Labour. Didn't take long!

[Pondrew]

So our new Labour Government, true to form, have found a £22bn 'hole' in the Country's finances. Fancy that! Every time a new party comes to power they say that!

So they have to 'fill that hole' by raising taxes. What they really mean is they will raise taxes for the private sector to pay their millions of 'mates' in the public sector a very generous pay rise come April.

I don't believe anyone can find £22bn of deficit in the sixth largest economy on the planet in 3 weeks, especially not Whitehall.

I am sure they will also find the money to give the millions of benefit wasters a good increase aswell! :x

Labour doing what Labour does; robbing from the pockets of people who work for a living and give it to those who really don't.

 

[buzyg]

Indeed.

Means testing pensioners benefits too. Just the start.

Why did I bother working

 

[pvr]

What is October going to bring

Problem with greed in the public sector is that it accelerates, when the GPs were receiving double the salary for doing half the work (the start of the decline) previously under labour, they suddenly became work shy. Seems like they want to strike now as well. Guess the teachers now have 8 weeks off to think about how they are next going to put in more demands.

Funny how they don’t feel ashamed that their ridiculous pay rise came straight from the pensioner benefits.

 

[Vornwend]

So our new Labour Government, true to form, have found a £22bn 'hole' in the Country's finances. Fancy that! Every time a new party comes to power they say that!

So they have to 'fill that hole' by raising taxes. What they really mean is they will raise taxes for the private sector to pay their millions of 'mates' in the public sector a very generous pay rise come April.

I don't believe anyone can find £22bn of deficit in the sixth largest economy on the planet in 3 weeks, especially not Whitehall.

I am sure they will also find the money to give the millions of benefit wasters a good increase aswell! :x

Labour doing what Labour does; robbing from the pockets of people who work for a living and give it to those who really don't.

Neither party was honest about the state of the economy and how it needs to be fixed. The problem is that the electorate won't vote for parties that are upfront about problems and there is little appetite for policies that involve medium term pain for long term gain. As a result parties lie about it or, at best, fudge it in a never ending series of short term policies.

The so called black hole does appear to be real. The OBR yesterday took the unsual step of publishing a letter backing up the chancellor's claims. Labour intend to give the OBR more influence to try and avoid this mess recurring. The current methodology relies on the OBR taking departmental forecasts at face value. The rules also precluded treasury officials revealing these pressures to Labour before they were elected. It's become clear that many spending commitments were only revealed in the last few weeks. Labour are rewriting the rules to avoid this happening in future. Taking the politics out of forecasting seems to me to be a good thing.

As to public sector pay rises the data is also quite clear - public sector pay rises, particularly doctors and teachers have tracked well behind the private sector since 2010 (15% and 9% real terms reductions v private sector up 4% - source IFS). It was always inevitable that there was going to need to be some readjustment. Not to do so perpetuates the terrible recruitment and retention problems and risks yet more strikes - neither of which are good for the economy.

More taxes to come for sure - probably on wealth rather than income.

 

[pvr]

Remember though that for the public sector, they have this massive pension that they have to look forward to after a leasurely working life. So they want the same pay as the private sector without the sacrifices to the pension side that we in the private sector have to make.

If labour is serious about "fairness", then when the railways are back in public ownership, they should half the salaries of train drivers and use that to fund the other public sector pay. As we have seen with the GPs though, once the concessions have been made, it is impossible to roll back.

 

[MikeyH]

I went to get a prescription from my chemist yesterday and discovered that as I am over 60 yrs it's free. How long has this this been happening and why. If the NHS needs more money surely it would be better to put it up to 65 yrs and cap the yearly amount to say £50.00. But then of course that wouldn't bring in as much money as taking away the fuel money from pensioners would it!

 

[TitanTim]

Reason I didn't vote Labour, what did people expect in their rush to kick the Tories out.

Well I did 42 hard years in my public sector role and thoroughly deserved my early retirement and supposid gold plated pension

Would be great to see how long the public sector critics would last in some of the thankless but important jobs that exist I fear a day at most :lol:

Tim.

 

[GJ1]

Remember though that for the public sector, they have this massive pension that they have to look forward to after a leasurely working life. So they want the same pay as the private sector without the sacrifices to the pension side that we in the private sector have to make.

100% this. I would like to see more comparisons of overall benefit structures for private vs public. I am a contractor and accept that I am paid more than an employee but I don't get any holiday/sick/pension. I am happy with this but it seems to me that some public sector workers want the generous pension (or don't appreciate how generous it is compared to private) as well as salary parity.

I would like to see more acknowledgement of the generous pension and not just salary comparisons, factored into reporting and decisions.

 

[Pondrew]

More taxes to come for sure - probably on wealth rather than income.

Yep. Rob from the (perceived) rich to give to the (not really very) poor public sector workers and scroungers.

I am soooo glad I have worked hard for 40 years (private sector. Own pension with no-one ever contributing except me). I am now on the lefties' radar and they are coming to see what they can get very shortly.

 

[Nanu]

I can confirm how generous the public sector pensions are, as I have two and qualified for a third. Before I start getting replied of lucky Ba****d, bare with me a little.

31 years in the Police for which I now receive a good pension but I paid up to 12.5% of my wages before tax to pay for it. I did work out once that I would have to live well into old age before breaking even on that one but not complaining although I did at the time.

13 years in the civil service which gave the same benefits but into which I only paid 6%. Couldn't believe it. They have it well cushy.

Just two years part time hours in the NHS and when I left the contributions had just increased from 6 to 7%. Only stayed on an extra month or two to qualify for the pension but as it was under a certain amount they offered me a lump sum to buy me out. Paid in about £900 and they bought me out for £5k. Another group of well cushioned public servants.

Police and Fire service pay a lot into their pensions, but by far Civil Servants and our wonderful NHS have far better pensions whilst contributing far less.

 

[Nanu]

More taxes to come for sure - probably on wealth rather than income.

Yep. Rob from the (perceived) rich to give to the (not really very) poor public sector workers and scroungers.

I am soooo glad I have worked hard for 40 years (private sector. Own pension with no-one ever contributing except me). I am now on the lefties' radar and they are coming to see what they can get very shortly.

Suspect car tax will increase dramatically and there is speculation of a capital gains tax on equity when you sell your house. Either way its the land of milk and honey for the unions and public sector workers and pain for the rest of us.

Not happy about loosing my winter fuel allowance either :x

 

[pvr]

I take offence to the words “public sector workers” as work is not part of their daily activities

 

[warmasice]

I take offence to the words “public sector workers” as work is not part of their daily activities

Are you ok? You sound like a very bitter man. If you find this offensive, perhaps your words are just as offensive to others.

 

[pvr]

All banter, nothing to worry about. I would hardly take offence to that

 

[Mr Tidy]

Reason I didn't vote Labour, what did people expect in their rush to kick the Tories out.

I didn't either, but sadly too many people did.

 

[Pondrew]

All banter, nothing to worry about. I would hardly take offence to that

Well I find it extremely offensive on behalf of all my local Council employees who do a VERY good job!




Not really!

 

[pvr]

 

[TitanTim]

Interestingly when I worked in Local Government we at times had to hire in Private sector companies to assist us with projects and quite frankly most were pretty much rubbish and we were gillible enough to pay their inflated hourly rates. You just ended up doing the same job again properly

Tim.

 

[buzyg]

This thread is depressing me.

 

[MikeyH]

This thread is depressing me.

And me