Labour Tax: More and more tax as an alternative to less and less economic activity?

Lord Kinnock, former Labour Leader, tells Andy Burnham to get 12 Billiion Pound more by increasing tax. The former Leader, known for having celebrated electoral victory on the very evening when the Labour Party was crashed on the polls, is now suggesting that increasing the burden on wealth creators is the solution for a battered economy and exhauted Treasury. So Mr Kinnock´s solution to cure the patient: Kill the patient.

Britons have less and less disposable incoe or afraid to spend whatever they have left. Caution when it comes to spending is justifiable, especially when more and more people are losing their jobs or can hardly get a new job.

When businesses scale down their operations is not due to increased optimism, but to growing uncertainty. With so many unsolved conflicts and more conflicts on the horizon. When Autum comes, energy consumption will go up at a time when energy prices go up and down. How can you foresee what is happening next? 

We heard the headlines about "we are gong to do this, we are going to do that". Can the new Labour government deliver? Right at the time when Andy Burnham was appointed Prime Minister, pundits were saying "He is Labour´s last chance." Having obtanined a historical majority in 2024 with a lower percentage of the votes, Labour appeared to be an invincible force. A series of mishaps and bad decisions, brought down Keir Starmer, the leader that got the said historical majority. Andy Burnham will be touring across Britain in an effort to gather support, but he is starting from a very low point. He was not chosen by the Electorate in a General Election. He was appointed after winnng a local election. 

The Autumn Budget could prove to be the downfall of the Labour government. With limited options, under pressure from a very demanding and impatient Labour Party, every decision the newly appinted Prime Minister takes is bound to be controversial. 

 

 

Britain - July 20th 2026 - Business as usual or the start of major changes?

 

Prime Minister Andy Burnham?

Will July 20th 2026 mark a new beginning or the beginning of the end? Much has been said, but nothing has been confirmed. It is just words in the air. We know practically nothing about what the direction of travel will be. We are being deliberately left in the dark and this is never reassuring.

Uncertainty and fear and little hope. Once the limelights are no more, we have landed down on the same political realities. Expect no miracle. Expect a lot of pain. Much more pain that you thought that you would have to bear because there is not a chance that in the short or medium term economic prospects will improve.

Keir Starmer left having brought British Steel into the public sector. Andy Burnham is planning to bring all railway transport into the public sector and is talking about re-industrialising Britain. But he does not go so far as talking about bringing all utilities into the public sector.

Labour: changes proposed regarding taxes could not only make life difficult, but virtually impossible

Taxes on property are legalised theft. The only fair taxes are taxes on real income. Under the publicised intention of a fairer system, taxes proposed by Labour are no different from expropiation implemented by the Soviet Communist Party when they took over power. People lost their homes and their land and they were no longer financially independent.

I have long criticized Business Rates, because they are not based on income. They are based on the space occupied by a business measured in square feet. So making money or not making money the said tax is a burden on businesses that prevents many from setting up companies. But the new tax based on the value of a property will ruin families and deprive them of the homes they work so hard to acquire.

If you say that you are going to charge as tax 1 per cent of the value of a property, if a house is worth 800,000 Pound then what you are actually saying is that families than own their houses will have to pay 8,000 as tax every year. Today, Council Tax is about 2500 Pound. So the new tax will be three times higher.

If you are a pensioner receiving about 12,000 Pound a year then you are going to be left with 12,000 minues 8,000 = 4,000 to pay for living expenses for an entire year. In other words, you are not going to have enough to survive.

Local Authorities: the realities of No Overall Control

The fact is that No Overall Control give third parties with just a few representatives enormous decision making capabilities. They only need to swing from one side to another as they see fit, supporting either the rulling party or the main opposition party, to extract whatever they want.

As an example, Labour had total control of both Lambeth and Southwark. Not anymore. All Greens have a majority in both Lambeth and Southwark, the Greens do not have an absolute majority. This means that the Liberal Democrats, by supporting, opposing or amending any initiative can control the flow of events.

