Labour aren't going to raise income tax, NI or VAT - I'm not sure how many times they have to keep saying it. I know people don't believe them but why should they believe the tories when the tax burden is the highest its ever been.
Labour have committed to the pension plans that the Tories already had in place - i.e a triple lock on pensions. Sunak has introduced a dressed up version of a policy they already had in place. Labour's plan is no different to the commitment the tories have in place already so it is a bit cheap for the tories to criticise it.
Re: inheritance tax - The vast majority of people do not live in houses valued at £500,000 or more (which is the current inheritance tax threshold) Nor do people have thousands of pounds of capital to give away... Only those with expensive houses and lots of capital would be affected should Labour increase those taxes. It will not impact the majority of people.
The Tories will gaslight you into thinking otherwise because they are trying to safeguard their own financial interests.
Besides, I would be happy to pay more taxes if it means if public services are better. I pay a lot of tax and NI already and I am getting nothing for it right now. (For context, I paid about £10K in Tax and NI last year) I can't get a GP appointment when I need one, I have to pay privately for the therapy I desperately need to function as the NHS wait time is 2 years, I can't get an NHS dentist, anti-social behaviour and crime in my area has increased massively to the point that the police didn't come out when my husband was a victim of crime because it wasn't deemed "serious" enough. This never happened before 2010.
Immigration is the highest it has ever been. If Sunak thought Rwanda was going to work why didn't he wait a few months before calling the election so people could see that it works? His polling would be a heck of a lot better if he was able to prove the scheme's effectiveness - he certainly wouldn't be losing voters to Reform UK Ltd if that was the case.
Re: Benefits. Starmer was slightly better on this (and I say this as someone with 20 years experience in a welfare related job). The Tory way of kicking them off benefits and into work is shortsighted.
What no party has mentioned is the importance of breaking down the barriers to work. Right now the main barriers are - skill shortages, poor mental health and poor physical health. We have a mental health epidemic and there is very little nationally to help people overcome their mental health issues and get back to work. You cannot sanction this as the suicide rate will explode. Fixing the NHS wait times and providing additional MH staff will relieve this somewhat but what is also needed is collaborative working between the government, local councils and businesses to ensure that there are pathways back into work for those with health issues whether that is through flexible working, working from home, providing specialist equipment and ensuring that employers know their Equality Act obligations. Better Occupational Health and Employee Assistance schemes will also help. Proactive solutions are far better than reactive ones.
I can't say too much
but I have seen this done at a local level. When you combine that collaboration with community financial/debt advice provisions you find that people feel less overwhelmed and stressed. Sadly, these schemes are expensive but eventually the welfare bill will come down so it will balance out in the long term.
Skill shortages can be fixed with training schemes, courses and apprenticeships that actually lead to permanent contracts on a fair salary. Local councils and the Civil Service used to do this and it worked quite well until the schemes were scrapped.
www.express.co.uk
