Hammond can't even deliver the budget without notes, complete prat.




I don't actually care who refers to notes, or even see an issue with it. Of all the things to discuss about the budget announcements and things to get annoyed by, Corbyn referring to notes is pretty much at the bottom of the list, in fact it shouldn't be on the list at all, but it's another (small) stick to beat him with I suppose.

So what if he needed notes? It's the budget. It's complicated and covers a huge variety of subjects. I doubt a single leader of the opposition has done his response without notes.

Far more important things to criticise him for than this.

Bravo on raising NI for the self employed! About time!

Regards

King James

Why ?

The self employed dont tend to have time off work (they cant afford to) and subsequently take far less out of the pot, compared to "mere" employees and let's not forget that they tend to be very efficient tax collectors, in the form of vat contributions.
As long as it's made you feel better though, that's fine :CRAZY

The last time Labour talked about raising NI, Mrs May brayed about it being "Labour's jobs tax" and claimed it would slow the recovery...

I think the Tories have gone round in another circle.
They are re thinking their NI plans



Back on Labour, even their own MP's know that they are facing a catastrophic fall at the next election, it's disgraceful.
To allow Corbyn to remain as the captain of a sinking ship is just rank stupidity.

I believe that he and his inner circle are happy to "run" a small protest party with strong ideals, rather than adopt any policies that may give them an opportunity to govern the country.

What we have at the moment makes the Michael Foot year's look good.

Isn't it the membership that's keeping him in post, rather than the PLP?

Scary times to be a Labour MP; if May called a snap election, most of them would be wiped out. On the other side, all the 5 quid members are intent on keeping Corbyn in position - I imagine as either a protest against the established way of doing politics, or because they believe in what he said, even if he's proving utterly incapable of actually delivering it. That said, the media bias against him makes it totally impossible for him to get any of his messages across - he is rarely reported on accurately, or for the substance of what he's said, and the Tory controlled BBC News dept are at the forefront of that campaign.

Either way up - we have no effective opposition, so the worst excesses of Tory arrogance are running out of control, with only the unelected House of Lords able to provide any checks and balances.

You also have the less rabid Tory MPs applying the brakes occasionally. Let's be honest it's them that force any governmental U-turns rather than the official opposition.

Agree it's the membership that have kept Corbyn in. 80% of the PLP want him out. They could put Jesus himself up as a candidate and the left would call him Blairite scum.

The BBC isn't going to do anything to jeopardise its already dicey position re the license fee by offending the government, at least not while the opposition is looking so unlikely to win an election. Hence the type of coverage Corbyn gets.

And the fact that their news output is controlled by former advisers and various Tory cronies; Laura Kuenssberg herself has recently been pronounced by the BBC Trust as having reported on Corbyn in a way that breached guidance on impartiality and accuracy.

All that said - even if he was treated fairly by the media - I don't see any way in which the general public would warm to him; he's a lame duck.

The problem for Labour is that most of the adult population don see themselves as the type of person that Corbyn is "fighting" for.
Yes, of course, there are low (under) paid people in full time employment and plenty on zero hours contracts but, many are aspirational with hope of "bettering" themselves and this group felt that Blair was on their side, whereas Corbyn appears to be targeting only the very low end (in terms of earnings) of the working population and the vast majority of people dont believe that they are in that category.
All of this comes back to a lack of mass appeal and any party needs to have the backing of roughly half of the voting age public to gain power and Labour are so far away from this, that it's embarrasing.

The problem with all Labour MPs (and not just the Corbynites) is their broken record of answering every problem with more government spending. The public don't buy that. If they could express any form of meaningful, economic message of which increased spending in certain areas was part that would be different but they don't. .

It is indeed an admirable act of political prestidigitation, that the Tories have been able to convince the very people who it will harm the most, that their ideological austerity measures are necessary and for the greater good.