That would be the Tory dogma that by upping the tax threshold ,lifted thousands of people from paying any income tax whatsoever.

Seriously?

Swingeing cuts to public services
Dreadful treatment of disabled people
Gutting the NHS and alienating the people who work in it - in preparation for creeping privatisation - which many of them will personally benefit from
Doing the same to schools - whilst planning to invest in new grammars
Slashing police and security service numbers - whilst mocking them for 'scaremongering'

Not to mention sending us hurtling towards a catastrophic decision to leave the EU, for the sake of hoovering up UKIP votes; they are acting solely in their parties interests, as demonstrated by their unholy union with the regressive DUP to cling on to power - and that's not acceptable.

Seriously ?

Wake up and smell the coffee.
The reality of where we are now is that, Labour, even with Corbyn at the helm now have a lead in the opinion polls.
Far from "strong and stable", the Tories have the weakest government in 40 years and you still cant see any wrong with Mrs May and her "policies" ?
People have had enough from being squeezed by the Conservative elite under the banner of "paying off the deficit".
Although public sector workers may have enjoyed some decent perks in the past (the 40/60 pension probably being the best of them), to restrict pay to a 15 increase indefinitely is obscene.
This is not flat cap, left wing politics, it's just wrong.
Yes, many private sector workers have been squeezed also but, what kind of society do you want.
It's no good wanting decent services and education for the younger generation and devaluing the very people who you need to deliver these services, whilst at the same time granting the MP's, inflation busting pay rises, partly brought about to help compensate them so that they may stop fiddling their expenses ??

Let me see.

Kids at school
Uni students
Welfare recipients
Nearly all public sector workers/contractors/suppliers
Homeless people
People who privately rent
People in social housing
People with physical/mental health problems
Older people
Foreign workers

off the top of my head.

Top of your blinkered head?

Why

? What did Labour do to BENEFIT any of those people, nothing!!

Forunately we've got a Conservative government for the forseeable future, I hope I never see Labour in power again.

You're beyond blinkered fella - Blair for all his faults did plenty for those groups.

Minimum wage, surestart centres, childcare, winter fuel payments, banned testing on animals, child trust funds, record students in higher educations, paternity pay.

Your beloved tories are a sick joke, the top 5% have increased their wealth by 15% while nurses, police and firefighters suffer a real terms cut.

I dont want to have a go at your eye sight but, foreseeable future ??
We havent even got a date for the Queens speech (Despite Mrs May initially saying that a deal had been done) and she will be gone by Christmas, possibly a lot sooner.
If the Tories are so confident, they would have another General Election but, dont hold your breath

Yes, he and his pals bankrupt the country with profligate spending, you are quite right.

Another myth you have allowed yourself to be duped into believing.

Labour invested heavily at the start of their reign, the deficit was coming down nicely, all under control and then the GLOBAL economic crash hit. No doubt that was all Labours fault as well?

I'll admit that his continuance of Thatchers financial deregulation and stupid PFI deals were well, stupid but if you actually look at the figures everything was pretty much under control.

You really should educate yourself beyond the echo chamber in which you currently operate; you're a Tory strategists dream - repeat the same tired old drivel enough times in enough places, and a significant chunk of the electorate will believe it, and repeat in angrily in pubs.

[url=http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2016/03/13/the-conservatives-have-been-the-biggest-borrowers-over-the-last-70-years/Try this for starters?[/url

Callaghan 269 seats - resigned
Kinnock 271 seats - resigned
Corbyn 262 seats - claims victory and orders the winner to resign

!!!

So, a Quaker who has been largely discredited by HMRC for many years posts an opinion in a poorly formatted blog, and thats "evidence"

Tha naws t'pit is closed lad?

Labour with Gordon and his "moral compass" sold our Gold Reserves at an all time low and left a note "sorry, the pot is empty", and now we are supposed to want Grandad Cringebin to run the country, I doube he could run a bath.

Its all about expectation, isnt it but, you know that.
And, if we're measuring result vs expectation, why is Mrs May still in charge ?

