This thread exists to discuss British politics.
Political issues related to Northern Ireland and the Crown Dependencies (the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) are also considered on-topic here if there's no more appropriate OTC thread for them.
If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations
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As with other OTC threads, off-topic posts may be thumped or edited by the moderators.
- There is a dedicated thread to discuss LGBTQ+ rights in the United Kingdom. That doesn't mean it's always off-topic here, but unless something's directly linked to political events, that's probably a better thread for it.
- There's also a separate thread to talk about your favourite British Prime Ministers.
Recent political stuff:
- The vote to see if Britain should adopt Alternative Voting has failed.
- Lib Dems lose lots of councils and councillors, whilst Labour make the majority of the gains in England.
- The Scottish National Party do really well in the elections.
A link to the BBC politics page containing relevant information.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 3rd 2023 at 11:15:30 AM
BBC: Inheritance tax to be scrapped on homes worth up to £1m
He is expected to tell M Ps on Wednesday that the threshold at which the tax is levied will rise for couples from £650,000 after April 2017.
Writing in The Times, PM David Cameron and Mr Osborne said those who worked for their homes should be able to pass them on to family members.
Of fucking course it would be.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
V
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Not that a million could buy much in some places these days...
Well something's keeping the average house price under £200K.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
V
Very cheap houses in some parts of the country, no doubt.
Over 100 Calais migrants try to storm Channel Tunnel
A spokesman for the firm called for "immediate action" from authorities to protect the tunnel and provide a solution to the migrant crisis. Passenger services are back to normal but there are still delays to freight journeys, Eurotunnel said.
Freight lorries are queuing on the M20 for the second time this week. Kent Police initiated phase two of Operation Stack - where freight traffic is queued on sections of the M20 - and closed roads at about 01:00 BST.
A spokesman for Eurotunnel said there had been "huge numbers of migrants" in and around the area on Friday night. They said: "Up to 150 migrants stormed the tunnel, which caused disruption to services leading to delays and cancellations for customers. Eurotunnel wants immediate action from authorities to protect the tunnel - not enough is being done to stop the migrants."
Dan Cook, operations director at Europa Worldwide, a transport and logistics business, said "marauding mobs" of migrants were breaking into the company's vehicles. Mr Cook said: "This isn't in lay-bys off the beaten track at night, this is in broad daylight on the motorways approaching Calais and what you see, to be blunt, is marauding mobs around trailers... climbing on board, breaking open backdoors with broadly no sign of any sort of policing to prevent it."
And if any illegal immigrants are found, drivers can be arrested and trucks searched, which costs the companynote time and money and risks safety.
Exam focus damaging pupils' mental health, says NUT
The report, Exam Factories? The Impact of Accountability Measures on Children and Young People, by Prof Merryn Hutchings of London Metropolitan University, says pupils' emotional health and wellbeing is suffering because of "high-stakes testing".
One teacher said: "You just see them sat there, a 10- or 11-year-old kid in complete meltdown." Another said: "I have just had a child off school for three days because he was so worried about his recent test result and didn't want to take any more tests."
Lucie Russell, director of campaigns at mental health charity Young Minds, which backed the report, said: "Both pupils and teachers are under a lot of pressure to achieve results in a pressure cooker, exam factory environment.
"Many of the young people Young Minds works with say that they feel completely defined by their grades and that this is very detrimental to their wellbeing and self-esteem."
According to the report, the tests affect both able and less able pupils similarly.
edited 4th Jul '15 3:23:37 AM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling On
Mostly in the bits Mrs Thatcher ruined.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
Of course, changing the inheritance tax laws (to increase the value) won't impact the vast majority of people in the country. It'll benefit a very narrow band of people, and negatively impact an even smaller band of people.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
"We need to increase revenues and cut spending! What do we do?"
"...Cut inheritance tax and let the unwashed masses fend for themselves."
"Yup. That tasted purple."
Sometimes I get the feeling the British government actually wants to provoke an uprising.
