Mailwatch(ed) Forum

In recent weeks, there have been reports in the media about the government's proposed benefit changes.

I know this difficult subject has been discussed elsewhere in the forum, but people who will be affected by such changes are understandably both worried and angry about what is going on.

Sometimes I wish the government would be straight with us about them and explain the proposals in public. Most of us know resources are tight, particularly now due to the current geopolitical concerns, but to entrench fresh poverty onto already vulnerable people will not save a single penny and will inevitably cause a huge public backlash.

Charities, protest groups, trade unions and opposition MPs have warned the government that such proposals should be taken off the table. All this speculation is rightly making Labour MPs very anxious, at a time when public support for the government is at an all time low.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has a tough job trying to raise meagre sources of revenue to fund our declining public services. Will she make the same mistakes as she did on withdrawing the winter fuel allowance and maintaining the two child benefit cap?

If she continues on this course of belt tightening via benefit cuts and overall reductions in public spending, then Labour can kiss any hopes of retaining power after 2028 goodbye.

NevTheSweeper wrote: ↑Mon Mar 17, 2025 11:31 pm

Sometimes I wish the government would be straight with us about them and explain the proposals in public.

The Chancellor’s spring statement will be on 26 March.

Alos they will be publishing a green paper tomorrow.

NevTheSweeper wrote: ↑Mon Mar 17, 2025 11:31 pm In recent weeks, there have been reports in the media about the government's proposed benefit changes.

I know this difficult subject has been discussed elsewhere in the forum, but people who will be affected by such changes are understandably both worried and angry about what is going on.

Sometimes I wish the government would be straight with us about them and explain the proposals in public. Most of us know resources are tight, particularly now due to the current geopolitical concerns, but to entrench fresh poverty onto already vulnerable people will not save a single penny and will inevitably cause a huge public backlash.

Charities, protest groups, trade unions and opposition MPs have warned the government that such proposals should be taken off the table. All this speculation is rightly making Labour MPs very anxious, at a time when public support for the government is at an all time low.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has a tough job trying to raise meagre sources of revenue to fund our declining public services. Will she make the same mistakes as she did on withdrawing the winter fuel allowance and maintaining the two child benefit cap?

If she continues on this course of belt tightening via benefit cuts and overall reductions in public spending, then Labour can kiss any hopes of retaining power after 2028 goodbye.

You know Nev you make the really, really obvious sound really, really obvious.

NevTheSweeper wrote: ↑Mon Mar 17, 2025 11:31 pm In recent weeks…

Unrelated, but why do you write like you’re issuing a press release?

Also, remember that in our current system, a party doesn't have to be popular to win. Or competent. Just perceived as better than any of the alternatives.

It's sad that a Labour government isn't getting the news about the positive stuff it's doing across, but 9 months in, the Tories are treading water and Reform are falling out.

Besides, the words of Harolds MacMillan and Wilson on political horizon-scanning should be noted.

What the government is doing is beyond cruel. Even the Conservatives wouldn't do anything as bad as this.

Go back and watch 2010-24, this time paying attention.

Andy McDandy wrote: ↑Tue Mar 18, 2025 9:46 am Go back and watch 2010-24, this time paying attention.

The Conservatives aren't in power right now. This isn't 2010-2024, this is 2025. Labour are pushing forward these benefit cuts in real time. No more whataboutery.

NevTheSweeper wrote: ↑Tue Mar 18, 2025 9:28 am What the government is doing is beyond cruel. Even the Conservatives wouldn't do anything as bad as this.

But you do not even know what the government is planning to do. Let alone whether or not it's worse than what Tories did. "Wind yer neck in" isn't usually well-received advice, but it's apposite here. A bit more rational assessment of actuality and a good deal less knee-jerk hysteria would be useful.

NevTheSweeper wrote: ↑Tue Mar 18, 2025 9:28 am What the government is doing is beyond cruel. Even the Conservatives wouldn't do anything as bad as this.

The Conservatives repeatedly made ideological cuts when they weren’t needed, deliberately underfunded organisations they wanted to see die so they could replace them with private businesses (usually ones they had interests in), and were mainly concerned with sending the most vulnerable people in society off to an unsafe third country at vast expense as performative cruelty. They were also openly corrupt, frequently inept, and laughably inadequate while being absolutely unable to cope with even the mildest of criticism.

I may not agree with everything Labour are doing/are alleged to be planning, but the notion that the Tories wouldn’t be ‘as bad’ is absurd. They were worse, and under Badenoch they would be orders of magnitude worse again.

Or to put it another way, when Starmer has hidden in a fridge because he’s scared of reporters, added thousands to mortgages because he and his chancellor want to fund big tax cuts to their mates with clueless policies, or whipped up race riots to distract from policy disasters, then we can talk. Until then, do fuck off with this laughable false equivalence.

Benefits to be cut by £5bn over five years. Millions will lose PIP. Long-term claimants will be forced to apply for insecure jobs.

These reforms will force vulnerable people into entrenched poverty. Many could lose a significant part of their only income.

People need to let Labour know that they will not get away with it. There needs to be a public revolt against them in parliament, in the media and in the country. The fightback starts now.

These would be the proposals that haven’t been voted on yet that also include a rise in universal credit, work capability assessments being scrapped, more face to face meetings to ensure people aren’t lost to bureaucracy, reassessments being scrapped for many so they aren’t forced to go through the rigmarole every few years, unemployment insurance at a higher rate, and 1bn investment in new schemes and services.

To suggest it’s nothing but locked-in, horrific, callous cuts is wholly disingenuous.

Also, you’ve written like a press release again. Are you trying to have a discussion or are you practicing for debate club?

Manufactured outrage...

Also they've scrapped plans to replace pip with vouchers.

The government cannot gloss over this. These are CUTS...pure and simple. The only real hope now is that many Labour MPs will vote with the opposition parties to vote down this reckless policy...and call for Kendall to resign.

Nev - with all due respect - fuck off.

NevTheSweeper wrote: ↑Tue Mar 18, 2025 4:43 pm The government cannot gloss over this. These are CUTS...pure and simple. The only real hope now is that many Labour MPs will vote with the opposition parties to vote down this reckless policy...and call for Kendall to resign.

Again, who are you broadcasting to? Are we some sort of test group for stuff to go in a Reform pamphlet? (I mean, you talk like a Corbyn type but then come out with cobblers like the Tories wouldn’t be so bad, so I assume it’s the usual ‘I’ll try and look like I’m [thing A] but I’m really [thing B] routine)

Crabcakes wrote: ↑Tue Mar 18, 2025 4:57 pm

NevTheSweeper wrote: ↑Tue Mar 18, 2025 4:43 pm The government cannot gloss over this. These are CUTS...pure and simple. The only real hope now is that many Labour MPs will vote with the opposition parties to vote down this reckless policy...and call for Kendall to resign.

Again, who are you broadcasting to? Are we some sort of test group for stuff to go in a Reform pamphlet? (I mean, you talk like a Corbyn type but then come out with cobblers like the Tories wouldn’t be so bad, so I assume it’s the usual ‘I’ll try and look like I’m [thing A] but I’m really [thing B] routine)

Corbyn, Reform. Two cheeks, same arse.

It's still £1bn cuts EVERY YEAR for FIVE years.... how can this be justified?