Monday´s extraordinary session at Lambeth Borough Council was a clear example of things to come, There was amendment after amendment and the Liberal Democrats got away with it. Not only that. The number of representatives in each committee went from 6 to 7.

Labour MPs were sitting as part of the audience, witnessing something that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago and that now has become a reality. How will recent electoral changes affect the London Assembly Elections and the next General Election?

Notwithstanding what is happening at local level, all eyes are now focused on the coming by-election in Makerfield where a potential challenger of the Labour Primer Minister Keir Starmer will be seeking a possible return to Westminster.

Political Party Names are brands: what to do when the brand is tarnished?

Political Party Names represent something real or imaginery. There is an issue of perception. Ideas are independent. Different political parties might come up with the same ideas and people might welcome certain ideas as long as they truest the brand that is proposing those ideas.

People might say to you "I will vote for Party A because I have always voted for Party A". Or they might say to you "I will never vote for Party A or I will never again vote for Party A." There is an assumption, positive or negative, that have often little to do with the policies being proposed. Or I like Candidate so and so. (talking about personal appearances) and then again about perception.

In 2025 and in 2026 again there was a massive change of perception and the Labour Party, about two years after a massive electoral success in Parliamentary Elections, was routed in local elections. The Conservative Party suffered a similar fate, but repeating the electoral disaster of 2024.

If this changes become a permanent feature then the two party system might become a various parties system or the newcomers - Reform and Greens - might be actually on the way to become the two main national parties.

The next test is several by-elections, but the bigger one will come in 2028 when London will elect the new London Assembly and after that the 2029 General Election.

For practical and obvious reasons, the Green Party is now working together with the Liberal Democrats to push aside the Labour Party. 

Abstention in the recent local elections remained high with, in some cases, less than 40 per cent of those registered to vote actually voting.

Two years down the line we will see the significance of the political changes that occurred in 2026. From a Brand point of view, both Labour and Conservative will struggle to regain the status that they had for so long.

https://www.meetup.com/nwo-chat-room/events/315057056/?eventOrigin=home_next_event_you_are_hosting

 

18 June 2026 - Makerfield Battle for Britain?

Makerfield By-Election: All political forces will be there?

Labour is reportedly asking the Green Party not to stand, but Green Party supporters have stated that they will stand. The fear is that the Green Party will take away valuable votes that will make it more difficult for Labour to win. A win in Makerfield is important for a myriad of reasons. For the Labour Party it is about survival. Losing both Makerfield and Manchester, after two series of disastrous local elections is too much to bare. 

For the Green Party it is a test of its newly found popularity that led the Green Party to take control or almost all control of what used to be Labour Party strongholds. How safe are Labour MP seats? Recently, the Green Party got an MP elected in a by-election called because of the resignation of a Labour MP.

For Reform, it is the challenge of winning a Labour Party seat, on top of the many council seats taken away from both Labour and Conservatives. And what about the Conservative Party? Standing to lose to Reform? Making it easy for Labour or Green to take the seat?  Friends or Foes?

For the country, it is the possibility of getting, yet again, a non elected Prime Minister. People will soon start asking about mandates. Nigel Farage predicted that in 2026 there was going to be a General Election. Could Andy Burnham, if chosen as Prime Minister, call a General Election? Would he be willing to risk the more than 400 seats that Labour has now in Parliament?

The election is just weeks away, and what happens in Makerfield does matter.

Messiahnic leaders? Whoever leads the Labour Party, internal divisions will stil be around

 Makerfield: Beginning or End of a Political Era

Disappointment led to a categoric defeat for both Labour and Conservative. Three political parties benefitted from it: Reform, Greens and Lib Dems.

