Wyllow3
After a few weeks of people knocking/mocking the term "working people" - what term did Sunak use? Yup, that's right - "working people".
Of course he did. It’s the in phrase now thanks to KS.
Good Morning Wednesday 6th May 2026
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News & politics
Governments First Budget
(565 Posts)We won’t know too much until we can read tomorrows analysis , but we do know of this government’s intended direction of travel, and whether it meets with our expectations as voters and what we all voted for, which of course changes with each individual.
My vote and expectation was for
First and foremost to save our NHS and crumbling public services.
Second was to address the state of our environment, the polluted seas and rivers, and the lack of diversity.
Next -to address the fact that economic growth has been more or less stagnant since 2010. We need a Keynesian type budget for growth, that is imaginative and forward thinking to produce the revenue to invest in out country.
Personally I have never thought it possible to have this type of successful economy where citizens can be confident of a cradle to grave welfare state, where education is first class, health is free at the point of use and available within a very reasonable time limit, where public services are well run and invested in and care for all in need comes as a right, can be obtained by the tax payer on the cheap. This type of economy must be paid for and we will need to see tax at Scandinavian levels in order to achieve this.
Looking at the state the country is in, we knew in July that this would be a mighty task. Mighty tasks need research/planning and massive effort. They always start painfully slowly but momentum will gather as each year passes and we will gradually see the result of the effort put in to save our country from the ravages of 14 long years of economic blows our public services received.
Of course the right wing media - childlike - is insisting on jam today without spending any of their pocket money, but as wise parents we know that all jam does is rot your teeth. Instant gratification is only for the hard of thinking, the more intelligent know that time is the master.
So now looking back at the few short months Labour has been in government, i am pretty supportive of the direction of travel, and the achievements to date - which probably need listing to remind everyone - but not for this thread.
Some stuff has been announced but I think it best until we begin to see how it fits into the overall picture before we begin to comment.
It looks as if this is going to be a massive budget though - so hold onto your hats!
Casdon
Hooray on the personal tax thresholds!
Yes.
There is a lot of good news in this budget. I will need to take it all in, as it was a lot of information in a short time, but having checked the précis online I can't see any of the things Rishi Sunak was on about. Tax on savings, tax on mortgages, what else did he say was going up? I can't find any reference to any of that.
I was pleased to see that carers can earn more before losing their allowance, and that people affected by the infected blood and the PO Horizon scandals will be compensated.
It is also good to see that there will be crackdowns on those who don't pay their taxes, but I would like more detail on the access to bank accounts. RR did say that HMRC can access accounts 'to recover unpaid taxes', but after Therese Coffey's attempts to grant them access to pensioners' accounts I hope that is the limit to their permissions.
The IHT changes are very limited, so the media scaremongering was wrong there, too. As far as I can tell, it's only plugging the loophole whereby people could shelter money in a pension pot for purposes of inheritance that has changed. I missed the detail about agricultural IHT, but she did say that family farms would be unaffected.
Tax on private jets will affect very few of us, but is nevertheless good for the environment. Scrapping non dom status is again not something that will make a difference to many, but seems to be a sensible move.
The NHS, schools, social care and homelessness are all going to get more money, but again, I missed the detail.
As people have said, we will need to listen to the analyses and read the detail more carefully, but at first glance I think RR did well.
Am I right in thinking I heard that there is to be a 2% drop in funding for many government funded departments.
Not NHS, nor schools?
But prisons, police etc etc
Wyllow3
fancythat
I think I think the same.
Though was probably not listening so well at the end, so not at all sure what will be included in the increase of £22bn to the NHS budget[assuming I have understood things correctly].to all - if you got to the BBC I player feed, it lists the whole of what is in the budget and the reply to the budget step by step to fact check
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp9zrg128get
On NHS
"Speaking on the NHS, Reeves says that there will be a 10-year plan to address the health system in the spring. The NHS will receive new funding under this Budget, she adds.
She announces a £22.6bn increase in the day-to-day health budget,
and a £31bn increase in the capital budget, which she says is the largest increase in spending outside of Covid since 2010.
(ie its not going to be included in the day by day moves to improve services across the board
"The measures will bring down waiting lists and increase the capacity for procedures in the NHS."
Thank you
NotSpaghetti
growstuff Allira and Mollygo
The bus passes to colleges always used to be a "discounted" fare in our area. My daughter says it's the same in hers.
5-15s are discounted but 16+ is not in this area.
However, the school bus is more expensive.
TakeThat7
No mention of the 8 in the morning farce where if you get through to the doctors you have a slight chance of getting an appointment if you get through before nine She says there will be more tests only if appoints are allowed in the first place
Not quite right.
