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Post by staffordshrew on Mar 4, 2021 15:31:57 GMT 1
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Post by mattmw on Mar 4, 2021 17:38:44 GMT 1
We did put in a bid for Shrewsbury which was fully backed by the local MP but unfortunately wasn’t successful - so not all Conservative voting areas got the funding I think the government have promised further funding in this category in the future though
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Post by stuttgartershrew on Mar 4, 2021 17:39:51 GMT 1
Not 100% sure whether the millions announced for these schemes were included in the budget but I'll take a guess they were. So its reported here about... Officials exploring ‘cash for exercise’ to tackle obesity epidemic
I do think the biggest incentive to get people out and about and exercising is through their pocket. If you were able to get more people active I gather the savings towards the NHS would be huge. Not sure it mentions how it would work though, not sure how they would award exercise but I really like the idea of this. I'm pretty sure there might be something already in place for some people with private health insurance. I think that might be the case here too. Not sure how it works though or what it means for those on/using public health insurance/service. Good idea though.
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Post by staffordshrew on Mar 4, 2021 19:34:29 GMT 1
Not 100% sure whether the millions announced for these schemes were included in the budget but I'll take a guess they were. So its reported here about... Officials exploring ‘cash for exercise’ to tackle obesity epidemic
I do think the biggest incentive to get people out and about and exercising is through their pocket. If you were able to get more people active I gather the savings towards the NHS would be huge. Not sure it mentions how it would work though, not sure how they would award exercise but I really like the idea of this. I'm pretty sure there might be something already in place for some people with private health insurance. I think that might be the case here too. Not sure how it works though or what it means for those on/using public health insurance/service. Good idea though. I'm having double helpings and a few Mars bars right now so as to maximise any payment coming my way.
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Post by Stowmarket Shrew on Mar 4, 2021 21:26:43 GMT 1
It would also go against the party manifesto No Tax, National Insurance or VAT increases promised by Boris and Sajid freezing tax allowances is a sneaky way of increasing tax after promising not to .... The promise made by Sajid sort of tied one hand behind his back. Sajid Javid, chancellor, tweeted last night: “Proud to commit to a triple tax lock. Rates will not rise on these three big taxes under a majority Conservative government: income tax, national insurance and VAT.”
But council tax will go up every year, as will council parking charges, hospital parking and all manner of other costs which tise as public services try to plug the hole in their finances. The tax free allowance freeze is more of the same sleight of hand; it's "shrinkflation". I work for a local council in Suffolk. We earn £1m a month from car parking income. That alone means that as a result of covid we're absolutely fliped! Will little chance of getting even half of this lost income back from the covid relief funds and with a lot more financial pain to come it's going to be a brutal few years in local government.
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Post by SeanBroseley on Mar 4, 2021 22:29:47 GMT 1
The contention that whatever the government announces the opposition will oppose is sadly mistaken. Having set itself against an increase in corporation tax because companies do not retain profits but only invests them to generate jobs (obviously) Dodds has said that the Labour front bench are (in principle) not against freezing personal allowances for a number of years.
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Post by Pilch on Mar 4, 2021 22:36:57 GMT 1
Not 100% sure whether the millions announced for these schemes were included in the budget but I'll take a guess they were. So its reported here about... Officials exploring ‘cash for exercise’ to tackle obesity epidemic
I do think the biggest incentive to get people out and about and exercising is through their pocket. If you were able to get more people active I gather the savings towards the NHS would be huge. Not sure it mentions how it would work though, not sure how they would award exercise but I really like the idea of this. I'm pretty sure there might be something already in place for some people with private health insurance. I think that might be the case here too. Not sure how it works though or what it means for those on/using public health insurance/service. Good idea though. I'm all in favour of that, I could get paid a little more to walk around all day ;-)
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Post by SeanBroseley on Mar 4, 2021 22:43:11 GMT 1
One thing I can't understand is that there are people who are surprised that somewhere along the line the taxpayers of the UK will need to pay for all this expenditure. Same as most budgets the Chancellor slips a tenner in your hand whilst stealing your wrist watch. We will be paying for it for longer than most on here will be alive I'm sure. Didnt realise that we have not long finished paying for the 2nd World War effort, sometime into this century. Wow that is some statistic. The Labour government paid off the final loan principle to the USA relating to WW2 and post war reconstruction in 2006. Under the terms of the loans the UK government was able to defer the repayment of the principle amount indefinitely. The loan payments were not repaid earlier because the interest rates were so low not because the payments were a burden that could not be repaid.
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Post by neilsalop on Mar 5, 2021 7:08:28 GMT 1
Lucy Allan tweeted this on Wednesday:
We are expecting approval of our £25m Towns Fund bid very shortly, which will be fantastic news for Telford and vital for our recovery.
She has been spectacularly quiet since the announcement of the 45 towns that didn't include Telford, but she did throw this little gem out:
Fantastic @telfordwrekin officers have worked hard on Telford’s bid for £25m for jobs, skills and boosting our economy. Not true to say they’ve failed - we have a huge opportunity to secure much needed funding. We will work together to secure it.
She refuses to even sit down with Shaun Davies, so who the hell is she working together with to secure anything?
ETA this money was supposed to be earmarked for TOWNS, yet Carlisle, Wolverhampton and Lincoln are all CITIES.
