UK Election!

All that matters is what we will know at breakfast time on 5th July.

You – and everyone you know – can and will make a difference if they…

– use their vote; this, to me is the single most important consideration; people worked long and hard to secure the universal franchise; do not denigrate them by not voting.

– use the vote to elect the MP and party most likely to deliver what you want

– it won’t be a perfect outcome for anyone

– vote for change; vote for a better future for you and your family; that means…vote Labour.

^^Amen to all of that. 👍

Voting Tory is just what you do for people like them. They’re genuinely the nicest people you could meet too. I just avoid talking politics with them!

They seem like nice people because you avoid talking politics.  Same at work where I am surrounded by tory voters but people don’t really talk politics in the workplace.

However, whenever anything political does come up you realise they are not quite so nice in their attitudes towards less fortunate people than them and quickly go to the default position of them being in a better position because they tried harder with absolutely zero awareness of their many privileges in life.

These are not the horrible all immigrants should be shot type people but they are still very complicit in how horrible the country is to others by blindly voting tory.

Both parties have made a hash of debating the tax cut or spend with endlessly stupid comments during interviews – Jonathan Ashworth today going around the houses with his unfunded comments about the Tories.

He sounds ridiculous and unable to explain what he’s talking about.

In 2017 the Labour manifesto was described at fully costed – this is nothing new. It’s ridiculous speak to appease acceptance by certain people in the market system. (And by the way fully funded in that context was still criticised heavily.)

It will be bad for all of us if this conversation is not fully expanded. It will constantly saddle Labour with a restriction on what they can or can’t do.

The standard of electioneering is terrible treating the public as morons, instead of feeding them with useful information.

vote for change; vote for a better future for you and your family; that means…vote Labour*

*depending on constituency. While in the overwhelming majority of places voting Lab is the best way of GTTO, there are a decent number of places where it isn’t.

The standard of electioneering is terrible treating the public as morons, instead of feeding them with useful information.

To be fair the time for educating people is the rest of the 5 years not during the campaign.

Nice kick on the balls for Sunak this morning re Economic growth… or lack of.

The standard of electioneering is terrible treating the public as morons

To be fair, 52% of voters recently believed some made-up bullshit written on the side of a bus, so you know…

Mad thing is, Truss’s little flutter nearly lost them their house sale. They had to move in with us for a few months…he still won’t accept that the Tories are all total **** because something something labour Corbyn 70’s strikes something.

I wonder if in 20 years time instead of voting for a needed change everybody whose under 60 now will refuse to vote for a new friendly Tory party because of Brexit something something Boris parties something something Truss cabbage mortgage rates sunak D day something something etc etc

People do have long memories and the last 14 years have been so awful for lots of people that I wonder if large parts of the population could ever bring themselves to vote Tory again .

The Communists, er Greens sorry, have let it be known that people on 50k are wealthy and must pay more tax and NI which is fairer because working hard and earning honest money must be punished…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-69111362

Torygraph have a clip from the ITV interview- he apologises for being late as the D-Day events over ran.

Also reports when asked about if he ever faced hardship he said “he had to do without Sky TV as a kid”. #prayforRishi.

Dude cracks me up. Didn’t have Sky. Is that cos you were poor or because your diligent parents thought you’d be fine with council telly, Radio Times and a stack of books?

one term at Winchester = Sky telly for everyone in the town..

people on 50k are wealthy and must pay more tax and NI which is fairer because working hard and earning honest money must be punished…

Earning over £50k puts you in the top 15% so, yes well off. Also paying tax isn’t a punishment, it’s how society works.

Big fan of what I’ve seen of the Green party manifesto.  Wealth tax on sums over 10m is a fantastic idea. Good to see an arguement for more progressive taxation too.

As for Sunak and his lack of Sky TV…..he just doesn’t get it does he? Totally incapable of trying to understand what actual hardship, which many millions face perpetually, is like. He’s not even being a dick about it, he is just so far detached from reality. This of course means that he has no business whatsoever running the country and needs to just **** right off asap.

Good to see an arguement for more progressive taxation too.

But also an increase in NI, which is being used here and has been used in the past to hide an increase in the marginal tax rate.

