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It's an important regional small business economy powerhouse jobs hub. Everyone in Swansea should go and work there, and then the government won't need to spend any money in Swansea between 9 and 5 (or better still, if we adopt Chinese working patterns to win the Global Race, 5 and 9).
Funding for the Arts? Because for every 1 pound spent it makes 4?
You removed the UK Film Council!
Growth will be higher in 2016 and 2017 than predicted in July, but lower in 2019. Why do they even bother making those claims?
- £10.1 billion surplus by 2020
- £12 billion of welfare savings
- GDP forecasts: 2015 – 2.4%, 2016 – 2.4%, 2017 – 2.5%, 2018 – 2.4%, 2019 – 2.3%
- OBR forecasts a £27 billion improvement in UK finances over this parliament
- MASSIVE U-TURN: Tax credit cuts scrapped entirely: “the simplest thing to do is not to phase these changes in, but to avoid them altogether”
- Government is spending £756 billion this year, rising to £857 billion in 2020/21
- Borrowing forecasts: 2015/16 – £73.5 billion, 2016/17 – £49.9 billion, 2017/18 – £24.8 billion, 2018/19 – £4.6 billion, 2019/20 – £10.1 billion surplus
- NHS budget to rise by 20% by 2020: £101 billion this year, £120 billion by 2020
- Basic state pension up to £119.35 a week
- Department of Health to cut 25% from its Whitehall budget
- Department for Energy and Climate Change budget cut by 22%
- Department for Transport budget cut by 37%
- Cabinet Office budget cut by 26%
- Treasury budget by 24%
- Business, Innovation and Skills cut by 17%
- Defra cut by 15%
- DCMS cut by 20%
- Proceeds of tampon tax to go to women’s charities
From Guido
I love a good U turn.
U-turner: 'We've proved we can listen'
Opponent: 'They're weak and unprincipled'
Non-U-turner: 'We're strong and principled'
Opponent: 'They've proved they don't listen'
I don't get why such a fuss is made over them. 'After careful consideration, we've changed our minds.' Surely that's what you'd want from anyone?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Anyway, I'm glad they've stopped the tax credit cuts.
No Police Cuts. Counter-Terrorism up 30%
Jeremy Corbyn looks awfully put off by all the shouting.
John McDonnell is sort of right here (generally speaking), but he's been wrong-footed by half of this and lol he's a communist.
Imagine getting to be Speaker, best job ever, you just get to call everyone an arsehole and tell people to shut up.
McDonnells gone too hard at the beginning speaking over the shouting, struggling to get through this speech now. Do they not get a glass of water?
This has rapidly gone to shit.
Although that was pretty good.
Only the Chancellor is allowed to drink in the house during the budget speech.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
Did he really whip out a Little Red Book?
I thought he got to drink alcohol. Can the others not have water?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
He did later find a glass of water, it looked like crystal.
YepQuote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Quote:
In perhaps the most bizarre moment of the Labour response to the Autumn Statement, John McDonnell brought out his copy of the “little red book” - the quotes of Chinese communist leader Chairman Mao - as he needled Osborne over the UK’s rail network.He read a quote from the book to George Osborne, before tossing it across the chamber towards the Chancellor.
Here’s the quote:
We must learn to do economic work from all who know how, no matter who they are. We must esteem them as teachers, learning from them respectfully and conscientiously. But we must not pretend to know what we do not know.
I wish I had footage of the meeting in which he and Seumas Milne decided that was a good idea.
It comes across as quite funny in the video, I must admit.
Has VAT always been charged in Tampons? That's pretty fucking terrible.
It's an EU law apparently.
It's a shit one. Surely on the old needs v wants scale, not walking around with blood soaked trousers is towards the former end of the scale.
"Sanitary products" - I'm not sure if tampons themselves existed at the time - were taxed before we joined the EU. It's just EU law that we can't now remove the tax. The Irish don't have a tax because they never did, for example.Quote:
Originally Posted by phonics
Almost £30bn in "additional" tax revenue is actually just down to changing the way they measure things.
On the whole things look very positive but it'll be interesting to see it analysed over the next couple of weeks. I'd be very surprised if those who were likely to be affected by tax credit cuts aren't still going to be shafted another way, for example.
The tax credit cuts are still coming, they're just being phased differently according to the BBC Spending Review.
One for Tobes
I'm well aware, but a) The OBR are equally bad at forecasting oil revenues and b) the Scottish economy seems to be growing anyway (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...iness-31730120).
I miss Seb.
Bad? £8bn compared to £130m is fucking horrific. What were other folk forecasting for the period?Quote:
Originally Posted by Toby
TBF, that debate was before Saudi decided that US Shale had to be destroyed much to the chagrin of their fellow OPEC cartel members.
Which proves how stupid it was to make bold plans on the back of oil prices.
At the time of the referendum the OBR were forecasting a bit under half what the SNP were (which was £6.8bn - £7.9bn). Closer in this case, but having never come anywhere close with any forecast they've ever published on the matter. The figures used by the SNP were obviously way out but nobody was forecasting a crash on anything like the level we've seen.Quote:
Originally Posted by John Arne
:) Well, as long as nobody else was forecasting such a crash. @GS will love this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Toby
Presumably because it allows them to pretend that their policies don't slow growth down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
He's already used about ten percent of his ever decreasing posts to gloat about it, which is very strange to me since it is now the UK's asset that is devaluing and that government didn't foresee it either.Quote:
Originally Posted by John Arne
Let's just be thankful they're decreasing.
Scotland's second biggest party is now "MPs suspended by the SNP". Natalie McGarry of Glasgow East is now the second due to discrepancies in the accounts of the campaign group she was involved with in the run up to the independence referendum.
When it comes to the arms industry, successive Tory prime-ministers are devoted Keynesian's.
Apparently Super Jez faces a 25-5 defeat by his own shadow cabinet on the subject of bombing Syria, so in an attempt to 'undercut' this he has emailed all Labour members with a snap poll calling for them to back him.
I mean, just, I dunno.
Why the fuck did he appoint a shadow cabinet full of people that don't remotely agree with him?
Were it just this issue I could fathom it, but it's not, is it?
They need to stop referencing "his mandate". For fuck sake, can they not see that they're making the party a laughing stock?
Boydy must be thrilled at basically handing the Tories a complete free pass. "Real opposition" indeed.
Because there literally aren't enough Labour MPs who agree with him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yevrah
Never mind that Corbyn's stance is essentially correct.
What would you have him do - abandon it for party political gain?
Oh I'd agree he's right, solely bombing won't achieve much, but that he can't persuade his cabinet of that is surely a bit of a worry.
Out of interest, what does he actually want to do?
I thought Livingstone pretty much nailed it on QT last night in that regard.
I don't see a problem with Corbyn not agreeing with some of his front bench - it's kind of refreshing that people stick by their principles, and encourage further debate. The idea that all conservatives have to think this, whilst all labour have to think that, is just bizarre.
It obviously ultimately means that he probably won't be leader tor too long, but it's still good to see.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CU5YftLWwAQNsFE.jpg:large
That haircut :sick:
Sweet Jesus.
The bullying suicide case has done it for Grant Schapps. He's 'resigned'
This is national level politics, not a school debating society.Quote:
Originally Posted by John Arne