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Post by stuttgartershrew on Mar 5, 2021 7:53:06 GMT 1
Not 100% sure whether the millions announced for these schemes were included in the budget but I'll take a guess they were. So its reported here about... Officials exploring ‘cash for exercise’ to tackle obesity epidemic
I do think the biggest incentive to get people out and about and exercising is through their pocket. If you were able to get more people active I gather the savings towards the NHS would be huge. Not sure it mentions how it would work though, not sure how they would award exercise but I really like the idea of this. I'm pretty sure there might be something already in place for some people with private health insurance. I think that might be the case here too. Not sure how it works though or what it means for those on/using public health insurance/service. Good idea though. I'm all in favour of that, I could get paid a little more to walk around all day ;-) That was one of the reasons I enjoyed my time as a postman, it was a good bit of exercise each and every day.
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Post by stuttgartershrew on Mar 5, 2021 8:05:15 GMT 1
More pressure coming Starmer's way you suspect... I think some good points made here, however... How is Labour shaping up under Starmer?Just to add to this, amongst the working class vote (C2DE) it reads 52% Tories, 27% Labour. So it looks as though that trend is only heading upwards at the moment.
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Post by neilsalop on Mar 5, 2021 8:20:50 GMT 1
More pressure coming Starmer's way you suspect... To be honest I am going to vote Labour in the council elections in May, but come a general election I will probably vote Green. I am a member of the Labour party and a trade unionist, but I can not follow the lead of the leadership at this time. Even at its lowest ebb the Corbyn led party was never polling as badly as the Starmer led one currently is. Voting or even saying that you are going to vote against the party could get me thrown out.
I didn't vote for Starmer in the leadership election, but I had reasonably high hopes that he would be able to pull the party together. How wrong I was. We need a leadership election as soon as possible, before we end up even further into the Doldrums.
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Post by SeanBroseley on Mar 5, 2021 11:42:47 GMT 1
I didn't vote for Starmer during the leadership election. I it for granted that he was a boss, a cop and a bootlicking cipher. I saw who was most vocally supporting him during the campaign and that he was wary of being open about his funding until the information had no bearing on the result. On the day the result was announced I was asked what my thoughts were. This (11 months ago) was my reply:
"I'm not despairing. One Leader with views to the right of my own is replaced by another leader with views to the right of my own.
I see Starmer as very leaden footed when it comes to political nous and he will try, and hopefully fail, to lead the party like a chief executive of a public body. I went to the Dudley hustings several weeks ago and it was desperate: it's not a way of scrutinising people for important offices in the party.
I am not relishing the idea of spending the 2024 GE campaign apologising for Starmer's record at the CPS. Or as it will be couched - allowing foreigners to rape little kids. Just as I didn't relish apologising for Corbyn being a member of Hamas and the IRA. But there you are.
I also think that it will be a sad day when Corbyn is suspended and thrown to the wolves in response to the EHRC report."
He has a mandate from the membership to drive the party forward or into the ground. He should be given time to do so.
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Post by SeanBroseley on Mar 5, 2021 12:00:47 GMT 1
Some bullet points from the budget:
1) No help for private renters struggling with rent debt. Ill-advised mortgage guarantee scheme to pump up house prices further out of their reach. 2) Public sector pay freeze, benefits to be cut, 3,000,000 still excluded. 3) £25,000,000,000 handout to big business via tax reliefs. 4) Cutting day-to-day spending on public services and scrapping Green Homes Grant 5) Random cash for Red Wall seats in pork barrel operation.
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Post by sheltonsalopian on Mar 5, 2021 12:19:43 GMT 1
I think Labour's entire strategy was based around pointing out the government's inept handling of the pandemic and that there is a sensible alternative. The successful vaccine rollout has obviously put an end to that and the Tories were always going to get a boost from it. That being said a 12 point lead before the big opening in July as well could see the Tories up to 50%!!!
I don't think the answer is another leadership challenge, Labour as always fight themselves more then the opposition.
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Post by neilsalop on Mar 6, 2021 8:26:27 GMT 1
I think Labour's entire strategy was based around pointing out the government's inept handling of the pandemic and that there is a sensible alternative. The successful vaccine rollout has obviously put an end to that and the Tories were always going to get a boost from it. That being said a 12 point lead before the big opening in July as well could see the Tories up to 50%!!! I don't think the answer is another leadership challenge, Labour as always fight themselves more then the opposition. Perhaps it isn't the right time, but when will it be? By 2024 there will be gerrymandered boundary changes in place to give the Tories more seats, Labour will have still failed to regain any foothold in Scotland, the 'red wall' constituencies will be given the choice between the Tories and a right wing new, new Labour with a leader devoid of charisma and leadership qualities and many will not bother, leading to many marginals becoming safe Tory seats.
If the Labour party don't act soon they will become little more than a party of protest and doom themselves to decades of watching from the sidelines, just like the LibDems have got used to being. The LibDems were a one policy party in 2019 and they still better in certain parts of the country than Labour did and even saw their percentage of the vote go up. Labour through a mix of the Corbyn effect, the garbled message on Brexit and other factors saw their vote go down by nearly 8%. However between them Labour and the LibDems actually got more votes than the Tories. The fact that there isn't a single Labour MP north of the border is actually disturbing. Scotland used to be a Labour stronghold for crying out loud, as did Wales. The only place that held firm for Labour was Liverpool, where as well as no Tory MPs there aren't even any Tory councillors.
If the Labour don't find a way to work with the smaller parties we are not going to get within a country mile of governing again. We even put up a candidate in Brighton, Pavilion where one of the most popular MPs in the country Caroline Lucas is incumbent, why? It's not like she would ever vote with the Tories in Westminster, so why run the risk of the Tories nicking the seat? If we can unite and work with the LibDems, the Greens, Plaid and even the SNP we can get rid of the Tories, if the opposition parties remain divided the Tories will rule over us for at least the next decade.
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Post by SeanBroseley on Mar 6, 2021 14:08:16 GMT 1
Always remember this when this comes up for discussion.
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