[The Weeping Angel]

Also, in some cases it's the local councils themselves who have requested the delay.

[Tubby Isaacs]

There's something odd going on with serious policy people, like they're being hypercritical. Reeves seems to have got more stick for saying that income taxes wouldn't be raised, which (what? raised the cost of borrowing for a few days, before it fell a lot?) than Osborne did for all those ridiculous budgets that passed up the chance for virtually free investment borrowing. The only budget where Osborne did get more stick was the "omnishambles" budget, where a load of taxes had to be cancelled. Reeves' budget, by contrast, didn't "unravel", whether you agreed with it or not.

I don't really know what the explanation is. My guess is that lots of that group really hate the immigration stuff (which well they might) and that's meaning they get stuck into the government across the board.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Reckon they'd do this in government? Me neither. But I suppose it needs someone to say it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Government's now getting it in the neck for... doing a proper review of the carers scandal that happened under the previous government, because a senior person at the DWP made a crass comment in an internal blogpost. Pat McFadden has already said the Government didn't agree with this comment, and £75m has been set aside initially. There's really nothing in it for the Government to cap it at the amount, so doubtless there will be more. The Government's work seems to count for very little because they haven't sacked the senior DWP person who made the comment, nor the Permanent Secretary.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... ce-scandal

Bafflingly

Prof Sue Yeandle, the UK’s leading expert on unpaid carers, said ministers and senior officials had issued “really misleading” claims that the failures affected only a small number of people.

While also

Ministers last month pledged about £75m to fix the scandal and ordered about 200,000 historical cases to be reassessed.

Is 200,000 a small number?

[The Weeping Angel]

There's something odd going on with serious policy people, like they're being hypercritical. Reeves seems to have got more stick for saying that income taxes wouldn't be raised, which (what? raised the cost of borrowing for a few days, before it fell a lot?) than Osborne did for all those ridiculous budgets that passed up the chance for virtually free investment borrowing. The only budget where Osborne did get more stick was the "omnishambles" budget, where a load of taxes had to be cancelled. Reeves' budget, by contrast, didn't "unravel", whether you agreed with it or not.

I don't really know what the explanation is. My guess is that lots of that group really hate the immigration stuff (which well they might) and that's meaning they get stuck into the government across the board.

Negative polarisation is a key factor. As for the budget, considering the buildup, it's remarkable how it's been forgotten, as it hasn't crashed the markets or caused the sky to fall in.

[davidjay]

But it is being blamed for every bad thing ever.

[The Weeping Angel]

Indeed, look here.

[The Weeping Angel]

A problem for the new year.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-int ... ommunities

After a difficult few years in which pubs have been hit by high costs, the pandemic and the impact of younger people going out less, publicans were optimistic this budget might bring some relief – specifically with a long-promised revamp of business rates.

But the chancellor poured cold water on those hopes, choosing instead to reduce headline rates and commit £4.3bn over three years in financial support for the retail and hospitality industries.

It may have seemed a gesture of goodwill, but the value of that support package has been dwarfed by the impact of a three-yearly property revaluation that has caused the taxable value of pubs and restaurants to spike from their Covid-affected lows.

Starting from next April, rates will rise by 115% for the average hotel and 76% for a pub, compared with 4% for large supermarkets and 7% for distribution warehouses. Whitbread, which owns pubs, restaurants and the Premier Inn hotel chain, says it will have to pay between £40m and £50m in tax as a result.

Joe Butler, the landlord at the Tollemache Arms in Northamptonshire, said: “Literally overnight, the click of a finger, the value of our business has doubled. That’s going to be a huge increase for us.”

And pressure on publicans is inevitably reflected in the price of a punter’s pint.

“The price of a pint is now unaffordable. When we first took this pub on 10 years ago, we charged £3.40 a pint. We’re now verging on being £7 a pint,” Butler said.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ah, this might be part of the budget unravelling. Surprised if some extra relief isn't found.

In other news, I see Wes Streeting is doing the Customs Union bullshit, plus much else critical of government policy. I think he deserves to be sacked. Also critical on immigration, which I agree with.

[The Weeping Angel]

A shame, as I thought the budget was on the whole pretty good.

[Tubby Isaacs]

There is "headroom", so shouldn't be too much of a problem.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Don't know where else to put this, but it's an impressive thing.

Some people have observed that this expertise will go to waste because there's no more high speed rail being planned. That might be a bit harsh because we don't have to stop building bridges. And HS2 work will go on for quite a few years yet, which gives plenty of time to revive the Crewe section of HS2. I think some of the infrastructure people can rather underestimate the capacity for funding this stuff. Another case of "spend a lot of money on my area" when every area is in the same shit.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This is a massive disaster. Looks like a case of new ministers hitting the ground running with a brilliant idea, and falling flat on their faces. I like Georgia Gould, who has proper experience in local government, but looks like she fucked up here.

Must have sounded like such an easy thing. Looks like these people are out of the country, stop the child benefit. They weren't out of the country. While they were, then they came back. ID cards might actually be an advantage on this stuff because it's a reasonable thing to look to restrict. But not if your systems are shit.

Labour admits 60% of parents wrongly targeted in HMRC child benefit fraud crackdown
Exclusive: Scale of government’s anti-fraud fiasco is four times higher than previously admitted

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... -crackdown

[The Weeping Angel]

There is "headroom", so shouldn't be too much of a problem.

It feels like rewarding a victimisation campaign that is targeted against MPs.

[Tubby Isaacs]

It is, but they have a point. Though the government has a point that the rates haven’t been put up for years post-COVID.

[davidjay]

Defend Are Pubs is an easy target for many reasons. There's the Reeves-bashing angle, they're part of British culture, Muzzies don't drink so it's their fault as well, Nanny state, the government wants them closed because it's where people meet to talk and plot revolution, 15 minute cities, cost of living, minimum wage. The fact that pubs have been closing for sixty-odd years and young people don't use them is neither here nor there.

[Youngian]

A sensible business person in retail keeps their gob shut about politics, especially a landlord. What a twat.

A Norfolk landlord has banned Labour MPs from drinking in his pub.

Phil Cutter, owner of the Murderers in Norwich, has taken the measure in response to the last month's budget, which he claimed had "taxed out" publicans. https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/25 ... Hfc4gwOv0A

[Tubby Isaacs]

Quite the constitutional expert, isn’t he? Ban all Labour MPs.

[Andy McDandy]

A sensible business person in retail keeps their gob shut about politics, especially a landlord. What a twat.

A Norfolk landlord has banned Labour MPs from drinking in his pub.

Phil Cutter, owner of the Murderers in Norwich, has taken the measure in response to the last month's budget, which he claimed had "taxed out" publicans. https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/25 ... Hfc4gwOv0A

When he started Murderers in Norwich he got a lot of hassle from the police. So he decided to keep the name but convert it to a pub.

[The Weeping Angel]

I'd have more sympathy if the landlords featured weren't being such gits.