leading to more time spent away from her daughter, more expense getting to and from work and a poorer work life balance.
I wont tell it to the 500 teachers in Northern Ireland losing their jobs at the end of June or the 1,000 classroom assistants also losing their jobs as a result of "austerity", neither will I tell it to the parents of their pupils that will have a poorer education due to larger classroom sizes, leading to poorer qualifications and less career oppertunities.

I am glad that you have opened my eyes to these "lies"

 

[carlosthejackal]

Hopefully people will get a conscience and vote Labour. Manchester always votes labour, and it shows what type of fans we are picking up now with some of the comments on here.

The Tory voters will only have themselves to blame when they get to 90 and there is next to no social care available. What is the point of pretending to champion the NHS but cutting social care so drastically creating a lot more need for the NHS?

FFs

 

[SWP's back]

Are your fellow small business owners happy to see companies like Amazon and Vodafone pay no tax on profits they make in the UK while they pay their full whack?

The general concensus is that whilst they should pay more, they are doing what every business does which is to pay the least amount of tax they legally have to. This is the job of every accountant in the country. Morally, this view can be questioned of course, but the fault is with the system really. What Labour will inevitably do is to increase Corporation Tax across the board without tightening the tax laws meaning the pain of this increase is felt by us small business owners.

Labour have said they won't increase corporation tax but will close the loopholes that allow people to abuse the system.

This sort of thing annoys me.

You can't close the fucking loophole that vodaphone, Starbucks et al exploit without global agreement thankstodouble taxation agreements.

 

[SWP's back]

The DUP with their (probable) nine seats could play a key role in any potential coalition deal.
Traditionally they align with the Tories but now they're closer to Labour on the two big constitutional issues for them of EU ( DUP are pro EU) and preserving the Union ( they do not support an English parliament).
I can't see them entering into any coalition/pact with the Tories but I can see them doing a deal with Labour.

Totally disagree with that. The Tories are also pro EU and want to preserve the Union.

They are aligned on those fronts.

They'd never do a deal with Labour.

 

[SWP's back]

Thankyou.

Tell you what - there could be an entirely separate thread to discuss the level to which the public sector is in many way hideously bloated and the source of so many wasted £billions that if made efficient it Wold go a long way to balancing the books.

The big lie put out by so many is that cuts to the Public Sector = less nurses, doctors, police etc. This is bollocks, put out there for political sound bytes and believe by the gullible masses.

In fact there is such a massive volume of bureaucracy and admin which is what needs shaving - and the increase in the pay in that sector over the past 20 years is, I think I would be proven in saying, way above that in the private sector.

But as I say this is the stuff probably of a different thread.

Thats is great to know, I will have to tell my niece that tonight, after she has been told this week that due to staff shortages (she is a mental health nurse in the NHS) that she will have to cover three hospitals over a forty mile radius, leading to more time spent away from her daughter, more expense getting to and from work and a poorer work life balance.
I wont tell it to the 500 teachers in Northern Ireland losing their jobs at the end of June or the 1,000 classroom assistants also losing their jobs as a result of "austerity", neither will I tell it to the parents of their pupils that will have a poorer education due to larger classroom sizes, leading to poorer qualifications and less career oppertunities.

I am glad that you have opened my eyes to these "lies"

Ok you don't tell it to those 1,501.

Ill tell it to the 1.8m now I work that weren't when Labour did their best to ruckus the economy again.

 

[whp.blue]

whatever happens on thurday friday on here will be fucking funny.

As Business Owners maybe not quite so funny for us de niro
Worst case scenario is a Labour Majority then a SNP Minority Government (Labour biggest party)

These both are Likely and both would be devastating for small businesses like ours.

What line of business are you in?
When did you start trading?
Are you an established business?
Why do you think a labour government would be devastating for your business?

I'll go first

I own an outsourcing company
November 2008
Yes
It won't, the truth is the world isn't going to end if Labour get into power.

I own two businesses in the food sector one of which also acts as an employment agency 38 staff
june 2007
yes

Too much interference and regulation and unrealistic levels of minimum wage for some businesses
increased business rates

I never said the world would end but trading will definitely be much harder and the likely downturn in the economy, as it always does when we have a Labour government, some businesses will go under.

 

[whp.blue]

Hopefully people will get a conscience and vote Labour. Manchester always votes labour, and it shows what type of fans we are picking up now with some of the comments on here.

