[Politics] Tory meltdown finally arrived [was: incoming]...

[beorhthelm]

I am grateful for Rishi and the Conservatives having a plan, but as always the devil is in the detail. It would be useful to understand the phasing of the £12bn savings on welfare. Will it be year 2 or year 3 when we start eating the poor and the sick?

being serious for a moment, i saw somewhere the welfare budget was up 40bn since 2020, having only gone up ~10bn the previous decade. why did we get so ill, is it Covid hangover?

healthcare went up for Covid and stayed there, 56bn more a year than 2020.

 

[Forster's Armband]

being serious for a moment, i saw somewhere the welfare budget was up 40bn since 2020, having only gone up ~10bn the previous decade. why did we get so ill, is it Covid hangover?

Because the NHS has been run into the ground by this government so no one is getting treatment when they need it and long COVID is being ignored. On top of that our mental health services are utterly none existent and the social care problems they promised to fix have not been fixed or even touched. They've made this mess then they demonize anyone and everyone on welfare.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

being serious for a moment, i saw somewhere the welfare budget was up 40bn since 2020, having only gone up ~10bn the previous decade. why did we get so ill, is it Covid hangover?

healthcare went up for Covid and stayed there, 56bn more a year than 2020.

The NHS budget includes the PPE contracts useable and unuseable including storing and destruction of the latter. Track & trace, covid testing apparatus still in use for vulnerable people.

 

[virtual22]

People had to choose for the last few winters whether to put the heating on so they didn’t freeze or eat! Kids are going to school in record numbers without breakfast and poor old Rishi’s sacrifice was not having sky!

They are so far from reality now it’s hard to comprehend, it’s like trying to think what the universe is expanding into, it just hurts your head!

 

[Gabbiano]

being serious for a moment, i saw somewhere the welfare budget was up 40bn since 2020, having only gone up ~10bn the previous decade. why did we get so ill, is it Covid hangover?

healthcare went up for Covid and stayed there, 56bn more a year than 2020.

To add to what others have said, staff costs have also gone up.

Not only in terms of (well deserved) pay increases after industrial action, but also the NHS is more reliant than ever on short term contract staff to fill gaps. These contracts are far more expensive than permanent contracts and frankly they're so in demand that contract staff don't need to worry about struggling to find opportunities when one contract ends.

 

[Berty23]

When I was a kid in the 80s/90s I lived in a small village in Devon that was pretty snobby. If I recall correctly the general view of those with massive sky dishes on their houses were that they were scum bags. Wasn’t it posh people who were most against sky at the time? Maybe I misremember but my folks (I am same age as Rishi) quite liked the idea of seeing test matches from the West Indies but they were not prepared to get “one of those monstrosities on our house” - for any younger readers who might be on here (not many) they used to be massive and grey/white rather than the little black ones you get now.

 

[CheeseRolls]

being serious for a moment, i saw somewhere the welfare budget was up 40bn since 2020, having only gone up ~10bn the previous decade. why did we get so ill, is it Covid hangover?

healthcare went up for Covid and stayed there, 56bn more a year than 2020.

We got rampant inflation.​

We got a cancelation of all non-essential healthcare to prioritise Covid treatment.​

We got unresolved industrial action.​

We got huge and lengthy waiting lists, with no plan to resolve this other than blaming those who are unfit for work.​

You don't just get to govern for the people who conveniently fit your conventions, you also have to govern for all of those who don't and you can't just magic them away.

 

[drew]

Also caught lying because he claimed that
one of the things he went without as a child was Sky TV.

Sky TV launched in 1998 when Sunak was 18.

Need to check your facts. Sky started in 1989!!!


EDIT: Beaten to it.

 

[pb21]

Oh Rishi....

I've really gone off this bloke and I had, at best, a pretty neutral opinion of him.

The last week or so though he really has come across as an entitled lying weasel.

 

[Peteinblack]

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

being serious for a moment, i saw somewhere the welfare budget was up 40bn since 2020, having only gone up ~10bn the previous decade. why did we get so ill, is it Covid hangover?

healthcare went up for Covid and stayed there, 56bn more a year than 2020.

