The Budget - will it make any difference ?

Sunak and his wife are amongst the wealthiest people in the country. What does he know about hardship?

MaizieD, where are you? We need you

I don’t know where any extra money could be found to be honest. Two years of covid with many months of furlough. PPE, free lateral flow tests, vaccinations. Some wasted on the wrong stuff. Now caps on energy because if soaring prices.
It’s not a bottomless chest.

After this budget I feel totally disenfranchised by this government as I don't think I could even consider voting for them, Labour are even more keen on spending other people's money, LibDems are a nasty, devious bunch, Greens will bankrupt us before the Tories with their harebrained schemes, and the rest are a waste of space.

They didn't lose my trust over the votes the Liberals took in the Conservative-led coalition paddyann54. I was well aware the Conservatives were very much inclined, like the bullies they are, to put the boot into their much smaller partner.

In this case, it was a bit of “There is no greater love than this: that a person would lay down his life for the sake of his friends.” The Liberals did not lay down their lives but they risked their party's power in the future and their careers for what we were told would give us all stable government. Don't forget all parties were working to form a coalition at the time; this was the only way the numbers would add up. They could not have got any more of their bills through because the Tories - not the Liberals - stopped them.

I believe that many people would vote for them if, in their area, that got this dreadful government of the Oligarchs out of power.

Scotland can look after itself - isn't that what they keep telling us? I'm not sure what that has to do with the LDs.

Post getting long so I copied instead of quoting.

Are you seriously expecting us to believe that the Lib Dems went into power with the Conservatives just for us, and gave up all their principles so we could have a stable government? That they gave in to all the Tory demands just so that they could mitigate their more extreme views?

And the things that Lib Dems have to do with Scotland? We have Liberal Democrats in Scotland! Imagine! My MP and my MSP are Lib Dem. Waste of space, both of them.

He didn't do much at all. The Tories don't care about the poor otherwise he would have increased Universal Credit and used a windfall tax on the energy companies to alleviate energy bills. Most people can't afford to install heat pumps etc., so the VAT cut on them is a gift to the well off. Absolutely typical of Johnson's party.

Conservatives have now lost the grey vote by sending out the message loud and clear. The old are dispensable

MaizieD

^If folks haven’t any disposable income I think we could be seeing lots of small to medium businesses struggling this year if not closing.^

Exactly, GG13

The 'Budget* serves to illustrate that Sunak has absolutely no idea how a national economy works. Nor any concept at all of promoting the well being of the nation's citizens.

It's not just that he doesn't understand how the national economy works Maizie. He is light-years away from understanding how the average and below-average household works, too.

But then he doesn't care, does he. That is not what this party are about.

paddyann54

The Lib Dems lost the trust of even their own voters when they helped the tories put through bills they had sworn they wouldn't support .I dont think they'll win that trust back anytime soon.
Meantime ,in Scotland under the party you love to hate. Extra child payments of £20 a week ,a food allowance of £36 a month for starters ...for those in need.People with disabilities will be entitled to their PIP WITHOUT the humiliating "assessments" by people who aren't medics so know their income will be safe .
Free bus travel for everyone under 22 and over 60 ..and much much more...and ALL ON A FIXED BUDGET
thats possibly why theres a cry for INDEPENDENCE .Do you blame us for wanting better than Westminster is giving ?

They didn't lose my trust over the votes the Liberals took in the Conservative-led coalition paddyann54. I was well aware the Conservatives were very much inclined, like the bullies they are, to put the boot into their much smaller partner.

In this case, it was a bit of “There is no greater love than this: that a person would lay down his life for the sake of his friends.” The Liberals did not lay down their lives but they risked their party's power in the future and their careers for what we were told would give us all stable government. Don't forget all parties were working to form a coalition at the time; this was the only way the numbers would add up. They could not have got any more of their bills through because the Tories - not the Liberals - stopped them.

I believe that many people would vote for them if, in their area, that got this dreadful government of the Oligarchs out of power.

Scotland can look after itself - isn't that what they keep telling us? I'm not sure what that has to do with the LDs.

Sunak does not have a good reputation for economic intelligence.

If folks haven’t any disposable income I think we could be seeing lots of small to medium businesses struggling this year if not closing.

Exactly, GG13

The 'Budget* serves to illustrate that Sunak has absolutely no idea how a national economy works. Nor any concept at all of promoting the well being of the nation's citizens.

Pleased to see that Sunak rarely gets down and dirty with us plebs.

After his photo opp. Sunak went into pay and grabbed a tin of Coca-Cola.

Sunak went to the cashier and had no idea how to pay! The cashier had to show him what to do.

paddyann54

The Lib Dems lost the trust of even their own voters when they helped the tories put through bills they had sworn they wouldn't support .I dont think they'll win that trust back anytime soon.
Meantime ,in Scotland under the party you love to hate. Extra child payments of £20 a week ,a food allowance of £36 a month for starters ...for those in need.People with disabilities will be entitled to their PIP WITHOUT the humiliating "assessments" by people who aren't medics so know their income will be safe .
Free bus travel for everyone under 22 and over 60 ..and much much more...and ALL ON A FIXED BUDGET
thats possibly why theres a cry for INDEPENDENCE .Do you blame us for wanting better than Westminster is giving ?

