Labour's confusion is the Tories' advantage

David B

Simply put the public don't believe labour. We know Ed Balls opposes the cuts. The public know this is not credible so labour now want to say we just oppose a specific cuts.

Ultimatelty the poll rates reflect the fact you cannot fool all of the people all of the time

Woody

My son and daughter-in-law have four children, both work, a mortgage and each have a car. They have an annual holiday and manage to give the children lots of 'treats i.e. days out etc. There combined income is approx just over £18,000 a year + child benefit.

When I hear the hand-wringing of the liberal left(including those who wear dog-collars) I just want to SCREAMmmmmmmmmmmmm!

tom jones

I really think fairness is important for our party and there are lots of things we're doing that has widespread support BECAUSE it's fair - the benefits cap, the pupil premium, taking the lowest paid out of tax, hopefully the mansion tax. I feel that the revenue raised from that last policy should be used to lower the 50P tax. At least then we will be boosting aspiration andb also being fair at the same time. Most Tories want the 50P tax rate gone, most LibDems want the mansion tax - it's a no brainer! Although, I'm guessing the mansion tax wouldn't raise enough revenue to fund the tax cut. Even 45P is better than 50P though? Anyway, Labour are flailing because we're dominating the centre ground and they're stuck in left wing 80s-style opposition. Labour should never be allowed to govern again and we should fight hard to make sure we win the next election.

Heartless Curmudgeon

. . . these overly complicated policy positions . . .

Complexity . . . the last resort of the scoundrel . . . the Great Economic Pretender being a prime exemplar.

Jay Mason

The next election is Labours to lose, fortunately they have got super nerd for a leader and show no sign of being able to defenestrate him any soon. Once more Conservatives get the rotten end of the stick clearing up a god awful mess left by Labour. The next 2 elections should be home and dry for the Tories especially if Alec gets his wish for full independence.

les

Declan Lyons: Lab on 41% and Cons on 36% gives Lab a maj of 60. Cons on 41% and Lab on 36% leaves Cons 5 short. Case for boundary changes made.

So when people slam Cameron for not winning a majority in "perfect" electoral conditions, remember the size of the mountain he had to climb.

Magnolia

Ed Miliband and Ed Balls dressed themselves up in their Sunday best sky blue ties for PMQs last week, and they might as well have stuck stickers on their foreheads saying 'We are fiscally responsible Conservatives now'.
The backdrop at their Labour Party Conference was a soft, fuzzy Uniony Jack sort of thingy which looked much more like the old Tory symbol.
Ed whines that he was talking about capitalism first before the other party leaders but John Redwood was writing books about it when Ed was still at school (probably).
The public want the real thing and not these hopeless impostors.

martin alexander

Woody...I think it admirable that your son and daughter in law both work and do not rely on benefits...But is it possible to bring up 4 children, pay a mortgage and run two cars on 18 grand a year plus child benefit...Just asking...Martin

Holly ......

This interview should clear things up...
Chukka U. We are in favour of the benefts cap, but we would do it differently.More fairly across the country.
Andrew N. So would you have one cap for London & a different cap for the rest of the country?
C.U. No I'm not saying that.
A.N.So what would your cap be?
C.U. Don't know, but ours would be fairer.

Clear as mud.

Mudplugger

The £26,000 benefit cap should apply to London only.
In other parts of the country the 'cap' should be reduced by a factor reflecting their lower local living cost.

Colin Cumner

Thankfully, given its present state of turmoil, Labour hasn't a ghost of a chance to be re-elected to Government. The Party's supporters just don't get it - the benefits gravy train is braking to a halt at long last. By all means let society give support to those who through no fault of their own (e.g. through sickness or disability) are unable to work but can any Labourite please enlighten me as to why anyone who is fit and able to contribute something to society should be permitted to opt out and receive payment for doing so by their fellow taxpayers.

William of London

When they even start poking fun at Ed Milliband on The News Quiz, you know he's in very serious trouble.

Tom Pride

tom jones
January 22nd, 2012 6:38pm
“Tories want the 50P tax rate gone, most LibDems want the mansion tax - it's a no brainer!”

