Where would you begin if you were the next government?

I'd begin with a complete overhaul of our social care system, for the elderly (benefits, housing, social services, NHS etc).

I work in supported housing (elderly) for a local housing association and whereas we do a pretty good job for a non profit organisation we find a little money has to do a lot of work.

The post war babies are now of an age where the majority need better, safer, more sustainable housing and general support and there are now more over 70s than at any point in history.

Our government can ignore at their peril.

I remember the last time Labour was in, and didn't they leave a mess? I don't think any one party can resolve the challenges facing us today. I wish they would just pool their resources and work together towards a better future for the good of all. The government parties are too focused on outdoing each other and not enough on doing what is good for the people of the country.

The first thing to do is go on all the TV networks and give an honest and straightforward 'state of the nation' summary, no holds barred. Then regular updates as to the true state of the economy and everything else. Realistically it will take years to return to a sustainable state of affairs.

Illegal immigration. Figures go up year on year and numbers released this week show 5,000 so far and we are only just into April with the summer months ahead. A lot of our services cannot cope with this influx. Housing, the NHS, education to name just 3.

With education. Children are the future and it's vital that they are properly educated and have the skills needed to work.
Invest money in training for the medical profession and teacher training.
My ultimate intention would be to make us as self-sufficient as possible so that there will be no need for immigration.

Pantglas2

Raise the tax free allowance to £15000 - taking so many low income out of claiming pension credit/ allowances etc.

The saving in administrative costs for the government will pay for itself.

This. 👏👏👏

I’m sure the top 1% do pay 30% of the taxes quite rightly, it’s the next 20% of the population that are wealthy and don’t need state help but take everything the welfare state offers.

Number one on the list would be training and recruiting road workers, care workers, bus drivers, builders and …. Paying them fairly and adhering to good working practices.

Then I would acquire properties through compulsory purchase of all those slum like dwellings commanding extortionate rents, where the owners refuse to do them up to 21st century standards within a reasonable time frame say 6 months.

Offer the properties to those essential workers at “council house rents” and begin to build, build, build, high spec council houses - available for anyone who wants it NO GHETTOS of poorer families.
Build high spec health centres in these areas and employ enough GPs to cope.
Get the buses running properly (to an efficient schedule) to get the people to work everyday by paying the drivers properly.

Recruit more police for suburbs to foster community relations and reduce crime.
Labour should start how they mean to go on…if they are worthy. I don’t think there is a moment to lose since the Blair
/Brown government frittered their time away by failing to solve the homeless/ poor housing issue that is the the biggest blight on a civilised society. Everything starts at home imo.

What a strange argument Freya5. Are you actually suggesting that the people who earn the most shouldn’t pay higher rate taxes than those who earn less?

No one comes into the country without papers, everyone should be accountable and willing to work so should speak English. Stop people from abroad having free health care. We have to get NHS back on track, it’s our jewel in the crown.
Too many people out of work so the burden falls on others.
Stop all the playground antics in Parliament, it’s ridiculous. Make people responsible for their actions.

Katie59

Doodledog

In what sense are you unelectable, Katie59?

Nobody is going to vote for me or anyone else that wants to tax wealthy home owners, they have enjoyed their wealthy lifestyle but don’t want to give any back.

I do suggest you look at who pays the highest taxes in the UK, and how much. Eye watering. The top 1% earners pay 30% of all tax received, higher than the last 20 years. I very much dislike the politics of envy, which is a Labour view.

That everyone who has an income - be it from pensions, working or benefits pays tax if they have more than the basic tax rate.
It isn't fair that working people pay tax to get less than someone who gains far more by claiming benefits and staying home.

Despite the financing through the mutuels, Dinahmo, last time I looked at the figures they showed that the French state directly funds healthcare at a higher rate than does the UK.

I'm sure I've posted this before, but this is an interesting report on the NHS.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-06/nhs-productivity-puzzle_0.pdf

I don't know if anyone on here who works for, or has recently worked for, the NHS has read it. If they have it would be good to have their comments..

I think most of us would agree regarding the NHS, but it’s going to take a number of years, so it doesn’t really answer the question Whitewavemark posed to say it needs sorting out - I genuinely don’t see how much can possibly change on the ground initially.

In the meantime, things are so desperate in the care sector that we had a leaflet today via the postman advertising jobs from the Local Authority, for the first time ever.

Surely increasing funded training places in both health and care is something that a new government could negotiate relatively quickly, at least then there’s a fighting chance of there being a workforce for the future?

Mental health provision needs seriously looking into. It has been cut to the bone and prisons are full of people that really should be in hospital. It’s cruel.

I think that the NHS does need a rethink. Since the NHS first came into being there have been massive changes in healthcare- operations and treatments that were not thought of in the early days are now commonplace and that has to be paid for somehow.

We have lived in France since 2008/09, since I reached the then retirement age of 60. Although I have been asthmatic throughout my adult life, apart from that we rarely used the health system in the UK. Since being in France I have felt that we are like health tourists because we have had several illnesses treated through the French health system.

We do contribute to a mutuel - currently 253 euros for both of us. In the last 18 months I've had an emergency op, ongoing treatment for asthma and rheumatism plus cataract ops. My DH has had a knee op. If you have a life threatening illness, such as asthma can be then the state pays for all the treatment and the medications, some of which are very expensive. There are also reductions for those on low incomes.

The mutuels are nonprofit making. It is a system that seems to work well here; most of the English people that I know are retired and have also benefited from the system. None of them seem to object to it.

nanna8

Stop paying the pension to everyone without a means test. That would raise a lot of money which could go to the NHS. That’s what we do and, painful though it is, it saves heaps.

Means testing costs a lot which is why it not often carried out, although it is easier now with the computerised tax system.
We do contribute towards our state pension through NICs and a large proportion of retired people pay tax on their SP, some at the highest rate.

nanna8

Stop paying the pension to everyone without a means test. That would raise a lot of money which could go to the NHS. That’s what we do and, painful though it is, it saves heaps.

Would you repay the pension contributions part of NI to those who paid them for decades?

Changes made going forward are one thing, but retrospective changes are very wrong IMO.

Doodledog

In what sense are you unelectable, Katie59?

Nobody is going to vote for me or anyone else that wants to tax wealthy home owners, they have enjoyed their wealthy lifestyle but don’t want to give any back.

Stop the flow of money outside this country to foreign wars and aid and concentrate all finances on British born citizens.

Nationalise all the greedy and corrupt utility companies without compensation. Sack the board of directors and promote the next level down.

Stop paying the pension to everyone without a means test. That would raise a lot of money which could go to the NHS. That’s what we do and, painful though it is, it saves heaps.

spabbygirl

collect taxes properly and sort the NHS first, then fix everything else. Labour have some great people and I cannot wait to see them in action & see the back of this dreadful gov't

Fix everything else?
It’s a problem if we all think that so much can be achieved in a short period of time.

In the sense that she isn’t an MP I should imagine.

In what sense are you unelectable, Katie59?

collect taxes properly and sort the NHS first, then fix everything else. Labour have some great people and I cannot wait to see them in action & see the back of this dreadful gov't