[Tubby Isaacs]

Rachel Reeves plans £7.5bn tax rise in budget after U-turn on income tax rates
Chancellor expected to freeze level at which people start paying income tax for two years rather than putting rates up

This a more regressive approach than raising the rate and raising the threshold. Then again, you could argue that the threshold being jacked up by Clegg and the Tories has narrowed the tax base too much.

Will this be enough to calm the markets?

[The Weeping Angel]

This particular idea may not have been very seriously floated. Unlike the briefing on income tax, this might have been someone knows somebody who said in Pret...

In other news, and perhaps a sign I need to spend less time on Bluesky, here's an old favourite.

Hard to know who he means here, if he hasn't just made it up, but the staunchest defenders of Starmer are surely those who agreed with what he said before the election about Brexit. Nobody could seriously have taken that as some sort of expansive Rejoin agenda that was ditched on getting into Downing Street.

Like a few people who built up clicks on the back of being a staunch Remainer, Edwin's got no actual interest in what's happening. Does he read David Henig, Steve Peers, UK In A Changing Europe? The agreement with the EU member states on the negotiating mandate (checks nots) this actual week isn't consistent with "nothing can be done". Nor is the work on alignment, which has stepped up since the election. What does he think all the meeting with EU leaders is about?

Increasingly I think this element of social media is out of control, just like others. It's not informed good faith criticism. Sure, the Government could certainly sell what it's doing better- though there have been very high profile occasions, like the last Budget and doubtless this one, where it has. I don't blame the general public getting this impression, but people who masquerade as political commentators need to do much better.

I'm with spending less time on Bluesky as well.

[Tubby Isaacs]

File this under spineless useless government if you want, but this is very clear. Edit- everyone hates income tax rises and thinks the Government has done the right thing by not doing them.


The sane centrist Lib Dems are in the same pickle as Labour, so no wonder Davey waffles about a £25bn Customs Union that nobody in the EU has shown any interest in. Given the reaction of some countries to what the Commission agreed with Starmer, I reckon they'd look for a big payment from the UK if such a thing ever did exist.

Of course, things falling to bits will also be unpopular. So we must hope that there are indeed plenty of smaller taxes out there that can be raised. A commentator I saw earlier said this would be politically harder because all those lobbies will come out fighting. That's definitely true, but how much success have they had with public opinion? Are gambling firms or City law partners any more likely to win sympathy than private schools and richer farmers and non-dams? And there was reference to the "pasty tax" (hot takeaway food). Would it be really so disastrous if that had been charged VAT for the last dozen years? Same with tax on conservatories, which were in the same budget and also withdrawn. I'd have taken those over the cuts that happened instead.

[The Weeping Angel]

I think they should raise income tax, and I'm disappointed that they didn't, but I do find it amusing that the blueksy consensus is out of touch with public opinion.

[Abernathy]

Yeah, just as we were all getting used to the idea, eh ?