"never mind a 2p tax cut, my nan's just spent 36 hours on a trolley, there's a pothole in my street you can see from space, and half the classrooms at my kid's school are out of use because of that dodgy concrete."
We can't afford any more tax cuts, stuff needs to be paid for.
One of the side-effects of massive inflation has been that a '2p tax cut' isn't the zinger it once sounded like.
But the Tories are just a Thatcher cargo cult these days, so the keep trotting it out and waiting for it to magically work.
It’s this, isn’t it. I’d rather pay more tax to have working and workable services. We’ve been waiting over 2 years for a CAMHS assessment for our daughter, but 2p tax cut?!?
The Tories have finally proved the value of tax & public services.
Now almost everyone not on the rich list knows a few pence off their individual tax doesn't leave them with enough extra to pay privately for services they once relied on & many knows someone who has suffered as a consequence.
Yes but don't you understand a 2p tax cut means the average voter in the former red-wall constituencies will be able to afford an extra pint of brown and mild a week - that can make the difference between electing a filthy Labour MP and electing a proper right-wing tory!
He's a moron , and hopes the majority of voters are selfish thickos.
I'm hoping England votes sensibly this time.
I fear they may reject the tories but embrace Reform.
For me the ideal outcome would be a Lib/Lab coalition as the Libdems are now some way to the left of the Labour party. The other useful outcome would be many more Green MPs, and Reform UK seducing away so many tory voters that it costs the tories dozens of seats letting in candidates of the left
Oh, I never argue with people who tell me they are considering switching to REFUK. They are ignorant or evil arseholes, but I don't care, because if they switch from CON to REFUK I am all for it
That does sound like a good idea.
Ed Davey is coming across as more human in the campaign.
He has a few "conservative" with a small c views, but hopefully, his humanity allows him to be more tolerant than some in the tories and labour.
Any cuts won’t be soent on us, after 14 years of austerity cuts the national debt is almost 💯% of GDP and accelerating fast. Where has all our money gone.
www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk
And who will pay for these tax cuts? Obviously those with greatest need - as state support will be ever more restricted for people who are disabled, chronically sick, homeless, victims of crime...
Long ago, the Tories lost the mantle of 'the party of prudence'.
Besides, people want services and know they don't come for free, and that some have done remarkably well over the last 14 years.
Was just having to explain to a (very nice) Kiwi-Aussie that if I was back in the UK a) I would be on a giant waiting list and trying my best to avoid being plonked on trolleys for dangerous lengths of time b) I would often physically struggle to get into NHS buildings
(Everything is in such freefall after fifteen years that "try and signpost the step free routes in this hospital and to the car park, given it is, you know, a hospital" is not on anyone's radar?)
I mean, I also suspect given recent giant horrific things at Countess of Chester Hospital that parts of the organisation might have some issues with corruption and an organisational culture of protecting the organisation and deprioritising sick people of all ages. But I don't know for sure.
In some of the buildings I had to access medical treatments over the last few years it was, because I am a 35 year old partial wheelchair user and lifts would be out of order, or stuff would be in a horrible portakabin or mid building work, or the ramp angles would be horrific.
I know its not universally true and I do, genuinely, just have horrific luck with this kind of thing in part because I unconsciously mask when stressed and scared, so only seem quite ill. But given the health collapses last year (in the UK) and this year (here in Oz) it's really different
Oh well, that's different. I apologise. I misunderstood. But also, that's horrendous! That's the Tories for you (and generally people not taking other people into consideration)
Thanks. I think also the cuts have been so bad for so long that often everyone you encounter in the NHS is horrifically burnt out, and thus far more things fall through the cracks than would in a better situation, because everyone's just exhausted and running on fumes.
You seem to have swallowed a Tory playbook. The average citizens shouldn't pay a penny more. There are a lot of easy ways to put money straight back into the economy, like funding the NHS properly or taxing global corporations or the very highest earners (not those earning 37k*)
I'm not sure how you think I've "swallowed a Tory playbook" when I think a 2p NI cut is bad, when it's the Tories proposing a 2p cut to NI, which I disagree with.
