Sir K claims "a budget for Working People", ha!!!

To counter the chart I posted earlier, this one charts what people believe to be the top three things their tax is spent on. "2nd from the left is spending on migrants and asylum seekers, fourth from the left is MPs'.

Of course, all you sophisticated and intelligent posters don't share those beliefs, do you?

Full article, including the polling results, is here:

taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/10/26/the-publics-surprising-choice-of-tax-increase-and-why-we-should-ignore-it/

Rosie51

What a surprise, the cost associated with 650 MPs is minuscule compared to the cost of providing healthcare to nearly 70 million people!

I think the point being missed is that if Joe Bloggs employs an accountant to fill in his tax form he has to stump up the cost from his own money, and yet it would seem an MP can employ an accountant and tell the general public, including Joe Bloggs, that they have to stump up the cost.

Joe Bloggs' cost for employing an accountant to sort out his business expenses are tax deductible.

Grunty

I agree with you JamesandJon, but what can we do about it? MPs, of all persuasions, have been raking ££££ in their claims for heating, lighting, housing costs, travelling and meals but to now be told that everyone will have to contribute to the fiscal black hole, it's galling that the very person who said it has made a hefty claim for something the rest of us just have to struggle through. Hypocrisy still runs it's course.

Incidentally, accountant fees for all self-employed people are tax deductible for accounts relating to their business, which is what I would imagine being an MP is. Legally, MPs are not employees and are free to have other income streams.

OP ;I have a lifelong disability & I've worked from 17 to 62 while bringing up 2 children. Many disabled people do a wide spectrum of jobs & perform well in them.

We're not gullible Casdon that's the point and the mistake Labour's making is that they think the vast majority of us are.

I'm not targeting one person for criticism MaizieD, I only mentioned Reeves because her recent expenses claim came up on my news feed. But, in the interests of fairness, the expenses claims for every serving MP is available to view, going back as far as when they first took office, on this website: www.theipsa.org.uk/mp-staffing-business-costs/your-mp/william-bain/1610

Odd that you think people being annoyed about MPs skimming their expenses whilst everyone else tightens their belts are gullible.

Why target one person for criticism, when they are doing what all MPs do though? I don’t disagree with the principle of what you’re saying Rosie51, but I do despair at the gullibility of people who jump on bandwagons which are aimed by the media at discrediting their targets.

Casdon

I think the point being missed is that there is a framework for MP expenses, managed since 2010 through the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which is responsible for the regulation and payment of expenses to MPs. Rachel Reeves is following due process, that’s how the system works.

Surely the more we learn about what these MPs are allowed to claim in expenses the more we see the system needs a total reform. Nobody has suggested anything illegal is being done. When we're being told that everyone must accept the forthcoming financial hit for the good of the country, it is appalling optics that MPs seem unwilling to forego any of their perks. Just because she could claim that expense didn't mean she had to. Someone with a more developed social conscience might have decided to cover that cost themself.

Thanks MaizieD that's interesting. But alters nothing. At the same time that WFA has been withdrawn (just as energy costs increases by 10%) and pensioners with a sole income of SP being pulled into fiscal drag; Reeves claimed £17,544, plus £19,201 accommodation expenses, in addition to her salary of circa £90,000.
I wonder if Starmer is confused about her being a "working person"? In addition to the above, her Register of Interest declared "Land and property portfolio with a value over £100,000 and where indicated, the portfolio provides a rental income of over £10,000 a year".

I don't care how much or little the MPs expenses are out of the national purse; I care that everyone else is being warned that there is very little money left in the piggy bank; but there's always just enough for another snout in the trough.

I think the point being missed is that there is a framework for MP expenses, managed since 2010 through the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which is responsible for the regulation and payment of expenses to MPs. Rachel Reeves is following due process, that’s how the system works.

What a surprise, the cost associated with 650 MPs is minuscule compared to the cost of providing healthcare to nearly 70 million people!

I think the point being missed is that if Joe Bloggs employs an accountant to fill in his tax form he has to stump up the cost from his own money, and yet it would seem an MP can employ an accountant and tell the general public, including Joe Bloggs, that they have to stump up the cost.

Enlightening stats MaizieD. Thanks!

For the posters getting their underwear contorted about what the 'taxpayers' money' is spent on.

Immigration is the second bar from the left and 'MP costs' is the fourth from the left.

eazybee

^one of the first things they did was to sort out the doctors' strikes which had gone on for so long.^

No, they gave in to bullying. They did not sort anything out; no terms or conditions, just extra money.

They put right years of appalling undervaluation of doctors, and went part way to paying them adequate salaries for the work they do, to be clear.

It's not me who's being childish. I disagree.

I agree with you JamesandJon, but what can we do about it? MPs, of all persuasions, have been raking ££££ in their claims for heating, lighting, housing costs, travelling and meals but to now be told that everyone will have to contribute to the fiscal black hole, it's galling that the very person who said it has made a hefty claim for something the rest of us just have to struggle through. Hypocrisy still runs it's course.

Keir Starmer should save his articulation such as it is for the House of Commons!!! There’s a precedent to follow.

Incidentally, for your information, I am not and never have been a die hard Labour supporter, so keep your name-calling for the playground.

Judy54

In my opinion Keir Starmer cannot clearly articulate at all.

Now that's just nonsense.

Grunty

Are you really that immature that you can't join the dots growstuff? Surely even a die hard labour supporter can understand the connection between Reeves announcing that they've inherited a £22 million deficit but then upgraded to £40 million and the need for "everyone to pull together and be prepared to make sacrifices for the greater good"; except her, who gets the tax payer to pay for a service that everyone else has to pay for themselves.
As for thought people grew out of "Miss, miss, it's all somebody else's fault" when they left primary schools, grow up growstuff, if you can't make a comment without resorting to childish taunts, perhaps the games threads would suit you better.

It's not me who's being childish.

That’s not nice Grunty

Just caught up with the Speaker of the House having a full on rant against the government about the way it’s leaking budget details to here there and everywhere. It’s a great discourtesy to the House to have information leaked in advance of the budget…. Oh well good on you Sir Hoyle.

Are you really that immature that you can't join the dots growstuff? Surely even a die hard labour supporter can understand the connection between Reeves announcing that they've inherited a £22 million deficit but then upgraded to £40 million and the need for "everyone to pull together and be prepared to make sacrifices for the greater good"; except her, who gets the tax payer to pay for a service that everyone else has to pay for themselves.
As for thought people grew out of "Miss, miss, it's all somebody else's fault" when they left primary schools, grow up growstuff, if you can't make a comment without resorting to childish taunts, perhaps the games threads would suit you better.

one of the first things they did was to sort out the doctors' strikes which had gone on for so long.

No, they gave in to bullying. They did not sort anything out; no terms or conditions, just extra money.

Grunty

Well the strivers and skivers", "hard-working families" and the "just about managing", and even the pensioners on nothing more than their state pension, will have to stump up and sort out their own tax returns as they get pulled in to the fiscal drag. Unlike Ms Reeves who has just put in a claim for the £1225 that she paid someone else to do hers. Fair enough to employ someone qualified to do that but getting tax payers to pay for it stinks.

How is Ms Reeves' expense account relevant to anything?

I thought people grew out of "Miss, miss, it's all somebody else's fault" when they left primary schools.