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Budget 2014


JackanorySFC

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The difficulty ANY shadow leader has is that, unlike normal government statements, they don't get the chance to see the Budget statement before it's announced.

 

That may have been the case in the past, but nowadays 90% of the budget gets leaked ahead of time.

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I thought it couldn't get worse than Miliband but Ed Balls actually achieved it today in the commons.

 

I only caught the end but he was sneering at people accusing Labour of not actually talking about the budget itself and then spent the next 10 minutes rattling off various Eton/posh-boy stereotypes, went through the usual "tories only support the rich" anecdotes and spent no time at all talking about the budget. How anyone could want that clown in charge of the economy is beyond me.

 

Miliband and Balls are doing more to keep the Tories in power than Cameron and Osborne are.

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I thought it couldn't get worse than Miliband but Ed Balls actually achieved it today in the commons.

 

I only caught the end but he was sneering at people accusing Labour of not actually talking about the budget itself and then spent the next 10 minutes rattling off various Eton/posh-boy stereotypes, went through the usual "tories only support the rich" anecdotes and spent no time at all talking about the budget. How anyone could want that clown in charge of the economy is beyond me.

 

Miliband and Balls are doing more to keep the Tories in power than Cameron and Osborne are.

Watch PMQs some time and you'll see Cameron avoid answering simple questions again and again

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I disagree, if people are resonsible enough to save then they are responsible enough to use the money they wish. I know I would much prefer to look after my own money than having to buy an annuity. More people are likely to save as well.

People inevitably make mistakes though. And it's the state that ends up clearing up the mess unless it takes preemptive action

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Yet Labour are ahead in the opinion polls.

 

Normal for mid-election time. It will tighten and the worrying aspect for Labour is that they are not nearly far enough ahead for that poll-time tightening to still leave room for a majority.

 

I predict another hung parliament.

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The "not enough notice" guff doesn't wash when labour are still floundering around trying to get their narrative right in response to the budget. On Daily Politics today the shadow chief secretary to the treasury Chris Leslie couldn't answer Wiggy Neil or jo Cols simple questions. One was " what specific measure do you disaprove of" and then it git even more pathetic when asked "what specific measure do you approve of". Quite frankly 24 hours after the budget and a shadow treasury spokesman is still throwing around class warfare is depressing in the extreme. Talk about ****ing playground politics, they're even starting to make the lib/dems look grown up. Pathetic, worst level of debate I've seen in 30 years of watching politics. Fair enough , the day of the budget includes some knockabout stuff (although ed way overdid it) but the next day should be serious forensic analysis on the measures and the effects they'll have on people. They've seriously misjudged their response imo.

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Sadly there is no one left with gravitas. No heavy weights. What labour needs is people with the understanding of every possible gameplay like mandleson. The booming voice of Prescott and the calm statesmanship and integrity like John Denham. I just don't see any one in any of the parties with close to that range of talent. Paddy Ashdown was a good all-rounder.

 

I think this budget is a dash for cash, benefit cuts haven't delivered as much as they expected so they want to inject your pensions into the economy. A sort of GQE. Grey Quantitive Easing. I personally see raising personal allowance helping a lot of pensioners and low income people. I can see sensible people making thier own decisions about their pensions as a good thing. The trouble is half the people I worked with on 30-40k are not very financially astute. They did not make good decisions on a very good share save deal. They did not make good use of tax planning. People leased cars without knowing how much the car was costing them. They had huge mobile phone contracts when they made about two calls a day. They took loans to buy a car at 16% when they had a flexi mortgage at 5%.

 

I also fear there will be a new market spring up instantly to relieve these people of their pensions. The PPI, people need a new scam to move to.

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Yet Labour are ahead in the opinion polls.

 

So were the Conservatives for most of the '00s. It doesn't mean a lot.

 

 

Watch PMQs some time and you'll see Cameron avoid answering simple questions again and again

 

Oh yes but the majority of his answers are at last loosely related to the question, and the vast majority of his response don't contain jibes about the opposition's social class.

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Personally I think many people have already decided which way the vote next year and this budget won't change anything.

 

Lab/Lib coalition I reckon.

 

This budget may not change much on its own, but there's an Autumn mini-budget and the "election" budget next march.

 

I love that the Tories think the plebs will be dancing in the streets because we've got 1p off beer.

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This budget may not change much on its own, but there's an Autumn mini-budget and the "election" budget next march.

 

I love that the Tories think the plebs will be dancing in the streets because we've got 1p off beer.

 

Don't forget the bingo.

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Don't forget the bingo.

 

I have heard about men going to bingo, but I'm not one of them. Fair play to them; they're very brave - I'm just not sure I could process that many chats going on at the same time.

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