Yeah must admit I did a double take at even the Daily Fail putting a positive spin on the front page today.

53 minutes ago, Walford Whacker said:

Those are some great headlines!!

This, plus him changing the ridiculous NHS 8am phone call flurry, plus the eaely NHS targets being met already, and rhe givernment id racking up some much needed wins.

Yes agreed, lots of good wins from the Trump visit. I still think the bills going up will hurt Labour though, I do think they have to find a way to get more money in to people's pockets (and probably before they stop the fiscal drag) otherwise the populism of Reform will cut through.

Personally for me, I think it's hilarious how all the right wing commentators are up in arms today. Really great to see some of them throwing their toys out of the pram, as they clearly expected things to go a lot differently.

It was an easy political problem to solve imo. Cuttings international aid was a win win politically as it staves off Faragism from attacking them and massages Trumps ego before the trip.

No suprise at Annalise resigning either as she is a soft left intellectual so it was always going to go against her ideological instincts and remember although she’s a Starmer loyalist she was shadow chancellor to start so there was a reason for her to resign. I don’t think it’ll damage the government too much and she will no doubt return if she and he wants her in a few years.

Labour planning to slash benefits for those unable to work even those in a wheelchair! I’m sure it was in the manifesto somewhere we just all missed it

2 hours ago, Liam S said:

Labour planning to slash benefits for those unable to work even those in a wheelchair! I’m sure it was in the manifesto somewhere we just all missed it

In today’s unshocking news, the British government are punishing disabled people like myself once again. 🙄🙄

55 minutes ago, DanielsAloud said:

In today’s unshocking news, the British government are punishing disabled people like myself once again. 🙄🙄

It doesn’t make any sense. Seems like they’ve got no ideas at all how to improve the economy so instead are punishing disabled people hoping it’ll magic people into work.

It’ll end up costing more. Poverty leads to crime and bad mental health. So it’ll just increase NHS backlog and needs and ultimately cost more. A very shortsighted move but an unsurprising one from this government.

The number of people claiming disability benefits has soared in the last five years or so. That hasn't happened in comparable countries. Before cutting benefit payments, the government should be asking why that has happened. Is it because there were a lot of people eligible for benefits who didn't claim them five years ago? Or is there another reason?

Regardless of why the increase has happened, the process of moving between being in work and claiming benefits is horrendously complicated. The difficulty of going back on to benefits if a job doesn't work out is a disincentive to starting a job. The system doesn't work for people whose ability to hold down a job fluctuates. It doesn't allow for the fact that some people who couldn't cope with a busy office could now do some work from home. Furthermore, it isn't flexible enough to cater for people whose capacity for working at home varies from week to week, or even day to day. While it would delay any savings, the government should sort that out before cutting the amounts paid to individuals.

The problem is that they’ve specifically outlined cutting benefits to people who cannot possibly work. That is clearly just punishing the disabled for their own failures to boost the economy or wasted money elsewhere. When prices are rising it’s a terrible move that goes against all ethics.

The other stuff is a different issue where it’s a complex problem that they’re simplifying in a way that seems rushed and just an opportunistic way to try and save a few billion. If the Tories were doing this half the MPs supporting it would be calling it inhumane

Important to note DLA isn’t a unemployment benefit.

Very nervous for the Spring Statement now, this is a morally indefensible move on the part of Labour - selling it as getting people back into work when yet more people will fall through the cracks. And the media for selling it as a loyalty test for MPs when it'll have real harms associated with it.

Ain't good when Labour is outflanking the Tories on benefit cuts and immigration to the right, those were things I voted for them expecting and wanting them to move the other way on.

This is the problem with a leader like Starmer. He has no real principles. It’s up to the Labour MPs to put a stop to this plan

On 11/03/2025 at 21:21, Suedehead2 said:

The number of people claiming disability benefits has soared in the last five years or so. That hasn't happened in comparable countries. Before cutting benefit payments, the government should be asking why that has happened. Is it because there were a lot of people eligible for benefits who didn't claim them five years ago? Or is there another reason?

Regardless of why the increase has happened, the process of moving between being in work and claiming benefits is horrendously complicated. The difficulty of going back on to benefits if a job doesn't work out is a disincentive to starting a job. The system doesn't work for people whose ability to hold down a job fluctuates. It doesn't allow for the fact that some people who couldn't cope with a busy office could now do some work from home. Furthermore, it isn't flexible enough to cater for people whose capacity for working at home varies from week to week, or even day to day. While it would delay any savings, the government should sort that out before cutting the amounts paid to individuals.

A big part of it is likely due to failure of people being able to get treatment for various illnesses (cancer being a big one) or routine operations such as hip or knee replacements over the last 4-5 years (partly Covid and partly underfunding of NHS for almost 15 years by the conservatives). This has lead to the general population becoming more ill overall (not to mention the population is aging so a lot of older people waiting for joint repalcements). There has been positive signs with NHS waiting times and care improving since the government took power.

