Something positive about this government

I will add a much needed positive note.

There is a rumour that PIP cuts may not happen.

goodnight

Are you not going to watch the newspaper reviews on News24, whitewave?

I wonder what will happen to universal credit? That was his baby, his life's work even before he was in government.
As stated somewhere else, only 32,000 are on it now, because it's impossible to sort out.
I can't imagine anyone else wanting to take over that poisoned chalice.

Sorry, 32,000 last month. 200,000 altogether.
This is why he has resigned.

www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2016/03/17/ids-loses-legal-challenge-to-keep-universal-credit-problems

whitewave, The pension reforms which were scrapped would actually have been one of the fairest things this government could have done. The Labour Party had the same reforms in its manifesto.

Higher rate taxpayers would no longer have received more in their pension pots than basic rate payers. Currently, the government effectively puts double into higher rate tax payers' pension pots. The people who mainly gain from this are higher earning self-employed, who pay themselves in pension contributions rather than salary. In effect they defer their income and tax to a time when they will be earning less.

It would have saved approximately £8billion a year, but higher earning self-employed are the backbone of Tory voters. Spot a link?

I hope Universal Credit is scrapped (from a purely selfish point of view).

I also hope the Work Programme is abolished. It's not getting people into work and is costing more than it delivers. Billions are being paid to private work programme providers, which would could be paid directly to the people who need the money.

It's a bit of a red herring about unemployment being so low. So many young people continue to go to university so these do not count as unemployed. Plus so many people are now being sanctioned by the Job Centre that these will also not show up as unemployed. As for those managing to gain employment nowadays it is generally on zero hour contracts which is a total nightmare.
I hate the fact that the wealthier members of society have been actively helped by this government to become even even wealthier whereas those at the very bottom have been taken to the very edge. I have no problem with people working hard and having very good lifestyles but not at the expense of the poor and disabled in society.

The nasty party never went away - their friends in the media has covered so much up for them.

Investing + building rail links
Free nursery places

I don't know that we will see the rail links in my lifetime Cherrytree59 (and I am not ancient ) and the "free" nursery places have been completely underfunded and are yet another area (schools and hospitals being others) where the government will expect those working in this area to pick up the pieces - but all the slack has been used up during the last spell of this government.

So much could unravel so quickly and sadly it will not be the high government earners who loose out.

Yes my DIL manages a family centre/ nursery. It was originally under the County Council wing, and was primarily set up as a Sure Start centre - remember those?- these were to provide the children from deprived circumstances a good start pre-school.

What has happened well the dead hand ofTory ideology privatised it. The nursery is no longer funded sufficiently to be able to provide these vulnerable children with all the help they need.

The better off parents have taken the places.

We are indeed not all in this together

On this thread as on almost all the political threads its as if there are only 2 groups of people in the UK: the super rich and the extremely poor and or disabled. That's not a true picture of the country. We fall on a very broad spectrum of comparative wealth (however that's defined). In this budget we only hear of winners and losers not so much about those who do OK. Sometimes people are likely to do better by indirect means eg the reduction in corporation tax, raising the threshold for small business rate relief (600,000 of them and 250,000 will see rates cut) class2 NI rates will be abolished for 3,000,000 self employed. All these will have an indirect effect on industry and help to secure employment and potentially lead to increased job opportunities. Its not all the simplistic black and white picture its so often represented as being on this thread.

I'm pleased your son has got more help Kittylester.
However others should not get too excited - if you set out to cut benefits by £56billion then there are going to be a lot of people losing out. Pensioners are being ring-fenced (core Tory vote) so this is going to fall on younger working people.
I'm afraid one example does not indicate a trend.
Likewise housing - you have to look at the statistics
This is a very revealing graph.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/ampp3d/housing-crisis-10-empty-homes-5008151
Or try this gov.uk
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/428601/House_Building_Release_-_Mar_Qtr_2015.pdf
Clear that housebuilding has been bumping along at a low level since the recession with a slight rise recently due to Osborne's handout to people who can afford a mortgage. It is still, however, way below demand and not meeting the needs of the population due to an idealogical opposition to social housing.

jane absolutely that goes without needing to be said. But in a civilised society, one in which has progressed to the level of income of this country, we should always look to protecting the vulnerable. Those in the middle who are comfortably toddling along would be without a moral core if they simply ignored those vulnerable people.

