The Budget

[allatc]

How about increasing VAT on cruises to 100% and mooring fees on boats over 30 feet in length to 200%- that would hit the "rich"

[towny44]

How about increasing VAT on cruises to 100% and mooring fees on boats over 30 feet in length to 200%- that would hit the "rich"

I'm not sure there is any VAT on cruises.

[Ray B]

allatc, this is a cruise forum, cruising is what we do with the few groats we have left after paying all the taxes.
Me thinks you are being a bit mischievous.

[Stephen]

I say ban him

[david63]

I also think the GP service needs looking at as many are now run along the lines of GP partnerships, most of which are businesses run by GP’s. The the NHS as I understand things buys into these services which in turn affords GP’s a very lucrative private practice income.

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice. You can find that information on your GP's practice website.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Today's news actually seems to be that the increased national insurance, from which the NHS itself is exempt, will hit some GP practices hard and lead to some closures. That needs sorting quickly.

[david63]

Have Labour started digging their own black hole?

I thought that the Government had no spare money so where has this £75 million suddenly come from?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy1n2nwnyjo

[Mervyn and Trish]

And I don't see anything in the plan that will make any difference.

I know this will sound brutal, but if they spent it on speedboats equipped with harpoon guns that might make potential travellers think twice!

[Onelife]

Have Labour started digging their own black hole?

I thought that the Government had no spare money so where has this £75 million suddenly come from?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy1n2nwnyjo

Another 75 million down the drain…every illegally immigrant is a criminal…use the money to send them back to the country they came.
The traffickers are laughing in our faces and will continue to do so until we make a stand…I would do an air drop of thousands of leaflets explaining to would be illegal immigrant that on arrival they will be flown back to their country of origin…no processes, no handouts, and no mercy… problem solved within a few weeks.

[Onelife]

And I don't see anything in the plan that will make any difference.

I know this will sound brutal, but if they spent it on speedboats equipped with harpoon guns that might make potential travellers think twice!

You've got no heart Sir Merv

[Stephen]

Have Labour started digging their own black hole?

I thought that the Government had no spare money so where has this £75 million suddenly come from?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy1n2nwnyjo

Another 75 million down the drain…every illegally immigrant is a criminal…use the money to send them back to the country they came.
The traffickers are laughing in our faces and will continue to do so until we make a stand…I would do an air drop of thousands of leaflets explaining to would be illegal immigrant that on arrival they will be flown back to their country of origin…no processes, no handouts, and no mercy… problem solved within a few weeks.

I agree, but I still gave them your address. It just slipped out, sorry.

[Ray B]

£75m for what. What they are proposing is not going to stop the boats. This week and the next are likely to be under high pressure, and with the calm weather conditions, making the Channel favourable for an armada of illegal boats heading our way.

[david63]

I had to chuckle this morning when on the news it was reported that over 30,000 had crossed the channel so far this year - and more than half had come over since Labour took office.

Conservatives Jan to end June = 6 months
Labour July to October = 4 months

Perhaps Rwanda wasn't such a bad idea after all!

[towny44]

Have Labour started digging their own black hole?

I thought that the Government had no spare money so where has this £75 million suddenly come from?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy1n2nwnyjo

Another 75 million down the drain…every illegally immigrant is a criminal…use the money to send them back to the country they came.
The traffickers are laughing in our faces and will continue to do so until we make a stand…I would do an air drop of thousands of leaflets explaining to would be illegal immigrant that on arrival they will be flown back to their country of origin…no processes, no handouts, and no mercy… problem solved within a few weeks.

Unfortunately we need the agreement of the illegal immigrants C of O before we can do that, and that takes quite a bit o diplomacy, as well, probably, a great deal of financial lubrication.

[Onelife]

Hi John, you always seem to throw a spanner in the works, but I agree, it wouldn’t be a straight forward process.

It is however not a unsurmountable problem…a solution could be to grant asylum to those presently in our country…. with a proviso that all adults are tagged and that they find sustainable work within a period of two year or face deportation. Not the compromise one would have wanted but it would facilitate much easier processing of those who continue to cross the channel… with a turnaround period that reflects this.

We could also introduce a law were those committing crimes are fast tracked through the judicial system and deported through an equally fast C of O return system.

Yes’, it will cost us in the short term but better this than flogging the dead horse time and time again.

[david63]

Here we go again https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gve4d8jljo

Labour just cannot wait to get their hands on pension pots.

Spots, leopards, change, never, their

[Mervyn and Trish]

But once every ten years or so enough of the electorate forget!

[oldbluefox]

But once every ten years or so enough of the electorate forget!

This elephant doesn't!
None are particularly good but this lot!! Many will come to regret it I'm afraid.

[Onelife]

I suppose the old adage applies here: “When investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you put in”
Whilst I can see the logic in this especially as all pension assets are invested in stocks of one form or another, I can see that streamlining could be a more lucrative way forward…the only downsize is the unknown of not knowing how the markets will perform in the future.

But hey! as I’m the biggest looser on the forum I’m going to keep out of this one.

[david63]

I suppose the old adage applies here: “When investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you put in”
Whilst I can see the logic in this especially as all pension assets are invested in stocks of one form or another, I can see that streamlining could be a more lucrative way forward…the only downsize is the unknown of not knowing how the markets will perform in the future.

But hey! as I’m the biggest looser on the forum I’m going to keep out of this one.

I think that you are missing the point OL.

The government want to merge all local government pension pots into a few big pots - nothing particularly wrong so far.
But the question is "what are they going to do with those big pots?"
The answer is to invest them with less overheads and make more interest on them for the benefit of the pensioners - again all good in theory.
Next question - "Where are they going to invest this money?"
The answer is unknown but based on past performance in will be in government ventures - in other words a cheap, and underhand, way of borrowing money with little or no oversight.

[Onelife]

But surely the point you are trying to make is based on past labour government policy making, I can’t see how we can move forward as a country fearing the same might happening again?

The Labour party are in for the next 5 years and I for one won’t be knocking every hard but necessary call she makes…time will tell if they were the right calls.