The truth about Universal Credit

Those who share my concerns with Ian Duncan Smith's repeated obfuscation in the Commons over what his so-called benefit reforms have and haven't achieved might be interested in this:

Secrecy over Universal Credit

Hospitals feel the pinch & Possible consequences of the pensions overhaul

David F saw these items on the BBC News site and thought you should see them (just click on the blue underlined text):

Like householders up-and-down the country, hospitals have been counting the pennies this week. The results make grim reading, says Nick Triggle.

A huge change in the way people fund their retirement is likely to occur owing to the Chancellor's plans for pensions, but what are the hidden consequences?

Labour's response to Osborne's Budget

Ed Balls says:

“George Osborne boasted once again today that everything was going well. Perhaps it is for the people he mixes with. But in the real world, people on middle and low incomes are still not feeling any recovery. And after today’s Budget, they still won’t be feeling it. Wages are down £1,600 a year since David Cameron came to office. And independent forecasts today showed people will be worse off at next year’s election than in 2010.

 

 

So it’s official: You’re worse off under the Tories. Yet there was no action in the Budget to deal with this cost-of-living crisis. No energy prices freeze to help pensioners and families struggling with soaring bills. No help for families with rising childcare costs this side of the election. And no action to get young people stuck on the dole into paid work. Despite all the hype, the Budget totally failed to deliver, except for the very richest who will still get a £3billion a year tax cut. And when Ed Miliband challenged David Cameron and the Chancellor in the Commons, they refused to rule out giving millionaires another tax cut.

Specifically...

 

Real wages are forecast to fall by 5.6% over the Parliament meaning people will be worse off in 2015 than when David Cameron came to power.

Three years of flat-lining and falling living standards has led to more borrowing than planned to pay for the costs of economic failure.

 Let's hope the measures in this Budget are better than the Government's Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme which helped just five firms before it folded.

 

It looks like the dear old threepenny bit.  Coincidentally, in real terms it will have about the same purchasing power.

The Budget failed to cap pension fees and charges which leave pensioners paying up to £230,000 over their lifetimes.



 

In summary...





More on Labour's Jobs Guarantee

* Bank bonuses are on the rise (again) and the wealthiest in our country are about to be given another tax cut by David Cameron.  But young people, who have been hit hardest by the recession, are being left behind. For tens of thousands of young people who cannot find work this is no recovery at all. Under David Cameron’s government the number of young people stuck on the dole for more than a year has doubled.

* Labour is determined to ensure that this is a recovery for the many, not just a few at the top. We cannot afford to be wasting the talents of thousands of young people and leaving them stuck on the dole for years on end. It scars their lives, weakens our economy and adds billions to the social security bill. We need to get young people and the long term unemployed off benefits and into work so we can all earn our way out of the cost of living crisis.

* The next Labour government will guarantee jobs for all young people on unemployment benefit for a year, and all adults aged 25 or over on unemployment benefit for two years. It will be a tough contract – those who can work will be required to take up the jobs on offer or lose their benefits. 

* This is a fully funded commitment, paid for by repeating Labour’s successful tax on bank bonuses at the start of the next Parliament and restricting pensions tax relief for people earning over £150,000 to the same rate as basic rate taxpayers.  After the global banking crisis and with bank bonuses soaring again this year, it’s fair to pay for our jobs plan by repeating Labour’s tax on bank bonuses.

If implemented today, Labour's guarantee would create 4,265 jobs for young people in the East Midlands alone.

It's common sense and simple fair play.  Irresponsible finance brought this country to its knees and crushed the hopes of an entire generation.  The financial sector has done nothing to put its house in order, so let's tax banker bonuses to fund jobs for young people.

New Page on credit unions

Following my talk at the last branch meeting, my notes are now available via the page link on the right.