Yes, very close. This is hands down the most left wing government I have experienced in my life time and I am 50.
They've come out swinging arguably to the left of Blair/Brown. I'm also 50 so we were both alive during the Callaghan Labour government of the late 70s, albeit the first Labour government either of us will be able to actually remember is Blair - which I guess is what you mean there.
You are not wrong there. This is a massive budget which will have major ramifications throughout the entire private sector. The near 50% reduction to the Employers National Insurance threshold to just £5,000, plus an increase to the rate paid, will see the majority of small and medium sized businesses cut their cloth accordingly.
You know the businesses that are so vital for offering employment up and down the country. Not the behemoths that can easily afford to take such a hit. I am talking about the sole traders, the independent shops, garages, light industry, hospitality, retail sector. The businesses which are so vital for the local economy to keep on ticking over.
Yet raiding these businesses so the Labour Government are able to do the bidding of their pay masters ( the unions ) we will see many of them close or think long and hard about laying employees off and not making new positions available.
I remember when we were told the introduction of the minimum wage was going to cause economic catastrophe and that we must 'let the market decide', and it turned out it was basically all bollocks, so let's wait and see how this one shakes out.
Also as previously noted, there is still time for the proposals to be tweaked before they become law.
My personal preference would have been for Labour to do this thing properly and just introduce a wealth tax, but that's not the route they decided to go down, and doubtless that would have been decried as 'Communist' by people earning the minimum wage, incensed that when they finally became millionaires, their aspiration would have been crushed.
The 'rich' will be able to stomach it. I am sure though as a result the same 'rich' individuals and companies will think twice about creating more work in the UK, thanks to this budget.
You are showing a trait that this Labour Govt are showing all too clearly. The politics of envy!
Yes but they always say that don't they? Their entire existence seems dedicated to making dire threats to destroy this or withdraw that, or cease doing the other, unless their every whim and desire is catered for.
It's not even like Labour's particularly going after them with this budget, it'll make them a bit worse off, they'll still be filthy rich and be just fine. Makes a nice change from the Tories and their bedroom tax and all that other vicious shit they got up to, trampling on the faces of the people who already had the least.
Do you
@ChopleyIOM begrudge people doing well? We live in a capitalist society, if you don't like it, move to Russia or better still North Korea.
Capitalism needs checks and balances, it needs to be regulated and controlled. You don't need to rewind the clock that far back to get to a time when holiday and sickness pay weren't a thing, safety at work was a joke, maternity leave didn't exist, and so on.
The history of capitalism teaches us that for the many not to get fucked over by the few, someone needs to make sure it's kept on a leash.
No one's saying that folks can't make a profit or get to be very wealthy, but they shouldn't be allowed to grind others into the dirt in the process.
Even small holdings of a few acres will be worth in excess of £1million. Seriously instead of listening to Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart ( two very dubious sources at the best of times ), perform some better research. Edited as I have just read your later posts and see that they for once said something sensible and actually agree with me!
Mildly redistributive? If it allows Labour to pander to their union paymasters and agree to their inflation busting demands that's all good then?! Then there is the madness of Net Zero, costing eye watering sums, but foisting our carbon emissions offshore to other countries.
Heavy forfend the working classes should organise and protect themselves and their interests eh? Labour have brought to an end strikes that have been going on for years and cost the country a fortune, that the Tories either couldn't or wouldn't get a grip of.
Every single benefit that working people are entitled to today was hard fought for, and won, by the trade union movement. The rich didn't just wake up one day and think, 'Actually, I'd like to be a bit less rich by being nicer to my workers'.
This comment is bordering offensive to those people up and down who have been able to be successful. As said above, your jealousy and support of politics of envy is showing in this statement.
What's offensive about pointing out that inherited wealth is the single biggest indicator of whether or not someone will be wealthy? Sure it might be very nice if little Tarquin is loaded because his great grandfather was, but let's not pretend he personally worked for it.
I'm not saying everyone who's done well for themselves didn't work hard for it, but many haven't. And what about, I dunno, nurses, don't they work hard too? And yet some of them have to use food banks to make ends meet.
Oh the austerity years of Cameron and Osbourne were terrible, yes. But a few issues such as a world wide pandemic and a war raging in Eastern Europe might, just might be the reason we find ourselves in the current state we do.
Clobbering the private sector in punitive tax measures is not the way forward.
Well let's see how it shakes out. We go back to the polls in five years, and at that time Labour will be judged on their results. What is for certain is that Labour have defined a clear direction of travel and an obvious break with how the Tories were running the show, and in 2029 the country will be able to choose again what it wants.
Yes, why should I have to pay THREE times for a product that helped me give up my life time habit of smoking? It is clear why they are doing this, it is because they no longer are getting the revenues from the taxation on tobacco. Because people have made a sensible choice and have managed to kick the habit thanks in a large part to vaping.
Vaping is still just a nicotine delivery activity, as is smoking, so let's call it what it is, recreational use of an addictive drug. So it's a better decision than smoking, but still a decision that's being make to take a drug.
You could always just not do it at all, and save 100% of the money associated with it. Take that Starmer!
I like a gamble and I like a drink when I'm out at the pubs with my mates (don't drink at all in the house anymore and haven't for over 18 months), so I pay tax on those recreational activities that whilst enjoyable, are entirely optional and undeniably not good for me (certainly in the case of alcohol). My personal choices, and I'm not crying a river for myself at the cost of a pint or the fact the slots in the pub only pay out 90% RTP.