What immediate changes will the new Labour government make?

Vintagewhine

Not a leaver but those of you who were should thank GB for not taking the UK into the single currency . Austerity was the conservatives response to the banking crisis

I tend to think of it more that the banking crisis was the tory's excuse for austerity. A perfect excuse for cutting state spending, which has been their mission since the Thatcher era.

Was it actually necessary? The UK was actually showing healthy signs of recovery before the tories took over...

Not a leaver but those of you who were should thank GB for not taking the UK into the single currency . Austerity was the conservatives response to the banking crisis

vegansrock

So much project fear on here - straight out of the right wing media playbook- as if we didnt currently have crumbling public services, highest taxation since WW2 , increased immigration - all under the Tories - and people are voting for more of the same? Anyone voting Tory must be wealthy or dim in my opinion. As for Corbyn being pm- totally ridiculous - remember we have had 5 Tory PMs and countless ministerial changes so it’s not as if they have been strong and stable. Starmer could be accused of being like a kindly but strict headmaster who isn’t the most exciting character, but at least he doesn’t have that whiff of posh boy sleaze that surrounds many of the current talentless Tory crop . Plus where’s the £350 m a week for the NHS and the 40 new hospitals?

It’s an age thing unfortunately. As people age self preservation seems to take priority over altruism for many, I can’t think of any other reason why as a group over 65s are so out of step with the rest of the population. It’s not the wisdom of age because it’s evident in many posts that people haven’t taken the time to check out the statistics or evidence.
www.statista.com/statistics/1379439/uk-election-polls-by-age/

I have started a new thread about the comments of the IFS on the parties’ manifestos, which they say are not fully funded. Worth a read whatever your leanings. The IFS conclude that we will be very much in the dark when we vote.

Immediate changes? Tax rises.

Iam64

You can’t seriously compare the country the tories inherited with the one we live in now

And the fact that the Tories will be handing over a much bigger poisoned chalice.

So much project fear on here - straight out of the right wing media playbook- as if we didnt currently have crumbling public services, highest taxation since WW2 , increased immigration - all under the Tories - and people are voting for more of the same? Anyone voting Tory must be wealthy or dim in my opinion. As for Corbyn being pm- totally ridiculous - remember we have had 5 Tory PMs and countless ministerial changes so it’s not as if they have been strong and stable. Starmer could be accused of being like a kindly but strict headmaster who isn’t the most exciting character, but at least he doesn’t have that whiff of posh boy sleaze that surrounds many of the current talentless Tory crop . Plus where’s the £350 m a week for the NHS and the 40 new hospitals?

You can’t seriously compare the country the tories inherited with the one we live in now

sadly I thnk we are going to get a very low turnout as some people are thinking along the mentality of " they are all as bad as each other" and other sentiments and don't know who to vote for.
I think mass apathy is going to do a lot of damage.

What people tend to forget is the mess Labour left us in 12 years ago. It just goes round in circles.

I always think the re-hashing of the Liam Byrne note incident should be accompanied by the original Reggie Maudling note left for the incoming Labour government.
"Good luck, old cock, sorry to leave it in such a mess".

Rachel Reeves has said that VAT on private school fees will be in her first budget but not imposed until 2025 and won’t be collected retrospectively

Eh Up Grantanow— you’ll be steeping the fear and terror some feel at the prospect of a Labour Govt. I’m sure the dissenters will continue to try to undermine Starmer from within but the moderate majority is back

First thing is NHS. Wes Streetly intends speaking to medical staff and dentists with the aim of retention and also having more NHS dentists. Labour Party intends reducing medical waiting lists especially for scans by using private facilities.
Also, they want to see the economic state of the country so then they can see if they can start build social housing and ensuring enough teachers in schools
So much to do.

That may have been the case, but it was all on the never-never. I suppose people have forgotten the huge debt the country was in due to excessive borrowing. I know things have got even worse since then, a lot of which is the result of the pandemic, furlough, etc. Remember the note Liam Burne, chief secretary to the Treasury under Gordon Brown, left for his successor ? "I'm afraid there is no money!" Also, Gordon Brown sold most of our gold reserves for a pittance! People seem to forget that it's exactly these reasons that drove the UK to austerity measures. It was either that or even more borrowing.

Goodness, so much nonsense to unpick here.

Firstly.

If it hadn't been for Brown and his Chancellor, Darling, rescuing the UK banks by instructing the Bank of England to create the money to buy bonds and so put £billions into bank reserves, a good many of the UK population would have found their bank accounts empty because the banks didn't have enough in their reserves to cover the deposits held with them.