In Lambeth Borough Council, a council that used to be a flagship of the Labour Party, the Green Party is callenging the Labour Party and on June 1st 2026, the Green Party might fundamentally change the way the council is run by getting rid of the cabinet system. This means that the Labour Party will no longer be able to use a small team to control the way things are done and decisions will be taken not just by a few, but by the whole ensemble of Councillors elected to represent Lambeth residents.

This is a major change and we wait to see if similar changes happen in other local authorities.

Now, going back to the issue of the by-election of an MP in Wakerfield, there are several possibilities. Andy Burnham is elected MP or Andy Burnham is not elected MP. If Andy Burnham is elected MP, he will have to have enough support in a leadership challenge to unseat Keir Starmer. Then again there are two options: he manages to win or he fails to get enough support.

If Andy Burnham is not elected MP, then we go back to square one and talk about other contenders within the Labour Party. There are other issues like who is the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Is it Rachel Reeves or Ed Milliband? Would Keir Starmer choose to negotiate a new Cabinent to appease his opponents?

Of course, there is also the issue of who is going to be the new Manchester Mayor as Andy Burnham stance to become MP has left the Mayoral seat vacant.

Now, lets think for a moment that Andy Burnham manages to get elected MP and manages to become Prime Minister. From the start, he would face enormous challenges inherited from Keir Starmer's administration. Iran, Ukraine, energy crisis, illegal immigration rising unemployment, high taxation, health, education, and so forth. Changing a Prime Minister does not mean that automatically everything will be sorted. Troublesome relationships will have to be dealt with. Will Andy Burnham be a better communicator? Will he be able to control Labour factions? If he cannot succeed then, without expectations and hope for an improvement, the panorama for the Labour Party will be even worse.

https://www.meetup.com/nwo-chat-room/events/315057056/?eventOrigin=home_next_event_you_are_hosting

Prime Minister Keir Starmer promises to campaign for Andy Burnham in Makerfield By-Election

 

Just recently, apparently, Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood on the way and reportedly prevented Andy Burnham from standing as a Labour Candidate that Labour lost to the Green Party. 

Since then, Labour nost just lost one by-election. Labour had a catastrophic performance in local elections, performace that reinforce a trend of people who want him to stand down as Labour Party Leader and therefore as British Prime Minister.

Wes Streeting, a now former Health Secretary, has stated that if there is a leadership challenge he would be standing in the Leadership Campaign.

Now, today, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised that he will campaign for Andy Burnham. This is a peculiar position to be in for, if Andy Burnham wins the by-election then he as newly elected MP would be in a position to challenge Keir Starmer as Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister.

Lets not forget that the fact that Andy Burnham will be standing in the by-election means that the post of Manchester Mayor is vacant and this means having to have an additional by-election.

This is a crucial moment. Labour must win both by-election. Losing Makerfield, means the end of Andy Burnham´s chances of becoming Prime Minister without a General Election. It is a mixed baggage for Keir Starmer and the Labour Party. 

(Pending updates)

Africans and Europeans worked together to promote slave trade

 

For a very long time the idea that only Europeans were involved in the slavery trade that took Africans away from Africa to be used as slaves has been peddled and it is an absolute lie.

White Europeans and Black Africans worked together, traded together, to enslave other black African peoples.

In fact, African kings sold their own peoples to European traders. The idea that Africans could sell Africans is abhorrent but it is very much the way in which the slavery trade prospered. 

As the song of the Cabaret movie goes ´money makes the world go around´. Even today there are individuals that would willingly sell their own countrymen and countrywoman for a profit. You do not have to go too far to find such individuals. Politicians of a certain political party now in government have received generous donations from a certain community and those donations are dictating British Foreign Policy.

Yes, it happend hundreds of years ago and it is happening right now in the United Kingdom.

Is there a redrawing of the political world in the United Kingdom?

It is plainly visible that the Conservative Party and the Labour Party are no longer that they used to be. In many areas inside the United Kingdom, the two party system has literally collapsed. New political parties have arrived and others are being created because of the partition of existing political parties.