IMO, in the name of tax transparency, they need to do away with employee NICs, and adjust the income tax and CGT bands to compensate – problem with NI remains that it’s not payable on non-work income.

Big fan of what I’ve seen of the Green party manifesto.  Wealth tax on sums over 10m is a fantastic idea. Good to see an arguement for more progressive taxation too.

Yep, they are actually what the Labour Party should be.  I will be giving them my vote again which will add to the 3,000 they are predicted to get versus the 40,000 tory votes.  Almost like I am wasting my time isn’t it.

because working hard and earning honest money must be punished

You call it punishment, but you could call it sharing your good fortune and doing your bit to help the country.  Interesting which one you chose.

Nice kick on the balls for Sunak this morning re Economic growth… or lack of.

But it’s not the governments fault! So it isn’t fair to blame Rishi. Apparently it’s all because of the weather.

The sky TV stuff is incredibly tin eared, but this is the worst bit by far…

https://x.com/gabbsthenewt/status/1800776344852410589?t=9FLDaydqPMg55xs-r1Vhew&s=19

Jaw dropping to be honest

jesus wept, he really didn’t realise and had no comprehension of the shit storm coming his way !!!! what a clueless shit of a man.

The Communists, er Greens sorry, have let it be known that people on 50k are wealthy and must pay more tax and NI which is fairer because working hard and earning honest money must be punished…

As someone who benefited from both my own and my parents free university educations in a society with sensible safety nets for those not as lucky as me, and now earns well north of £50k (as does my wife) I support their view and I can afford it. Except I’d call it paying my dues, not punishment.

Poor trolling.

As an aside, free university education (according to ability to learn not ability to pay), with entry at different ages by different routes, backed up by solid vocational education and training probably benefits society and the country as much as the individuals involved. And on that basis the country should pay, which in turn means tax, which to be fair means progressive tax.

Am I right in thinking social mobility, while never perfect, has never been as high as it was in the 1960s – arguably the heyday of that educational model?

The sky TV stuff is incredibly tin eared, but this is the worst bit by far

Wow! Tells you everything you need to know about the man in 30 seconds.

My children have something in common with the PM. Not for reasons of cost either. Looks like his parents had good taste in media selection. A better answer from someone with professional parents is “nothing really, and. I thank my parents for that”. #manofthepeople.

The Communists, er Greens sorry, have let it be known that people on 50k are wealthy and must pay more tax and NI which is fairer because working hard and earning honest money must be punished…

I earn over £50k (just)

I don’t work harder than a lot of people, I just have skills that can be better leveraged into making money in a capitalist system.  Sometimes the economic cycle means I can’t and I have to go find a different way to make money and I’ve been lucky to work my way into other well paying jobs which did involve longer hours and more niche skills (although arguably easier work overall because it involved a lot of sitting around waiting).

Poor trolling, go read chapter 1 of Capital by Marx and come back with a more rounded understanding of why the effort you put into work is not the defining factor in how much you get paid in return.

Count Binface is, I believe, standing directly against Sunak in his constituency. Given his (Binface’s) recent strong finish ahead of the far right in the London election and his similarly strong ties to the constituency, I expect a close race.

Am I right in thinking social mobility, while never perfect, has never been as high as it was in the 1960s

Probably. For those that had a good day when they sat their 11+. Not for the others.

I was the last year to sit 11+ in my town and go to a grammar school. My sister in the year below me, went to the subsequently merged comprehensive. She’d never have become a deputy head teacher had she been born in my year.

“Earning over £50k puts you in the top 15% so, yes well off.”

Try supporting a family and paying a mortgage on 50k, trust me you won’t feel “well off”.

So why does working harder to earn a pittance salary like 50k mean the government should take more of your money? That isn’t “fair”. That is socialist thinking.

This is and always has been one of the main dividing lines between the political left and the right.

You may not feel well off but you are better off than the other 85%.

How do you think taxation should work and what should the government be providing for the 85%?

@grimep – I suggest you check average household income if you think £50k is a pittance.

@TiRed

Probably. For those that had a good day when they sat their 11+. Not for the others.

