I Wonder If Theresa Is Beginning To Lose It.

[Jackdaw33]

On the one hand she guarantees continuation of foreign aid at current levels whilst on the other hand her chancellor is hinting at ending the triple lock for pensioners and increasing taxes. Hardly vote winners.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39670703

[Jackdaw33]

Sorry, just realised there is already a thread running on this topic.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah jay dee - I thought 'charity begins at home'
yeah wiv me that is Teresa

but it is all a matter of cost -

and national pensions are pay-as-you-go without a pension pot
( so er arent pensions under any definition)
and so it really is a case of "you paid liberally for other older men's pensions years ago and now you dont get what you paid for...." [bad luck oh but we do as we are MPs and ex-MPs]

ho hum say la vee - ( I cant use forrin languages here - this thread could turn into the daily racist thread at any tiiiiiiiiiime!)
comme ils disent en France - - - whoops oo-er Mrs !

[Peter Pedant]

I like your thread jay dee

[mallyh]

I wonder if there was a vote for or against foreign aid who would win ?

[mikey4444]

Since Hammond was prevented from raising NICs for self employed people, he was left with a £2bn gap in his Budget.

He is yet to tell us how he is going to fill that gap, and nothing has changed since the budget a few weeks ago !

[Old_Geezer]

I think foreign aid is seen as a moral obligation better off countries have to struggling ones, whilst internal spending is a matter of budgeting well with what we have. We still spend vastly more on non-aid costs than we do on aid. But fir sure the chancellor is hinting at problems they've yet to sort out and not ruling out pensioners being a hit group. Not a good sign.

[mikey4444]

Is Mrs May losing her marbles ?

She has said, quite plainly, that she will continue to support foreign aid, and there are strong indications that she is considering ditching the triple lock, and her predecessors promise not to raise income tax, VAT and NICs !

[ichkeria]

She's after the Lib dem vote down south.
Having touched up the eurosceptics thus far she probably feels the centre ground is now hers for the courting.

[mikey4444]

Itchy....that "centre ground" has an awful lot of pensioners in it, especially in the West Country !

[ichkeria]

I was referring to the foreign aid thing. I suspect both statements are 'sounding boards' to see how they go down

[mikey4444]

Its looks as if Mrs Mays friends are showing distinct sins of jumping ship !

[youngmafbog]

At present it is all speculation and gossip, I suspect Ick is right. Put it about and gauge the reaction then write the Manifesto leaving out the toxic bits.

I shall reserve judgement until I see the actual manifesto (for what they are worth these days)

[Zacs-Master]

If you mean Eric pickles, he's 65 and it's natural retirement.
I think you should be looking closer to home for MPs jumping ship:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labour-mps-quit-parliament-after-general-election-corbyn_uk_58f7c712e4b070a1174fc815

[mikey4444]

ymb..........when Hammond had to ditch his flagship policy of raising NICs in the last Budget, it left a huge hole in his calculations, which he has yet to explain how he is going fill.

There is only so many ways in which a Chancellor can raise revenue, so if he now keeps the triple lock, and does not raise Income Tax, VAT or NICs, where is the money going to come from ?

[mikey4444]

Zacs....I was thinking more of her friends here on AB !

[mushroom25]

ZM, a proportion of those Labour MPs not standing have been saying off-message stuff so in resigning, they've saved JC the bother of having them deselected. I wonder if "Momentum" had already invited them to resign?

[mikey4444]

Mush....Corbyn has already said that there will be no deselecting, as there will not be enough time between now and June 8th.

[Zacs-Master]

Mikey, which AB TM supporters have jumped ship?

[Garaman]

It must be a tough decision for a Labour supporter who is in favour of a hard Brexit. Does one put party loyalty aside and vote for the Tory party, knowing that a vast majority would probably create a second Mrs T?

[mikey4444]

Zacs....none as yet, but there has been a marked lessening in support for Mrs May, especially over the issue of foreign aid.

Long time to go to June 8th of course.