You didn't mention paddyann that Sunak's much lauded 19p tax rate has been in place in Scotland for several years already...

I thought Sunak looked very uncomfortable on Sky News this morning, when he was asked about his wife’s relationship with Russian companies.

GrannyGravy13

Jane43

There are some really desperate people calling in to the Jeremy Vine show this morning, carers and people on benefits who will get nothing from Sunak’s changes. People like Damien Herst who received £1.3 million furlough payments should hang their heads in shame.

If folks haven’t any disposable income I think we could be seeing lots of small to medium businesses struggling this year if not closing.

Exactly. The economy is going to suffer as a result of no mitigation measures being put in for ease the cost of living crises.

I have fed figures into my budget for the following year and I clearly will have less disposable income. This would have been spent largely fun stuff, like meals out, theatre, holiday spending etc.

The Lib Dems lost the trust of even their own voters when they helped the tories put through bills they had sworn they wouldn't support .I dont think they'll win that trust back anytime soon.
Meantime ,in Scotland under the party you love to hate. Extra child payments of £20 a week ,a food allowance of £36 a month for starters ...for those in need.People with disabilities will be entitled to their PIP WITHOUT the humiliating "assessments" by people who aren't medics so know their income will be safe .
Free bus travel for everyone under 22 and over 60 ..and much much more...and ALL ON A FIXED BUDGET
thats possibly why theres a cry for INDEPENDENCE .Do you blame us for wanting better than Westminster is giving ?

GrannyGravy13

I do think it was a harsh spring statement not much help for the working poor or those on benefits (for whatever reason).

Harsh but not unexpected from a Tory government.

Jane43

There are some really desperate people calling in to the Jeremy Vine show this morning, carers and people on benefits who will get nothing from Sunak’s changes. People like Damien Herst who received £1.3 million furlough payments should hang their heads in shame.

If folks haven’t any disposable income I think we could be seeing lots of small to medium businesses struggling this year if not closing.

There are some really desperate people calling in to the Jeremy Vine show this morning, carers and people on benefits who will get nothing from Sunak’s changes. People like Damien Herst who received £1.3 million furlough payments should hang their heads in shame.

I do think it was a harsh spring statement not much help for the working poor or those on benefits (for whatever reason).

JenniferEccles

Tough times ahead for us all. Every other country is facing the same challenges with fuel and energy costs set to soar.

No Chancellor would ever do enough for everyone, so we just have to make the best of things.

As vegansrock says quite correctly.

These are political decisions.

If you don’t believe in helping the very poorest or pensioners in our country just say so as that is what the political decisions are.
You are perfectly entitled to hold such political beliefs, but Saying all countries are doing the same as the U.K. is obviously incorrect.

Other countries make different political decisions to mitigate the rising cost of living that always hits the poorest worse.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Christine Jardine MP said: "Families were looking to the Chancellor to offer them hope, instead he is adding to their pain by refusing to scrap his unfair tax rises.

"People seeing the biggest plunge in living standards in fifty years will see through the Chancellor’s spin.

"Rishi Sunak has failed to introduce a windfall tax on the super profits of oil and gas producers, which could have raised billions to help people with their energy bills.

"And he has refused to bring in an emergency cut to VAT, as Liberal Democrats have called for, which would put £600 back into the pockets of the average family."

But “every other country” is not making the same political decisions
* jennifereccles* , France has capped its energy price rise to 5%, U.K.-54%. We could have taxed the profits of energy firms, cut VAT on energy, not spent billions on Brexit which has damaged the country’s economy - these were all political decisions.

Tough times ahead for us all. Every other country is facing the same challenges with fuel and energy costs set to soar.

No Chancellor would ever do enough for everyone, so we just have to make the best of things.

The National Pensioners’ Convention has published a statement.

But NPC General Secretary Jan Shortt said: “There is nothing whatsoever for pensioners in this Spring budget which is an absolute disgrace. The fact that the Chancellor has not responded to a number of requests to reinstate the Triple Lock to help pensioners survive the huge increases in energy and food shows no compassion for a generation who have paid (and still pay) for the pension they get - one that is the most inadequate in the industrial world.

“The majority of pensioners do not pay tax as their income is well below the threshold so there is no advantage there.

“All in all, the NPC does not accept that pensioners could not have been given the real rate of inflation to ease the pain. A £250 reduction in energy bills instead of a loan that we never asked for would show at least some thought for the least well off. We are extremely concerned that older people will have to make critical decisions on how they spend their meagre state pension and the potential increase in pensioner poverty. Meanwhile, no change for the millionaires and billionaires.”

National Pensioners’ Convention reply to Spring Statement