Westminster Politics

TheGame

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It seems the 30 hours of free childcare doesn't actually come into action until September 2025:

"As a result, it will be a staged introduction, with 15 free hours of childcare for two-year-olds in April 2024, and in September 2024 for those aged over nine months, then 30 hours for all from September 2025."

So another exaggerated lie in our budget for 2023/2024. I'm sure the BBC will make that clear in their headlines though.

"30 hours free childcare for 2 year old and those aged above 9 months from September 2025, announced in the 2023/2024 budget"

Of course they will after all the unbias claims of the last week.

Maybe Jeremy will announce a free spaceship for everyone for September 3023 while he's at it.
It's all a big con, the major challenges for providers is business rates and energy prices, fees are being raised back of this. There is not enough providers and nothing in the announcement indicates that will change. But as ever, people will not read beyond the headline I bet. Also its staggered due to the election, no other reason.
 

That'sHernandez

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So basically this budget does absolutely nothing for anyone who currently has young children and feels they can't afford to work because of it, and is unlikely to do anything for people planning to have children because there will be no capacity for nursery spaces. Sounds about right really, now I want to know what it is in the budget that they wanted to distract us from.
 

Fluctuation0161

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That's quite the money-saver in regards to childcare.

Nevermind, I've just seen the dates :lol:. Not convinced this will get people back into work with any real rush!

They really need to fix the High Income Child Benefit Charge thresholds though. How can two people who earn £49k each not be penalized but a household with a sole earner earning £60k fully penalized?
2024 for half support then 2025 for full inplentation. No rush then. Just before the GE. In the meantime they can use a "fixed child care" line as PR. Too little too late.
 

711

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The Tories just can't resist giving a big tax cut to the very (as far as I'm concerned) wealthy, every single budget. This time in tax relief on pension contributions, just when everyone else's tax is actually going up because of the continued freezing of personal allowances. The excuse is to stop surgeons retiring early, which they could have addressed by raising surgeon's wages or increasing their government pension contributions, ie without giving every very high earner in the country a big tax cut. But they're Tories, that's what they do.

I doubt if they'll have to wait until 2025 either.
 
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Maticmaker

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The Tories just can't resist giving a big tax cut to the very (as far as I'm concerned) wealthy, every single budget. This time in tax relief on pension contributions, just when everyone else's tax is actually going up because of the continued freezing of personal allowances. The excuse is to stop surgeons retiring early, which they could have addressed by raising surgeon's wages or increasing their government pension contributions, ie without giving every very high earner in the country a big tax cut. But they're Tories, that's what they do.

I doubt if they'll have to wait until 2025 either.
Exactly, when they are in power the Tories look after their own.

I think Starmer has now got Labour 'out of bed'.... but they are far from 'up and dressed and ready for the off'... although I am pleased to see he is already saying, (less than 24 hours later)and apparently unequivocally, that Labour will reverse this 'Pensions Pantomime'.

Well done Keir. Incidentally, I thought his response to the Chancellors budget speech was one of the best he's made in a 'head to head' with any Tory minister in the house since he became shadow PM.
 

Dan_F

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Straight out of the Orban playbook that one. Scares the shit out of me what has happened to this country in the last five years. I really need to retrain in something and learn a new language because I’m out if they get re-elected.
 

Maticmaker

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Am I being conned by this soothing voice and calm demeanour or does he speak a lot of sense?
He describes a lot of the dire political hinterland very accurately and that there is no real alternative to the two party system ever emerging until new positions are taken within that hinterland.
I feel his 'sense' is reflective of how things are right now, whether we agree with it or not.
 

caid

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Am I being conned by this soothing voice and calm demeanour or does he speak a lot of sense?
I gave him 7 minutes. Think he's full of shit. Lots of people are afraid of the boogeyman we've created. Metropolitan, woke, elites ruining shit not letting us trash our economy and send all the brown people to rwanda. Its nonsense.
 

Pexbo

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I gave him 7 minutes. Think he's full of shit. Lots of people are afraid of the boogeyman we've created. Metropolitan, woke, elites ruining shit not letting us trash our economy and send all the brown people to rwanda. Its nonsense.
That’s 8 minutes longer than I’m prepared to give him.
 

Sweet Square

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Long (but good) thread on why we should all ignore Matthew Goodwin:

Cheers. Quite a bit I don't know in there. Goddwin does the standard right wing ''populist'' thing which is to act like neoliberalism wasn't supported by the people he calms are now rejecting it(Tbh they don't seem to be rejecting it that much as the tories are always winning elections). The tory voter who is complaining about immigrate boats today is the same tory voter that put Thatcher in office to destroy the unions(In exchange for high house prices).

Then he does the other act which is pretending that a retired homeowner with a northern accent who's dad used to work in the coal mines, is the real working class rather than a black londoner in their 20's currently working at Starbucks(People can slag off ''commie, liberal elitist'' Corbyn but in the last election, the labour party ran on wanting to teach about the crimes of the British Empire and it won the majority of the working vote, along with pretty much everyone under the age of 45)

Then there's just pure shite like ''British culture''(Meaningless term), the idea that David Cameron/Osborne cared about progressive in the cities or this random 15% of the population who are trying to change the country into their image(Anti semitism alarm is going off).

So yeah, might be better if he sticks to eating books.
 

UweBein

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"British culture" - meaningless term?
Interesting. You speak like the Brits are still living up there in them trees.
 
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Long (but good) thread on why we should all ignore Matthew Goodwin:

I have to admit I merely skimmed through it, but my impression was that it's more a criticism of his language and apparemt bias, and not his methodology? I might have got that wrong though.
He describes a lot of the dire political hinterland very accurately and that there is no real alternative to the two party system ever emerging until new positions are taken within that hinterland.
I feel his 'sense' is reflective of how things are right now, whether we agree with it or not.
I had never heard about him before today, and I don't live in Britain, but my ideologue radar didn't immediately go off. I feel like it's quite symptomatic of the current information landscape that you find it accurare and others call it ideologically driven nonsense. I don't know what to think now :lol:
 

Frosty

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I have to admit I merely skimmed through it, but my impression was that it's more a criticism of his language and apparemt bias, and not his methodology? I might have got that wrong though.


I had never heard about him before today, and I don't live in Britain, but my ideologue radar didn't immediately go off. I feel like it's quite symptomatic of the current information landscape that you find it accurare and others call it ideologically driven nonsense. I don't know what to think now :lol:
I have some personal knowledge of him.

This tweet is indicative:


He is a member of the Free Speech Union and that Daily Mail article is pushing a clear agenda.

That's fine. That's what academics do. I have zero problem with that.

I have a problem with Goodwin and others who present themselves as neutral actors who are impartial whilst fighting a culture war that is distracting from the real issues faced by millions of people living in the UK.
 

dumbo

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It's amazing the number of groups and number of people in these groups who are trying so hard to normalise this weirdo shit.

The cruelty and illegality isn't surprising but seeing long standing media organisations and Conservative politicians contorting themselves to be like yep this is ok, is mad.

These Tories are so, so much like the Nazis in their bizarre grotesquery. Their oddball posturing and wacko mythologies makes them the spit of their 1930s counterparts.