Tief girl with eartude
In Cameron's case, I think he doesn't quite gets that there are still poor people in the UK. Just assumes that Thatcher fixed everything back in the day and all that he has to do is ignore the complaints.
edited 4th Jul '15 7:02:19 AM by Bisected8
TV Tropes's No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her, fae/faer
Because what really need is a cabinet that's that fucking out of touch with reality.
Fucking hell.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
V
Just like Labour then. 
Worse than Labour. They're worse than the LibDems. Nick Clegg actually understood what people were telling him and then lied. That's just bog-standard political scumbagging. I don't think Cameron even understands the concept of "poor" and so defines "poor" as "self-made benefit scrounger".
I have no doubt they'll be regarded as one of the worst governments in history. Past Tory governments had more genuine talent in their ranks than this group does.
The current lot are just in cloud cuckoo land.
edited 4th Jul '15 4:38:43 PM by Wyldchyld
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
V
Same could be said for most of the current Professional Politicians that lead most Political Parties these days...
And on that subject — Jeremy Corbyn gets backing of Unite in Labour leadership race
The decision, which could be followed up by donations, follows anger among some senior union figures that Labour’s leadership candidates, with the exception of Corbyn, have been critical of anti-austerity policies.
Corbyn, who only made it on to the ballot with minutes to spare after M Ps lent him their votes to broaden the debate, has called for the party to reject austerity. Britain’s largest transport union, the RMT; the train drivers’ union, Aslef; the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) have also backed him.
Unite’s executive committee voted on Sunday to lend its support to Corbyn, with Burnham as its second preference. A spokesman for the union said: “The backing for Jeremy Corbyn was in recognition that his policies were most closely aligned with those of Unite,” a statement said.
The union will not back any of the candidates for deputy leader, but will recommend that its members support either Angela Eagle and Tom Watson. The latter has has a longstanding relationship with the union and its leader, Len Mc Cluskey
“The decisions on who to support were taken today following debate by the union’s executive committee, an elected body of 63 men and women from workplaces across the UK,” the statement said.
“The leadership election is about one issue above others: whether we accept another five years of a race to the bottom based on cuts that destroy services and damage living standards, or whether we invest our way to growth and fairness,” he said.
“Without trade unions there would be no Equal Pay Act, no minimum pay, no Labour party. Trade unions are a force for good, a force for prosperity and we should listen to them more.”
Corbyn is still a 16/1 outsider for the Labour leadership, trailing behind Burnham, the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper and the shadow care minister Liz Kendall.
His radical approach could see Labour scrapping it commitment to Trident nuclear weapons and introducing a £10-an-hour minimum wage.
George Osborne says BBC could make savings by dropping its "imperial" website ambitions
...What the fuck is that meant to mean?
"Yup. That tasted purple."
HGW XX/7
It's long been a gripe of Murdoch etc that the BBC's free website competes with them.
Schild und Schwert der Partei
And we've known for some time that Cameron and Co have News Corp's hand up their arse.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Christ, your politicians are crazy.
And this is from a person from a country were a Senator got up in a tizzy about Wiffy Codes.
Who's crazier? The politicians or the people who vote for them?
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Senators aren't voted for over here. The election process is complicated, but the Government usually hands out seats to candidates that can't get elected.
Seriously, Wiffy Woman failed to be elected three times'.
"Every nation gets the government it deserves"?
Yes. I do believe that.
But that's where I get most of my international news. If that goes where will I turn, CNN? *shudder*
Funnily enough, Murdoch + Oz govt have recently gone ballistic over The ABC in Australia still existing as well. There's a government boycott on one of its shows, actually.
Key Points:
- Student Maintenance Grants have been scrapped
- VED / Road Tax bands changed so the majority of drivers will be paying at least £140 a year
- Corporation tax to be cut to 19% in 2017 and 18% in 2020
- Government to spend 2% of GDP on defence every year, meeting Nato target, with spending on defence to rise in real terms every year during the Parliament
- The annual household benefit cap will be reduced to £23,000 in London and to a lower level in the rest of Britain.
edited 8th Jul '15 6:25:12 AM by Deadbeatloser22
"Yup. That tasted purple."
