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Budget 2023

hifinutt

hifinutt

hifinutt
some goodnews for many including parents in Todays budget

  • Government subsidies limiting typical household energy bills to £2,500 a year extended for three months, until the end of June
  • £200m to bring energy charges for prepayment meters into line with prices for customers paying by direct debit - affects 4m households
  • Commitment to invest £20bn over next two decades on low-carbon energy projects, with a focus on carbon capture and storage
  • Nuclear energy to be classed as environmentally sustainable for investment purposes, with promise of more public funding
  • £63m to help leisure centres with rising swimming pool heating costs, and invest to become more energy efficient
  • 30 hours of free childcare for working parents in England expanded to cover one and two-year-olds, in a bid to help them work more
  • Families on universal credit to receive childcare support up front instead of in arrears, with the £646-a-month per child cap raised to £951
  • £600 "incentive payments" for those becoming childminders, and relaxed rules in England to let childminders look after more children
  • New fitness-to-work testing regime to qualify for health-related benefits
  • Funding for up to 50,000 places on new voluntary employment scheme for disabled people, called Universal Support
  • Tougher requirements to look for work and increased job support for lead child carers on universal credit
  • More places on "skills boot camps" to encourage over-50s who have left their jobs to return to the workplace
  • Immigration rules to be relaxed for five roles in construction sector, to ease labour shortages
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64789405
 
Defense; £11bn will be allocated over the next 5 years.

That is in contrast to the US;

On March 9, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration submitted to Congress a proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Budget request of $842 billion for the Department of Defense (DoD), an increase of $26 billion over FY 2023 levels and $100 billion more than FY 2022.

We are facing increasing and serious threats from the usual suspects but as always, the West is largely relying on the US to provide Global security.

This is a laughable investment in defense.


To put this in to some perspective, Benefit overpayments amounted to £8.6bn in FYE 2022.

Nato members should contribute a minimum of 2% of GDP.

Cost share arrangements for civil budget, military budget and NATO Security Investment Programme (2021-2024)

Nation Adjusted cost share further to accession of North Macedonia
"at 30"
Applicable as from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2024
Albania 0.0908
Belgium 2.1043
Bulgaria 0.3656
Canada 6.8789
Croatia 0.2995
Czechia 1.0558
Denmark 1.3116
Estonia 0.1248
France 10.4913
Germany 16.3444
Greece 1.0573
Hungary 0.7595
Iceland 0.0642
Italy 8.7812
Latvia 0.1595
Lithuania 0.2566
Luxembourg 0.1693
Montenegro 0.0291
Netherlands 3.4506
North Macedonia 0.0778
Norway 1.7771
Poland 2.9861
Portugal 1.0491
Romania 1.2279
Slovakia 0.516
Slovenia 0.2276
Spain 5.9908
Türkiye 4.7266
United Kingdom 11.2823
United States 16.3444
TOTAL NATO 100.0000
 
When it comes to defence spending, the nominal sums don't tell us much more than the size of the country. A better measure is the percentage of GDP.

The UK is around 8th in the world in % of GDP terms, behind some dysfunctional regimes: Saudi Arabia, Israel, US, Russia, South Korea, India, Iran. Yes, we need to support Ukraine and present a credible threat, but there is no need to build Death Stars. You can argue that there are countries in Europe who should be spending more, but we seem to be about right.
 
laughingboy said:
When it comes to defence spending, the nominal sums don't tell us much more than the size of the country. A better measure is the percentage of GDP.

The UK is around 8th in the world in % of GDP terms, behind some dysfunctional regimes: Saudi Arabia, Israel, US, Russia, South Korea, India, Iran. Yes, we need to support Ukraine and present a credible threat, but there is no need to build Death Stars. You can argue that there are countries in Europe who should be spending more, but we seem to be about right.
Click to expand...

If you purely look at the current investment table and compare country to country (US except), perhaps. However, these %'s of GDP are outdated agreements and have little to do with the current situation. Nato as an example is not exactly the quickest milkfloat when it comes to reacting to or forseeing threats.

