Sadly few of us are winners!

Why does anyone except the rich vote Tory? It's one of life's great mysteries. Over and over again, this country chooses to be governed by a bunch of ambitious, self-centred, well-off wankers - I'm sorry but I can't use a kinder word to describe them - who have no idea what it's like to live on a low income. In fact, they don't even understand what life on an average income is like, and they've never worried about a gas bill in their lives.

As for all the promises they made to get themselves elected, all that Brexit nonsense about cheaper food and lower prices.... Anyone with any sense knew it was lies but it still makes me angry to think about it.

So many fear that a Labour government will try to take away all they’ve worked for, they will never be persuaded to vote Labour.

Reading all these posts is so depressing. We MUST make a stand against this government. Why aren’t the British people out on the streets protesting!!! Sod the British stiff upper lip and ‘keep calm and carry on’ attitude. Enough’s enough! A government that promotes inequality is tantamount to criminal. Please remember all the lies, deceit and corruption when it comes to the next general election - the UK should NOT have another Conservative government. We deserve better!!!

Yes paddyann54 Scottish Water is still state run and is about to bring in a 4.3% increase in April along with the rise in Council Tax which is expected to be considerable as our SNP goverment has had a increase freeze over the past ten years which explains a lot of the cuts that have been happening up north. Together with the increases stated above it is going to be a wee bit tricky for us to manage our budget.

Pammiel, my son and I have discussed this often and I agree, it is getting to the stage when the good old stiff upper lip British will have had enough and there will be a revolt of some sort. We can only be pushed so far!

And it's frustrating because we don't owe this money to anyone. I takes time to understand how our economy works, and it's arduous, but as long as people don't bother, this free-market, small-state, libertarian government can squeeze the pips out of us with their "free the market and it always fixes everything" ideology.

Nice to know that I'm not the only one, Dickens. Been trying to get this across for some time...

What is especially infuriating is that the money didn't even have to go to the banks to whack up bond prices and the profits of the already wealthy. It could have gone straight to the NHS and social care

Towards the end of 2020, 23% of UK people were living in poverty. During the pandemic another 700,000 were added to these figures inclduing some 120,000 children! Biggest increases in poverty have been among pensioners and children. And that is before these fuel price increases. Impact of poverty: increased health costs (think no food, no heating) mental health cost (stress, depression, anxiety) and children risk exploitation and being enticed into crime. I'm sure you can think of many other consequences! Who pays for this? Joe Public - so the vicious circle continues

MaizieD Assets - peoples' homes. They are so worried about their home being taken away perhaps to pay for their care in future that many people do not think beyond that. I have come across several people who have voted Tory for that reason in order the IHT exemptions will be higher. Simplistic but that's what many people think.

Levelling up. Lots of re-cycled ideas from Gove, but in this world, actions speak louder than words, so, what are the levelling up actions of the Tory Government?
Raise NI payments for the ordinary folk, and decrease taxes for the Bankers. Everyone happy?

MaizieD

Caro57

Funds were poured into propping up the country, people demanded financial support during lockdowns. Where did people think it came from? It was bound to have to be paid back in some way and the NHS has been underfunded for years so NI had to be increased to support what the public expects to receive.
And - yes - I too am worried about costs, our income is fixed and our options are few

The 'funds' were created out of thin air because that what governments who control their own currency can do.

It isn't owed to anyone and we don't have to pay it back.

The underfunding of the NHS was down to the tories and was ideological. That means, tories don't believe in the state providing healthcare that doesn't involve someone making a profit out of the provision of health services. They've run it down to 'prove' that it doesn't work so they can sell it all off.

Of course, it helps that 90% of the population are completely ignorant of how our country is funded. And are totally resistant to the truth...

... I've given up.

In the words of Gary Stevenson - Economist and former Interest Rate Trader in London and Tokyo...

Ultimately, “how will we pay the debt back” is asking the wrong question. Everybody in financial markets is aware now that this debt will never be paid back, and will never have to be. It is new money, created by the Bank of England and lent, permanently to the government. Paying it back will never be a problem because it will never happen. That is an open secret amongst economists and traders now. Everybody knows it.

