15 Comments

I’m always puzzled by how the “we’ve got a plan” line is simply left to go past by journalists. I think it’s because the journalist (always singular, often for radio or TV) is usually pursuing a line of questioning where the “plan” line is chaff thrown up to evade, and so the journalist ignores the prepared line and carries on after the answer to the topic. Others can correct me but I don’t think the “we’ve got a plan” line has been used in say a presser where it’s open to question.

Or maybe the response would be The Five (Impossible) Pledges. Which isn’t a plan so much as an aspiration.

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Reeves is weird no economic policy much. Mcdonnell had more than she did. She's scared of showing her real abilities are not up to scratch. You wonder why women don't get chosen for Govenor of the BofE..

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Mar 19Liked by Tom Hamilton

Grand stuff!

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The Tories 'we have a plan, we need to stick to it' would work much better if you ever saw them explain what their plan is. Since the budget I must have read dozens of story's with quotes from Torys about its potential impact on the election but I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a Tory quoted (anonymously or named) explaining why it is that they want to win the election, they don't seem to have any idea at all what they want to do if they win, they just seem to want to win for the sake of winning

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They just wsnt to drag everything on that doesn't work yet jump on smoking and trans issues. Weird man.

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Sunak who claims his parents worked in pharma and general practice is so bad. Where are his parents? Why were they missing? I've hardly seen them are they cross with him? Why do he and Starmer keep changing jobs? Starmer hides the volunteering he did in the summer holidays and he hides his soft drug taking. Sunak went to strangely an ivy league uni with more lefties like Badenoch and Birkbeck of the hard left..

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Hunt had ready cut NI by one third in one financial year within the limits of his fiscal rules without the Office for Fiscal Responsibility or the Stock Market going crazy (as they did after the Liz Truss mini-budget). Why should they not be able to go the rest of the way over the lifetime of a Parliament? Cutting a tax specifically levied on work rather than Income Tax is economically justifiable as a means of encouraging more people back to work and reducing the demand for immigrant labour. By setting out a long term aspiration to abolish NI, the Tories re-establish themselves as the low-tax party. Labour by opposing NI cuts and by characterising tax cuts generally as "salting the earth" as establishing themselves as the high tax party. You may not agree with it but is it not a plan?

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Hunt is stupid. He shouldnt be sat under him, if they lose hunt takes the blame with Truss! Why isn't he cutting taxes with loopholes. NI doesn't have the same loopholes. The issue I have is why cut manaers taxes? Liz cut Income Tax for bosses now hunts cutting NI also for management.. management doesn't need tax cuts they should be paying more tax than the bottom. The wages they could pay are going into higher boss pay. Why do bosses want to oay themselves more? Such greed

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Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Hunt's existing cuts to NIC are reliant upon spending cuts to be decided later (after they've lost the election, specifically). You still need to find the £46bn that Tom mentions, whether you do it in chunks over 5 years, or not.

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Hunt is bad giving bosses tax cuts the same as Truss. Sunak and Truss deserve each other

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45Bn in stages over the lifetime of a Parliament is 9Bn to be found per year which is relatively small beer in the overall budgetary context. Also you have to factor in the additional growth which will be stimulated (the OBR agree that Hunt's NI cuts will stimulate additional growth). The problem with Truss' 45Bn tax cut was that she attempted to do it all in go paying for it explicitly with higher borrowing, which freaked out the bond markets causing interest rates to shoot up. It is significant that there has been no such reaction to Hunt's NI cuts or to his announcement of his long-term aspiration. Also, Truss chose to focus on abolishing the 45% tax rate which, thought it may have been economically justifiable, was politically unwise.

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Yet they could've cut loophole taxes even abolished them why have taxes that have loopholes found?

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£46bn revenue over a parliament is still the equivalent of effectively eliminating the defence budget. Optimistic growth forecasts from the OBR isn't covering that. Departments aren't exactly fat with cash either, so you're either raising revenue elsewhere, or cutting something people care about.

Re: the bond markets, I suspect part of their sanguine attitude to Hunt's musing is the expectation he won't be in post in 12 months time.

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Perhaps I'm unusual in this respect, but until going self-employed and having to work out myself what tax I owed, I never much appreciated the distinction between NI and income tax. I think most payroll slips I've had did break it down, but the main thing that interested me was the gross salary, which gave some indication of career progression, and what was landing in my bank account each month. It's not particular complex to explain, but it still seems like an extra layer of friction for messaging.

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That could've been integrated as a social care tax..yet other taxes have loopholes that should be shut. Why are rich paying 22% tax whilst some who earn less paying more not fair.

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