Conservative Manifesto

I do not think anyone was saying otherwise, roseq.
I couldn't care less about London myself, having avoided living there, but nobody pretends it's about the whole of the country. In fact there are 33 houses over £1 million sold in London every day.
On the programme about million pound plus houses on the market, there was also a Scottish castle.

Anyway, this is a fact check of Cameron's appearance this morning on the Andrew Marr show. The facts about housing are particularly worrying.

fullfact.org/factcheck/economy/prime_minister_interview_andrew_marr-42935

The examples given above re house prices are for the London area.
The majority of the houses in the rest of the country are nowhere near those prices.
The trouble with a lot of journalists, pundits, agents etc, they all live in 'the bubble' that is the London area.
They really should get out more.

Anyone who thinks their vote is wasted, what about this?

www.swapmyvote.co.uk

I meant you are, soon, not your. This is what happens when people ask silly questions. The rich and those in the middle can look after themselves. The poor can't when we have a Tory government. The poor are demonised for being poor.

I hope that all those millions of people in the middle care about the poor rather than the rich.

Your asking silly questions, soon.

The living wage dj. Fair enough.

Do you agree that there are millions of people in the UK who are neither rich nor poor?
I ask because in your 14.13pm link, you only mention rich and poor people. Not the millions in the middle. Or do you think that anyone earning above the living wage is rich?

[Eloethan, I was asking if you only cared about people earning say £15,000 and less].

£11 billion a year; enough to fill the gap in the NHS, sort of. By that I mean it depends on which gap you are talking about, as the NHS needs £8 billion providing it saves £22 billion.

soontobe I don't understand your post at 14.18. What does the £15,000 income refer to?

Under a living wage.

www.citizensuk.org/

This is about how much the taxpayer props up big business.

What income do you think is poor durhamjen?

Soon, your "and no one else" bit was directed at Eloethan.
It was Soutra who answered. However, I have answered your "and no one else" bit.

Here's another link from the Guardian, which you will obviously not read, but I am sure others will.
It compares the main election promises.

www.theguardian.com/money/2015/apr/18/what-party-manifestos-mean-for-you-tax-housing-pensions-pay

No disrespect to ethel. I think she understands what I am trying to say. I hope so.

I am talking about the very poorest.
It appears that those like ethel, dont even qualify.
Nobody having an income higher than say £15,000.

That should be
Did you see the "and no one else" bit?

The rich do not need help. Can't you see it's the poor who help the rest? Give them more money in benefits or tax reductions and they will spend it in this country. Give the rich more and they will syphon it off in to tax havens.

Did you see the "and no one else bit"?

Is it not obvious to aim to help those who need it most?

Eloethan. Are you after helping the very poorest of society, and no one else?

ethelbags I'm not suggesting it's the buyer's fault - I can quite understand why somebody would wish to buy their council/housing association home if they are able. I feel the policy of using taxpayers' money to give large subsidies to allow people to buy into social housing is wrong. Councils have not been allowed to use the money obtained to build new social housing for those that need it.

If you had not been in a position to buy your house, would you now be feeling it was fair that you were paying more in rent than somebody who had been financially assisted to buy their home was paying in mortgage?

As durhamjen's linked article states, there are £3 million people on the waiting list, and:

"The bung to the right-to-buy tenant – something no private tenant will ever see – is even more shocking when you consider how these deals work in practice. “With some of these valuations, the council may value the property at £1m [on the open market] but the [sale] valuation comes in at £780,000-£800,000 because of the restrictions on the sale of the property,” said a spokesman for Righttobuy.coop."

"...... So the council accepts a valuation of, let’s say, £790,000, then applies the discount the tenant is entitled to. The maximum discount is £77,900 across England, except in London boroughs where it is £103,900. “So for £690,000 of mortgage, the tenant gets a £1m property,” says the agent. For the tenant, this is a fantastically good deal; in five years’ time, if house prices remain static, they will trouser upwards of £300,000 if they sell, courtesy of the taxpayer. This is a sum equal to more than 10 years of average pay in England."

eloethan, I don't have a small group of people I approve of, I have friends from all level of society. I judge people by the way they live and behave.
I have read your post with interest and feel that , why shouldn't someone buy a HA home if they can, and ok if you feel its to the disadvantage of someone else then so be it. Isnt that what life is about, all situations have winners and losers.
If you can afford to buy a social housing home as I did then that is to your advantage, how can it cause others harm, its not the buyers fault but the local authorities who don't build more.
My main argument is that it may give some people an incentive to work and improve themselves and anyway I know my mortgage is only 25% of the rent I would have to pay on a council house, their is no way I could afford a private rented home.

www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2015/apr/18/right-to-buy-council-houses-wrong

This is why it's wrong.

But I'm not grumbling, we do have more than our state pensions thank goodness.

Me too rosequartz much, much happier

Do you mean to their executives and directors, Gracesgran or to their shareholders who may be like us with our few free shares and investors like pension funds?

(I got a total of around £10 in dividends last year from my 'free' bank shares!)

I think that £47, 000 a year would make me happier.

I do wish Labour would find out which companies are paying dividends and bonuses but not paying the living wage.