He also admitted "I MADE MILLIONS OUT OF THE LAST DEBT CRISIS. NOW THE WEALTHY STAND TO WIN AGAIN"

... and, at the same time as admitting that, he said "WE NEED A FAIRER TAX SYSTEM SO THAT WEALTHY PEOPLE LIKE ME HELP TO SOLVE THE FALLOUT FROM CORONAVIRUS"

Apologies for shouting - I just wanted to emphasise. And it's frustrating because we don't owe this money to anyone. I takes time to understand how our economy works, and it's arduous, but as long as people don't bother, this free-market, small-state, libertarian government can squeeze the pips out of us with their "free the market and it always fixes everything" ideology.

Dinahmo

It's because they feel a little bit superior because they've moved up in the world and also because they don't want their assets taken away from them.

Who is talking about taking their 'assets' (that needs a bit of definition, surely?) away from them?

Glammanana talks about 'this God given earth' . I don't believe in God, but I do think that there is no compelling reason why the people who live on this earth shouldn't have a more equable share of its resources. Why should resources/wealth be concentrated in the hands of a few?

I've been reading up on Adam Smith a bit. Contrary to what people think about his economics as interpreted by the Right, he was most disapproving of the accumulation of wealth just for the sake of it and very keen on making it work for the benefit of all, and a more equable distribution. There was a strong moral dimension to his work.

Who could disagree with this?:

No society can surely be happy and flourishing of which the far greater part of its members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed and lodged

@Glammanana

Where on this God given earth are people going to find the money to pay these increases its heartbreaking to think of people going without food to heat their homes.

Heating? What's heating? This is the 2nd winter I've not been able to afford to put any heating on at all, right now being able to put a light on is something of a luxury!

Scottish water is not privatised its still state run

Dinahmo someone on here said her mother voted tory because it "made them a better class of people In my world better people care about the ones who are struggling at the bottom of the wage scale not the billionaires.
Of course deluded people exist in all parties and walks of life and even some of the poorest voted for brexit and a CON servative government .
Hopefully they have realised that the SELF servatives only care about them selves .Shame they had to learn the hard way and took the rest of us down with them .

Few mention that the privatisation of the utilities has led to this position being worse than it could otherwise have been. Gas, water and electricity companies now take profit out of what we pay for their services - prior to Margaret Thatcher these could have been more tightly controlled by the government and been limited to breaking even rather than generating profits for the shareholiders. British institutional shareholders expect their income from these shares to rise every year - whilst this does benefit people with pensions and private shareholders too, there are a lot more people being paid uneccessarily paid out of what we pay for utilities.

Caro57 whatever happened to the £350 MILLION A WEEK as advertised on a red bus?
Maybe thats what they are paying the Mp's £2000 a year rise with ,it doesn't appear to have reached the NHS although Boris was sure thats where it was for !

It’s complex why people vote the way they do, and logic and reasoning rarely come into it.

spabbygirl

I'm disgusted at this gov'ts treatment of poor people, the Tory party has so many billionaires who want lower taxes so this means less NHS & benefits for poor people and they don't care about how people will afford things, in their minds this just means the poor will have to work harder for less pay. This gov't cheated their way into no.10 Boris told everyone things would be cheaper after we left the EU and it wasn't true, no £325bn for NHS Peter Stefanovic has a great video showing Johnsons promises then the truth. I'm furious and feel we've been cheated by a liar

Unfortunately some of us knew that he was a liar and that the Brexiteers were lying too. But their supporters did not believe the rest of us.

It's because they feel a little bit superior because they've moved up in the world and also because they don't want their assets taken away from them.

Coco51

It’s nothing new. Think feudal systems, mill owners etc.
When any politician comes along who genuinely wants to improve the lot of people in our society, the whole establisment (including the press and television media outlets) gears up to crush him with cries of ‘marxism’ - and the poor fools who think voting Conservative will somehow improve their status, discover they are the people most despised and punished by Conservative policy. Remember the mother on Question time who was fooled into voting Conservative, thinking that the Tories would preserve her Tax Credits? The warnings are there: only the very rich benefit from a Tory Government, so why to poor and middle-class people keep voting for them?

