UK Politics | Sir Keir Starmer PM After Hours

[Crabtree]

Rishi Sunak set to become the leader of the Conservative Party and new Prime Minister after Penny Mordaunt withdraws from the race.

 

[Tom]

Sunak is the best of the bunch and should have beaten Truss in the first place, he's a bright bloke and at least understands how the economy works. For the sake of the country they need to get behind him and stabilise the economy first, and then they can think about elections.

Should still be a General Election though but I doubt we will see one before 2024

 

[Crabtree]

So basically the person that should have been PM 7/8 weeks ago is now the PM anyway.

Complete and utter idiots aren't they. Subjected us to Liz Truss, ruined the already fragile economy, made the country a laughing stock then went back to Sunak.

Incompetence of the highest level from those who are meant to be running the country.

 

[Gemma]

Hopefully Sunak will bring some stability to the country and economy.

 

[Bandit]

Rishi Sunak is worth £730m? What is he going to know about the struggles of the typical family and the cost of living crisis?

I wish him well, for the sake of the country, but I agree with others that there should be a General Election - the damage has already been done. He can't reverse that.

 

[Sad Professor]

Hopefully Sunak will bring some stability to the country and economy.

The chaos continues.

 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1585364524617457664

Braverman should never have been brought back into the cabinet just days after resigning due to security breaches.

I can see Sunak sacking her

 

[Legion]

Autumn (November) Statement Summary

Taxation & Wages

• Legally-enforceable minimum wage for people aged over 23 to increase from £9.50 to £10.42 an hour from next April
• State pension payments and means-tested and disability benefits to increase by 10.1%, in line with inflation
• Apart from in Scotland, top 45% additional rate of income tax will be paid on earnings over £125,140, instead of £150,000
• Income tax personal allowance and higher rate thresholds frozen for further two years, until April 2028
• Main National Insurance and inheritance tax thresholds also frozen for further two years, until April 2028
• Tax-free allowances for dividend and capital gains tax also due to be cut next year and in 2024
• Local councils in England will be able to hike council tax up to 5% a year without a local vote, instead of 3% currently

Energy

• Household energy price cap extended for one year beyond April but made less generous, with typical bills capped at £3,000 a year instead of £2,500
• Households on means-tested benefits will get £900 support payments next year
• £300 payments to pensioner households, and £150 for individuals on disability benefit
• Windfall tax on profits of oil and gas firms increased from 25% to 35% and extended until March 2028
• New 45% tax on companies that generate electricity, to apply from January

Economy & Public Finances

• The Office for Budget Responsibility judges UK to be in recession, meaning the economy has slowed for two quarters in a row
• It predicts growth for this year overall of 4.2%, but size of the economy will shrink by 1.4% in 2023
• Growth of 1.3%, 2.6%, and 2.7% predicted for 2024, 2025 and 2026
• UK's inflation rate predicted to be 9.1% this year and 7.4% next year
• Unemployment expected to rise from 3.6% to 4.9% in 2024
• Government will give itself five years to hit debt and spending targets, instead of three years currently

Government Spending

• Scheduled public spending will be maintained until 2025, but then grow more slowly than previously expected
• In England, NHS budget will increase by £3.3bn a year for the next two years, and spending on schools by £2.3bn
• It will mean larger payments to devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Defence spending to be maintained at 2% of national income - a Nato target
• Overseas aid spending kept at 0.5% for the next five years, below the official 0.7% target

Business & Infrastructure

• Support worth £13.6bn over next five years to help firms with business rates, including a mixture of freezes and reliefs
• Import taxes removed on more than 100 goods, including some food products, for two years to reduce costs
• Plans for a possible online sales tax scrapped - the government argues online retailers' warehouses will be hit harder than shops through business rate changes
• Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance to lead review into how post-Brexit regulation can support emerging technologies

 

[Legion]

Autumn (November) Statement Summary

Taxation & Wages

• Legally-enforceable minimum wage for people aged over 23 to increase from £9.50 to £10.42 an hour from next April
• State pension payments and means-tested and disability benefits to increase by 10.1%, in line with inflation
• Apart from in Scotland, top 45% additional rate of income tax will be paid on earnings over £125,140, instead of £150,000
• Income tax personal allowance and higher rate thresholds frozen for further two years, until April 2028
• Main National Insurance and inheritance tax thresholds also frozen for further two years, until April 2028
• Tax-free allowances for dividend and capital gains tax also due to be cut next year and in 2024
• Local councils in England will be able to hike council tax up to 5% a year without a local vote, instead of 3% currently

Energy

• Household energy price cap extended for one year beyond April but made less generous, with typical bills capped at £3,000 a year instead of £2,500
• Households on means-tested benefits will get £900 support payments next year
• £300 payments to pensioner households, and £150 for individuals on disability benefit
• Windfall tax on profits of oil and gas firms increased from 25% to 35% and extended until March 2028
• New 45% tax on companies that generate electricity, to apply from January

Economy & Public Finances

• The Office for Budget Responsibility judges UK to be in recession, meaning the economy has slowed for two quarters in a row
• It predicts growth for this year overall of 4.2%, but size of the economy will shrink by 1.4% in 2023
• Growth of 1.3%, 2.6%, and 2.7% predicted for 2024, 2025 and 2026
• UK's inflation rate predicted to be 9.1% this year and 7.4% next year
• Unemployment expected to rise from 3.6% to 4.9% in 2024
• Government will give itself five years to hit debt and spending targets, instead of three years currently

Government Spending

• Scheduled public spending will be maintained until 2025, but then grow more slowly than previously expected
• In England, NHS budget will increase by £3.3bn a year for the next two years, and spending on schools by £2.3bn
• It will mean larger payments to devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Defence spending to be maintained at 2% of national income - a Nato target
• Overseas aid spending kept at 0.5% for the next five years, below the official 0.7% target

Business & Infrastructure

• Support worth £13.6bn over next five years to help firms with business rates, including a mixture of freezes and reliefs
• Import taxes removed on more than 100 goods, including some food products, for two years to reduce costs
• Plans for a possible online sales tax scrapped - the government argues online retailers' warehouses will be hit harder than shops through business rate changes
• Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance to lead review into how post-Brexit regulation can support emerging technologies

Think me and my missus will be about £1k a year worse off between us, maybe more depending on any Council Tax increase in Scotland. That domestic fuel increase will be the biggest kick in the bollocks, £900 or so more for that. Our £1k doesn't take into account 11% inflation or the freezing of personal allowances which is difficult to quantify how we'll be affected by it.

 

[Best]

Dominic Raab resigns

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has resigned from the government over a report investigating bullying allegations against him

He said he had promised to resign if the inquiry found evidence of bullying and it "is important to keep my word"

But Raab says the inquiry dismissed all but two of the claims against him.

And he hits out at what he called its flawed findings, saying it sets a "dangerous precedent for the conduct of good government"

 

[Crabtree]

Dominic Raab resigns

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has resigned from the government over a report investigating bullying allegations against him

Why does he get to go back to the back benches and not get sacked completely?