the snap general election thread

Thrugelmir

ilovehouses wrote: »

The deficit is now most definitely off the political agenda anyway.

Doesn't make the issue disappear though. Ignoring an elephant in the room would be extremely foolish. Be back soon enough.

lovinituk

Joe_Horner wrote: »

At least one of that 42% - my MIL - voted Tory because "that's what you do".

She loathes May and most of the cabinet, she's furious over the destruction of public services and the demonisation of the disabled, she agrees with most of Labour's policies, but one simply can't voted for the workers' party - even if yoy agree with them - having left "working class" behind through decades of effort. It would be like admitting you strived for the wrong things all those years.

She's not alone

The same can be said for thousands of Labour voters, just with different arguments.

I know people who voted Labour because that's what their family have always done but they can't stand and don't trust Corbyn and co. They are not alone. So its a moot point really.

All that matters is that Conservative gained the highest minority. Next time round it might be Labour.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

ilovehouses wrote: »

Our personal views on whether the current spending is massive or just a little bit excessive is irrelevant.

Not quite - I was being lighthearted that the actual £££ figure was a big one if it were my personal spend but as a country to overspend by 2% is a lot less than it has been /could be.

ilovehouses wrote: »

It's something I'd like the Tories to address because they were the ones promising to clear the deficit by 2015. They point to the health of the economy which is a bit ironic given their failure to keep to their deficit promise(s) has probably helped.

Yep - they fell / stopped short of doing what they planned. Again - if they had imposed tougher austerity to tick that box - not sure many would have been happy.

The better / bigger economy means you can spend more without incurring deficit. So if the economy sunk then you would be forced into way more deficit or more austerity.

ilovehouses wrote: »

The deficit is now most definitely off the political agenda anyway.

Is the plan to be less austere because that is the general demand of the wider population and as someone will note that of the the DUP? Looks like some relaxation of the purse strings may indeed occur.

But, Brexit is going to dictate what that really means as much as any sentiment.

buglawton

1. Govt ramps up public spending due to political pressure
2. Govt prints a lot more money to cover the gap between tax receipts and spending
3. Inflation leaps
4. Everyone unable to extract a substantial pay rise from their employer is now facing a de facto pay cut. You can't make a constructive dismissal case out of pay cuts due to inflation!
5. The de facto pay cut (for everyone except those labour monopolies that can wield union power) causes a collapse of discretionary spending
6. General collapse of the UK economy

gfplux

Labour might be thanking their lucky stars they are not in power when the Brexit negotiations prove unpopular to both Brexiters and Remainers.
Particularly when the resulting reduction in living standards make the Party in power unelectable.

Tromking

I saw an article today proffering the theory that disgruntled public sector workers in marginal seats deprived the Tories of their majority. That would certainly chime with my admittedly anecdotal perception of an almost wholesale drift away from the Tories amongst my public sector colleagues. You simply can't keep on hammering the same section of the population and not expect a reaction.

Thrugelmir

ilovehouses wrote: »

The only question is who will be holding the baby when considering the deficit becomes fashionable again.

The budget deficit is very real. Needs constant funding. Forecasts are that this this years deficit will exceed last years. That's on current spending plans and forecast taxation raised.

steampowered

hallmark wrote: »

Au contraire, both of those will be protected far better by the Tories who will continue to repay the deficit & mend the economy.

You don't "repay" a deficit. The deficit is simply the amount the government is borrowing in any one particular year.

You "repay" debt. And this government is on course to have borrowed more than every Labour government there has ever been put together.

A big part of the reason why we still have a deficit is that we are experiencing very weak economic growth. Here is a graph of economic growth for the first quarter of this year.

You will note that we are the slowest growing economy anywhere in Europe. Below Greece and Italy. That isn't a good economic record for the Conservatives.

zarf2007

I see it didn't take long for that idiot Corbyn to capitalise on the deaths of Grenfell residents, this guy will do anything for votes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40276900

ThinkingOutLoud_2

Indeed. I don't think he has capitalised because anyone decent would see what is needed here is genuine support and respect for the families of those who died and are affected and swift review of lessons to be learned and actions to be taken where possible in other buildings.

Did the leader of the opposition once raise this matter a PMQs as it is in his view so plainly a direct failure of TM?

JC just lost a lot of the respect he had recently gained. And in doing so has IMHO lost and not gained from his ill-considered attempt at capitalising.