Westminster Politics 2024-2029

There's no reliable bus service because they don't have the balls to ask car drivers to pay their fair share

There is no reliable bus service because it's the countryside and it would have to be almost fully subsidised.
 
55% of all Fuel prices is tax.

It's already much more expensive to drive than to use public transport in most urban and suburban areas.

In places where this is not the case, there is very little public transport services - this problem exists in every country.

Why is fuel price freeze a problem? Also, rising fuel costs means mass inflation.
 
Have you any idea what happens to the economy when fuel duty is raised? ….not a clue

Let's have a look.

1. Money raised can be invested in public transport
2. Reducing private car trips
3. Which would lead to lower pollution
4. Which would also lead to less strain on health services, and less deaths on our roads
5. Which would also lead to a healthier population, and a more productive population

but yeah, some of us are only thinking the "big picture" of how it will affect our own pocket.
 
Let's have a look.

1. Money raised can be invested in public transport
2. Reducing private car trips
3. Which would lead to lower pollution
4. Which would also lead to less strain on health services, and less deaths on our roads
5. Which would also lead to a healthier population, and a more productive population

but yeah, some of us are only thinking the "big picture" of how it will affect our own pocket.

1. Every single logistics platform for key goods and services will rise in cost as you cannot expect nationwide (and global) logistics to shift overnight with this rise in fuel.
2. Every supermarket and store and delivery service will rise in cost and result in high inflation due to this.
3. See 2022 Ukraine and Covid for a perfect example of this. Most of the giant inflation was due to fuel costs.

If you can click a button and increase fuel duty and magically shift the entire national logistics system away from trucking and lorrys in 1 hour to something that doesn't consume fuel, sure, raise fuel duty another 50% for all I care.

Only, its unrealistic.
 
1. Every single logistics platform for key goods and services will rise in cost as you cannot expect nationwide (and global) logistics to shift overnight with this rise in fuel.
2. Every supermarket and store and delivery service will rise in cost and result in high inflation due to this.
3. See 2022 Ukraine and Covid for a perfect example of this. Most of the giant inflation was due to fuel costs.

If you can click a button and increase fuel duty and magically shift the entire national logistics system away from trucking and lorrys in 1 hour to something that doesn't consume fuel, sure, raise fuel duty another 50% for all I care.

Only, its unrealistic.


Good healthcare is worth the price my friend.
 
Good healthcare is worth the price my friend.

Right, and what about the people who a 5% inflation rate is the difference between getting by or going hungry?

This feels very much like a "Sacrifice the poor for the greater good" kind of policy.
 
You mean the poor who cannot afford to drive and have to pay higher prices in public transport every year so that the gov can subsidize car drivers? You must have been weeping for them all these years.
 
You mean the poor who cannot afford to drive and have to pay higher prices in public transport every year so that the gov can subsidize car drivers? You must have been weeping for them all these years.

What are you talking about?

Fuel duty increases have a gigantic impact on everyone, from those that drive, and from those that do not drive. Spiralling fuel costs way out weighs the costs of public transport costs.

I don't disagree with you that public transport should be more common, cheaper, and there needs to more and more incentive to drive less.

But mass inflation via increasing fuel duty is not the solution.
 
It's by far the most regressive giveaway. Car drivers are subsidised heavily and PT users keep getting higher and higher prices.
How are car drivers susibised? UK fuel duty is one of the highest in the world, then there's road tax, MOT, parking fees in your own street, congestion charge etc...
Public transport ticket prices are among the highest too.
 
What are you talking about?

I'm talking about the middle class using the poor as a shield to protect their private car use privileges. I'm saying that if you actually cared about the poor as much as you care about not paying a bit extra (lοl at the mass inflation claims, like we saw any mass inflation due to this before the freeze came into action, lmaο even), the poor wouldn't be so stretched in the first place.
 
Increasing employer NIC whilst lowering the threshold and increasing minimum wage by 6.7%. Consultancy firms must be rubbing their hands together in anticipation for the big business clients coming to them for advice on "efficiency" savings/optimisation.
 
