Politics Today

[Suzi & The Banned Cheese]

I agree with your thinking here art, especially the VAT point as it is badly targeted. Suppliers may not pass it all on too.

Not sure how you can identify the categories who can afford to pay more and the mechanism to achieve that other than a tax rise.

Not sure about VAT, its a regressive tax, so therefore disproportionately impacts the poor? How therefore does scrapping it help the poor?

 

[DB9]

It is highly unlikely that Truss or Rishi will make themselves unpopular with the rich to subsidize the poor. Tories do not have a Robin Hood mentality. Whether the comfortably off would be willing to make a sacrifice in an act of solidarity remains conjecture.
In my opinion the Tory Govt will pay the usual lip service and give a little to the less well off just to say they have done whilst avoiding upsetting the haves
So the question is, with recession looming and a predicted inflation rate between 12-15% by next spring, will the Govt have the nous and the willingness to genuinely help in good faith the estimated 15 million people living in households which will have to choose between paying the bills or eating. Considering how hard it was for the Tory Govt to subsidize school meals (socialism, innit?) I find it hard to believe that they will. I guess the Brits masochistic tendencies will limit the amount of social unrest that in many countries would occur
We've been extremely unlucky : the last thing the country needed in these times of crisis are leaders who don't believe in solidarity and who are incapable of empathy.

After what Sunak said about deprived areas seems to me the Tories just wanted to undo what Labour did, Even the good ideas like Sure Start Centre's. As for what I've highlighted Mike.........

Free school meals: Councils in England cut back on holiday food-voucher help

Vouchers are being cut in value or scrapped altogether across England, BBC News research reveals.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Alistair20000]

Not sure about VAT, its a regressive tax, so therefore disproportionately impacts the poor? How therefore does scrapping it help the poor?

I think you have missed the point of what art and myself are saying Suzi.
We have questioned the value and fairness of cutting or scrapping VAT on energy bills at it helps those who can afford to pay their way as well as those less able to pay their way

 

[Grecian2K]

Yet another pirouette with double backspin by Dizzi Lizzy and her wannabe "cabinet" sycophants.

Liz Truss not ruling out emergency payments, says Penny Mordaunt

Penny Mordaunt says Liz Truss's comments on how to help with the cost of living crisis had been overinterpreted.

www.bbc.co.uk

I suspect that the comedian Stewart Lee is branching into the realms of factuality with his line that "her brain could be beaten by a memory-foam mattress.
Still, on the other hand, with Fishi probably punting for "free energy for private swimming pools and saunas" it's Hobson's choice really.
Possibly more worrying for the two candidates for this particular English Lightweight Boxing Championship might be THIS by the usually supinely loyal deputy editor of that Tory comic, The Spectator, Isabel Hardman

From energy to the NHS, all the next Tory leader can offer is an information blackout | Isabel Hardman

Nothing suggests that Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak fully understand the country’s most besetting problems, let alone how to fix them

www.theguardian.com

And offered to the Guardian/Observer as well!
Coming from someone from someone who usually is so true blue that, if she was a stick of seaside rock, the motto would read "Made In Grantham"
Truly a " plague on both your houses" moment?

 

[Suzi & The Banned Cheese]

I think you have missed the point of what art and myself are saying Suzi.
We have questioned the value and fairness of cutting or scrapping VAT on energy bills at it helps those who can afford to pay their way as well as those less able to pay their way

Sorry I Still don't understand this , personally I would be in favour of scrapping VAT on fuel (as it's regressive) and other items and increasing tax or income or inheritance. as they are progressive taxes.

 

[arthur]

Sorry I Still don't understand this , personally I would be in favour of scrapping VAT on fuel (as it's regressive) and other items and increasing tax or income or inheritance. as they are progressive taxes.

VAT is not entirely regressive in that the more you consume the more you pay. Someone in a big house using lots of energy will pay more VAT than someone in a more humble abode. So simply cutting VAT as a way of helping poor people is going to involve a substantial handing out of cash to the better off

 

[IndoMike]

After what Sunak said about deprived areas seems to me the Tories just wanted to undo what Labour did, Even the good ideas like Sure Start Centre's. As for what I've highlighted Mike.........

Free school meals: Councils in England cut back on holiday food-voucher help

Vouchers are being cut in value or scrapped altogether across England, BBC News research reveals.

www.bbc.co.uk

Yes, DB9. In principle the Tories despise and reject any kind of social welfare, because their philosophy is that the strong survive and the weak must go to hell .
Generally, most Tory ministers come from financially stable backgrounds and think that if they did well then everyone should.
They just don't want to get it that millions have begun life handicapped by the poverty of their parents and by the problems caused by the deprived environment they are/were brought up in.
Let's be honest, the situation in which we are born is a matter of pure luck You and I could have been born twins in a poor village in Guatamala, for example.
But the Johnsons, Rishis, Moggs of this world do not appreciate their great fortune and have no desire to help the less fortunate : they just want to rub the noses of the poor in the sh*t that surrounds them.
This is the reason I despise the Tories - I think they are awful people.. And it's not inverted snobbery. I was born into a financially comfy family - not rich, but with all the material things I needed

 

[IndoMike]

Truss, the frontrunner to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister, has been openly critical of Threadneedle Street. At the very least, she would order a review of the Bank’s mandate – the legal obligation to hit the government’s 2% inflation target – but she has been hinting at going further. For the first time since it was granted the freedom to set interest rates by Gordon Brown in 1997, the Bank’s independence looks to be under threat.

If you fcuked up, blame someone else.
It's not Labour's fault any more : it's the BoE,'s fault !!

 

[elginCity]

But the Johnsons, Rishis, Moggs of this world do not appreciate their great fortune and have no desire to help the less fortunate : they just want to rub the noses of the poor in the sh*t that surrounds them.
This is the reason I despise the Tories - I think they are awful people.. And it's not inverted snobbery.

The Tories know the support of ‘middle England’, with its spiritual home in Tunbridge Wells, is their ticket to power. Keeping them sweet will always be the priority.

 

[IndoMike]

Truss says there will be no "handouts" during this winter. Why use terminology such as that? Is she aware that it is not her own money that should be distributed? The Government has a duty of care for all the people : does nobody understand what "duty of care" means?
But, she's a Conservative, and they can't be seen to be helping the prols. What a sad, childish, pathetic attitude to take.
I hear that in addition to food banks, "warmth banks" are being offered by libraries and other public facilities to allow those whose access to energy has been turned off to find warm shelter.
What an unbelievable state of affairs