Has George Osborne just lost the next UK election for the Tories?

1. 82

   CMHypnoposted 12 years ago

   For a party that says it wants to move away from being the 'nasty' party clobbering pensioners who have worked hard all their lives for extra tax on the sly does not seem to be a nice thing to do?
   
   Neither does potentially putting another million middle earners, many who are struggling to pay mortgages etc,  into the higher tax band by dropping the threshold seem very nice?
   
   This was hardly a budget for growth, whatever George Osborne says! However, he looks very smug about it, so at least there is one pleased person in the country!
   
   
   http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po … 80788.html
   
   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic … udice.html

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2. 82

   CMHypnoposted 12 years ago

   looks like he has even clobbered our sausage rolls - has the man got no shame!
   
   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic … -pies.html

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   1. 87

      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I used to love a hot pie from Greggs the Bakers, or a hot sausage roll or bridie. but I never asked for one hot from the oven.
      
      Basically I was buying them to take home, but they make them on the premises (or they did) and they were fresh from the oven which is not the same thing as heated up in the oven.
      
      So am I going to have to pay this tax or not?
      
      So much for not taxing food, which is a necessity, not a luxury.

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3. 0

   EmpressFelicityposted 12 years ago

   So that's an extra 25p on the price of a hot pasty from Rooks (my local butchers, which does an extremely nifty line in hot snacks). Any marginal advantage that local businesses like Rooks have over Mickey D's is now going to be whittled away. Thanks (not).
   
   I expect that we'll have VAT on non-cooked food before long.
   
   I think VAT is a despicable tax anyway - it is hugely bureaucratic and intrusive, and is surely of questionable benefit to the economy.

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4. 82

   CMHypnoposted 12 years ago

   We have a small independent bakery near us as well that has queues at lunchtime because their hot pasties, steak slices and sausage rolls are so good.
   
   Apart from losing business from having to charge higher prices, for a small business to start having to collect VAT, record it in their accounts and do a quarterly VAT return is a lot of extra work

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5. 0

   EmpressFelicityposted 12 years ago

   Neither ITV nor Channel 4 news are reporting on this - strange. It's as though VAT is the Tax That Must Not Be Slagged Off.

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6. 61

   John Holdenposted 12 years ago

   Unfortunately I don't think anybody has lost the next election for the Tories, there will still be enough people to benefit from the trashing to give them a mere 35-40% of the vote.
   
   Unless of course he goes through with his plans to privatise the roads. I remember Manchester City Council's plan for a congestion charge and the result of that gives me hope that plans to privatise roads may turn out to be Cameron's poll tax.

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   1. 60

      Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I disagree, John. I honestly don't think Cameron or Osborne gives a flying fig about who wins the next election, because whoever they are they'll be the same puppets, even if they are of a different colour.
      
      Duplicitous Dave and galloping Gideon are here to finish the job that Thatcher started. Implement bills that will be irreversible, the NHS reforms spring to mind. When it's all over for them, they'll become raucous backbenchers that look after their own interests (50p) and then retire with their millions.
      
      I'm paraphrasing here, but what was it that Cameron said " I'd rather be a one term Prime minister that does the right thing, then a career Prime minster that does the wrong thing." Perhaps there was a deeper meaning in that statement.

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7. 61

   John Holdenposted 12 years ago

   Hollie, I hope you are wrong but I suspect you are right.

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   1. 60

      Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      However, if the levenson Inquiry laps at the doors of number 10, relentlessly, then the outcome for us mere mortals, may become more favourable. Would Dave be for turning? He's no lady.

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8. 61

   John Holdenposted 12 years ago

   It'll be as water off a ducks back.

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   1. 60

      Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I don't know, John. It's all getting a bit nasty, now the police are turning. They're actually talking about the right to industrial action. The thing is, Cameron is dirty (obviously you know this) but there are others that do, too. They've been arrested (by guess who???) I'm not saying that the police bare a grudge But, when you think about it.....

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      1. 61

         John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Actually, that's a lovely thought, hoist by their own petard or some thing, Thatcher turned the police into a para military force and now they turn and bite the hand that fed them!

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         1. 60

            Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Yep, her own militia, Blair's, too. And they (police) have been stung, they've worked out that it's possible for them to be shit on, too. Having said that, they have a job to do, and they are accountable to the people. Duplicitous and galloping are spoilt boys, they have no idea what they have taken on. I know who my monies on....

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      2. 87

         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         The police cannot take industrial action.
         
         I'm not sure where that is written, but it is.
         