You mean the poor who cannot afford to drive and have to pay higher prices in public transport every year so that the gov can subsidize car drivers? You must have been weeping for them all these years.
The AA believe the average car driver pays a premium of £1,937 per year in taxes relating to motoring costs, including fuel duty, IPT, VAT on essentials such as servicing and parts etc.

That is nearly three times as much as the increased cost of two single bus tickets every day of the year.

Not every car driver is three times as well off as every bus user.

I don’t think the decision to leave car drivers alone is unfair as such, though I expected a raid on the EV world.
 
The AA believe the average car driver pays a premium of £1,937 per year in taxes relating to motoring costs, including fuel duty, IPT, VAT on essentials such as servicing and parts etc.

Not taking into account knock off costs such as increased burden on health services due to KSIs.
 
I'm talking about the middle class using the poor as a shield to protect their private car use privileges. I'm saying that if you actually cared about the poor as much as you care about not paying a bit extra (lοl at the mass inflation claims, like we saw any mass inflation due to this before the freeze came into action, lmaο even), the poor wouldn't be so stretched in the first place.

My car is used 1 day every month for maybe 6 months of the year when I head up to Cheshire to see the parents.

I use public transport on a daily basis despite living bumfeck nowhere.
 
a lot of you aren’t considering those of us with fuel hungry cars. i have a q7 for the kids in the week and a 911 for the weekends. servicing costs alone are significant, and now you want me to spend more on fuel? they’re both 3 years old next year and i’ll really have to consider going back to a single car.
 
a lot of you aren’t considering those of us with fuel hungry cars. i have a q7 for the kids in the week and a 911 for the weekends. servicing costs alone are significant, and now you want me to spend more on fuel? they’re both 3 years old next year and i’ll really have to consider going back to a single car.
If you weren't such a povvo you'd have bought a service pack from the dealer as well. :lol:
 
If you weren't such a povvo you'd have bought a service pack from the dealer as well. :lol:
just had to buy the second one on each of them. they’re still not cheap.
 
I understand the principle of increasing employer NIC to keep their promises but workers are still going to get hit - businesses will use increased costs as an excuse for refusing pay rises...
I guess that’s why they forced the minimum wage up, to ensure the lowest are insulated from wage stagnation down the line
 
I expected a raid on the EV world.

This is where political corruption plays into consumers' hands for once.

A lot of EV investment, especially infrastructure, is coming from the kind of hedge fund investors that give large cheques to politicians, and as a result, will be immune for a while.
 
The ones who really got fecked by this budget are the farmers. The average value of a farm in England is £2.4 million, and that's the land before accounting for buildings, equipment and so on, and many of them operate on razor thin margins. A lot of farms will have to be broken up come IHT time.

I can see some tractor shaped traffic jams in the near future.
 
The ones who really got fecked by this budget are the farmers. The average value of a farm in England is £2.4 million, and that's the land before accounting for buildings, equipment and so on, and many of them operate on razor thin margins. A lot of farms will have to be broken up come IHT time.

I can see some tractor shaped traffic jams in the near future.
Agricultural land being actively worked has 100% relief from inheritance tax.

That includes buildings and equipment.
 
and before we weep too much for them, let’s not forget they spend half their time playing football in germany and france.
 
Agricultural land being actively worked has 100% relief from inheritance tax.

That includes buildings and equipment.
I've got no problems giving help to small family-owned farms. Because they very much are in the minority.

The inheritance tax exemption applies to the monarchy, which it really shouldn't if we are honest.

https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/markets-and-trends/land-markets/who-owns-britains-farmland

