The 2024 UK General Election

[EnterName]

Rishi Sunak has said the election will be in the "second half" of 2024.

The Conservatives look to be wiped out, with some hoping for total Conservative destruction.

Labour are the obvious beneficiaries of a Conservative wipe-out, but the reason the Conservatives are going to lose their existing support, is that that have completely failed to do anything conservative, despite the rantings by the left.

(Can't wait to hear the BriSocialists leftsplain how Rishi Sunak is "far-right". 😄)

It's unclear who will replace the Conservatives in the hearts of the UK right-wingers, as Reform UK are getting their candidates vetted by far-left smear-merchants Hope not Soap, which has not endeared them to former Conservative voters.

But whatever happens, It's going to be quite a ride!

 

 

[@Lee]

Hope not Hate have hardly smeared anyone - all they've done is read SM posts by prospective Reform UK candidates and published them. They smeared themsselves. I think it's five so far who were found to made racist, homophobic or obscene posts.
'Smear campaign' - 'a plan to discredit a public figure by making false accusations.'

FTR I don't think Sunak is 'far right' at all but I do believe he's being held hostage to those in the tory party who are a lot further to the right than he is. 

I can point to the exact date the real rot set in. I've said in previous topics that Brexit would be the tories poisoned chalice. 

Edited 8 April by @Lee

[Ootohere]

#What ever will be will be, the future is not ours to see.

 

Looking forward to the hours and days following the declarations / results and who is out of parliament. 

There are plenty that will just find jobs and move on and might have value to employers but there are some that might never have such an easy way of earning a living ever again. 

 

It is just a bit of a worry what is coming for the UK citizens with whatever happens and who forms the government.

[@Lee]

An interesting thread on why the tories deserve to be wiped out whenevr the GE is called. 

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1775854592992923697.html

[lol-lol]

23 hours ago, EnterName said:

Rishi Sunak has said the election will be in the "second half" of 2024.

The Conservatives look to be wiped out, with some hoping for total Conservative destruction.

Labour are the obvious beneficiaries of a Conservative wipe-out, but the reason the Conservatives are going to lose their existing support, is that that have completely failed to do anything conservative, despite the rantings by the left.

(Can't wait to hear the BriSocialists leftsplain how Rishi Sunak is "far-right". 😄)

It's unclear who will replace the Conservatives in the hearts of the UK right-wingers, as Reform UK are getting their candidates vetted by far-left smear-merchants Hope not Soap, which has not endeared them to former Conservative voters.

But whatever happens, It's going to be quite a ride!

 

 

Not so sure about that.  They have done some very conservative things in relation to personal tax.

 

As of the weekend and the start of the UK tax year, in combination with what they did in January the two cuts in NI really help those already on a good salary to keep more if it and that is very Tory.  Whilst someone on minimum wage, £11.44 an hour I gather, £22k a year if doing a 37.5 hour week, the NI cut will hardly be noticeable at all as most of the wages are untaxed so 2% of about £10k is £200 a year or £4 a week.  Somebody on UK average salary of about £30K will give a £700 a year saving. £51k and above the saving is over £1,500 a month.   Very Tory ie give the less well paid very little but those earning two, three and more much more.

 

The only bit that I find weird is that the Cons did both 2% cuts on NI and nothing on the base rate of income tax nor raise Tax thresholds when we have been seeing so much inflation recently.   This has really P1ssed off pensioners many who will start paying tax on even quite tiny extra bits of pension.   Bizarre.  I know there is much less than no money left ie £2.5T of UK national debt but what little they certainly did not give something back fairly.

 

Also raising the amount per year wealth  can put in to tax avoidance pension pots from £40k a year to £60k a year is not much of a vote winner to what they might have done as well as the NI cuts taking nearly all the headroom they thought they has to spend.

 

Out of touch has never been so prevalent in government and I have never seen such a high percentage of government MPs say they are not going to stand, even quite young ones.  

 

Edited 9 April by lol-lol

[PetrolDave]

9 hours ago, lol-lol said:

This has really P1ssed off pensioners many who will start paying tax on even quite tiny extra bits of pension.