The Labour Party was created because of the Trade Union Movement and now the Labour Party is on a collision course with the Trade Union Movement.

A political migration movement is accelerating. Trying to accommodate a plurality of views, often contradictory, has lead to ambiguities and frustration and lack of trust in big political organisations and, perhaps, the day for Britain to abandon the two party system is long overdue, opening the door to coalitions of smaller parties that better reflect in Parliament the views of individual voters.

Demographics influences, more and more, political life in the United Kingdom, and this is happening especially because of geopolitical issues. In more than one way, the existence of coalitions instead of big political parties is a healthier option, limiting the power of lobbies.

From a geopolitical perspective, no political party on its own would be able to drive the country in a given direction, without the support of a bigger number of voters, thus preventing any military adventures or the start of conflicts based on false premises. There would be greater accountability.

Labour: Rachel Reeves in tears as the marriage might not last long

 

It is usually said that an image speaks a thousand words. The image of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in tears tells the story of a marriage that might not last long.

If Rachel Reeves goes, the honeymoon is over. The marriage is under enormous stress barely one year after the May 2024 General Election. The knives are being sharpened. Despite the fact that Angela Rayner stated on television that "she has no intention to replace Keir Starmer", a rebellion of not less than 128 MPs is no mean business. Moreover, many of those now standing as Independent used to be Labour Party MPs.

Things are more serious than they actually look. Several Muslim MPs now standing as Independents used to be Labour Party MPs. This means than sooner than later we are going to see a new political party defined along religious and ethnic lines. Ethnic voters are turning against the Labour Party. Blacks and Asians no longer see the Labour Party as their natural home. Actions taken by the official Labour Party in matters concerning geopolitics are not very popular. Ethnic voters have no reason to swear allegiance to a white Metropolitan Labour Party that leans in favour of Israel, despite what amounts to genocide and mass murder.

Going against the vulnerable and supporting violations of basic human rights, the present Labour government is digging its own grave.

In order to fund wars, the Labour Party is ready and willing to sacrifice the elderly and the disabled

 

The Labour government that started in July 2024 started what was presumed to be a period of austerity, but soon after elections in which the Reform Party won 10 out of 16 local authorities the tune changed. More than 10 billion Pound for Mauritious, an undefined amount of money for Volodomir Zelensky, the promise to buil 6 ammunition factories, to build 12 nuclear submarines, to acquire jets capable of launching nuclear weapons and the list goes on. 

Nor the British Prime Minister, or the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or any other member of the Cabinent has been willing to tell the British people where the money is going to come from.

Where is the money coming from? A new term has been coined. Following QE Quantitative Easing, now comes QT Quantitative Tightening. The Bank of England is selling expensive bonds of public debt for lower prices and the Treasury has promised to cover the losses of the Bank of England. So monies that could have been used to finance better living standards. So, not enough money for disabled people, no money for schools, no money for the health service that the Labour Party has classified as "a wasteful NHS". 

Tomorrow´s decision in Parliament is very much linked to so called QT. We do not know what is going behind close doors, but we do know the Electorate´s reaction. Both Labour and Conservatives were massacred in the polling stations during the 2025 elections and 2026 could be an even more disastrous defeat for both Labour and Conservative.

Business activity in the United Kingdom has gone down 40% and there is a list of food chains closing branches across the country, as the number of cases of shoplifting goes up steadily. More taxes? More borrowing?

Kier Starmer is very much willing to increase the blackhole ten times over or more

 

The expression "it does not add up" exists for a reason. So what we are being told clases with reality then you have to say that "it does not add up".

For months and even today in Prime Minister Question Time, Keir Starmer kept repeating the mantra about the 22 billion blackhole generated by the previous Conservative Administration.