Top 10 biggest UK landowners​

  1. Forestry Commission (2.2m acres) A non-ministerial government department responsible for promoting the establishment and management of woodland.
  2. Ministry of Defence (850,174 acres) A ministerial government department, with three-quarters of its land sited in England, where it used for military training.
  3. National Trust and National Trust For Scotland (800,000 acres) Britain’s largest farmer, the National Trust, owns 620,000 acres and has an annual income of £680m, while the National Trust for Scotland has about 180,000 acres. Together, they have more than 1,500 tenants.
  4. The Crown Estate (678,420 acres) The UK sovereign’s public estate, which is neither government property nor part of the monarch’s private estate.
  5. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (332,000 acres) One of the world’s largest wildlife conservation organisations with 222 nature reserves across the UK.
  6. Richard Scott, Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry (280,000 acres) The 10th Duke of Buccleuch, 12th Duke of Queensberry and chief of Clan Scott is a Scottish landholder and peer.
  7. Anders Holch Povlsen (218,364 acres) A Danish entrepreneur and the largest individual private landowner in the UK. He is the sole owner of retail clothing chain Bestseller and has a net worth estimated at about £9.2bn.
  8. The Duke of Atholl’s Trusts (145,000 acres) The Duke of Atholl is a title in the peerage of Scotland that is always held by the head of Clan Murray. It was created by Queen Anne in 1703.
  9. United Utilities (141,000 acres) A water supply company with the majority of its acreage in the north-west of England, notably Merseyside, Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria.
  10. Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor (140,000 acres) The seventh Duke of Westminster is just 31 years old and has an estimated net worth of £10bn.

Private investors​


Within this list only one private investor – Anders Holch Povlsen – nudges shoulders with the establishment, UK government, charities and organisations.


But private investors do loom large in the top 50, so we’ve broken out the top five UK and foreign entrepreneurs below.


Top five British investors​


  1. (15th overall) John Whittaker (70,000 acres) A billionaire and chairman of property business the Peel Group.
  2. (25th overall) James Dyson (33,000 acres) An inventor, investor and entrepreneur, Sir James created the sustainable agriculture firm Beeswax Dyson Farming.
  3. (38th overall) John Clark (18,119 acres) Bought Featherstone Castle and estate in Northumberland with his father, Colonel John Clark, in 1961.
  4. (39th overall) Family of Michael Stone (18,000 acres) Michael Stone was a sugar trader who held ownership rights of the Weardale and Egglestone moors in County Durham. The estate has since been passed to his wider family.
  5. (42th overall) Michael Cannon (16,001 acres) The former poultry farmer bought the Wemmergill Estate in County Durham from the Queen Mother’s Bowes-Lyon family in 2006.

Top five foreign investors​


  1. (7th overall) Anders Holch Povlsen (218,364 acres) Denmark’s richest man is the largest individual foreign private landowner in the UK.
  2. (19th overall) Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (63,000 acres) Vice-president, prime minister and minister of defence of the United Arab Emirates, and ruler of Dubai.
  3. (23th overall) Robert Warren Miller (36,000 acres) US sailing champion and founder of Duty Free Shop.
  4. (27th overall) Zambrano family (25,340 acres) Owners of Cemex, the world’s second-largest buildings materials company.
  5. (28th overall) Count Luca Rinaldo Contardo Padulli Di Vighignolo (25,000 acres) Director of Albanwise, which grows cereals, leguminous crops and oilseeds, and has property interests through its subsidiary, Wallace Estates Group.
 
Agricultural land being actively worked has 100% relief from inheritance tax.

That includes buildings and equipment.

Where do you see that? According to Reeves and this relief is dropping to 50% for assets over £1m. So according to their own figures 27% of farms will need to pay 20% IHT.

I'm all for slapping tax on agricultural land that's used as a tax dodge but i dont see anywhere that genuine farms are exempted from this.
 
Agricultural land being actively worked has 100% relief from inheritance tax.

That includes buildings and equipment.
Saw a post on Facebook shared by a farmer’s son that his dad had killed himself this week because of the stress of the impending IHT rules meaning his father’s farm which was handed down from his father would need millions in tax paid to hand it down to him.


I’m fairly confident in my inference that that farmer was killed by doom mongering by right wing media.
 
Where do you see that? According to Reeves and this relief is dropping to 50% for assets over £1m. So according to their own figures 27% of farms will need to pay 20% IHT.

I'm all for slapping tax on agricultural land that's used as a tax dodge but i dont see anywhere that genuine farms are exempted from this.
Its not a new law.

Working farms have attracted 100% inheritance tax relief for years. Because the farming industry would collapse in a single generation if they were not.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/agricultural-relief-on-inheritance-tax
 
Just read up on the budget - it kind of reflects my current feeling on Labour - a bit meh, but at the same time a budget extravaganza is probably not a good thing. There's nothing in there that overly worries me, nor is there anything in there that excites me. The increase in tax is a big headline but for most people, it's not going to impact them.
 
