Wednesday 25 November 2015

Osborne scraps tax credit cuts

- Backs off in the face of opposition

- Replaced by heroic forecasting of economic growth in next 5 years

- Huge cuts to transport budget and other non-skollznhozpitals spending

A good political 'budget' shoots all Labour foxes.

I wonder though, if this timidity is shown now, what is going to happen when the economy turns south in the next few years?

12 comments:

Electro-Kevin said...

Shooting Labour foxes or delivering Labour policy ?

A close one to call, that.

Suff said...

As RW pointed out, a political clusterfeck of the first order. Hitting the poorer in our society who at least are trying to improve their lot.
On other sites I like to wind up the Corbynites but this was completely indefensibly.
So another ill conceived, poorly implemented policy is thrown into Cameron's tumble dryer

Anonymous said...

It's like all financial forecasts. To make it balance with the realities of overheads and commitments forecast jam tomorrow.

James Higham said...

That's a little bearish of you, CuS.

Anonymous said...

I know you lot have your doubts about Osborne but surely there are no doubts now, the mans a dickhead.

DJK said...

Surely now's the time to take some proper tough decisions --- I'd go for cutting pensions (the oldies will never vote for Corbyn anyway). Labour are in meltdown and there are several years to go to the next election: if Osborne can't fix the economy now he never will. No use looking for short term popularity since it'll all be forgotten in a few years. Far better to have cash in hand to splurge just before the next election.

The other thing to say is that with post-Gordon Brown budgets, all the bad news is buried deep in the small print and takes a day or two to emerge.

MyYouKnowImrightName said...

1 - Jam tommorrow. Fair comment but this has been UK Chancellor policy since Noah.

2 - Bearish, or realistic. I'm never sure which. "A pessimist is what a fantasist calls a realist" as someone smarter than me once said.

3 - Osbourne a dickhead..... I'd have to agree but I think hes genuinely trying to 'change' things. Unfortunately he's heir to a Tory/Westminster bubble mentality that thinks what he's doing is radical. As poster Yardarm posted on Ismaels blog here http://mrishmael.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/newsnight-in-paris-shock-and-awe-le.html

"Did you see Wysteria Dave has written to his own council, moaning about the cuts ? Either he`s got a sense of the surreal to rival Salvador Dali or more likely the silly cunt believes his own bullshit. "

4. Clearly DJKs point of cutting pensions is key. But is Pretty-Boy Osbourne just angling for a leadership pitch?

The Tories have a chance to define a generation - as Thatcher did, as radicals - but to do so they will have to jettison some cherished beliefs. Personally I dont think they have the balls and when the demographics shift (election after next), they'll be out of power for generation, if not permanently.

CityUnslicker said...

MYKIAMRN - wow, we agree again.

DJK - I agree with you most of all. Huge win, labour in disarray, economy in a nice patch but heading soutn - time for some hard work.

what do we get, drop the tax credit cuts and pull money out of the sofa via Brownian motion.

Not exactly courageous.

Nick Drew said...

@ have your doubts / dickhead

well at least he is 'resetting' energy policy for the better (scrapping the CCS billion this time) - if only he could get over his nuclear obsession

we await COP21 with bated breath: what mandate has he allowed ..?

andrew said...

Small problem with cutting pensions:

ECJ judgements - Barber v GRE - decided a pension is deferred pay
Combine that with the "Right to enjoy private property" and you cannot cut a historic pension (you can change things going forwards for future 'deferred pay')

On Osbourne not being as clever as he thinks - ever since he thought they could privatise forests you knew he (and cameron) are not really destined for national political success.

Jim said...

The only way to cut benefits is to cut future benefits. That way there's no bleeding sores to emerge the day after the cuts are announced. Yes the usual suspects will scream 'benefit cuts' but thats actually good, as the electorate want benefits cuts so its a win win. You get positive reinforcement of your message, plus the future savings and paint the Left as the benefit party, all without any hostages to fortune of people losing cash right now.

DJK said...

Andrew: Company pensions are deferred pay, hence tax relief: you don't pay tax on the portion of your pay being held back for a pension, you pay tax when you actually receive it (or at least, that used to be the theory). But current state pensions are paid by current taxpayers. Back when there were few of the former and many of the latter, generous pensions were easy. But now we have very many 65+ people, and despite breaking immigration records every month, not enough tax payers. Hence, state pensions, pensioner benefits, NHS elderly care, etc. eat up almost all government revenue and then some.

If you're really serious about tackling govt spending then pensions are the place you should start.