That is why some of us are pinpointing those people, it isn't because we are unaware that the vast majority of us are managing OK. But when we know that the government is ideologically bound to reducing the state to a level not seen since before the Second World War, we feel morally bound to argue for protection of the most vulnerable.

Cameron has said we should visit places like the Lake District during the Easter break, it will help the economy , that's a positive.

He is going to Lanzarote

You couldn't make it up!!

My brother lives on Lanzarote.
When he was in the army my mother had his postal vote, and always voted Tory for him, as requested.
When he retired from the army, he did not like the country he had helped to make and moved to Lanzarote.
He is welcome to Cameron. I hope they meet, although I doubt it.
Somehow I do not think Cameron would get a very good welcome in the Lakes.
Cameron does not realise that most people cannot afford to go on holiday every school holiday.

Whitewave you may say that it doesn't need to be said but on a thread entitled as this one is I and others do think it needs to be said. The plight of some people with disabilities is one which it is quite impossible not to be aware of! If the majority of us tax payers in the middle feel more secure then we are far more likely to be able to consider the needs of others less fortunate than ourselves. I say this as one who has had years of worry about employment and just keeping things together for the family. I know many people with a wide variety of levels of disability and differing needs for support. I can quite see that assessment can be extremely tricky and some outcomes can be a matter of pure luck. Not ideal but we're human and trying to impose blanket levels of benefits can never fit perfectly.

Reminds me of Willie Hague when a newspaper disclosed that when he stayed in hotels he shared a bedroom with his male assistant , Willie's response was - my wife has suffered several attempts of IVF

Where is the connection

The positive thing for me is the reduction of the huge debt we inherited. You cannot just keep borrowing your wayout of trouble, all debts have ultimately to be paid. The last people that should suffer are those with genuine disabilities, they have enough to cope with and we have to find the money somehow. Perhaps we will need to have a rise in income tax, I don't know. Glad I don't have to sort it out though.

Thank you Wilma that was the answer I was looking for. I asked a simple question which did not invite abuse and you answered it appropriately.

Luckylegs9 why do you believe the debt has been reduced? Even the Telegraph admits it hasn't
"George Osborne, the Chancellor, has made it his mission to reduce the size of this debt. However, his plans have repeatedly come unstuck. Rather than starting to pay the debt down by the end of the last parliament, as he had intended, the debt’s value rose throughout.

The national debt is now expected to keep rising, according to forecasts compiled by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), to over £1.7 trillion by the end of the current parliament."

I would love to be able to give more to the genuinely in need and I speak as one who over the years has seen the benefits system misused by some I know. I don't know a lot of people in need so don't know anyone who needs help and hasn't had it.

I would love to help the NHS sort itself out and be fair to all but don't believe throwing money at it, or any other system, is always the answer.

I would love to give more money to help the refugees from Syria and other warring countries.

I would love to give more to help care homes look after people better.

I would love to cut obesity and therefore allow the NHS to spend its money elsewhere.

I could go on and on but it won't change anything as no government will ever tax all of us to the extent that all these and many more can be afforded. It is not going to happen.

It is up to us as individuals to make sure we don't use any public resources we don't need and to do our best to educate those we know to do the same.

This Tory bashing is a waste of time, it would be the same (but maybe different issues) whichever government was in charge. We voted for this government and arguing about it won't make any difference at all.

nonnie of course we won't always have sufficient resources to do what we want, but governments do have choices.

This government chooses to give to the wealthy by taking from the poor and disabled.

Someone said last night on television " Even the Sheriff of Nottingham didn't go that far"

Tory bashing? Condemning the fact that the number of homeless has doubled in five years, that suicide rates are rapidly increasing among the unemployed, that there is an increase in food banks, that the rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer, the disabled are losing their mobility benefits, that people who cannot afford to heat their homes go cold but those who can save £77 per week for a year will be given £1,000

Dear god this is not Tory bashing, it is justified anger that the most vulnerable in this country are being bashed by this government

Jane10 I agree totally with your posts, and it is what went wrong for Ed Miliband at the last GE, they did not lose because they were not left wing enough!The majority of voters are doing alright and do not want to be thought of as victims or 'the poor'.Things are never black and white.