Chancellor's autumn statement 2015

If it HAD been funny, I wouldn't have minded.

No, it was just pathetic.

Reading from that book was a joke about Osbourne and his suddenly found admiration for the Chinese , it was amusing

This budget was better than anyone, from any party could ever have expected.

I heard it all, in fact I was agog! it was just the sort of speech he would have given at a Labour conference, to the adoring masses.Hardly a real response to the Statement at all, more about what he thought they should have achieved, bigdeficit etc and then that frankly bizarre reading from the little red book, all this in answer to an important Autumn Statement which affects millions! Corbyn ( and everyone else on the Labour benches) looked embarrassed as well they might.

Roses, did you listen to McDonnell's response all the way through? It wasn't laughable at all. He praised Osborne for doing the things that Labour would have done. Did you not hear that?

Just realised, JessM, that was in your link as well. Mine wasn't from the Manchester Evening News.
Were housing associations mentioned?

"We are the builders," he said again.

This is from John Healey, Labour's shadow housing minister.

“If hot air built homes, then Conservative Ministers would have our housing crisis sorted.

“A matter of weeks ago the Housing Minister promised a million more homes, now George Osborne is saying they’ll build 400,000 more.

“Rather than rate them on what they say they will do, people will judge them on what they’ve actually done.

“George Osborne’s first act as Chancellor in 2010 was to slash housing investment by 60%, and his plans today could still mean 40% less to build the homes we need compared to the investment programme he inherited from Labour.

“The Tories’ housing record speaks for itself. The lowest peacetime level of house building since David Lloyd George was prime minister in the 1920s, home ownership fallen year-on-year to the lowest level in a generation, and alongside the lowest number of genuinely affordable homes built in two decades, the number of affordable homes to buy halved since 2010.

“On housing, the Tory record is five years of failure on every front. Bluster about big house building figures simply won’t cut it when people have seen the country's housing crisis get worse with Osborne as Chancellor."

An excellent response made before the budget speech. How did he know?

Just realised there are two threads on this.

Where will those on minimum wage and zero contracts live? They can't buy, social housing is being sold off

Shocking subsidy for house builders and for very well paid under 40s who have parents who can stump up a huge deposit.
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/autumn-statement-starter-homes-osborne-10503069

Exactly, JessM. He's still going to take £12 billion out of the welfare budget between now and 2020. Hasn't said where.
One thing I cannot understand is why he had to have all this aggravation in the first place. He had no need to have an emergency budget in July in the first place. He could have waited until the Autumn statement to find out that the OBR said there would be an extra £27 billion to play with.
OBR forecasts have never been correct so far - not a single one.

Part of the benefit cut is going to hit those on the new Universal Credit, it seems.e.g. a single parent on the new "living wage" will be more than 2k worse off.£12 billion on benefits budget.
There is a massive cut to the home office so don't get too excited about "no cuts to policing".
"The money's got to come from somewhere" hmm. So instead of taxing income or corporation tax that would affect the rich (and those in the South East) you crank up Council Tax and hit the poor - as pointed out above, a potential disproportionate hit on poorer people.

A good budget all round.No cuts to tax credits, no cuts to the police, more money in the pipeline for NHS and mental health.True, local councils can put up council tax, but money has to come from somewhere, one wonders what Labour would have cut to get the money? A laughable rant from John McDonnell in answer to the Autumn Satement, even the Labour back benchers looked away or read or texted during it.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/11/25/georges-fatal-flaws/

From someone who knows about finance.

Wales is going to get a big budget cut that will bite deeply. This on top of expected benefit cuts etc which are not devolved.

Yes jess I was quoting the punters. I think that they were a bit short of stuff to say - this statement is probably like the last 2 or 3 the real sting will become apparent after a good look at it.

yes well, the NHS and schools did rather well under Blair...
And - to give credit where it is due - Blair inherited a national infrastructure that was disintegrating - particularly hospitals and school buildings.
Don't hold your breath. This is a very far right government who only care about the very rich.

Apparently Osborne is a huge admirer of Tony B and this statement could easily have been a Blair budget! No grans this is not a nightmare Osborne is intent to turn the Tory party into a Blairite type of political party - who would have thought!

Yes the devil is in the departmental spending cuts isn't it. Specially benefits. But also local authorities.
I bet the house builders are happy to get a whopping subsidy for new properties. And when the owners sell those properties, they will be very happy too, to have had the opportunity to buy a discounted property.
I just don't get the £8billion extra "in real terms" for the NHS. In the next breath they always mention £22 billion "efficiency savings" needed. That looks like an effective under funding of £24 billion to me.

I did read somewhere recently that many LAs are sitting on huge wads of cash - I don't think they should be able to do that.

Feel sorry for the grans or anyone who live in a poor area - local authorities are to raise much more of their money through rates which is almost impossible in low rate areas. 2% to be raised for care and 2% of not a lot will be even less in areas where poverty causes problems meaning more care needed.

This also includes police precept.

Ah! so he is paying for the u-turns by assuming greater tax receipts over the next few years.

Hmm - so nothing definite in his cash box then - a bit of wishful thinking albeit based on OBR forecasts.

Very happy about the abandonment of tax credits cuts. Thank heavens he listened to the swelling tide of opposition to this. The man has gone up (ever so slightly) in my estimation.

Oh, good point. I always get too excited by the headlines.

Unspecified cuts of 12bn still to come from welfare though. I suppose he is back on the drawing board again!