Agreed – which is why multiple routes and multiple ages for entry is a necessity.
But, yes, agreed.

The electoral calculus website is showing Labour 472, I’m sure that’s down from 485 about 10 days ago.  Tories up from about low 60s to 76 and iirc lib up one to 60.  My first reaction was ‘No!!!!!’  Then i remembered that’s still a 300 seat majority.  Panic over. 🤣

To be slightly more serious,  I guess the numbers on that website are wildly different to most polls, I’m not sure why it comes up so high on Google searches.

I had been very bouyed by the apparently very real prospect of the tories being pushed down to 3rd and not the official opposition,  but that seems a little less likely this week.

The wrong premise is being discussed here, politicians talk about cutting or freezing taxes whereas the issue should be fighting for higher incomes. A functioning welfare state needs paying for and some of the highest taxed economies have the highest standards of living eg Denmark, Finland. Moaning about £50k being inadequate for a mortgage is because the housing system has been adjusted to benefit developers and landlords, neither major party is addressing that issue.

The reason I'm so good at relating to ordinary people who are struggling to pay their bills is that I went without Sky TV while attending a £51k per year public school. pic.twitter.com/ntg6mF3paz

— Parody Rishi Sunak (@Parody_PM) June 12, 2024

Man of the people Rishi .

They’re interviewing a load of 16-18 year olds about politics on Five Live. One of them just said “we don’t have Sky TV. I cry myself to sleep every night” 😂

the housing system has been adjusted to benefit developers and landlords, neither major party is addressing that issue.

There are a few things that can be done though – IMO they should move to a property tax for business premises, which would include rental properties.

I think the LDs have committed to ‘use it or lose it’ planning permission to stop land banking (which is a problem), and Lab have said they’re going to look at increasing density (which is also something we need to do).

I don’t know what the score is with Right to Buy but that definitely needs reform.

I had been very bouyed by the apparently very real prospect of the tories being pushed down to 3rd and not the official opposition,  but that seems a little less likely this week.

as much as Id love to see it, it was always very unlikely, its still a possibility though

there does seem to be a small drop in the labour numbers 1-2% thsi past week, which is not unexpected from such a big gap , I wonder if a Labour win being baked in, is tempting people to lend their votes to LDs & Green?

heres that video if I can get it to embed

Well that and this pic.twitter.com/S6PYDmmATj

— Gabbsthenewt ????????? (@gabbsthenewt) June 12, 2024

@grimep

“Earning over £50k puts you in the top 15% so, yes well off.”

Try supporting a family and paying a mortgage on 50k, trust me you won’t feel “well off”.

So why does working harder to earn a pittance salary like 50k mean the government should take more of your money? That isn’t “fair”. That is socialist thinking.

You’re literally saying yourself that 85% of the country have to do the same thing on less than what you consider a “pittance”

I honestly can’t tell if you’re invoking Poe’s law at this point.

I fail to understand that TiRed; why wouldn’t you sister have become deputy head if she’d sat the 11+ ?

I wouldn’t (couldn’t) have done any better in terms of exam results in a grammar school than in the secondary modern, the difference is perhaps in the attitude the secondary mod left me with – ingnoring my sprinting ability and self-defence skills.

@kimbers Is it not also Reform setting themselves on fire by saying Hitler was great?

Grant Shapps  what’s  £25,000 between friends :?

Try supporting a family and paying a mortgage on 50k, trust me you won’t feel “well off”.

So why does working harder to earn a pittance salary like 50k mean the government should take more of your money? That isn’t “fair”. That is socialist thinking.

Maybe the wee extra all the people on 50k and up will pay will allow for better schools, dentists for your kids, funding of council facilities you and your kids will use, better transport and then your pittance of £50k might actually go a bit further in reality.

Moaning about £50k being inadequate for a mortgage is because the housing system has been adjusted to benefit developers and landlords, neither major party is addressing that issue.

Labour have at least said a bit more than the Tories on this subject, and their manifesto isn’t out till tomorrow. It’s still weak on the details, but they’re talking about the how and not just the why; new towns, increased social housing, reforming planning laws, helping with getting mortgages etc…