For some pensioners even the State Pension is greater than the Personal Allowance, where they have paid extra whilst working for S2P or SERPS.

 

 

[lol-lol]

50 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

For some pensioners even the State Pension is greater than the Personal Allowance, where they have paid extra whilst working for S2P or SERPS.

 

 

 

That is so wrong.  UK pension is already one of the worst in Europe.

 

I am trying to do the maths to keep my pension income to less than £12.5k when I retire possibly quite soon and take the lump sum and live of that plus pension income.

 

Over a million pensioner still work I gather.  God, what a system.  Hopefully a new government will raise the tax threshold by at least inflation !

 

[Baxlin]

1 hour ago, PetrolDave said:

For some pensioners even the State Pension is greater than the Personal Allowance, where they have paid extra whilst working for S2P or SERPS.

 

 

 

 

19 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

 

That is so wrong.  UK pension is already one of the worst in Europe.

 

I am trying to do the maths to keep my pension income to less than £12.5k when I retire possibly quite soon and take the lump sum and live of that plus pension income.

 

Over a million pensioner still work I gather.  God, what a system.  Hopefully a new government will raise the tax threshold by at least inflation !

 

 I am fortunate in that I managed to do what lol-lol suggested, so, with taking some of Mrs B’s personal allowance, I have paid virtually no tax since I retired 8 years ago.  Our state (and my small RAF) pensions are topped up by drawing on CGT-paid (therefore now tax free) capital from the sale of my business, rather than drawing down from my private pensions, which would be taxed.

 

For the current year, though, HMRC’s estimate for my income tax is just over 3 times last year’s figure, mainly as a result of the personal allowance being frozen.  

 

Lol-lol, the ‘plus pension income’ you mention will itself be taxable once over the PA threshold.

Edited 9 April by Baxlin

[PetrolDave]

2 hours ago, PetrolDave said:

For some pensioners even the State Pension is greater than the Personal Allowance, where they have paid extra whilst working for S2P or SERPS.

 

1 hour ago, lol-lol said:

That is so wrong.  UK pension is already one of the worst in Europe.

My State Pension exceeds the Personal Allowance so my small private pension actually has a NEGATIVE Tax Code (they tax me on more than they pay me).

 

My rent has gone up by £70 per month in April but the net value of my pensions has only gone up by £40 per month - so I'm actually worse off in 2024-2025 than I was in 2023-2024! So much for "rich" pensioners...

Edited 9 April by PetrolDave

[lol-lol]

27 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

 

My State Pension exceeds the Personal Allowance so my small private pension actually has a NEGATIVE Tax Code (they tax me on more than they pay me).

 

My rent has gone up by £70 per month in April but the net value of my pensions has only gone up by £40 per month - so I'm actually worse off in 2024-2025 than I was in 2023-2024! So much for "rich" pensioners...

 

As somebody who has had a K500 code, ie taxation starts at minus £5k, higher rate started at about £7k I know you pain.

 

Few can fathom why the Con party decided to wack pensioners.  The clue is in Hunt's making work pay comments ad he appears to want people of all ages, over 18 it seems, even those late sixties and above to work and earn and pay income tax.

 

Only way round I have found is to put masses into pension and the quarter thar is lump sum is the bit that avoids the tax, and national insurance hits.

 

[@Lee]

List of MPs standing down ahead of the next GE as of 26/3/2024
 

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/mps-standing-down-next-election

[lol-lol]

13 minutes ago, @Lee said:

List of MPs standing down ahead of the next GE as of 26/3/2024
 

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/mps-standing-down-next-election

 

Got to be a hundred by now, please.

Let us hope we get to a hundred and fifty before GE at least. 

 

[@Lee]

Ouch! I wonder if this might lead to calls from even Tory quarters that the FPTP system is outdated and unfair and call for Proportional Representation? 
There was a referendum on the matter in 2011 but that wasn't about FPTP Vs Proportional Representation - it was about FPTP Vs the Alternative Vote system.
It's not looking good for Reform btw lol

 

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49061-yougov-mrp-labour-now-projected-to-win-over-400-seats 
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_United_Kingdom_Alternative_Vote_referendum
 

Edited 10 April by @Lee

[EnterName]

On 09/04/2024 at 11:29, lol-lol said:

 

As somebody who has had a K500 code, ie taxation starts at minus £5k, higher rate started at about £7k I know you pain.