Is it surprising there are more sick people when our health service has been run into the ground?

 

[Bob!]

being serious for a moment, i saw somewhere the welfare budget was up 40bn since 2020, having only gone up ~10bn the previous decade. why did we get so ill, is it Covid hangover?

healthcare went up for Covid and stayed there, 56bn more a year than 2020.

The largest part of the 'welfare budget' is State Pensions.
The State Pension is going up faster than other benefits, and we have an aging population.

 

[beorhthelm]

Is it surprising there are more sick people when our health service has been run into the ground?

in four years? yes, it does seem surprising, unless there's an awful lot more long covid not being talked about. health budget up 37% seems to have had little effect.

 

[kevo]

Her leaflet also doesn't mention the Conservative Party anywhere or carry the Conservative Party logo.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Her leaflet also doesn't mention the Conservative Party anywhere or carry the Conservative Party logo.

This is another deliberate tactic I think. There was another guy who just used Labour branding. They’re actually ashamed of their own party and / or trying to get votes by stealth.

 

[beorhthelm]

The largest part of the 'welfare budget' is State Pensions.
The State Pension is going up faster than other benefits, and we have an aging population.

penions comes under DWP but seperate budget.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

in four years? yes, it does seem surprising, unless there's an awful lot more long covid not being talked about. health budget up 30% seems to have had little effect.

maybe there's a lot more welfare cheats given the underfunding of the system, maybe there's a lot more unemployment given record immigration numbers, maybe there's a lot more sick and disabled because the health system is a mess I don't know, hopefully labour can start sorting all this out before its too late..

anyway thats my snarky political response, always bemuses me that the things that the Tories are supposed to be strong on are what they actually turn out to be crap on.

Back to your original point, I think as well as underfunding the NHS, as well as covid, each of which will have an effect, there is also the issue of an ageing workforce - there is a far larger proportion of our workforce in their 50's and 60's than ever before, so unsurprising if there are more claims for welfare payments. Also, I haven't seen the source of your figures - do they include welfare payments made to pensioners (to top up pensions, for housing, for carers, etc.?) if so, the same will apply, more pensioners than ever before....

 

[Audax]

Back to your original point, I think as well as underfunding the NHS, as well as covid, each of which will have an effect, there is also the issue of an ageing workforce - there is a far larger proportion of our workforce in their 50's and 60's than ever before, so unsurprising if there are more claims for welfare payments. Also, I haven't seen the source of your figures - do they include welfare payments made to pensioners (to top up pensions, for housing, for carers, etc.?) if so, the same will apply, more pensioners than ever before....

UK is currently stuck in a bit of a canyon on this. The aging population we have today is one that worked most of its working life relying on the state pension for support after retirement. Workplace pensions, personal pensions ... there was a lot less awareness of these options. The former weren't mandatory for employers to provide, and even if they were provided had to opted in for by the employee. Latter just weren't seen as necessary. That generation is going to take a while to filter through, and until they do the state pension burden (along with welfare top ups given state pension isn't enough) is going to be a big weight on government spending.

Thankfully what's eventually coming will be a generation where the proportion who have strong workplace pensions is much higher. Now they are mandatory to provide, opt out, and you've got the likes of Martin Lewis helping to educate on how important it is to plan ahead and how the system can be used to help you be better off both now and in the future.

Would really like to see an incoming government commit to spending some money on financial planning education in schools, so that as soon as kids come into the workforce they are better equipped to make good decisions that will benefit them longer term.

 

[Hamilton]

 

[Hugo Rune]

So were not allowed to have a bet no more in soon to be Starmer-Britain?

What has happened to this woke country? Just like when our boy Rishi bet his baby-sized balls against the pound in the 2008 financial crash and made millions? Wot is wrong with this? We’d all take the money if we could but some are more smarter than wot others are but it not there fault and Sunak is alright. Why can’t he tip off mates? Woke Britain at its worst.