Our Welfare State. Is it broken?

The government’s proposed leasehold reforms should see plenty of private landlords selling up. No use to would-be buyers though if they can’t find a deposit and meet lenders’ rightly very stringent criteria to get a mortgage. Private landlords aren’t charities - they have costs to cover and if they don’t see a profit after costs and tax, what’s the point?

To start with we haven't had the election yet, and no date for one so it is presumptious to assume Labour will have a significant majority.

Then we have the issue of the state the Tory government has left the country in, which is dire by anyone's standards.

If Labour do get in, however, then they have a massive job of sorting out the mess of the last 14 years. 14 years in which they have had every opportunity to put what they saw as the disastrous Brown governmenr, right.

So how can you expect Labour to wave a magic wand?- there simply isn't one.

Cameron did not have a large enough majority so had to align himself with the LibDems= disaster.

Because of this many right-wing Tories began to defect to UKIP who demanded a referendum on EU membership, because all UKIP could do was blame every ill in this country on immigrants = disaster

To appease the Tories leaking to UKIP Cameron agreed to a referendum. He didn't think it through. In usual Tory arrogance he didn't think the British people would be so dumb as to vote to leave. He put no measures in place for what would follow such a momentous vote. He left.= disaster

Step in Theresa May who tried her best to navigate the impossible waters of getting a deal with Europe that would make things even a little bit better for the hapless electorate. She had to court to DUP (as always) in order to keep her majority but this in turn led to no deal as she couldn't please anyone and was forced to drink her tea with a fork.= disaster

In steps Boris Johnson the nation's saviour who just plastered over the cracks of Brexit, mis-managed a pandemic that caused untold suffering whilst having jolly after 'the rules don't apply to us' jolly and then finally having to admit he was nothing but a narcissist and a liar who cared less about the nation than he cared about his own health.=disaster

Next we had Liz Truss- what can we say about her that doesn't lead to national embarrassment? Cringe cringe.= even more disaster

Then to top it all we have extremely Richie Sunak who only cares about making his extremely Richie family even more Richie at the expense of the poor.= triple disaster

Now you are claiming that benefit 'scroungers' are to blame for the country's woes whilst 'genuine' claimants are their victims?

What kind of crazy logic is this?

Now to infer that Labour will fail because they haven't made good use of the last 14 years to plan?

I despair at the mind-set of some voters. And we'll just go on blaming everyone esle except those that have had the power to make things right again?

Except if its Labour- then we'll blame the government.

I was a single parent, not by choice, and didn't apply for anything. I brought up two children alone and they turned out hard working, sensible members of society. As am I. I really don't like single parents, usually women, being stereotyped

M0nica

Social housing was imtroduced because the poorest in society could not afford decent housing. It was built to safe hygenic standards and the rents were set at a level that those on the lowest wages could afford them.

The Conservative governments since 1979 have effectively reversed this policy, selling off council houses, many of which are now for rent in the private sector, encouraging private landlords to meet housing needs, which mean rents are set at market levels, not affordability levels.

As well as that 4.6 million homes are now in the private rental sector and 20% of households now have to rent. One of the reasons many families struggle with every day living and qualify for benefits is because rents in the private sector are so high.

We need to restructure our housing market. Encourage councils and Housing Associations to build more properties for rent, to be let at rents, quantified in terms of % of take home pay and do more to discourage private landlords and return mainly smaller first time buyer properties to the ownership market. There will always be a demand and need for a private rental sector, for the young and the intinerant, for all reasons.

But if the housing market continues to operate as it dows now it will drive more and more people into poverty.

The sellng of social housing is something I did not agree with. You say since 1979, Labour with Blair at the helm was in power 1997 till 2007, what did he do about it, absolutely nothing either. Certainly Starmer won't either.

MissAdventure

We may as well get it out of the way now, and save time later.
Acrylic nails.
Big TVs.
Latest iPhones.
Batch cooking.

Very well explained Monica, thankyou. I too believe that high cost private rents are driving more into poverty. It's not just young families either as many older people who have rented will be unable to afford to privately rent a decent home for their retirement.

We may as well get it out of the way now, and save time later.
Acrylic nails.
Big TVs.
Latest iPhones.
Batch cooking.

Social housing was imtroduced because the poorest in society could not afford decent housing. It was built to safe hygenic standards and the rents were set at a level that those on the lowest wages could afford them.

The Conservative governments since 1979 have effectively reversed this policy, selling off council houses, many of which are now for rent in the private sector, encouraging private landlords to meet housing needs, which mean rents are set at market levels, not affordability levels.

As well as that 4.6 million homes are now in the private rental sector and 20% of households now have to rent. One of the reasons many families struggle with every day living and qualify for benefits is because rents in the private sector are so high.

We need to restructure our housing market. Encourage councils and Housing Associations to build more properties for rent, to be let at rents, quantified in terms of % of take home pay and do more to discourage private landlords and return mainly smaller first time buyer properties to the ownership market. There will always be a demand and need for a private rental sector, for the young and the intinerant, for all reasons.

But if the housing market continues to operate as it dows now it will drive more and more people into poverty.

Meanwhile the sick and the disabled are yet again to be the target of a smear campaign by the Tories in preparation for another round of cuts

I suppose that’s why I asked “what will Labour do?” Pammie1.
The ball will be in their court and they’ve had 14 years to figure out a better way.

Oh JaneJudge that’s beyond awful for you and your daughter. This is part of what’s wrong n my opinion. Genuine claimants need MORE help in many ways. Some folk really do know how to play the system.

The Welfare state was always intended as a temporary safety net to catch people if they fell, to give them a chance to find their feet. For far too many it is not a short term safety net, but a hammock to lie in.

I was there, not their. FFs at myself

I think the problem is more that the welfare state is looking after a lot of people who are quite capable of looking after themselves while systematically making it harder for the vulnerable to access proper support.

The tax payer is footing the bill enabling employers to pay their employees as little as possible, housing benefit costs have ballooned as landlords are charging ever increasing rents, and childcare costs are extortionate.

Meanwhile the sick and the disabled are yet again to be the target of a smear campaign by the Tories in preparation for another round of cuts, and the care system is utterly broken, leaving the most vulnerable unsupported.

The problem appears to be that people are not paid enough through wages and have to rely on top up benefits. Rents so high working people have to rely on an element of housing benefit. Costs so high nurses and teaching staff have to rely on food banks.

I unfortunately had to spend a few hours or so in the job centre recently over a period of weeks. All the people who came in to do their face to face appointments looked ill or disabled in some way. It was quite obvious unfortunately. I was their with my own adult child who is also very disabled. I honestly don't know why any of us were there, we certainly weren't the people with the free cars and big televisions with our 'bad backs' or whatever qualifies for benefit bingo these days

Yes, some people are part of the dependancy culture, but to be fair there have always been single parents, I was on for a time.
I agree about the victim culture, someone once told me where there is blame there's a claim. He was a lazy bugger but made himself out to be a victim.
People are genuinely sick and disabled and need help. I would not like to see them in the same way as some others.