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UK Politics General Discussion

What will be the result of the UK’s General Election?

  • Conservative Majority

    Votes: 3 2.5%

  • Conversative Biggest Party in Hung Parliament

    Votes: 2 1.7%

  • Labour Majority

    Votes: 87 72.5%

  • Labour Biggest Party in Hung Parliament

    Votes: 28 23.3%

  • Other Result (Please specify in your post)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    120
  • Poll closed .
Those of us who are more sceptical, might also wonder if it somewhat suits his business interests for countries to be less stable.

After all, I suspect a government focused on civil unrest might not have as much focus on effective regulation of things like self driving cars, cryptocurrency or social media.

I don't know the answer, but definitely an interesting question to ask.
 
Labour considering pay per mile road taxes. The article mentions an initial estimate of 6p per mile meaning someone doing 10k miles could face a bill of £600 a year.

Ouch

evpowered.co.uk

Labour urged to consider ‘pay-per-mile road tax’ to cover fiscal shortfall

A senior civil servant suggests Labour consider a "pay-per-mile" road tax to prevent a £25bn fiscal shortfall from lost fuel duty as electric car numbers rise. This controversial measure aims to ensure electric motorists pay their share.
evpowered.co.uk evpowered.co.uk
 
Well, they were always going to do something like this to make up for the shortfall in fuel duty. Something of this kind is without doubt coming whether we like it or not. Any government will end up doing it. We'll just have to 'roll with it'.
 
One person in the industry, one person alone that is, posted a few controversial tweets, then pulled them.
A specialist publication gave the non story a sad attention grabbing headline to get clicks.
A thoosie shoved the non story on here.
The way the world goes these days, the lie runs the marathon before the truth has put his socks on.
 
What are people thinking about the announcement that OFGEM are putting the energy price cap up by 10%? Particularly at a time when the government are removing the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners? Some of these energy companies are still making multi-millions (or billions) in profits and paying massive bonuses to bosses and dishing out many millions in dividends. The boss of OFGEM says that he needs to allow these companies to make a 'small profit'. Is it beyond this current government to over-rule in some way this elevation of the price cap whilst energy prices are under pressure? Maybe strongly advise that the cap goes up by only 5% instead, for example, whilst people are still under pressure from the cost of living etc?

I'm wondering if there could be more done by the government to be able to over-rule decisions by OFGEM temporarily whilst people have unusual pressures on their finances due to the war in Ukraine etc. Even if that required putting through a law change? The government were able to change laws etc pretty much overnight during Brexit so there's a precedent for rushing through big changes WHEN THE WILL IS THERE. Is the will not there to reign in these profits now that they have actually got into the corridors of power? Labour were clamouring for high windfall taxes on energy companies whilst the Conservatives were in power. Now what? Just allow OFGEM and these mega-profit organisations to just crack on with it?

Does anyone have thoughts on whether Labour have handled this well or not?
 
BarryZola said:
What are people thinking about the announcement that OFGEM are putting the energy price cap up by 10%? Particularly at a time when the government are removing the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners? Some of these energy companies are still making multi-millions (or billions) in profits and paying massive bonuses to bosses and dishing out many millions in dividends. The boss of OFGEM says that he needs to allow these companies to make a 'small profit'. Is it beyond this current government to over-rule in some way this elevation of the price cap whilst energy prices are under pressure? Maybe strongly advise that the cap goes up by only 5% instead, for example, whilst people are still under pressure from the cost of living etc?

I'm wondering if there could be more done by the government to be able to over-rule decisions by OFGEM temporarily whilst people have unusual pressures on their finances due to the war in Ukraine etc. Even if that required putting through a law change? The government were able to change laws etc pretty much overnight during Brexit so there's a precedent for rushing through big changes WHEN THE WILL IS THERE. Is the will not there to reign in these profits now that they have actually got into the corridors of power? Labour were clamouring for high windfall taxes on energy companies whilst the Conservatives were in power. Now what? Just allow OFGEM and these mega-profit organisations to just crack on with it?

Does anyone have thoughts on whether Labour have handled this well or not?
Click to expand...

It's a cap, the market has started to regulate prices below the cap in any case with deals for short term and long term contracts below the cap. It rising just sets a limit, not a price.

And the winter fuel allowance being means tested is a great measure to ensure spending is targeted to where it is needed.

So yes, all seems good to me. When the prices were at an extreme a couple of years ago and, out of line with the rest of Europe the increases were left to individuals and businesses while enegery companies profited, that was handled badly. But that was a different administration.
 
Most of these groups aren't fit for purpose. But as always, gotta think of them shareholders.

Not sure though what options could be done in a quick minute from Labour. The state run energy company isn't gonna be around any time soon.
 
The energy generating companies are raking in the mass profits and are subject to windfall taxes because of this, and rightly so. Most of (not all of ) the energy supplying companies are not. Not an ideal situation as, like the railways, the botched privatisation of such an industry where the taxpayer is left holding the baby when things don't work is not sustainable. But the sticking plaster is right for now.

Means testing the winter fuel bribe is an excellent idea. They probably need to look at it again, as the pension credit benchmark may be a little on the low side and some other low income pensioners may struggle. But that's a case of refinement, and not worthy of the hyperbolic nonsense that's surely (just guessing, I haven't checked) being printed in the right wing press. The price cap rise was expected, the editor of the Telegraph probably drafted some dramatic piece making out that Labour are murdering pensioners or something weeks ago and were just waiting for the opportunity to cause a storm in a teacup.

You don't stop being rich just because you've hit an age benchmark. Middle class and wealthy pensioners will just have to cut back like the rest of us and deal with it.
 
Matt.GC said:
Means testing the winter fuel bribe is an excellent idea. They probably need to look at it again, as the pension credit benchmark may be a little on the low side and some other low income pensioners may struggle. But that's a case of refinement, and not worthy of the hyperbolic nonsense that's surely (just guessing, I haven't checked) being printed in the right wing press. The price cap rise was expected, the editor of the Telegraph probably drafted some dramatic piece making out that Labour are murdering pensioners or something weeks ago and were just waiting for the opportunity to cause a storm in a teacup.
Click to expand...
The Telegraph has printed lots of pieces about how “Labour are even worse than we’d imagined”, with the winter fuel payment furore being a key sticking point.

They’ve also written lots of pieces about “how to avoid a tax raid from Labour”, and talking about the horrors of Labour’s impending tax rises and how they’re “hanging pensioners out to dry” or some similar rhetoric.

The more I see of the Telegraph, the more it seems like an incredibly Tory-leaning source; it seems persistently positive towards the Tories and persistently negative towards Labour. I honestly find it hard to know what sources to trust sometimes, as it seems like every outlet spins things to fit their own agenda and biases. The Telegraph leans very pro-Tory, whereas outlets like The Guardian lean very pro-Labour... I'm never quite sure what sources to trust to report the true facts rather than a biased version of the facts.

I do think that the winter fuel payment move could be rethought a tad, however. I support the means testing at face value, but I think it should be an earnings threshold rather than based on receipt of pension credit, as less low-income pensioners would lose out that way (some low-income pensioners do not qualify for pension credit, so lose out on the winter fuel payment even though they really need it).

As unpopular as the winter fuel payment means testing has been, though, I do think it’s a necessary evil to combat our burgeoning pension bill. We’ve got an aging population, and as the number of pensioners grows and the number of working people paying for said pensions decreases, some of these universal benefits for pensioners are/were unsustainable in the long term.
 
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