         Possibly under Thatcher's government, because round about then the police got a huge rise, way more than anyone else, but that was part of the deal.
         
         I was reading in an online newspaper (possibly the Daily Mail) about a man whose 14 year old daughter was battered on the way home one evening.
         
         When she got home, her horrified family phoned the police and a policeman turned up and took a a statement.
         
         Next day, her dad took it upon himself to visit the area where his daughter was attacked, and asked around.
         
         He was given a name from a witness, and checked that name on Facebook.
         
         When he showed his daughter the profile, she positively identified her attacker, so Dad duly reported his updated information to the police.
         
         Story goes that 5 DAYS later, police have still taken no action, because THEY HAVE NOT YET FOUND A TEAM FREE TO ALLOCATE THE INVESTIGATION TO.
         
         http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article … ating.html
         
         Uhh, guess it was the Daily Mail.

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         1. 60

            Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            That's right, as it stands the police cannot take industrial action, but it was on the news the other day the police authority (or federation) can't remember which was poling the force regarding this current piece of legislation and the cuts made to the police force. How, or indeed whether this piece of legislation can be overturned I have no idea, but just the fact that they're discussing it suggests that trouble is brewing.
            
            It just doesn't surprise me that this happened to this young girl, rotten though it is. I think this governement (and previous ones) are more interested in politicising the police, then anything else.

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9. 67

   innersmiffposted 12 years ago

   Doesn't really matter. Miliband is not going to change anything if he gets in next time. All mainstream parties have been going in the same direction toward centralisation of power and wealth and it will continue that way. It's just the Conservatives' turn to do their worst, selling us off to Europe and implementing a police state in the process. Taxes on old people, whilst disgusting, is only the tip of the iceberg.

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   1. 0

      EmpressFelicityposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, that about sums it up. Depressingly.

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   2. 60

      Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Who ever gets in next time, it'll just be more of the same, whichever colour.

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10. 82

    CMHypnoposted 12 years ago

    Greggs has lost £30m off its value over night from Boy George implementing his 'pie tax'
    
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article … -food.html
    
    This was supposeded to be a budget for growth and he decides to nobble about the only successful chain left on our High Streets!  Greed or stupidity?  Or, more worryingly, both?
    
    This government has got to get to grips with keeping its costs down, they can make huge efficiency savings and cuts without any frontline services being affected, but unfortunately bloated management structures and bureaucracy's won't vote themselves out of a joh.  I want to see a lean, efficient public structure that more than adequately helps those that genuinely need support and invests in infrastructure to move the country forward, but otherwise buts out of people's lives and doesn't view our pay packets as their personal piggy banks to be raided til they are empty.

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    1. 67

       innersmiffposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Damn fools! That's the only quality cheap food in Leeds!

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11. 90

    JKennyposted 12 years ago

    You're right Hollie. The three main parties are all as bad as each other, none of them really deal with the important issues, e.g. the ever increasing population. Despite the fact that we have high levels of rainfall, most of southern England is in a state of drought, because there are too many of us draining water from the rivers. Instead of dealing with these sorts of problems, they just posture and bicker with each other, blaming so and so for this and that. Personally, I'd like the Green Party to win the next election, but I know that's not going to happen.

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    1. 60

       Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I'm also a fully fledged paid up member of the Greens.
       
       I think Caroline Lucas is highly articulate and would address all the important issues if she ever came to power. Sadly, so do the corporations etc which is probably why she'll never be Pm. Funding is a massive issue for the Greens.
       
       I think Osbourne is a greedy, spoilt thug. He's hitting practically every section of society, and more importantly, hitting the one's who spend (such as pensioners) the ones who could really get the economy going again. I don't want to sound like a pessimist, but I think it'll end in tears.
       
       People are already feeling the pinch, and CMhypno's example of the tax on hot food will just make matters worse. People will not spend.

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       1. 82

          CMHypnoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Apparently they have also remimposed VAT on repairs and rebuilding of listed buildings, so no doubt more of our heritage will be ripped down because it will too expensive to restore old buildings. This means that more hideous little boxes will be built instead.  Call Me Dave is waxing lyrical about building some new towns - he should be made to live in one of existing 'garden' cities before he subjects any further part of the population to these places.

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12. 82

    CMHypnoposted 12 years ago

    Well this whole budget seems to have been a spectacular own goal for the Coalition - Labour now have an 8 point lead in the polls
    
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article … -poll.html
    
    Is there a competent politician in the whole of the UK and one who will actually stick up for what they say they believe in?

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