Love the longer hair Rachel and the smiles!

Rosie51

DaisyAnneReturns he can say just about anything, it's totally irrelevant, he's not in power and won't be setting any budgets or policies.

It would be very injudicious to ignore him however; would that we could. At the moment he seems to be talking to those who might fund his party.

Reform is not the Opposition.
It's a minor party which gets an inordinate amount of publicity.

GrannyGravy13

I listened to her addressing the nation

I took from it that Labour are going to abandon their manifesto promises (no increase in Taxes, N.I. or VAT), and in the process are blaming everyone else as opposed to owning their decisions.

They had 14 years of watching the Tories so why had they not planned better? They knew they had a hard task ahead so why make promises they knew they couldn't keep?
The reason was that they wanted to win an election.

As far as I'm aware the 22 billion black hole Labour claims to have inherited has never been proved.
To use another astronomical analogy, it's nebulous.

Rosie51

DaisyAnneReturns he can say just about anything, it's totally irrelevant, he's not in power and won't be setting any budgets or policies.

The thing is, Reform is leading - by a long way - in the polls so their remarks are relevant to the future of this Country.
It will be interesting to see the polls after the budget to see how low the two traditional parties will fall!

vegansrock

At least there was a mention of Brexit as a cause of the poor economic situation. 1p on income tax , which is a fair tax , would raise a great deal and could be used for public services.

So what is the reason (excuse) for EU countries financial doldrums…

When is she going to stop blaming everyone else - The Conservatives, Brexit, the pandemic, Nigel Farage, Liz Truss Ukraine, etc etc
Her policy of squeezing employers by raising their NI has stifled growth in this country but she won't take accountability for that. U-turns every other month
Labour will probably still be using the 'excuse 14 years of Tory government' by the end of this parliament.
When will it stop

At least there was a mention of Brexit as a cause of the poor economic situation. 1p on income tax , which is a fair tax , would raise a great deal and could be used for public services.

DaisyAnneReturns he can say just about anything, it's totally irrelevant, he's not in power and won't be setting any budgets or policies.

Whilst I agree the Tories were undoubtedly useless in all sorts of ways, the effects of Covid, their dodgy contracts acknowledged, lockdown affected the economies of pretty much every country, maybe Sweden being the exception who approached it differently. Whoever the government of the day had been, they would have had to carry the burden of those expenses that added massively to the national debt. Not that I'm saying the Tory government handled it well, clearly they didn't but it was an unprecedented situation where most governments were grappling with how best to cope with it and most economies were tanked by the great financial burden Covid placed on them. How Labour would have handled it is hypothetical, but they too wouldn't have been able to avoid adding to the national debt if they had been at the helm back then.

I'm completely in agreement with GG, stifling business so they can't hire, invest, particularly in apprenticeships is not going to grow the economy, worst case scenario is seeing smaller businesses go to the wall. There doesn't seem to be anyone in the Cabinet who has run a business.

ronib

Why does anyone care what a party with 5 MPs would do when discussing a Labour budget?

He's talking about doing a Trump and bringing in non-elected Ministers.

ronib

Why does anyone care what a party with 5 MPs would do when discussing a Labour budget?

It just feeds into the myth that Reform is omnipotent…

PaynesGrey Reforms budget proposals are irrelevant, they are not the government today, and probably will never be.

I am an employer and speak often with other employers.

Yes it was just a 1.2% rise, but that rise has stifled hiring and expansion which if had gone ahead would have sent far more NI to the treasury.

She could start by not excusing the mess she's making of the economy by blaming the last 14 years Annie.

As far as I'm aware the 22 billion black hole Labour claims to have inherited has never been proved.

Why does anyone care what a party with 5 MPs would do when discussing a Labour budget?

How else would you have raised additional funding for the NHS because that's what the additional employers NIC is earmarked for. NIC can only be used to fund the NHS and contributory benefits. What's left of NIC after the NHS allocation, 95% goes to pay the State Pension.

Reeves increased employers NIC from 13.8% to 15% a 1.2% increase.

Reform have proposed introducing a 20% Immigration Tax in the form of Employers NIC on any employer who employs foreign nationals. Only health and care staff would be exempt.

Where, for example, does that leave any other employer, including the public sector, which employs anyone who was not born in the UK? For example, around 20% of teachers were born outside the UK. An immigation tax would have a significant effect on local council budgets already stretched to breaking point.

What would that mean for employers seeking to recruit the best staff? A UK born candidate isn't necessarily going to be the best candidate.

I'd be interested to hear what employers would think about that. Would they go for an inferior candidate because it's cheaper?

How does this policy accord with Farage's claimed pro-business agenda?

Anniebach

How can the legacy of the disastrous conservative government of 14 years be solved

She could start with incentives for employers to hire more staff.

Fund a bigger and better apprenticeship program.

How can the legacy of the disastrous conservative government of 14 years be solved

I noticed that TerriBull no acknowledgment that her hiking employers NI has stifled recruitment for many businesses.

Her hair's fine, her fiscal policies aren't. No need to expand on that we all know the effects of the NI hike which has been so counter productive for businesses. In any case I don't think we should be commenting on her appearance, she's the Chancellor not Kim Kardashian.

I listened to her addressing the nation

I took from it that Labour are going to abandon their manifesto promises (no increase in Taxes, N.I. or VAT), and in the process are blaming everyone else as opposed to owning their decisions.