It is about time we and others are taking the situation seriously.
 
hifinutt said:
some goodnews for many including parents in Todays budget

  • Government subsidies limiting typical household energy bills to £2,500 a year extended for three months, until the end of June
  • £200m to bring energy charges for prepayment meters into line with prices for customers paying by direct debit - affects 4m households
  • Commitment to invest £20bn over next two decades on low-carbon energy projects, with a focus on carbon capture and storage
  • Nuclear energy to be classed as environmentally sustainable for investment purposes, with promise of more public funding
  • £63m to help leisure centres with rising swimming pool heating costs, and invest to become more energy efficient
  • 30 hours of free childcare for working parents in England expanded to cover one and two-year-olds, in a bid to help them work more
  • Families on universal credit to receive childcare support up front instead of in arrears, with the £646-a-month per child cap raised to £951
  • £600 "incentive payments" for those becoming childminders, and relaxed rules in England to let childminders look after more children
  • New fitness-to-work testing regime to qualify for health-related benefits
  • Funding for up to 50,000 places on new voluntary employment scheme for disabled people, called Universal Support
  • Tougher requirements to look for work and increased job support for lead child carers on universal credit
  • More places on "skills boot camps" to encourage over-50s who have left their jobs to return to the workplace
  • Immigration rules to be relaxed for five roles in construction sector, to ease labour shortages
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64789405
Click to expand...
"Nuclear energy to be classed as environmentally sustainable for investment purposes, with promise of more public funding".

How exactly is that good news for parents, or indeed anyone?
 
ff1d1l said:
"Nuclear energy to be classed as environmentally sustainable for investment purposes, with promise of more public funding".

How exactly is that good news for parents, or indeed anyone?
Click to expand...

Indeed, 70 years after the first nuclear power stations came on line, we still don't know what to with the waste and how properly to decommission old stations. Never mind. Our children, or their children, or maybe their children will sort it out. ... if they're still here.

It's a pity, because, apart from the waste, nuclear power is such a good idea. Well, except for the risk of explosions, of course.
 
ff1d1l said:
"Nuclear energy to be classed as environmentally sustainable for investment purposes, with promise of more public funding".

How exactly is that good news for parents, or indeed anyone?
Click to expand...
Vast Tidal & Wind resources in the UK. Send billions to china for nuclear for a few decades
The UK’s tidal power resource is estimated to be around 10GW, which represents around 50% of Europe’s tidal energy capacity.
Levelized Cost of Energy the cost per kilowatt (KW) for utility-scale solar is less than $1,000 while the comparable cost per KW for nuclear power is between $6,500 and $12,250.

1200x675.jpg
 
hifinutt said:
some goodnews for many including parents in Todays budget
  • Tougher requirements to look for work and increased job support for lead child carers on universal credit
  • 30 hours of free childcare for working parents in England expanded to cover one and two-year-olds, in a bid to help them work more
  • £600 "incentive payments" for those becoming childminders, and relaxed rules in England to let childminders look after more children
Click to expand...
This trifecta means: poor and median income families are not allowed to have a stay-at-home parent. They will be punished via the UC system until they send their children to a nursery (good luck finding one - 19% decline since 2017, they are going bust). If they find a nursery, the old ratios of carers:children no longer apply. One low-paid carer to every five two-year olds. Little kiddie zoos.

Are you sure that this is good news for parents?
 
Seanm said:
Pension cash bung to the very wealthy + tougher benefit sanctions. Same old.
Click to expand...

Yes the "back to work" tougher benefit sanctions stuck out for me too.

The Indie reports Under the plans, jobcentre staff will be given additional training “to ensure they are applying sanctions effectively”, while administrative elements of the sanctions process will be automated

I hope I'm wrong but this seems almost guaranteed to results in more deaths of vulnerable people when 'computer says no'.

