Myopic Milibland's misplaced attack.
So, Boy George did his first budget yesterday, and it was nasty. But I somehow suspect the nastiness was inevitable, and it was a lot less nasty than it would've been if it'd been a Tory-only administration. Labour have decided to spend their political capital attacking the Lib Dem junior partners for the nasty, instead of the senior party, and there's no sign whatsoever from them of what they'd do instead.
I agree, completely, with Sunny on this one, their attacks are misplaced. One of the leadership candidates, currently rated as "second least awful" on my scale, has even set up a tool to email the LD leadership. Because apparently ameliorating the Tories and getting clear committments to help the lowest paid through increased tax credits and personal alloances, while increasing taxes on the wealthy through increased CGT is something we should be ashamed of. So, he wants to recruit former Lib Dems, and wants us to email the leadership. Using his tool, here's what I send: Dear Mr Clegg and Mr Hughes,
I'm sending this using a tool on Ed Miliband's campaign site, but basically am doing so to offer full support, he wants to recruit former Lib Dem activists who don't like we're in Govt with the Tories.
I don't like it, but it was inevitable. The Budget has a lot of stuff I really dislike in it. But it has a lot of stuff I like, and I'd like to see what Labour would've done differently.
Getting the Tories to accept an increasein CGT and the allowance was brilliant. Having to accept a, hopefully short term, increase in VAT in order to prevent further cuts was probably inevitable.
Labour are out of ideas, and all they want to do is attack us, instead of the Tories who're the senior coalition partner.
Pretty much proves we made the right choice.
Do I like the VAT increase? No. Do I like the cuts in some benefits? No. Do I like that spending cuts were inevitable and would have to happen this year or next regardless of who was in power? No. Do I like that they've ring-fenced the NHS budget so waste there isn't being hit, meaning spending elsewhere will have to fall further? No.
Have Labour said what they would've done instead? No. If the LDs weren't in coalition, would the Tories have even considered raising the personal allowance, increasing tax credits to the lowest incomes, pegging pensions back to earnings, increasing Capital Gains Tax? No.
I've voted Labour in the past. At the next election, odds are very good I'll have a second preference to allocate as well. Dear Labourites, it would be nice to have a choice as to where I'll put my second choice, currently, you're not giving me one. Wake up, FFS.
comments on the original post on Dreamwidth. I'd prefer it if you comment there[1] if you are able to keep the discussion together. [1] If you are reading this, you very likely have an OpenID.
I agree, completely, with Sunny on this one, their attacks are misplaced. One of the leadership candidates, currently rated as "second least awful" on my scale, has even set up a tool to email the LD leadership. Because apparently ameliorating the Tories and getting clear committments to help the lowest paid through increased tax credits and personal alloances, while increasing taxes on the wealthy through increased CGT is something we should be ashamed of. So, he wants to recruit former Lib Dems, and wants us to email the leadership. Using his tool, here's what I send: Dear Mr Clegg and Mr Hughes,
I'm sending this using a tool on Ed Miliband's campaign site, but basically am doing so to offer full support, he wants to recruit former Lib Dem activists who don't like we're in Govt with the Tories.
I don't like it, but it was inevitable. The Budget has a lot of stuff I really dislike in it. But it has a lot of stuff I like, and I'd like to see what Labour would've done differently.
Getting the Tories to accept an increasein CGT and the allowance was brilliant. Having to accept a, hopefully short term, increase in VAT in order to prevent further cuts was probably inevitable.
Labour are out of ideas, and all they want to do is attack us, instead of the Tories who're the senior coalition partner.
Pretty much proves we made the right choice.
Do I like the VAT increase? No. Do I like the cuts in some benefits? No. Do I like that spending cuts were inevitable and would have to happen this year or next regardless of who was in power? No. Do I like that they've ring-fenced the NHS budget so waste there isn't being hit, meaning spending elsewhere will have to fall further? No.
Have Labour said what they would've done instead? No. If the LDs weren't in coalition, would the Tories have even considered raising the personal allowance, increasing tax credits to the lowest incomes, pegging pensions back to earnings, increasing Capital Gains Tax? No.
I've voted Labour in the past. At the next election, odds are very good I'll have a second preference to allocate as well. Dear Labourites, it would be nice to have a choice as to where I'll put my second choice, currently, you're not giving me one. Wake up, FFS.
comments on the original post on Dreamwidth. I'd prefer it if you comment there[1] if you are able to keep the discussion together. [1] If you are reading this, you very likely have an OpenID.