Many, including Mrs May, thought that Corbyn would be obliterated in the election but his stock rose sharply.
May on the other hand went from demanding a landslide victory, to strengthen her Brexit negotiating hand and she came away with sweet FA.
You can poke as much fun as you like at Corbyn and his supporters but, they are, by far, the happiest with the election result.
Remember, all their planning was for 2020 and yet they goy mighty close in 2017

They lost by 60 seats

- but you knew that. That fact that cannot be ignored - do you honestly think he Tories will run such a bad campaign again and do you think Mrs May will be fronting it? What more can offer to give away next time?

He had an open goal and didn't just miss he missed by a mile - the Corbyn project is dead in the water now. A more centralist Labour party under Burnham/Cooper could easily win. Depends who is leading the Tories, how Brexit goes and how much they soften their views on austerity. They know what Corbyn is all about know is better the devil you know.

The only good thing to come out of this election is the clipping of the wings of Queen Nicola



If they do invest some more in Health and education then Labour are scuppered - if they want to stay in power then they have to do that.

The dementia tax is a strange one - if you go into residential care they take your house to pay for it - this has been the case since 1948 under all parties - so I don't know why this came as such a shock. Before you have a go I don't agree with it in either case its wrong.

What is funny is you have a man spouting inequality who comes from a very privileged background, privately educated, never had a proper job outside of politics and lives in an expensive suburb of London!! It beggers belief

Cant disagree with this although, it's a good job that some of our politicians are fighting for people who have very little.
Mrs May, despite all of her hot air (we're getting used to that now), really doesn't give a damn about those in need or the "jams".
It made a decent line in her various spoutings of hot air, yet, her actions have been somewhat different to the spoken word.

She is happy to tell the public sector workers, who have recently gone above and beyond their duty, that 1% is plenty and to give them very little hope of any increase in their salaries.
It must really make them feel good when she praises their actions after telling them how little they are worth.

I've no problem with anyone championing the cause of those who have least, no matter where they have come from.

I'm sure that we would love to have a working class hero running the country but, that will never happen.

One of the main reasons I voted Conservatives was from a purely selfish commercial point of view as Labour promised to increase Corporation tax drastically.

I am interested to understand what the reasons people voted Labour for was. Not including Austerity and Brexit, what other reasons did people vote for Labour?

There appears to be a notion that salary increases should be a given and that that is the norm in the private sector. That is far from the case - I would suggest there are plenty of people working in the private sector that would have loved to have had a 1% increase compounded for 7 years. The notion that the public sector is worse off than all the workers in the private sector is a fallacy propagated by the likes of Corbyn.

What is the civil service offering in increased productivity for its annual salary increases?

Increases in pay should be self funding otherwise you are in the departure lounge of oblivion.

So maybe NHS staff are due a bigger pay rise than 1%? theconversation.com/nhs-outpaces ... ains-53899

So maybe NHS staff are due a bigger pay rise than 1%? theconversation.com/nhs-outpaces ... ains-53899

I agree but, I think you will find that regardless of "productivity" improving, within the sector, they are still being capped at 1%.

Although, many accuse Labour of solving problems, by throwing money around, without thought AND there are some eye watering salaries within local government, with council leaders getting paid more than the PM, which is clearly wrong.
This isn't what we are talking about here.

I'm trying to say that we cannot have staff, with wage increases CAPPED at 1% (this doesn't mean its and automatic increase) and yet you, like T.May,still believe this to be justified.

Fair society ?, I dont think so.

So are you saying everyone should be getting 1% regardless of what sector they work in - I'm struggling with your fair society - its fair public sector should be guaranteed - let's face it if its there the unions will ensure its taken - but not the private sector who have no guarantees.

That doesn't seem fair - neither did the huge increase the MPs awarded themselves didn't see the likes of Corbyn and McDonald refusing to take it!! So much for inequality

Next you will asking for a prices and incomes policy

For me i voted for a change in ethos to our society. I've no problem with having to tighten my belt, as long as those making the rules at least make a pretense that they are tightening too.

Also, I feel that Corbyn is pretty straight talking and his core beliefs are consistent with his voting record. He seems to actually be a decent human being unlike any PM in my lifetime.

I also think Labour are far more likely to invest in the north once we lose our funding from the european social fund

At least answer the basic principle or whether it is right to CAP increases in the public sector at 1%, regardless of performance or productivity.
Dont water it down or throw a smokescreen, a simple yes or no will do nicely.

We can then move on to some of the other issues.