Now, you look at the shopping list presented in the last few days and you realize that the numbers Keir Starmer is dealing with "do not add aup". More than 10 billion for Mauritius. More than 5 billion for Ukraine - in fact we have lost the count of all the monies sent to Ukraine and this includes also equipment for military use. About 22 billion Pound for a project promoted by Ed Milliband regarding the environment (not mentioning planning application changes that will allow developers to wipe out entire greenbelt areas) But the list of investments promised goes on and on. But not a word in terms of where the monies for those investments are coming from.

Keir Starmer keeps saying that Conservative criticism is unwarranted, and especially one specific benefit like the Winter Allowance that is less than peanuts compared to all other promises made by the Labour governement including nationalisation of railways services (not just the network, but also the trains that deliver such services) and the possible nationalisation of utility companies like Thames Water, a giant that is in financial troubles).

It is difficult to follow the Prime Minister and-or other members of the Cabinet that go around promised this, that and the other thing. Prime Minister, where is the money coming from?

John Healey came with announcements about the creation of 6 ammunition factories and the building of 12 nuclear submarines, the production of tens of thousands of drones promised to Ukraine, and much more.

Then we went the news that Helen Hayes MP is due to contact Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner to ask for a financial plan to support struggling local authorities. Once again, where will the money come from if money is being sent left, right, up and down in every possible direction. Just cancelling the Winter Allowance and cutting benefits for the disabled and the unemployed will not do the trick. We are talking about hundreds of billions of Pound and especially after the news that NATO does not 3% investment in defense, but 3.5% investment in defense.

With every passing day, the Labour government keeps adding items to the shopping list and as Paul Samuelson, the American Economist, put it, it is either butter or cannons. Whatever you investing in one thing is the monies that you have to reduce somewhere else. We have not even reached the Autum Budget.

Once again the Secretary for Defense John Healey MP promised to increase tenfold the number of drones sent to Ukraine. The cost of building and sending those drones, will it come from the monies said to be invested in improving Britain´s state of readiness for war?

Are you an accountant or somebody that has some expertise in auditing accounts? Would you like to audit the Labour government´s accounts? I am sure that it could be an experience that you could not possibly ever forget. Has Rachel Reeves something to say about all the promises made? I am sure that Rachel Reeves herself is rather stressed up. Imagine having to change the books every time the Prime Minister or other Members of the Cabinet make promises that force you to recalculate the way you plan to run finances. From the time you get to bed until the time you get up, everything will have changed. I am sure that when she wakes up in the morning, she does not experience nice feelings. It is much more like a nightmare.

Now, Sue Grey, the woman chosen by Keir Starmer to be Chief of Staff, did not last long. She resigned and went as fast as she had come in. Well, if you are an intelligent and clever operator, you can see from a mile how things are going to be, and it has been a nightmare. And the nightmare is just beginning. 

John Healey: if the money to support serving military personnel and their families was available, why no support was given until Reform appeared to be winning elections?

 

John Healey: if the money to support serving military personnel and their families was available, why no support was given until Reform appeared to be winning elections?

It is significative important to remark that just a few weeks ago there was massive austerity to the point the winter allowances for pensioners and welfare benefits were being cut, Now, after Reform won against Conservative and againts Labour, suddenly, out of the blue, there is money for everything.

So Rachel Reeves is willing to throw everything out of the Treasury to prevent Reform for winning elections. Sixteen times the Prime Minister mentioned Nigel Farage in a recent political gathering. Nigel Farage stated that he was happy to be living in the Prime Minister´s mind for free without having to pay rent.

Trust? What Trust? We have got a government that is willing to ruin Britain to keep itself in power. So, apparently, there was a budget gap left by the Conservatives. Well, a lot more than that has been spent or promised. More than 10 billion Pound for Mauritius, a very similar amount for Ukraine, 22 billion Pound for Ed Milliband Eco Projects, and now the promiss made by the Secretary for Defense that Britisn expenditure will rise exponentially to pay for defense? Where is the money coming from? From the 22 billion budget gap that Labour said that the Conservatives left behind. Ah, lets not forget billions of Pound promised for transport projects. 