The Tory voters will only have themselves to blame when they get to 90 and there is next to no social care available. What is the point of pretending to champion the NHS but cutting social care so drastically creating a lot more need for the NHS?

You don't want to open that particular can of worms

I am from Manchester first game in the 60's and have a conscience and I haven't voted for Labour .

 

[Len Rum]

The DUP with their (probable) nine seats could play a key role in any potential coalition deal.
Traditionally they align with the Tories but now they're closer to Labour on the two big constitutional issues for them of EU ( DUP are pro EU) and preserving the Union ( they do not support an English parliament).
I can't see them entering into any coalition/pact with the Tories but I can see them doing a deal with Labour.

Totally disagree with that. The Tories are also pro EU and want to preserve the Union.

They are aligned on those fronts.

They'd never do a deal with Labour.

'The Tories are also pro EU' - arguable, but assuming it's true , it's the referendum of the people that will decide the outcome NOT the Tories, so there is a risk of EU exit and that's what worries the DUP.
'The Tories want to preserve the Union' - very arguable as the break up of the Union cements their position in England, but again assuming it's true, EVEL will almost guarantee the end of the Union and that is what worries the DUP.

 

[Len Rum]

Tell you what - there could be an entirely separate thread to discuss the level to which the public sector is in many way hideously bloated and the source of so many wasted £billions that if made efficient it Wold go a long way to balancing the books.

The big lie put out by so many is that cuts to the Public Sector = less nurses, doctors, police etc. This is bollocks, put out there for political sound bytes and believe by the gullible masses.

In fact there is such a massive volume of bureaucracy and admin which is what needs shaving - and the increase in the pay in that sector over the past 20 years is, I think I would be proven in saying, way above that in the private sector.

But as I say this is the stuff probably of a different thread.

Thats is great to know, I will have to tell my niece that tonight, after she has been told this week that due to staff shortages (she is a mental health nurse in the NHS) that she will have to cover three hospitals over a forty mile radius, leading to more time spent away from her daughter, more expense getting to and from work and a poorer work life balance.
I wont tell it to the 500 teachers in Northern Ireland losing their jobs at the end of June or the 1,000 classroom assistants also losing their jobs as a result of "austerity", neither will I tell it to the parents of their pupils that will have a poorer education due to larger classroom sizes, leading to poorer qualifications and less career oppertunities.

I am glad that you have opened my eyes to these "lies"

Ok you don't tell it to those 1,501.

Ill tell it to the 1.8m now I work that weren't when Labour did their best to ruckus the economy again.

Those 1.8m had decent jobs pre financial crash, now a lot of them are in insecure,low paid , temporary zero hour contract jobs, so don't spend too long singing the praises of the Tories.

 

[Chancy Termites]

Labour’s Hodge accused of tax hypocrisy
Vanessa Houlder, Jim Pickard and George Parker
A prominent Labour politician and a fierce critic of tax avoidance has been accused of hypocrisy after receiving shares in a family company from a foundation based in a tax haven.
Margaret Hodge, former head of Britain’s parliamentary public accounts committee, was among the beneficiaries in 2011 of the winding-up of a Liechtenstein foundation that held shares in Stemcor, the private steel-trading business set up by Hans Oppenheimer, her father.
The shares were brought onshore using a scheme, known as the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility, that offered reduced penalties and no risk of prosecution for Britons moving undeclared assets back to the UK.

<a class="postlink" href="http://m.ft.com/cms/s/0/4d9e16b4-ee3d-11e4-98f9-00144feab7de.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://m.ft.com/cms/s/0/4d9e16b4-ee3d-1 ... ab7de.html</a>

What an odious shitbag this People's Party multimillionaire is. Obviously I'm never going to vote for Lapaedobour but will one of you please explain why anyone does?

That's years old and if you read the story properly it explains that the shares were moved out of Germany to Luxembourg by her father before the war (he was a Jewish refugee). They stayed there until Hodge herself made the decision to bring them onshore and pay any tax due. Even the Tories didn't make anything if this (probably because a lot of them had similar arrangements, certainly the Cameron & Osborne families).

Her shares were held tax-efficiently in Liechtenstein away from the UK exchequer until the Labour goverment in which she was a minister passed a law letting people like her off penalties for stuffing their millions away in tax havens. She has since gone on to make a name for herself as chair of the Public Accounts Committee for moaning on at people who take advantage of exactly such avoidance schemes. She's disgusting.