As a T1 diabetic I still can't read the reports of David Clapson's death without welling up.

The coroner said that when David Clapson died he had no food in his stomach. Clapson’s benefits had been stopped as a result of missing one meeting at the jobcentre. He was diabetic, and without the £71.70 a week from his jobseeker’s allowance he couldn’t afford to eat or put credit on his electricity card to keep the fridge where he kept his insulin working. Three weeks later Clapson died from diabetic ketoacidosis, caused by a severe lack of insulin. A pile of CVs was found next to his body.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...n-benefit-sanctions-death-government-policies
 
paulfromcamden said:
Yes the "back to work" tougher benefit sanctions stuck out for me too.
Click to expand...

What about the abolition of disability fitness for work tests? Sounds progressive but surely it will mean the long term sick and disabled are no longer protected, since it has been replaced with a process that 'asks' claimants to demonstrate what work they might be able to take.

“There’s a trust issue here, and I don’t trust the government as far as I can throw it.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society...was-so-bad-but-the-assessors-didnt-believe-me
 
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hifinutt said:
some goodnews for many including parents in Todays budget

  • Government subsidies limiting typical household energy bills to £2,500 a year extended for three months, until the end of June
  • £200m to bring energy charges for prepayment meters into line with prices for customers paying by direct debit - affects 4m households
  • Commitment to invest £20bn over next two decades on low-carbon energy projects, with a focus on carbon capture and storage
  • Nuclear energy to be classed as environmentally sustainable for investment purposes, with promise of more public funding
  • £63m to help leisure centres with rising swimming pool heating costs, and invest to become more energy efficient
  • 30 hours of free childcare for working parents in England expanded to cover one and two-year-olds, in a bid to help them work more
  • Families on universal credit to receive childcare support up front instead of in arrears, with the £646-a-month per child cap raised to £951
  • £600 "incentive payments" for those becoming childminders, and relaxed rules in England to let childminders look after more children
  • New fitness-to-work testing regime to qualify for health-related benefits
  • Funding for up to 50,000 places on new voluntary employment scheme for disabled people, called Universal Support
  • Tougher requirements to look for work and increased job support for lead child carers on universal credit
  • More places on "skills boot camps" to encourage over-50s who have left their jobs to return to the workplace
  • Immigration rules to be relaxed for five roles in construction sector, to ease labour shortages
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64789405
Click to expand...
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From Robert Peston's Twitter:

"Chancellor has just told me that he wants his work incentives and compulsion measures to increase employment participation to a level similar to the Netherlands, which would mean there would be 2.7m more British people in work" ​

The ONS says there are currently 1.124m vacancies. Getting 2.7m people into work would require an additional 1.5m+ new jobs (probably closer to 2m jobs, to allow for 'churn').

How will the Tories create 2m new jobs? 'Compulsion measures' - the last time the Tories claimed to have created 1.5m new jobs (around 2014), the reality was that they had bullied people into insecure, low-paid jobs, or insecure low-paid self-employment (Mirror), because there are not enough part-time jobs available.

It's the Tory project in a nutshell - 'incentives' for the well off (pension changes) and 'compulsion measures' for the poor. Whatever it takes to drive down wages.
 
If the budget spending ‘to get people back into work’ is a good idea, why isn’t it a good idea to spend money to get striking nurses, teachers and other back into working for a living wage?

If there was decent living wages and decent working conditions on offer, people who want work would take up that offer
 
Nothing on health and equality

"UK is now the second most economically unequal country in Europe after Bulgaria."

"While life expectancy has increased in absolute terms, similar countries have experienced larger increases, they wrote. In the 1950s, the UK had one of the longest life expectancies in the world, ranking seventh globally behind countries such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden, but in 2021 the UK was ranked 29th."

https://www.theguardian.com/society...ing-at-slower-rate-to-comparable-g7-countries
 
No detail whatsoever in the alternative Labour plan on R4 this morning? Just blaming the mess with no answers . Not a way to win over the public
 
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