Rayban if you devolve tax policy then you have to have regional Govt as per Scotland and you also have devolve control over expenditure – health, education social care, etc – same as Scotland

Sounds like a lot of referendums, regional MPs, regional bureaucracy…

But that is what is missing in this country, peoples connection to politics and sense of agency. The yanks have a population of 300+ million and have 50 states – each with strong local powers and yet we cannot have stronger regional powers?

The current system has everyone arguing with each other due to their own local concerns, it’s paralyzing the country and causing it to be an inward looking, navel gazing, arse sniffing, hateful and angry backwater.

Brexit was pointless enough.

So Boris and Swinson took a pounding there eh? 😆

If the polls don’t start to shift after that, England is lost, forever! 😆

If the polls don’t start to shift after that, England is lost, forever

The only thing Boris has to do to win is not screw up massively. Anyone else and you’d think it was a dead cert. but there is an outside chance. There was nothing I that performance that’s going to move the polls much. He took some hits but nothing major.

I don’t understand why everyone is so obsessed with Corbyn picking a side/campaigning for one side in his proposed solution. His addresses the problem in the original referendum. Show people the deal, and ask them if they want to leave on those terms or stay. Why do you give a crap which way he wants it to go as long as he does what you tell him?

Mr 80k turns out to be from Bury. Not many 80k earners up here, the self entitled prick. I work in Bolton and I’m seeing homeless every day.

80k in London is not rich.

Try telling that to to poor bastards that that deliver your food or serve you a sammich in pret. Where do you think they live? Do they commute in just to work in fast food?

I’m pleased to see that forum posters from both sides of the Brexit debate and apparently of strongly opposing party political allegiances seem to be in broad agreement in this thread.

A growing disparity of wealth is something we all find very offensive, we just differ in our view of who is responsible for it and how we should address it.

It’s a start, I suppose.

Try telling that to to poor bastards that that deliver your food or serve you a sammich in pret. Where do you think they live? Do they commute in just to work in fast food?

Of course – but they’re lives are even less affordable than they are in the North.

Different countries have different tax regimes to suit their own local conditions, the difference between London and the North is now just as great as the difference found between many countries. It’s holding both areas of the country back by having them on the same tax regime, the North needs to tax certain pay brackets more and perhaps even try to get industry in by cutting corporation tax, London perhaps less so (right now) with its current affordability crisis.

Of course – but they’re lives are even less affordable than they are in the North.

Tell them to get off thier arses and move to Sunderland then?
They can then earn an honest wage without fear of becoming redundant .. Oh wait..

ROFL

Or perhaps the uk need to stop being so london centric and spread the investment around to bring the other areas up to the same level

Could this not be partly helped by allowing the North to up income tax and drop corporation tax, allowing it to invest more and also steal business from London?

There are lots of ways to skin a cat, I really think the UK needs something creative to try and sort the mess we are in. I don’t see what is currently on offer by any party, healing the polarisation.

We all care about our fellow human beings on here, usually when the shit hits the fan for a forum member everyone contributes despite their political affiliations. A lot of us just differ on implementation, we need to find a bipartisan way to make this dingy **** island a better place.

But it does affect their ability to absorb tax increases doesn’t it, including those on the median income in London.

Someone on 28k a year in Bolton or £1881 PCM after tax, would need to earn £3,231 after tax to have the same standard of living in London – around 60k.

Disparities like that need to be factored into decisions on taxation, otherwise you will just further fuel the divide between London and the North.

Can you run through this with me slowly, because you seem to be suggesting that the North is favoured in the North South divide? I mean I’ll admit I was a bit lost when you started ranting on about 80k not being much, but this post is downright befuddling are you suggesting tax increases for the north to help the struggling south?

Heard a guy on the radio yesterday moaning that his £100k salary made it hard to get by as his wife didn’t work in order to look after their 4 kids, so what with mortgage, two cars etc, he only had £800 a month left for saving and discretionary spending.

Apparently that wasn’t what he went to university and worked 60 hours a week for, just to pay more tax to support the feckless workshy.

I wasn’t moved to sympathy by his plight.

My favourite campaign film yet.

The choice at this election… #LoveActually #MerryXmas #Tooting pic.twitter.com/laP589NlMm

— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (@DrRosena) November 22, 2019

Just to quantify:

We don’t hate London at all.

We hate a London-centric government that doesn’t even bother to pretend it gives a shit about us.

The investment in transport infrastructure sums it up. We watch the billions poured into Crossrail as we sit in converted buses from the 1980’s trundling down Victorian train lines. When they actually turn up.

Another reason to vote Labour. We might actually see some desperately needed infrastructure investment.

We were promised it by George Osborne with all his Northern Powerhouse bullshit. None of it ever materialised.

We need proper devolved power to the regions in this country. We’re the most centralised economy in the developed world, and that isn’t working for anyone outside the south east

Molly, binners is referring to the fact that Northern uses Pacer railway carriages, they’re based on converted coaches, they were a “stop-gap” introduced in the ’80s and we were promised that they’d be phased out this year, but that’s slipped a couple of years. Northern Rail still hasn’t managed to agree terms with it’s drivers and conductors, so our weekend trains are based on whether enough drivers can be arsed to turn up for some overtime.

When a Tory minister says that perhaps Northern is so rubbish that it may have to return to public ownership, you know they are properly shit

HS2 was started at the wrong end to begin with.

The money for LHR’s 3rd runway would be better off spent at either Manchester, Brum or LGW – there’d probably be loose change for a few hospitals after too!

We’ve a history of doing shite civil engineering in this country & precious few passable ones.

I’m F’d if I know why we find it so hard!

Kelvin – starting from the north means it cannot end up as a Birmingham / london commuter line which is what is now going to happen and a northern cities to Birmingham HS line would have more benefits than a London / Birmingham one as well as being cheaper

Apart from train journeys around the north! Thats my point