Tom – the Tories should be very cautious about being associated with the introduction of a new tax such as this. You might think it “fair” if set at £2,000,000 as it will hit only those you regard as unworthily wealthy but any future Labour government would set about widening and deepening it. It’s a great tax for them as it will hit the more prosperous areas of the country while leaving their own constituencies untouched.

In any event, the Tories should in principle have nothing to do with the introduction of the first wealth tax on assets rather than a tax on transactions. Leave it to the Socialist and Marxists. There are alternative options you could consider – extending gains tax to principal residences but allowing the tax to be deferred if the sale proceeds are rolled into a new residence (it’s “fair” as everyone gets hit if they downsize) or how about extending gains tax to domestic property owned by non-residents?

Tom Pride

Mudplugger
January 22nd, 2012 9:30pm

Sssssh! Slowly, slowly catchy monkey!

Clear Memories

The only people confused are Labour and the BBC. Everybody else knows Labour will:-

Destroy the economy by spending money we haven't earned (ie borrowing)

Keep growing the public sector with useless jobsworths (ie Labour voters)

Dismantle the borders and flood the nation with more rapists and criminals (more Labour voters)

Keep paying the idle whilst destroying the jobs of the productive. (free money for Labour voters)

After 13 years of misrule, people have opened their eyes. Milliband will NEVER be PM - he's just wasting his time. He's a joke at PMQs, he's a farce-on-legs in the TV studios and, frankly, he's just dangerous on foreign policy.

There is only one thing Labour can do to make themselves electable - change the name of the Party and hope nobody notices.

How about the F**kwit Coalition - oh wait, somebodies using that already.

David Ossitt

Just a reminder to receive £26,000 net income one would have to earn £35,000 gross before national insurance and income tax are deducted.

Colin Cumner

TOM PRIDE - agree with you on all points. No truly Conservative administration (which of course the present one is not - yet) should consider a wealth tax of this sort. It is the thin end of the wedge and one which the Socialists would exploit to the nth degree should they ever regain office.

Trapped

@ Colin Cumner

The government do a terrible job supporting the genuinely disabled as it is. So they're not succeeding on that yet. They're busily trying to cut 20% out of the DLA budget, a benefit with a fraud rate of 0.5% , which means the vast bulk of that has to be recouped from genuine claimants.

Andrew Taylor

I receive a small pension (c. £500/month), which I have received for the last 8 years. During those 8 years I have been charged full tax and NI on my earnings. Last July, I was made redundant having not been paid for the previous 2 months by my employer. I don't have any savings as I have pumped most of my earnings into my house. I signed on and was made to drive 17 miles to the local employment office each fortnight for 6 weeks (where inadequate people asked me some pretty stupid questions) before they told me (at my demand as I had received no payments and was getting very low on funds) that my pension was more than the £67.50/week that the government thinks I need to live on, so I would receive nothing in support.
And I have received no government support since then.
I have survived, just, with the help of friends and family and have started a business which is, finally, picking up some traction.
£26,000 is about £20,000 more than I received last year (and I had a mortgage and other bills in addition to a 12 year old and a wife with cancer.
Guess what my view is?

Andy Leeds

Andrew Taylor - Quite.

Ostrich (occasionally)

Holly ...... 22nd, 9:03pm

Watching CU on TV last night I couldn't help thinking, "Put black hair on that bloke and he'd be another Milliband."

Heartless C.

Has this guy missed his vocation, - or is he really a p/t preacherman? Looks like he's receiving the spirit or whatever this pose supposedly indicates.

I think we should be told.

David L

Nice story on the front page of today's Times - apparently the Labour Party has switched the pensions of its own employees from an RPI link to CPI.

Complete the following well-known phrase, "Do as I say, not as I....."

Cynic

Caught some woman with a foreign name (and she was rather basanée, too) on the BBC whining that she didn't see why she and her two children (she was a single mother on benefits, naturally) should have their standard of living reduced!!!! Welcome to the reality that those of us who fund your standard of living have been experiencing for some time, dear! Frankly we can't afford you.

MilkSnatcher

Off the point but I love that picture of Miliband - more a man complaining about low motility than low mobility. Please use it some more.