Tax cuts abound

[Zero Liability]

So after four years of cuts and austerity, we are somewhere in the first three steps. So how much more do we need to cut to get to the fourth, and how long will that take?

Even the minimal austerity the Tories did enact was controversial, never mind the sort of real austerity the govt would have to enact on itself to achieve that. They didn't achieve their goal but doing so would be suicide in the ultra short term world of politics. Besides, why on earth would anyone expect Labour to do any better? They're both abysmal parties. Labour has no inclination to practice anything like what is needed.

[DodgyAgent]

The commitment to borrowing is pretty much the same between Labour and Conservative. Over half of the 1.2 trillion has been added in the last 4 yrs and the targets are being missed. In political speak, everything is splendid we're doing great!

The Tories know that if they were to enact the cuts that are really needed they would be voted out. It will take another 3 day week and rubbish piled on the streets to make the Uk electorate understand what really needs to be done.

[jamesbrown]

The Tories know that if they were to enact the cuts that are really needed they would be voted out. It will take another 3 day week and rubbish piled on the streets to make the Uk electorate understand what really needs to be done.

Sad, but unquestionably true. We haven't seen spending cuts in any meaningful sense, only a flattening of spending increases. Given the breadth and depth of public and private indebtedness around the world, and the structurally low growth in large parts of the world, it's difficult to see any conventional, non-draconian, way of addressing this (i.e. spending cuts, inflation).

[d000hg]

The Tories know that if they were to enact the cuts that are really needed they would be voted out..

No party can enact that kind of policy safely, people as a general rule just won't buy into medium-term suffering for (possible) longer-term gain or selflessly acting to help others out at their own expense.

[Zero Liability]

Perhaps, but anyone with common sense would realise Labour will lie as much as it can to slither back into power, then wreck the country even further, making promises it knows full well it cannot keep (though Nick Clegg has something of a niche there.) At least the UK isn't in as precarious a situation as the US, though.

The Tories will lose the next election. What with privatising the NHS, cutting benefits for hard-working families and now lowering taxes for the rich, they are doomed and so will we all be

What do you mean? The higher rate threshold doesn't just apply to the rich, who by and large don't earn their primary income as salary, anyway. It does hit the middle class, especially the aspirational elements of it, quite hard. Besides, Labour initiated the supposed "privatisation" of the NHS, with the PFIs, did it not? And increasing the lower threshold will benefit those on lower income. They should go further and align PAYE and NI and push both thresholds even higher.

I'm curious to see if the Tories plan to do anything with contractors, or for that matter, UKIP. Considering the Lib-dems' rather vacuous promise to abolish IR35, it is to be taken with a grain of salt anyway, but it'll be interesting to see what they have in mind given Labour's about-face on the matter, if anything.

[d000hg]

Perhaps, but anyone with common sense would realise Labour will lie as much as it can to slither back into power

Anyone with sense would realise that's not a trait specific to Labour.

[Zero Liability]

I don't disagree, I just can't see the rationale for substituting the Conservatives with Labour, when all that will do is disrupt the measures they've already initiated. Of course, Labour can promise anything it likes, it just has to allude to the "rich" as those who will pay for it all.

That said, the more I hear from Cameron, the less I think of him. Hopefully the Tories will have the good sense of putting someone else forward for 2015.

[vetran]

. Hopefully the Tories will have the good sense of putting someone else forward for 2015.

who? can't think of any that would be up to the task, unfortunately across the front benches I can't think of anyone suitable.

[Zero Liability]

The thing that bothers me about Cameron, besides the above, is his intransigence on UKIP. It's not as though the Tories have the luxury of playing tough, and for all his grumbling about them splitting the vote, it is going to continue and they are also going to continue taking more MPs, so the Tories may as well become pragmatic about it, because it looks likely that the Lib-dems may side with Labour this time, not to mention that they're a rather tulipe party in all respects, other than perhaps pushing the LRT higher, which should be done anyway on account of inflation alone.

It's not as though UKIP is at odds with his own party's ideology, which is why it is having the effect it has. It could be that they don't want to veer in that direction for fear of losing more votes, as a result of becoming less "middle of the road", whatever that entails for two already very middle of the road parties (the Tories and Labour), but even the policies UKIP is recommending are not very different from what the Tories have in mind, barring their greater emphasis on leaving the EU. Cameron has already committed to a referendum on the matter, anyway, and claims to not be very emotionally involved over it.

I was going to suggest Boris Johnson, yet his attitude is the same. That leaves Theresa May, so really not a great lineup. There's less known ones, like Daniel Hannan, but he isn't as prolific as Cameron, however I think he is a much more sensible chap on economic issues. He seems loyal to the Tories but less inflexible about UKIP, considering that he is a Eurosceptic.

[darmstadt]

I saw this on some website from his speech:

People working 30 hours a week will not pay any tax.

but its not quite that:

So with us, if you work 30 hours a week on minimum wage, you will pay no income tax at all. Nothing. Zero. Zilch.

Damn!

The full speech: CCHQ Press

General Election is in 217 days, see how much of that comes to fruition before and after the big day