The plan is to move more money towards primary care. This of course means that GPS will be one of the beneficiaries.
growstuff
Allira
Mollygo
Improving the life of my DGD will not immediately become apparent when her bus fare becomes £30pw. Easier if you live in an IGO area, but she doesn’t.
I was surprised that bus fares have to be paid for to attend FE College here; when I asked if DGD should get a pass, DS said no, they had enquired, even though the local schools have no sixth form.
Another expense for parents.It's not just wherever you are. 16-18 year olds have to pay for transport everywhere.
Yet 16-18 year olds must remain in education or training.
No mention of the 8 in the morning farce where if you get through to the doctors you have a slight chance of getting an appointment if you get through before nine She says there will be more tests only if appoints are allowed in the first place
fancythat
I think I think the same.
Though was probably not listening so well at the end, so not at all sure what will be included in the increase of £22bn to the NHS budget[assuming I have understood things correctly].
to all - if you got to the BBC I player feed, it lists the whole of what is in the budget and the reply to the budget step by step to fact check
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp9zrg128get
On NHS
"Speaking on the NHS, Reeves says that there will be a 10-year plan to address the health system in the spring. The NHS will receive new funding under this Budget, she adds.
She announces a £22.6bn increase in the day-to-day health budget,
and a £31bn increase in the capital budget, which she says is the largest increase in spending outside of Covid since 2010.
(ie its not going to be included in the day by day moves to improve services across the board
"The measures will bring down waiting lists and increase the capacity for procedures in the NHS."
After a few weeks of people knocking/mocking the term "working people" - what term did Sunak use? Yup, that's right - "working people".
I think I think the same.
Though was probably not listening so well at the end, so not at all sure what will be included in the increase of £22bn to the NHS budget[assuming I have understood things correctly].
Precious little on social care.. very short sighted IMO.. though overall I think her budget has many good points..
Surprised that putting up employers National Insurance by about 1.7%, would increase Government revenue by anywhere near £25 billion.
But if that is what she says, then I guess is must be true.
I understood the thresholds would remain frozen until 2028-9 tax year MaizieD and then be raised by inflation.
So not so much jam tomorrow but in three and a half years time! And don’t celebrate too soon folks as it’ll mean less than a pound a week…
Sorry, but anyone can clap for spend spend spend[if that is what it turns out to be].
If it turns out to be much more balanced, then it may be ok.
So glad to hear news on the NHS at the end. No miracles, but some hope.
Sunak - high on rhetoric, low or absent on suggesting any alternatives of what they would have done.
MayBee70
Whitewavemark2
Blimey!! Now I know why I voted Labour!!
!
👏👏
MaizieD
Casdon
Hooray on the personal tax thresholds!
I've been following on the BBC Live section ( I cannot stand Reeves' voice & accent)
What they reported about tax thresholds didn't look particularly 'hooray' to me, basically no change until 2028, but perhaps the BBC got it wrong.
What do you think she said?
She has kept what was written in by the Tories until that date, after which she will raise it year on year.
I thought it was going ok, on the whole. Though I am sure there were some gaps to things. And much fine print detail will need looking into of course.
But am I right in thinking that the figures "dont add up"?
As in spending seemed to be roughly[and I mean very roughly] £50 billion, over what extras she is going to accumulate in extra taxing?
Boz
Thank God for no change on IHT. I was worried about having to live for 10 years, after gifting, rather than 7.
But now pension pots will not be free from inheritance tax but will be included in the value of your estate
A forceful, commanding budget speech, 80mins, most tax increases as predicted and very large investment plans long overdue.
Not too much short term gain but small businesses protected from NIC payments, if growth does materialize as planned we should all be better off
Whitewavemark2
Still, at least the cap hasn’t gone as it was intended to do this autumn.
Exactly.
This is a classic example of spin. An allowance which was login to be cut has not been cut. Instead of celebrating that, those who want to do down anything the government have done are moaning because fares are capped at a maximum of £3. As I've said before, when I was working full time the cheapest fare I could get was £12 a day return, and that was over 7 years ago. There was no season ticket option. A cut to £6 return is a huge saving on that, and that is without factoring in what the fares would have cost had inflation taken its toll at the rate we've seen over the last 14 years.
Casdon
Hooray on the personal tax thresholds!
I've been following on the BBC Live section ( I cannot stand Reeves' voice & accent)
What they reported about tax thresholds didn't look particularly 'hooray' to me, basically no change until 2028, but perhaps the BBC got it wrong.
What do you think she said?
Thank God for no change on IHT. I was worried about having to live for 10 years, after gifting, rather than 7.
Whitewavemark2
Blimey!! Now I know why I voted Labour!!
Didn’t she do well!
Seriously though, I thought she presented a pretty good budget considering the mess she was left by the Tories. I wonder if anyone could lip read what J Hunt was saying - he looked livid.
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