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UK politics general discussion

Overlooking its convicted peadophile composer, nowadays most people are familiar with the track from the iconic stairs sequence in the film 'Joker'; a controversial study of a malicious, delusional clown with entitlement issues.
 
Tibble said:
For a leader who has been claiming Scotland will return to the EU and that it is top of her list.. To be saying about a Scottish pound currency, would to me suggest they wouldn't be going straight back into the EU, as don't new countries that join the EU have to take the Euro?
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News from the last few days is that Scotland would have to take the Euro if they wanted to join the EU
 
Tibble said:
News from the last few days is that Scotland would have to take the Euro if they wanted to join the EU
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All new members states since the ERM II was introduced are compelled to take the Euro. No timescale is imposed on that though, as Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania demonstrate.
 
So, bully boy Williamson has been binned off again. Who would have seen that coming eh?......

Him and Braverman were grossly inappropriate appointments from the start. They may have a less outrageous leader than the last 2 but the same rotten party props them up. Who do you think is the dog and who is the tail? The party or the PM?
 
They are both dogs.
Been fun watching Williamson go though...nothing like watching a bully with a spider slowly crawl back under the skirting board.
 
It’s also worth noting that we’ve already had a Tory MP suspended as well; Matt Hancock, who was most notably the Health Secretary during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has lost the Tory whip due to the fact that he is appearing on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.
 
We're only 3 years in as well. 2 years is plenty of time for more sackings, more scandals, more corruption, more lies and more poisonous remarks like that that vicious deluded Suella Braverman keeps making. I hope Williamson has left a space under the skirting board for her as well.
 
The much-anticipated Autumn Statement from Jeremy Hunt finally happened today.

Some of the main things present announced within it were:
  • Global factors are the primary cause of current inflation according to the OBR, with COVID cited as a key cause alongside the war in Ukraine.
  • Government borrowing has fallen, the pound has strengthened, and interest rates have already fallen as a result of the government’s actions.
  • The OBR forecast the UK’s inflation rate to be 9.1% this year and 7.4% next year.
  • It has been judged that the UK is in recession.
  • The government’s actions will make inflation fall rapidly from the middle of next year, and government borrowing will halve.
  • The OBR have forecast that the recession will be shallower as a result of the government’s actions.
  • £55bn of consolidation is planned in total, with £30bn of spending cuts and £25bn of tax rises. This is a balanced budget.
  • The 45% rate threshold has been reduced from £150,000 to £125,140.
  • Tax thresholds will be maintained until 2028.
  • The exempt amount for capital gains tax will be cut.
  • From 2025, electric cars will no longer be exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty due to half of all new vehicles being electric.
  • The stamp duty cuts announced in the mini-budget will remain until 31st March 2025.
  • The Energy Profits Levy is being increased from 25% to 35% from 1st January.
  • The NHS and schools will be protected as much as possible.
  • Public spending will grow over the next 3 years, but at a slower rate than the economy.
  • Public spending will continue to rise in real terms over the next 5 years.
  • Hunt is concerned at the amount of economically inactive adults, so a thorough review will be conducted on the factors stopping people from getting into work.
  • 600,000 more people on Universal Credit will be asked to meet with a work coach to help raise their income.
  • The government is conducting a review into the state pension age, which will be concluded in early 2023.
  • There will be a £280m investment into cracking down on benefit fraud.
  • The defence budget will be maintained at 2% of GDP.
  • The financial aid target of 0.7% of GDP has been indefinitely shelved.
  • The climate targets set out at COP26 will remain.
  • Hunt has concerns that not all school leaders have the skills to benefit them in a modern economy. Therefore, Sir Michael Barber has been appointed to advise the Education Secretary on raising skills in school leavers.
  • Putting VAT on independent schools has been rejected, because while this would raise £1.7bn per annum, it would result in 90,000 students moving to state schools, so Hunt described it as “giving with one hand and taking away with the other”.
  • Education funding will raise by £2.3bn per annum.
  • A plan for better worker retention in the NHS, and a review of the number of doctors and nurses needed, will be devised.
  • Funding will be allocated for local authorities to provide more social care services.
  • Additional grant funding of £1bn will be allocated to adult social care.
  • Funding for the social care sector will increase by £2.8bn next year.
  • Hunt is aspiring for “Scandinavian quality and Singaporean efficiency” in the NHS, and there will be plans to make the NHS more efficient. Former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt will work with the Health Secretary to determine how to make efficiency savings.
  • NHS funding will increase by £3.3bn per annum.
  • Hunt said that “you cannot borrow your way to growth”, and that “sound money is the rock on which long term prosperity rests”. He said that the government will deliver a “high-skill, high-wage economy”.
  • Paying for energy bills is akin to paying for a second NHS, so to prevent the bankruptcy of the economy, Hunt has promised to rely on energy independence and energy efficiency. An extra £150bn will be spent on energy.
  • An acceleration of renewable energy will occur. The government is proceeding with a new nuclear power plant, Sizewell C.
  • By 2030, the government aims to reduce energy demand from businesses and households by 50%.
  • Hunt is “not cutting a penny from our capital budget”.
  • Northern Powerhouse Rail, HS2 to Manchester, East West Rail, the gigabit broadband program and others will all still be delivered.
  • Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund will be maintained.
I have to say, that was better than expected… the government is promising a lot of spending boosts here!
EDIT - Sorry, I posted this in error before Hunt was finished talking, so I missed some points. Here’s a full summary: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/busines...autumn-statement-2022-summary-tax-rises-hunt/
 
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BarryZola said:
I don't like the sound of that review on state pension age. At all.
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It's not great, but also we can not go on living longer and retiring at the same age. We have to accept paying for living is an individuals responsibility while they still have the ability to earn. It's not unreasonable.
We can all make choices when we are younger to plan for paying our way when we are older.
 
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