Ed Milliband declares.......

[Lizard]

"This Government is the Government of broken promises"

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! I have never heard anything so funny, since that fat fuck' Lard Pisspott' declared he had bullimia, or since Mandleson said he was "relaxed" about wealthy people, or even when Tony Blair declared he had no plans to raise fees for university students, then 8 months later promptly raised them..
Maybe our resident Labour 'spin doctor' has a view!!! I bet you all cant wait.
Over to you David 'Alan' Johnson

[David Johnson]

""This Government is the Government of broken promises"

Ask a student, young Lizard. Ask someone who was a higher rate tax payer receiving child benefit who believed Cameron's pledge not to mess with universal benefits (Cameron even apologised for that broken promise).

Look at the Lib Dem manifesto promises on the timing of cuts, tuition fees, foreign policy, education and the role of councils, defence, protecting the poor etc etc and see how they have ditched them all.

Read the endless crap that the emergency budget and the spending review were "fair" and that we are "all in it together" and then read the IFS analysis, the same IFS that Osborne and Cameron depended on so much for their economic info pre-election, that states that both the budget and the spending review hit the poor the hardest.

E-, young Lizard, you will not be able to go to college at this rate, even if you could afford it.

No reptiles were unduly savaged in this post.

Cheers
D

[number 6]

We all know tories are lying deceitful bastards,but did lib dems really expect clegg to break every promise in the book for a whiff of power? i doubt it

[Zorro]

As a higher rate tax payer about to lose child benefit for my 3 children, I actually think it is a good move, will I miss the money yes of course, should I have been getting it, no of course not I am far too rich for this hand out.

Will it be completely fair, course not, some people who need this income will lose out, and I am sorry for them, but is it a move in the right direction. Yes of course it is.

[David Johnson]

"Will it be completely fair, course not, some people who need this income will lose out, and I am sorry for them, but is it a move in the right direction. Yes of course it is."

I disagree. By going back on 60 years of universal benefits the Tories are opening up a whole new front i.e. why should a bloke on a low wage, pay taxes so a well off old age pensioner can get a winter fuel allowance. Why should a healthy woman in her forties who has never been to hospital pay taxes all of her life to support an oap who almost lives in hospital etc etc etc.

In my view universal benefits are a kind of virtual contract with the people. In return for your taxes etc, irrespective of whether you are well off or not we, the government undertook to support you with an NHS and a basic state pension etc etc. in return. ONce you break that virtual contract then it becomes all about self-interest and everyone else can go fuck.

I suspect the whole debate is not as simplistic as you appear to think.

CHeers
D

[Zorro]

I agree it would be nice if the benefits were for everyone, but in the short term to sort out deficit crisis I am willing to make that sacrifice and should make that sacrifice for the good of the country.

Once the country is no longer crippled by debt then the rich should be given the benefit back in the interests of fairness and a universal benefits system.

[David Johnson]

"Once the country is no longer crippled by debt then the rich should be given the benefit back in the interests of fairness and a universal benefits system.

I am not denying that the deficit needs to be sorted. However I am concerned by a deficit reduction plan which seems to think it "fair" to cut council spending by 28% at the same time that the government introduces a 0.04% tax on the banking system that was a prime factor in the crisis in the first place.

An increase in that banking tax should have been preferred to a reduction in universal benefits and swingeing cuts to council spending which is almost inevitably going to have some impact on frontline services.

Cheers
D

[tommy dickfingers]

Why do people think they are automatically entitled to benefits,they should be a safety net only,i get sod all and have been paying tax and national insurance for over 20 years.all i want is to see a doctor when i am ill on the same day and can't even get that.as for the banks they are an easy target for a lot of people who have been" living the dream "for the last few years on there many credit cards and taking equity from there overinflated house values to pay for it,yes the banks cocked it up and the government speculated and borrowed on the banks success and the housing boom.

[David Johnson]

"Why do people think they are automatically entitled to benefits,they should be a safety net only."

Most benefits are a safety net only. I dont think too many people will live the life of Riley on ?60+ JSA a week.

If you made universal benefits like the winter fuel allowance means tested it would probably cost more to carry out the means test than it would just to issue the money. As the Citizens Advice Bureau has pointed out there is a huge problem with people not claiming means tested benefits in the UK because the process is so complicated and confusing.

"i get sod all and have been paying tax and national insurance for over 20 years.all i want is to see a doctor when i am ill on the same day and can't even get that"

Lets see what your attitude to benefits is when/if you lose your job, find yourself on JSA of about ?65 per week and housing benefit if you rent a place which will be cut by 10% at the end of the first year. This will then leave you typically with about ?50+ a week. Have fun!

"as for the banks they are an easy target "

I wonder why? They ended up needing a bailout of ?800 billion from the government when their gambling went tits up.

CHeers
D

[tommy dickfingers]

Yes some banks gambled ie northern rock,rbs and others who have grown over the last 15 years but not all and gordon brown based his economic growth on the banks and the housing boom to pay for 2 million extra public sector jobs which we can no longer afford.we need more wealth creating jobs like scientists and engineers and manufacturing from universities not more lawyers and human resources managers.