Are you buying British debt bonds? Are you lending money to the British government? Are you afraid? I reckon you should be extremely afraid. One thing is to have to rescue the financial system. Another thing is to have enough money to rescue Britain which, as we know, would be something impossible to do given the size of the British economy.

UK Politics: Electoral Results seem to trump caution

Rachel Reeves seemed to symbolize levels of caution that from July 2024 led many to believe that Old Labour was gone. Labour sought to impose levels of autority that made many Labour Party supporters to question their allegiance to the Labour Party.

In a recent parliamentary election in Runcorn, neither the Labour Party Leader and Prime Minister Keir Starmer nor the Conservative Party Leader bothered to shop up during campaigning. The outcome was a lost by-elecition in which Reform won the day with a less than 10 votes difference.

But at lot worse has happened since then. In a rush to reach financial agreements with foreign countries, Labour has effectively given up British sovereignty and even the future of British workerss and British companies by offering absolutely unfair advantanges to Britain´s competitors.

In this most recent appearance, Keir Starmer mentioned the leader of the Reform Party not once but once every minute. No mention of the official Oppositon Leader Kemi Badenoch that has been reported absent.

Undoubtedly, this is fight for survival, but it feels like pushing an entire Army without weapons towards the frontline. Caution has been thrown to the wind. All the talk about financial control has been lost and Britain is bleeding money. Money for foreign countries for dubious deals and money to buy its way out of electoral disaster. Maybe the new Labour Party promises should be limited by the Electoral Commission because Labour´s announcements in terms of using public monies sound more and more like political campaigning and not as the actions of responsible government.

UK: the most important issue by far is immigration and this is Reform vs Conservative

 

The biggest issue by far in UK politics is immigration

This is a contest between the Reform Party and the Conservative Party

Non since 1997 had the Conservative Party suffered such a catastrophic series of electoral defeats in the United Kingdom. In July 2024, the unthinkable happened and the Labour Party cruised to power after 14 years of a Conservative Party Administration (or should be talk about several Conservative Governments). The fact is that the infighting within the Conservative Party led to several leadership contests and coming and goings in terms of economic policies. Voters lost confidence on a visibly confused and divided Conservative Party to the point that in the last leadership election the new leader was not chosen by a majority of members of the Conservative Party, but merely by Members of Parliament.

The outcome of 2024 was a complete disaster for the Conservative Party that saw its representation in the House of Commons reduced to a few more than a 100 Members of Parliament. The situation did not improve after a series of by-elections caused by personal scandals. This years the Conservative Party was campaigned to maintain control of not less than 16 local authorities. It lost them all.

Internal problems in the Conservative Party have not gone away. In fact, they are exacerbated by the fact that high profile Conservative MPs distance themselves from what is now the main core of what is left of the Conservative Party. Big vote winners of the Conserevative Party have fallen into disrepute. There is no unity and there is still the same level of confusion, aggravated by the fact that many of the issues they are now talking about are issues that they should have dealt with during 14 years of a Conservative Party administration.

So, when it comes to confronting the Reforma Party the question arises. "Why you did not do before what you now tell us that you want to do now? "It is a disarming question. The Conservative Party had a majority in Parliament and did not do what it now promises that it will do when it is stuck in Opposition.

A Conservative Party in Opposition cannot deliver any promises. Therefore many Conservative voters are now supporting the Reform Party and there is confusion about what the Reform Party stands for. Many voters do not have the time nor the inclination to focus on several issues at the same time. They now choose to focus their attention on one particular issue: Immigration. Immigration includes both illegal migration and legal migration. People care about illegal migration precisely because it is illegal and people care about legal migration because legal migration levels are much too high. 

Even the leader of the Labour Party that has always been in favour of mass migration made a statement declaring that new legislation was on the way to curb legal migration.