I think the cuts they're proposing are dangerous though. At a time when businesses will have the increases NI contributions and so likely not hiring as much. With the cost of a lot of things increasing and inflation likely to increase even further thanks to the mess that is the current US administration. To cut welfare of those who are most in need is not the way forward. In fact it will probably have the opposite effect that they're hoping to acheive. To get people back into work they need to feel supported and to have the care they need - whether that's hospital support or mental health services. Both of which are in the gutter - particularly mental health services.

Probably going to be another big shoot themselves in the foot moment in the spring statement.

Edited March 13Mar 13 by Envoirment

Wes Streeting has retweeted that tweet, indicating he's PROUD of it. God knows why they've decided to up the red Tory cosplay this week, this has to be playing awfully with their base.

The BBC even has an article putting Truss and Starmer in the same sentence (due to the smaller government desires of the former going well with what the latter is doing this week) so the popularity seeking is going well.

Today Labour will announce the biggest welfare cuts in many a decade. Mental health illnesses and things like ADHD/Autism will be watered down significantly. Constant reassessments for those not considered severely disabled and a reduction in total of over 5 billion a year to those who most need it.

It’ll be interesting to see what Labour MPs do, will they finally show some integrity or will they make a few performative comments and then allow it to be pushed through?

As always with Starmer there is a tweet saying the complete opposite https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/710835838419144705?s=46

13 minutes ago, Liam S said:

Today Labour will announce the biggest welfare cuts in many a decade. Mental health illnesses and things like ADHD/Autism will be watered down significantly. Constant reassessments for those not considered severely disabled and a reduction in total of over 5 billion a year to those who most need it.

It’ll be interesting to see what Labour MPs do, will they finally show some integrity or will they make a few performative comments and then allow it to be pushed through?

As always with Starmer there is a tweet saying the complete opposite https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/710835838419144705?s=46

Why are they targeting the disabled? They’re not the enemy. Start taxing the rich and ultra rich more!

From The Guardian:

Nothing is permanent in politics. This year will be the 10th anniversary of Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, in a contest where Liz Kendall, seen as the rightwing, Blairite candidate, came last, on a humiliating 4.5% of the vote. A decade on, Morgan McSweeney, who managed her campaign, is now more or less running the country as the PM’s chief of staff, Kendall herself is work and pensions secretary and she is about to announce cuts to disability benefits that may horrify many of the 59.5% who voted for Corbyn in 2015 (some of whom will no longer be party members).

To not throw out the good with the bad, this morning's announcements had some good surprises in them - the scrapping of reassessments for the most severely disabled, which was up to now a reoccurring reminder of the Tory system's inhumanity with occasional stories of 'are you sure you're still a bedbound paraplegic', scrapping work assessments and schemes for those on the cusp to try work while reducing fears of losing benefits if you take a job. UC is also being raised. Those all help make the system more efficient, will save money by freeing up workloads, and make it more effective as a tool for those out of work looking to get back in. All while being less cruel to those on it.

Which makes it even more disappointing that the main thrust of the cost savings and cruelty comes from radically making it harder to be eligible for PIP. The thrust is of course reducing the amount of people supposedly living off the state after the pandemic and increased awareness about mental health increased those numbers recently, and there's undoubtedly some among that number who'd be better off working full-time or have the means to be supported into part-time roles. Almost certainly nowhere near the amount who will lose payments, fail to replace them with anything, as there won't be enough jobs, fall through the cracks of society, and some of whom will sadly, likely die. That is not a Labour policy.

Yeh also the rule change where people won’t get their benefits suspended while trying to go into work makes a lot more sense.

The lower rate PIP will now just have many on the high UC. We all know from experience that most people will keep their benefits as there will be plenty of appeals and solicitors involved like there always is.

Have to say also, I agree with the sentiment that there’s far too many people for the criteria these days.

I've been saying for years that the process of going back on to benefits if a job doesn't work out is far too complicated. It is good that the government is trying to tackle this. They ought also to look at encouraging employers to take on people who would do a perfectly good job, but not necessarily as efficiently as some, because of a disability or neurological reason. Should employers be able to pay them a lower rate with the state topping it up? Surely that is better than them not being employed at all?

On 30/10/2024 at 18:55, Liam S said:

Time will tell if it was a good budget I highly doubt it

On 30/10/2024 at 19:08, T Boy said:

 

Why the doubts? Seems good to me.

On 30/10/2024 at 19:32, Liam S said:

 

Seems like more tax for not much benefit or maybe less in some cases that is reliant on growth that might not even hit targets

The official growth forecast for 2025 is set to be halved next week in an embarrassing blow to Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will reportedly downgrade the expected growth rate for the financial year which runs to March 2026 from 2% to around 1%.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/20/growth-forecasts-halved-keir-starmer-labour/

So they based a budget on growth did not get the growth and now they’re making huge cuts everywhere. Very predictable but there you go.