Benefits and the deficit: what would you cut?

HappyMJ

Even though I claim HB at LHA rates I would cut it to be 75% of the median rent of an area. It would stop people choosing to live in expensive areas (i.e central london) and stop people choosing to live in a more expensive house than someone else who has worked harder for for their money. If benefit claimants can live in the median house for free who lives in the cheap houses???? (and not just £15 cheaper as now)

Kohoutek

StevieJ wrote: »

And your point is? apart of course the most affluent areas vote Tory and the poorest vote Labour. Davey boy should recruit you as the brains behind his election campaign strategy

I think it's supposed to suggest that Labour encourages welfare dependency for electoral reasons. It's hard to believe that 15% of people in one constituency can be all be genuine incapacity benefit claimants for example.

You don't have to be affluent to vote Tory or poor to vote Labour even though it's the general rule. Anyway, wealth inequality has increased to record levels under New Labour's 13 years in power.

David Cameron's poshness is an exception to all the Tory leaders since Heath. It's Labour's propaganda machine that have elevated his social class to a big electoral issue. Were people pointing out how much posher public school boy Tony Blair was in the 1997 and 2005 election than grammar school educated Major and Howard?

Graham_Devon

StevieJ wrote: »

And your point is? apart of course the most affluent areas vote Tory and the poorest vote Labour. Davey boy should recruit you as the brains behind his election campaign strategy

I think it's more to do with the areas and disability / lone parents.

Howcome some of these areas have a much higher percentage of those claiming for stuff, especially disability?

Howcome more people are disabled in Glasgow than nearly the rest of the country for example. It doesn't make sense. Not those large differences in percentages anyway.

StevieJ

Kohoutek wrote: »

David Cameron's poshness is an exception to all the Tory leaders since Heath.

I didn't realise Teddy was posh ? BTW Blair and New Labour were Tory for all intents and purposes.

Kohoutek

StevieJ wrote: »

I didn't realise Teddy was posh ?

Sorry, I meant all the Tory leaders since Heath including Heath himself. They were from modest backgrounds and grammar school educated to my knowledge (perhaps with the exception of IDS). Heath's predecessor Douglas-Home was more like Cameron!

michael1983l

Labours early popularity in their term in office was funded by high levels of borrowing which has now sent the country into the deepest recession in its history. Not only was the government still borrowing vast sums during the boom to throw at the NHS it was also encouraging the voters to borrow and spend on the highstreet.

Of course all of this spending was unsustainable and now the country is on the cusp of bankrupsy and is left in a position where it will be paying back it's debt burden for 70 years. Alol of this spending during the late 90s and early 00s given most people the dillusion that Labour were good for the ecconomy as everybody seemed to have money to spend.

Now however the reality is upon us and we now have to start paying our debts back, all of a sudden people have woken up and realised that they had been sucked in by labour. This government has quite simply been the worst government in my lifetime.

Kohoutek

michael1983l wrote: »

Now however the reality is upon us and we now have to start paying our debts back, all of a sudden people have woken up and realised that they had been sucked in by labour. This government has quite simply been the worst government in my lifetime.

Exactly, great summing up. New Labour has been one big Ponzi scheme of which public services, benefit claimants and house prices have been the beneficiaries. It's recently impoverished a generation of future taxpayers to keep this illusion of prosperity and sustainability going for a few more months until the election.

StevieJ

michael1983l wrote: »

Labours early popularity in their term in office was funded by high levels of borrowing which has now sent the country into the deepest recession in its history.

I thought New Labour adopted the Tory spending proposals in their early years

StevieJ

Kohoutek wrote: »

Exactly, great summing up. New Labour has been one big Ponzi scheme of which public services, benefit claimants and house prices have been the beneficiaries. It's recently impoverished a generation of future taxpayers to keep this illusion of prosperity and sustainability going for a few more months until the election.

Soundbites extraordinaire

michael1983l

StevieJ wrote: »

I thought New Labour adopted the Tory spending proposals in their early years

Your mistaken, Nu Labour increased spending in the NHS funded by borrowing. They then continued to do this throughout their whole term. In reality yes waiting lists were shortened however in proportion with investment they did not. Instead the NHS has become top heavy and now has more managers than nurses.