Anonymous
The Labour UK party chose to make specific cuts that will impact some of the poorest in society whose needs are far greater than some others, like say Bankers and large corporations .
Where Labour UK have also chosen to not reinstate the cap on Banker’s bonuses and also where Labour UK have chosen to not raise corporation tax as the new UK government.
According to the BBC UK Politics part of the BBC website (as in the part of the BBC who remain loyal to the Tory party) :
“The government has repeatedly claimed that it has inherited a previously undisclosed £22bn “black hole” in the nation’s finances from the Conservatives.
Ministers have used the figure to justify the decision to cut the winter fuel payment, while Sir Keir Starmer has also warned that October’s Budget will be “painful”.
(“Painful” for whom though ? Says I).
But economists say the state of the public finances should not have come as a complete surprise to the Labour government, arguing some of the pressures should have been anticipated“
“But while Labour can credibly claim it was not aware of all areas of overspending, certain things were known.
For example, pay review bodies were likely to recommend a raise bigger than the 2% initially budgeted by the last government in order to retain teachers, nurses and other public sector workers.
It is a point made by IFS director, Paul Johnson: “The numbers may be a little bit worse than they thought at the time, and I think there were some things that were hidden from view, but the overall picture over the next four or five years is very, very similar to what we knew before the election.”
“The trouble with terms such as “black hole” is they suggest the government’s hand was forced“
“It is important to remember that choices were indeed made. The government decided to do things like giving winter fuel payment only to those receiving pension credit, but it could have taken other decisions”.
“For example, it is basing the decisions on needing to meet the fiscal rules that it imposed on itself, but it could have changed the rules. Or it could have decided to spend less on something else.”
“The Leader of the House of Commons, (Labour’s) Lucy Powell, told BBC News on 1 September: “If we hadn’t taken that action we would have seen a run on the pound, we would have seen the economy crashing.”
“Nina Skero, chief executive of the Centre for Economics and Business Research told BBC Verify: “It is hard to find any evidence to support the claim that there is an imminent risk of a run on the pound.”
She added that the size of any hole in the public finances is “highly speculative, subject to forecasts, and there are no alarm bells going off at the moment among investors looking at the UK“.
So really based on all of the above why then pre the GE were Labour making so many pledges, promises, financial commitments and also declaring with such (faux) confidence and (Faux) sincerity that with them, Labour UK as the new UK government, the public would see real “Change” and a real “Fresh start” which was really Labour UK declaring that they would be different from the previous Tory UK government. Surely ?
The public then assumed (wrongly) that the financial burden they were all living under ,when the Tories were in charge , would then be eased indeed lifted as a burden when Labour UK took over as the new UK government.
This has not happened with Labour UK instead we , within the UK, now all (as ordinary people aka workers) must still suffer hardships via what the new Labour UK government has decided to do.
(And just like the Tories their decisions as the new UK government impact us, the majority , more than the wealthy minority, as in the so called top 1% , who are reported as being those who are disproportionately assumed to be Male, middle aged and London based ).
I have highlighted certain words and noted that the above was on the BBC website via their UK Politics page, which does , as an article, dispute and contradict a lot of what Labour UK, Labour in Scotland and also what their, Labour , friends in the media, including BBC Scotland, are claiming in Scotland.
As in respect to both the Labour UK and the SNP cuts , which as cuts were made initially by Labour UK as the current UK government.
Where now , in Scotland, it seems as if most of the blame is being directed at the SNP, as the Scottish government, who yet again are being singled out and named as the (political) villains within the UK , according to much of the pro UK media in Scotland.
Meanwhile on the same BBC website on both the Scotland page and the Scotland Politics page as the second story on both pages there is this headline and story by James Cook (Chief Tale spinner for the BBC in Scotland):
” Scotland’s struggle to tackle poverty while cutting services”
Read that story on the Scottish page and then think of what Labour UK have decided, as the new UK government, to do when they had choices to do other things instead .
Also where economists have said that in their (professional) opinion as economists they ,Labour UK, were not totally oblivious to some of the financial shortfalls via the previous Tory UK government.
Additionally they, Labour UK, were also aware of the expectations of public sector workers pay being increased as in them expecting, via pay review bodies recommendations, a pay raise higher than the 2% initially budgeted by the last government.