Where do you see that? According to Reeves and this relief is dropping to 50% for assets over £1m. So according to their own figures 27% of farms will need to pay 20% IHT.

I'm all for slapping tax on agricultural land that's used as a tax dodge but i dont see anywhere that genuine farms are exempted from this.

Just to reiterate, that change only applies to buildings, not land.The key here is that under the agricultural IHT rules, farm houses are valued at significantly below retail property prices, and the change would not affect the vast majority of farmers in any way.

This is what the rules say at the moment:

"Farmhouses and cottages​

Buildings must be of a nature and size appropriate to the farming activity that is taking place. The property is valued as if it could only be used for agricultural purposes. Any value over and above this ‘agricultural value’, such as the market price of a country residence, does not qualify for Agricultural Relief.

A cottage or farmhouse must be occupied by someone employed in farming or:

  • a retired farm employee
  • the spouse or civil partner of a deceased farm employee
They must occupy the property as either a:

  • tenant under a lease granted as part of their former employment contract
  • protected tenant with statutory rights"

It would probably hit some of the landed gentry, where the farmhouse is some 15th century mansion, but they will generally use trusts to avoid inheritance tax anyway.
 
Barely a pages worth of posts in here since the morning - must have been a good budget
 
Theres no cohesive argument in the budget, its just random stuff it seems to me.

For instance, adding tax ro private aircraft flights seems like part of a green budget, but then they increase the cost of buses and freeze tax on motoring, which whether you agree or not, is the exact opposite.

They say pro business and growth, but then add massively to small business tax burdens with the changes to employers NI.

They are some good ideas here, but none of it seems to be well thought out in terms of overall impact on how the country functions for people and businesses.
 
Theres no cohesive argument in the budget, its just random stuff it seems to me.

For instance, adding tax ro private aircraft flights seems like part of a green budget, but then they increase the cost of buses and freeze tax on motoring, which whether you agree or not, is the exact opposite.

They say pro business and growth, but then add massively to small business tax burdens with the changes to employers NI.

They are some good ideas here, but none of it seems to be well thought out in terms of overall impact on how the country functions for people and businesses.
That's about my impression too.
 
Barely a pages worth of posts in here since the morning - must have been a good budget
It'll take a few days for people to realise what the feck she has done.

But in a nut shell, she has raised taxs on business hiring people which will hit the job markets and entrepreneurs will move businesses to places with lower taxes if they can.

Right now our debit repayment is 97 billion a year, it'll be be over 100 billion by April - this is just about servicing the debt and is the fith largest cost.

Bringing the employees insurance threshold down to 5k from 10k and raising the minimum wage will hit costs of food and services, or even staffing levels, also the increase in percentage paid.

Edited: smaller employers have it better, but you get what I mean.

Its the highest tax raise since black Wednesday when we fecked our currency.

She has probably destroyed SMBs, but it could be worse.

Let's use this example:
Builder has two members of staff, he/her is paying more on wages, IN and then take home less in gains because of tax raises on gains.

Do you think he/her is going charge you more for that extension or the same?

There is a reason that dubai is full of only fans ladies and youtubers .

The UAE does not levy income tax on individuals
 
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With the minimum wage increase coming and the hike in employers NIC it does feel inevitable that there will be an increase in the failure of small businesses and in turn an increase in unemployment.
 
With the minimum wage increase coming and the hike in employers NIC it does feel inevitable that there will be an increase in the failure of small businesses and in turn an increase in unemployment.
Even suppress wages.
 
With the minimum wage increase coming and the hike in employers NIC it does feel inevitable that there will be an increase in the failure of small businesses and in turn an increase in unemployment.
Low unemployment is very undesirable by most governments. Workers have more choice, more control, better benefits, can barter for higher wages, etc. Higher unemployment means there are more workers than vacancies, they have to take what they're given, wages are forced down, employers have the upper hand, the economy 'grows'.

Not meaning to insinuate that you don't know this, but this is what they want. They are the party of business now.