V
Expanded, in part:
Personal taxation and pay
- New national living wage will be introduced for all workers aged over 25, starting at £7.20 an hour from April 2016 and set to reach £9 by 2020 - giving an estimated 2.5 million people an average £5,000 rise over five years
- Low Pay Commission to advise on future changes to rates
- Inheritance tax threshold to increase to £1m, phased in from 2017, underpinned by a new £325,000 family home allowance
- Personal allowance, at which people start paying tax, to rise to £11,000 next year. The government says the personal allowance will rise to £12,500 by 2020, so that people working 30 hours a week on the minimum wage do not pay income tax
- The point at which people start paying income tax at the 40p rate to rise from £42,385 to £43,000 next year
- Mortgage interest relief for buy-to-let homebuyers to be restricted to basic rate of income tax
Welfare and pensions
- Tax credits and Universal Credit to be restricted to two children, affecting those born after April 2017
- Income threshold for tax credits to be reduced from £6,420 to £3,850
- Working-age benefits to be frozen for four years - including tax credits and local housing allowance, but maternity pay and disability benefits exempted
- Rents in social housing sector will be reduced by 1% a year for the next four years.
- Subsidies for social housing will be phased out with local authority and housing association tenants in England who earn more than £30,000 - or £40,000 in London - having to pay up to the market rent
- Disability benefits will not be taxed or means-tested while state pension triple lock to be protected
Alcohol, tobacco, gambling and fuel
- No rise in fuel duty this year with rates continuing to be frozen
- Major reform to vehicle excise duties to pay for a new road-building and maintenance fund in England
- New VED bands for brand new cars to be introduced from 2017, pegged to emissions for the first year. Subsequently, 95% of car owners will pay a flat fee of £140 a year
- Alcohol and tobacco duties not mentioned in statement
Business
- Corporation tax to be cut to 19% in 2017 and 18% in 2020
- Permanent non-dom status to be abolished - from April 2017, anyone who has lived in the UK for 15 of the past 20 years will pay same level of tax as other UK citizens, raising an estimated £1.5bn
- £7.2bn to be raised from clampdown on tax avoidance and tax evasion with HMRC budget increased by £750m
- Bank levy rate to be gradually reduced over the next six years and a new 8% surcharge on bank profits introduced from 2016
- Cap on charges imposed by claims management companies and an increase in insurance premium tax to 9.5% from November
- New apprenticeship levy for large employers
- Climate Change Levy exemption for renewable electricity to be removed
- National Insurance employment allowance for small firms to be increased by 50% to £3,000 from 2016
- Dividend tax credit to be replaced with a new tax-free allowance of £5,000 on dividend income.Rates of dividend tax to be set at 7.5%, 32.5% and 38.1%.
- Annual investment allowance will be fixed permanently at £200,000 from January 2016
- A consultation will take place on changing Sunday trading laws
Health and education
- NHS will receive a further £8bn by 2020, in addition to the £2bn already announced)
- Student maintenance grants to be replaced with loans from 2016-17, to be paid back once people earn more than £21,000 a year
- The maintenance loan will increase to £8,200
- New university professorships to be created to mark the Queen's 90th birthday
- £50 million to expand the number of cadet units in state schools
Housing/infrastructure/transport/regions
- Control over fire services, planning and children's services to be handed to consortium of 10 councils in Greater Manchester
- Discussions on devolution of services to Sheffield, Liverpool and West Yorkshire
- £30m for new body, Transport for North, to promote integrated transport - including use of Oyster cards - in the north of England
- Rent-a-room relief scheme to rise to £7,500
Defence
- Government to spend 2% of GDP on defence every year, meeting Nato target
- Spending on defence to rise in real terms - 0.5% above inflation - every year during the Parliament
- New £1.5bn Joint Security Fund for investment in military and intelligence agencies
- Recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross will see annual pension annuities rise from £2,129 to £10,000, paid for by bank fines. Government to fund memorial to victims of terrorism overseas
edited 8th Jul '15 9:09:55 AM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling On
I'm assuming he was being thoughtless.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.