How about for once, all of the UK media everywhere in the UK , just all coming out and being honest in them all stating that in relation to what Labour UK are now currently doing and saying as the new UK government, then it is patently obvious that they , Labour UK, lied to all of the public before the UK GE in July of this year.
That is in respect to what they, Labour UK, promised would be the public seeing and experiencing both a “Change” and also a “Fresh start” with a new Labour UK government in comparison to what they, as a public, suffered under the previous Tory UK government.
So surely for the UK media in relation to this situation with Labour UK “if it looks like a Duck, walks like a Duck and Quacks like a Duck then it just may be a Duck”
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
John, Speaking about budgets I had a look the Scottish Fiscal Commission seems a lot of very cleaver people with a budget of 2024-25 is £2,706,000. with all this money could they not come up with a better forecast for Scotland instead of the very biased GERS that we get maybe me being very cynical but it seems a lot of money for what they do.
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Westminster decides how 40% of Scottish revenues are spent. If Scotland did not have to spend on Trident, illegal wars, tax evasion, redundant weaponry, HS2, Hinkley Point etc, nuclear, London transport, Westminster bureaucracy. Scotland would have a lot more to spend on essentials and not have a ‘so called’ deficit.
Westminster is running up the debt on stuff Scotland does not need or want. Brexit costing £Billions. Westminster spending £270Billion over two years on Covid funding. Most of it was wasted on non scrutinised Gov contracts for Tories and their associates. Westminster unionists squandering the public purse.
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Pensioners are the poorest group in society. £8000 a year for those born before 1950. A quarter of the average income. £10,000 a year for those after 1950. A third of the average income.
A two tier pension scheme. More for those who have to wait longer. Benefits for those who cannot work before 67 years. More administration costs which could be saved by giving people higher pensions sooner. Increased pensions would mean less administration costs. Pay for itself.
Westminster are starving peoples mothers who gave them birth. Women live longer than men, on average. The lowest pension in the EU. 10% of pensioners pay tax. 9% of pensioners work longer in Scotland. 6% work longer in the South. Pensioners who are paying tax are still working, on average.
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I note from the Wales page of the BBC News website (September 4) this headline: ‘FM says Wales will not face Scotland-size cuts’. Fortunate Wales? Well not really but it’s the way you tell it!
The newly appointed Labour FM explained that the Welsh government had “taken quite a lot of the pain already”. The BBC reports that the Labour government in Cardiff has already made £446m in savings in the last budget. That created quite a media stir – didn’t it?
Was prior action on savings taken by the Labour government in Wales the same as making cuts to its planned expenditure? Was getting to a situation so recently where nearly half a billion pounds of ‘savings’ in a country the size of Wales was even necessary an indication of an ‘incompetent’ government?
The BBC piece goes on: ‘Academics warned before the general election of steep cuts to come for the Welsh government, estimating in June that the Labour UK government would need to provide another £683m to avoid cuts to non-protected areas of spending.
In the last budget every Welsh government department except healthcare saw real terms cuts, with rural affairs the worst hit, with a total of £446m in savings.‘ (my emphasis)
So no cuts to healthcare in Wales? This seems relevant, from Audit Wales (August 29, 2024): ‘All Health Boards breach break even duty amid deepening financial pressures’:
‘… the seven health boards in Wales all failed to meet their statutory duty to break even over a three-year period.‘
‘Against a backdrop of significant demand, the total in-year deficit for 2023-24 has increased to £183 million (£150 million in 2022-23) and the three-year cumulative over-spend across the NHS increased from £248 million in 2022-23 to £385 million in 2023-24.’
‘NHS bodies are having to deliver significant levels of savings in their attempt to contain costs. Reported savings increased again in 2023-24, continuing the trend in 2022-23, and at £210 million, are at the highest level since 2018-19.’
Source: https://www.audit.wales/sites/default/files/publications/A465_section_2_update_report_eng.pdf
But then this is the situation in Wales: the causes, the political reactions and the media coverage of factors impacting government and the public finances operate differently in Wales from Scotland – and will do for as long as a pro-independence party is in government in Edinburgh!