Good post Coco51 it baffles me too - why do poor (especially) and middle-class people keep voting Conservative!

This doesn’t feel like levelling up, more like dragging us down to a common low. The government can afford to write off billions lost to Covid fraud and dodgy PPI procurements but can’t offer proper support to the really needy. There’s something very wrong!

I'm recently retired and do occasional work for my previous employer doing exam invigilation. Hopefully real exams will happen this year so there'll be a bit more work available, but my income is very low. I would have been seriously worried about the increase in fuel prices but I'm lucky in that my daughter has moved home to live with me following a job change so we are sharing the cost of the utilities. We will be using more fuel but hopefully not double the amount. I'm making a saving on my council tax and broadband bills so that should compensate too, but it will hit me hard when she moves out again and the next increase comes in the autumn. At least I have some savings that I can dip into if the worst happens. I really feel for those who were already on the edge of poverty or actually in poverty. How on earth are they going to pay the extra?

Unfortunately we have a chancellor who is so rich he can't possibly comprehend how it must feel to be unable to provide the basics for their family. I've never been so poor, but I have known what it is like to struggle on the last few days before pay day, especially in the days when I was paid on the last Friday of the month thus having '5 week months' three times a year. Back then I didn't use credit cards - they really help if properly managed - so I sometimes had to go short for a few days. But I never had to go without food, just choose much cheaper options.

Personally I feel there needs to be some sort of windfall tax to provide for the really needy. This £200 loan is going to everyone, whether they want it or not. It is going to those who don't need it too! What does the government mean by 'levelling up'? Giving back the money that was taken away from those on Universal Credit (the temporary uplift) would be a step in the right direction. It could easily be funded by increasing the taxes paid by the rich. Sadly this government won't do what needs to be done as it will hit their own pockets!

Ladies. I’m a widow of four years just starting to date again. Has anybody else been in this situation and can offer their advice. I still wear my wedding ring and engagement ring and I have photos of my husband in my house. I have a date this weekend. Do I take my rings off and if we get further down the road to I remove photos of my husband. All of this feels alien to me but to keep everything would it make the new man feel uncomfortable. This is new territory for me and my concerns are genuine.

I'm disgusted at this gov'ts treatment of poor people, the Tory party has so many billionaires who want lower taxes so this means less NHS & benefits for poor people and they don't care about how people will afford things, in their minds this just means the poor will have to work harder for less pay. This gov't cheated their way into no.10 Boris told everyone things would be cheaper after we left the EU and it wasn't true, no £325bn for NHS Peter Stefanovic has a great video showing Johnsons promises then the truth. I'm furious and feel we've been cheated by a liar

MaggsMcG

The NI needs to go up. Anyone working should be paying NI. regardless of age. We havent been paying enough into this for many many years. Thats part of the reason that the NHS and Social Care is so run down.
The other increases, utities, food etc are always going to be effected by world and country economics. They are the things that need addressing with support, and not by loans. I'm OK for now but if it carries on for long it will effect even the pensioners that gave provided for themselves. Our savings etc. will not last as long! What happens to us then. When everyone else has used up all the Pension Credits.

Why should it just be those in employment? There are many people under the retirement age who have substantial incomes from other sources, such as rental properties and/or shareholdings.

Using a salary of £50,000, fractionally under the upper earnings limit, an employee would have NIC deducted at the rate of 12% which amounts to £4851.84. The employer would pay NIC at 13.8% which amounts to £5680. Unless I am very much mistaken this total more than £10,000.

At the same time, someone with rental properties or dividend income, earning profits of £50,000 pays nothing.
Property owners still get (reduced ) tax relief on their mortgage interest. Shareholders can increase their profits by selling sufficient shares so that their profits reach the CGT exemption of £12,300.

I am talking here of people under retirement age who do this to earn their living rather than be employed. I'm not talking about city traders here.

Is this equitable?