The more the Conservative Party attacks the Reform Party the more voters feel inclined to support the Reform Party. Why? Because in the Reform Party there is clarity of purpose about an issue most people care about. At this point in time, in certain areas, the Reform Party is winning against both Labour and Conservative. In other areas, the Labour Party has to fear the advances of the Green Party. If the Green Party manages to replace Labour in many areas and if the retreating Conservatives turn out to support the Reform Party then the chances of success of the Reform Party are vastly improved.

Next year, once again, there are local elections and all 32 local authorities in Greater London will be contested. Whatever the Labour government has done since July 2024 and whatever the Labour government will do until May 2026 will have an impact. Unfulfilled promises and discontent about policies implemented will play a very important role at local level. It could be said that the Greater London Elections will be the starting point of the campaign for the 2028 London Assembly Elections and soon after that there is going to be another General Election in 2029. There is an electoral progression that, for the moment, does not favour Labour or Conservative. The Reform Party and the Green Party stand to benefit at every level. 

Since the Liberal Party - now known as Liberal Democratic Party - was relegated to third place, there has never been anything so trascendental in British Politics. The Conservative Party has reigned supreme during most of the history of Parliamentary Democracy in the United Kingdom. The thought that the Conservative Party could be relegated to third or fourth place in the first quarter of the Twenty-First Century speaks volumes about the political challenges Britain is facing.

UK Elections: Not since the days when Labour replaced Liberal Party as the other party has anything similar happened in Elections

In a Parliamentary By-Election fought due to the resignation of a Labour MP, the Labour Party in government lost a seat to Reform Party, a newly formed political party led by Nigel Farage MP who became Member of Parliament in July 2024. But not only that. In local elections, the Reform Party managed to win control of 10 Local Councils and turned the remaining Local Authorities to No Overall Control. Massive losses for both the Conservative Party in Opposition and for the Labour Party in government.

As reported by the BBC, the number of seats allocated to each political party, of the 1637 seats being up for election, was as follows:

Her Majesty´s Opposition, the Conservative Party, lost 674 seats. Her Majesty´s Government, the Labour Party, managed to retain barely 98 seats. The main issue is this elections was Immigration, although lack of trust and opposition to policies implemented since July 2024 played a very important role. To sum up, neither of the two main parties - Conservative Party and Labour Party inspire trust. There are conflicts within both major political parties. Keir Starmer, as Prime Minister and Labour Party Leader is facing increasing rejection from his own party. Kemi Badenoch, as newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, has not managed to make voters forget about 14 years of a Conservative Party that saw a succession of party leaders and Prime Ministers, due to internal upheaval. From Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party had to go through an election in which it was left with little more than 100 MPs, many of which do not see eye to eye. The local elections and Mayoral Elections and a Parliamentary By-Election were supposed to be litmus test for both major political parties.

There might be soon yet another Parliamentary By Election due to troubles affecting the Labour Party in Government. The Labour Party still holds a majority of more than 400 Members of Parliament but due to internal disagreement regarding policies being implemented by the Labour Cabinet, 2025 is bound to be a critical year. Industrial unrest could be on the cards, affecting the Civil Service, the National Health Service and Education. If Labour supporters choose to vote for other political parties - i.e. in a by-Election in Lambeth, Labour voters decided to support the Green Party that got a handsome majority with 48%, leaving the Labour Party in second place with 39% - or to abstein then the leadership of Keir Starmer will be increasingly challenged. The fundamental question to ask is "If there was a General Eleciton, would the Labour Party lose the General Election?"  

Shoemaker makes Shoes: Something that does not apply to the present government

When you have people who have never ever been in business and don't have a clue about running a business, when you have people making decisions about farming when the closest they have been to managing a farm is standing near the shelves of a supermarket, you know that the country is in trouble.

Ideology does not replace knowledge and expertise, but we have got politicians driven by blind ideology deciding what is best for the country. So, if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.

First thing you learn about economics is that the closest the factory is to raw materials the lower production costs will be, but then comes Ed Miliband and decides to prevent new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.