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Whilst on the topic of Labour, I posted some of this elsewhere a few days ago but given the reaction from Labour to the Scottish Government’s budget cuts, it is if anything more relevant today.
It’s instructive to cast one’s mind back to what Labour in Scotland was proposing to do, how much it was proposing to spend, if it had won power in Holyrood in 2021.
In the words of BBC Scotland’s economic sage, Douglas Fraser at the time: ‘‘With so much uncertainty about future tax revenue and block grants, the manifestos offer, at best, a very sketchy picture of how budgets can be balanced. Scottish Labour has a long and expensive wish list, but it’s particularly vague on how to pay for them.’ (my emphasis – BBC News website (April 24, 2021) ‘Scottish election 2021: Many manifestos, but for what?’
A quick look through the 2021 manifesto shows Mr Fraser’s use of ‘vague’ to be an understatement! Moreover, back in 2021 Labour was working hard to reassure the Scottish electorate. This was from its 2021 election manifesto: ‘At this time, when household budgets are under pressure and we are focused on recovery, Scottish Labour will seek to avoid increasing income tax. If there is a need to increase income tax revenues during the next parliamentary term, Scottish Labour would support changes that generate income from those earning over £100,000 a year.‘
Of course if Labour had become the Scottish Government, FM Sarwar would have placed the blame for his government’s problems/failures on Westminster just as the Labour government in Cardiff has been doing repeatedly. But what will happen in Welsh politics now?
On August 19, the Wales section of the BBC News website had this headline: ‘Keir Starmer meets Eluned Morgan as problems loom’. In this we’re told: ‘Most Welsh government funding comes from Westminster, but we already know that Sir Keir’s government is more concerned with rectifying what they call a public finances “black hole” than splashing the cash. So keep an eye out for two budgets.
‘One by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October, which will outline UK government spending for the next year and the likely picture beyond. And then the Welsh government’s draft budget a couple of months later, which is expected to paint a less than pretty picture.’
The BBC Wales article goes on: ‘Last year there were cuts across the board to keep the NHS ticking and trains running. Then it was easy for Welsh Labour ministers to blame the Tories and their “mismanagement of the economy”. But that’s less likely to wash in the long run with Labour and Labour in power – and opposition parties in Wales are waiting to seize on it.’
‘There is a school of thought that a stand-up row with her Labour colleagues at Westminster wouldn’t do the FM any harm. It might be Labour and Labour, but “we’re the Labour on your side” kind of thing…’ And finally: ‘Given the scale of some of Wales’ issues any row needn’t be a contrived one.’
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Published in Labour List (8th January, 2024): ‘Read full Anas Sarwar speech: More MPs gives Scottish Labour a seat at table’.
Mr Sarwar is quoted: ‘We are determined that 2024 will be the year of change. They (sic) year we put Scotland at the heart of a fairer, better, more prosperous UK. The year we start delivering thousands of green jobs. The year we drive down bills by up to £1,400 pounds. The year we deliver for working people and make work pay. The year we finally get rid of this Tory government. And the year we make Labour the party of government again.’
£1,400? Elsewhere in the speech the implication is that 2024 will see energy bills coming down: ‘… we’ll invest in bringing down people’s energy bills – saving you up to £1400, not just for one year but every year.’
Source https://labourlist.org/2024/01/read-full-anas-sarwar-speech-more-mps-gives-scottish-labour-a-seat-at-table/
From the BBC News website (23 August 2024): ‘Typical household energy bill up £149 a year in October’. The dates are important – after Labour came to power in Westminster and just several increasingly wintery months until the end of 2024, this year of ‘change’ and lower energy bills! Not long to deliver such reductions in bills in 2024 then?
The BBC reports: ‘People using an average amount of gas and electricity will pay £1,717 a year, a 10% rise compared with now.’
‘… the rise in bills comes as some support for bills has been withdrawn, and the new government has announced it will halt winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners in England and Wales.’
‘Bills will remain about £117 a year cheaper for a typical household than in October last year, but analysts say another rise in prices is likely in January.’
Slippery as usual, Labour’s leader in Scotland is artful in making pronouncements that ‘flatter to deceive’ – or worse!
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