 

Few can fathom why the Con party decided to wack pensioners.  The clue is in Hunt's making work pay comments ad he appears to want people of all ages, over 18 it seems, even those late sixties and above to work and earn and pay income tax.

 

Only way round I have found is to put masses into pension and the quarter thar is lump sum is the bit that avoids the tax, and national insurance hits.

 

I think the reason the Conservatives have targeted pensioners is firstly, because they can.

The future of the UK is not dependent on pensioners, so they can largely be disregarded.

The people seen to be driving growth in the UK will be the focus of government largesse.

The era of generational wealth transfer is over.

The plan seems to be; you live, you accrue what you can, then the state grabs as much of your wealth as possible when you die, unless you are very canny with your money.

Obviously Labour will gain power at the next election, what will be interesting to me, will be to see if Labour is as disappointing to the left as the Conservatives have been the right.

With a huge majority, Labour will have no excuse for not behaving as Labour voters expect, though I think it's likely Starmer will do a Blair, and not give a flying fig what the Labour base think.

[EnterName]

On 08/04/2024 at 11:19, @Lee said:

I can point to the exact date the real rot set in. I've said in previous topics that Brexit would be the tories poisoned chalice. 

BREXIT BINGO! 😄

Oddly, the "real rot" didn't stop the Conservatives romping home with a giant majority in 2019, every smashing the so-called "red wall" oop North.

Given you've never supported a Conservative candidate in your life, I very much doubt you have any sensible insight as to what appeals to people who might vote Conservative.

Your obsession with Brexit is blinding you to the obvious.

 

What has killed the Conservative party has been the insane levels of immigration to the UK during their present term.

You might think immigration is the best thing since sliced bread, but Conservatives voters, rightly or wrongly, don't.

 

Incidentally, it's interesting to see Labour already starting to back-pedal some of their previously stated preferences.

The Cass Review has put the TERF cat amongst the LGBTQ+ pigeons, and under Labour, it seems children are going to be protected from "Gender Affirming Care". (Another one of the left's horrible things hidden behind a friendly euphemism.)

About time too! It looks like Labour has no intention of pandering to that collective like the desperate-for-approval Conservatives did.

 

If Labour actually have some principles and stick to them, they really could end up with a super-majority of 500 seats, which would be very interesting.

Labour victory aside, I'm rooting for total Conservative destruction, and I'm hoping for a termination of the embryonic Reform Party too, since they've made a virtue of jumping through Hope not Soap's hoops and removing candidates.

The idea that normal people have never said anything online that couldn't be turned into an alarming headline is absurd, but if that's the standard all politicians must be held to, then let the online archaeology commence.

I don't expect there to be much of a queue of people bothering to apply to stand as a Conform(sic) Party candidate.

 

[PetrolDave]

3 hours ago, EnterName said:

I think the reason the Conservatives have targeted pensioners is firstly, because they can.

The future of the UK is not dependent on pensioners, so they can largely be disregarded.

The people seen to be driving growth in the UK will be the focus of government largesse.

The era of generational wealth transfer is over.

Given that pensioners make up a large proportion of Tory voters the policy of targeting pensioners is making their electoral prospects even worse than it otherwise might be, so are we to conclude that Rishi has a death wish for the Conservative party and after the expected massive defeat in the GE will become a kept man working for Akshata's family firms abroad?

[lol-lol]

4 hours ago, PetrolDave said:

Given that pensioners make up a large proportion of Tory voters the policy of targeting pensioners is making their electoral prospects even worse than it otherwise might be, so are we to conclude that Rishi has a death wish for the Conservative party and after the expected massive defeat in the GE will become a kept man working for Akshata's family firms abroad?

 

My mum use to work at a senior person home and the owner of the home just took up at the postal voting forms, put down voting for the Cons/Tories, job done, never even consulted the residence.