This action was approved of world wide as avoiding that calamity. Also, they gave a guarantee that is still in force, that if a bank failed any customers' deposits with that bank up to the value of £85,000 would be restored to them by the government.

Secondly.

Gold reserves are irrelevant. Our currency isn't backed by gold reserves; it hasn't been since the early 1970s when the 'gold standard' was abandoned internationally. Selling them made no difference to anything.

Thirdly.

As has been pointed out, over and over and over again, Liam Byrne's note was a JOKE. It was a joke with a quite long tradition, former chancellors or treasury ministers have done much the same in the past. The UK cannot run out of money because it creates its own currency.

Fourthly.

Government 'borrowing' is the government provision of a safe savings facility for institutions and individuals. It is absolutely safe because the government will always pay the interest on you principle, or repay your principle on demand. That is why pension funds hold so much government 'debt'. It is guaranteed its return. If the government didn't provide this facility the funds would have to make far more risky investments.

If the government were to suddenly repay all its 'debt' there would be so much money returned to the economy that hyperinflation would be absolutely guaranteed. Not a good situation to be in...

Do you have a NS&I savings account, or Premium bonds? They are part of 'government borrowing'. Would you want the government to return the money in your savings account to you, or the money you invested in Premium bonds?

The more pertinent question about government borrowing would be 'What has the government spent it on'? Because the state of the UK at the moment indicates clearly that they haven't been spending it on our public services...

OTOH, the money the government created to cover the pandemic seems to have created several more millionaires and billionaires. Is that where it went? Into the pockets of their friends and donors?

If I were Starmer I'd tear up the manifesto and raise my vision to make changes good for the next 75 years, especially for the NHS and social care. He's going to have a very good majority and he should think like Clem Attlee, not tinker at the edges.

I personally really cannot believe Labour will win the election, but if they do, I predict Starmer will last three minths as leader before someone from the hard left takes over, thenHeaven help us all!!! Immigration and taxes will increase dramatically, borrowing will increase, we will be back to being ruled by Brussels, the Unions will become all powerful again and local services will be decimated, then you will all wish you had voted conservative, like me!

I cannot believe that you have no clue there is nothing to choose between any of them all corrupt and don’t know fact from fiction it’s a very sad time for us all I don’t think we even qualify for 3rd world status our NHS is absolutely appalling until we actually pay proper money into it and actually pay to see a doctor and fine time wasters who just never bother to turn up nothing will change. There is no care in the community and sadly lacking in our hospitals not enough staff and the ones who are there are frazzled most doing their best and a handful not so

If you have your own home or a pension you have worked for then they are going to sting you, hopefully this time they won’t take us into any illegal wars

Higher taxes, and increased immigration and borrowing. People who have worked hard and saved will be hit in the pocket and the super rich will still find ways to bypass the rules and pay less tax than the ordinary working man. Increased class sizes as a result of the VAT on private school fees so education will suffer and can they be trusted with the security of the country?

People seem to forget that it's exactly these reasons that drove the UK to austerity measures

On the contrary. The economy was growing again towards the end of Brown’s tenure, and austerity - which was a purely political choice, designed to shrink the public sector and state support for those in need - choked off that growth.

Debt has increased under the Tories as the attached graph (from statista.com, but widely available) shows.

I can't think of any improvements, either because they won't happen, or because I don't regard them as improvements.

Vintagewhine

It seems an age ago but I do remember when we last had a labour government and there's little doubt that services were better and taxes were lower overall. I can't remember much sleaze either. It was after the Tories imploded the last time with different factions fighting amongst themselves instead of running the country. They sold off council houses, sold us shares in services we already owned allowing individuals to make massive profits instead of improving infrastructure and decimated whole areas of the country creating even more need for levelling up. Tbh the mood in the country was very much like it is now! Definitely time to give labour another chance to improve things.

That may have been the case, but it was all on the never-never. I suppose people have forgotten the huge debt the country was in due to excessive borrowing. I know things have got even worse since then, a lot of which is the result of the pandemic, furlough, etc. Remember the note Liam Burne, chief secretary to the Treasury under Gordon Brown, left for his successor ? "I'm afraid there is no money!" Also, Gordon Brown sold most of our gold reserves for a pittance! People seem to forget that it's exactly these reasons that drove the UK to austerity measures. It was either that or even more borrowing.

I don't expect anything to change. It's all aspirations but there will be no delivery - so no change at all.

Tax our pensions for one thing