How old was he when Britain was going over the edge because of lack of oil and gas? In the 1970s, Britain was saved by the discovery of oil and gas in the North Sea, but now the all knowledgeable Marxist politician wants to prevent any more exploration for oil and gas.

Britain buys already too much foodstuff abroad so reducing the number of farms on British soil will force Britain to buy even more foodstuff abroad as population keeps growing. What does Labour do? Implements tax measures that will put more and more farms out of business thus reducing production in the United Kingdom.

Every step of the way, Labour policies are based on ignorance, ideological hatred and misconceptions and the alternative is, as it always have been, to borrow more and to produce less. When Labour talks about growth, Labour is not talking about economic growth. Labour is talking about indebtedness growth. And then when they can borrow no more, they will propose massive cuts that will leave people ever poorer.

The consequences of economic mismanagement will be worse than the Covid Pandemic and the energy crisis combined and this could become a very long Winter of Discontent that will end up with tears, and even spilt blood.

Wednesday, October 30th, 2024 - Budget Day

 

This is personal, stated the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves. She refers to realities of the 1980s and 1990s. The Chancellor's efforts to gather capital will drag hundreds of thousands more people into paying tax and even more into higher rates as their pay rises, indicates none other than The Guardian.

Could a personal crusade turn into a nightmare? Changing fiscal rules to disguise debt making it appear as something else does not change the fact that it will still be borrowing. So more taxes and more borrowing that will be increased for public interest, according to the Chancellor.

Ordinary folk and many business were badly hit by the Covid Pandemic and the measures implemented to deal with the Covid Pandemic. After that, people and many business were hit by the energy crise generated by the conflict in Ukraine and the measures adopted against the Russian Federation. 

Now, they stand to be hit again by taxation and potentially higher prices of utilities, housing and daily shopping.

But the Chancellor of the Exchequer still says that she will implement the budget in a way that she will 'protect the living standards of working people'. 

Well, in an interview made in Washington, USA, Rachel Reeves - perhaps inadvertently - made promises that she will have to deliver. If she does not deliver and if the measures implemented by the Labour government become a de facto nightmare, then this will create a widely open door for another Conservative government.

Starting on Wednesday, October 30th, 2024, the government will have to deliver and with every failure, and every new crise, there will be many by-elections along the way in which people will express their discontent.

She talks about building schools and hospitals. Well, what will she do about nurses salaries that are not enough to rent a one bedroom flat? If living costs keep rising, this will be a de facto devaluation of salaries and a worsening of living standards. Before she goes around building schools and hospitals, she will have to look carefully at salaries actually paid to teachers and NHS staff. 

Even with the triple lock, state pensions are not enough to rent a one bedroom flat. State pensions are totally insufficient. Taxing state pensions and private pensions can only worsen an already bad situation. And this is going to do nothing to 'protect living standards'.  

Taxing private pensions, assets and shares? More madness on the way.

 Due to low productivity, Britain has increasingly relied on financial services. There are two sides of banking. One is the conventional side of banking based on mortgages and loans and the other is financial banking, lending money to investors that take a huge deal of risk and therefore expect higher rewards. 

Private pension funds very much depend on shares and investments and values fluctuate on a daily basis, so there is an inherent level of risk. How can you tax shares? Will you tax what a share was worth on Monday or what a share was worth on Tuesday?

Imagine yourself as a Northern Rock shareholder. One day you count your wins. You have an investment and you have a return. The next day, your investment evaporates because the value of your shares is literally zero and you have no return. Are we going to see debt taxed?

The only growth that the present Labour government will produce is the growth of debt, unemployment, illegal employment, and fraud. Launching a virulent attack against the one sector that keeps Britain alive is cutting down the tree on which you are standing. The 2008 financial crise will feel like a pleasant vacation.

The infamous event affecting people who had used their assets to support insurance payments comes to mind. One day they were riding the waves of opulence and the next day they were selling everything they had to pay for insurance claims.