 

[skomaz]

43 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

 

My mum use to work at a senior person home and the owner of the home just took up at the postal voting forms, put down voting for the Cons/Tories, job done, never even consulted the residence.

 

 

That sounds very much like an old wives tale...   I'd imagine anyone in the care industry would be more likely to try and swing things the other way and use them to vote labour?

 

Presumably she reported the voter fraud...

[EnterName]

16 hours ago, PetrolDave said:

Given that pensioners make up a large proportion of Tory voters the policy of targeting pensioners is making their electoral prospects even worse than it otherwise might be, so are we to conclude that Rishi has a death wish for the Conservative party and after the expected massive defeat in the GE will become a kept man working for Akshata's family firms abroad?

Who cares about Johnny-come-lately Rishi Sunak?

He's a nobody. A man solely defined by his job.

Like most of the nonentity middle-manager tier politicians, he'll go and be quickly forgotten, and he'll be lucky if people remember his name.

If they do, he'll only be remembered for his failures, as he's done nothing noticeably memorable while PM.

 

12 hours ago, lol-lol said:

My mum use to work at a senior person home and the owner of the home just took up at the postal voting forms, put down voting for the Cons/Tories, job done, never even consulted the residence.

Care home vote theft is more prevalent than some people might imagine, but your framing of it as getting the residents to vote Conservative is laughable.

While the residents of care homes might want to vote Conservative, the carers will almost always be voting Labour, and doubtless "help" the residents vote Labour too.

There's likely to be little hard evidence of this, as having your postal vote "stolen" doesn't leave bruises.

 

11 hours ago, skomaz said:

That sounds very much like an old wives tale...   I'd imagine anyone in the care industry would be more likely to try and swing things the other way and use them to vote labour?

Brexit! I mean, bingo!.

[@Lee]

"Care home vote theft is more prevalent than some people might imagine"
"There's likely to be little hard evidence of this, as having your postal vote "stolen" doesn't leave bruises."

So something happens lots but there's no evidence of it happening. 'Dogs eggs' was a great analogy. 

[Ootohere]

Rishy had Victoria Atkins MP SoS for Health & Social Care of the United Kingdom out prepping media early while there was an embargo of the announcement on figures on meeting targets or whatever.

 

Spin and bluster and Naga Munchetty asked a simple question. 

Paraphrase, If there was such good numbers giving the average which are doing best places?     Can you name who are doing best?

 

Victoria gets good jobs. she is there to answer difficult questions no matter what position in cabinet she gets with no qualifications really other than coming from a good family,

married well, travelled, volunteered, learned about law, becomes a Barrister and works in the field of fraud.

 

That is a good enough to try and con us then.  The boss Rishy opens his mouth and says little or twists the truth. 

[J.R.]

22 hours ago, skomaz said:

 

That sounds very much like an old wives tale...   I'd imagine anyone in the care industry would be more likely to try and swing things the other way and use them to vote labour?

 

Presumably she reported the voter fraud...

 

I read it as the owner decided unilaterally that all the old duffers and old dears would have voted Conservative anyway so he took the easy way out and did it for them probably because it would have taken far too long getting each of them to understand the question.

[@Lee]

Another Reform candidate not being 'smeared' but being removed because of his own sordid actions. Is there any vetting done by Reform Ltd?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13305023/reform-uk-candidate-jack-denny-prior-conviction.html

[Ootohere]

I read that they sacked an in-active candidate then discovered that they had died. 

Finger on the pulse.   Well  apparently not. 

 

This really is going to be a horrible few years or decades, Conservatives & Unionists not fit to rule.

  Labour Party not fit to rule.  

 

David Lammy MP will go anywhere and speak to anyone.  Especially The Donald.   Well if neither get elected then David can pay for his own flights, and pints.

He thinks nothing of flying to the likes of Brazil to talk 'Rubbish' and green matters.   He is a snouter. 

 

Time that many of them go back and work for themselves officially and not kid on they are working for us. 

 

 

Edited 15 April by Rooted

[@Lee]

Mark Menzies, MP for Fylde in Lancashire seems interesting. 

 

 

Edited 17 April by @Lee