Great News for the UK

[Secret Chief]

This ^

There are 200 questions, I believe? Many old people will just be overwhelmed

My wife has only recently left the DWP (Office closed, 38 years experience, replaced by... er nobody. Still, it's not like they had any work to do. On the plus side the likes of Rees-**** could proclaim a cutback on wasteful civil servants). Anyhoo, she regularly helps friends, relatives, neighbours in completing claim forms (and appeal forms).

 

[Secret Chief]

What do you think about the crackdown on disability benefits?

I am of course against any reduction in assistance to those in need. I would only repeat that the whole system needs (and hopefully will get) an overhaul. I know people who have been declined unfairly as well as people legally getting money that don't need it. As well as my wife I have a friend who works for the Citizens Advice Bureau. She has lots of prior DWP experience too. She regularly sees people who have been unfairly treated by the system but also those who are simply taking the ****. (eg a man in receipt of a disability benefit but still working - cash in hand - as a roofer). One other point - I believe the majority of appeals that go to a tribunal are overturned in the claimant's favour.

 

[Altfish]

Because she (Rachel Reeves is the Chancellor) didn’t want to load any further costs on small and medium sized businesses, on top of the increased NI payments

But they put costs on passengers on trains.
An inflation based rise would raise money.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Neither the winter fuel benefits nor the disability benefits affect me personally. However pensioners I know are affected by the loss of £250 for fuel in winter. Labour is assumed to protect not attack the elderly and vulnerable, imo

Yes, I would agree with this but I'm in no position to know how other groups of people might miss out (like those younger), given there might only be so much money to go around. I'm one who misses out because I have a second pension, although I'm not much over the minimum yearly allowance. All those who are worse off than myself should get some support.

 

[RestlessSoul]

But they put costs on passengers on trains.
An inflation based rise would raise money.

The private train operating companies put costs on passengers. We’ll see whether rail users get a better deal when the service comes back into public ownership. Hopefully they will.

 

[Secret Chief]

The private train operating companies put costs on passengers. We’ll see whether rail users get a better deal when the service comes back into public ownership. Hopefully they will.

Is the whole network being renationalised?

 

[Altfish]

The private train operating companies put costs on passengers. We’ll see whether rail users get a better deal when the service comes back into public ownership. Hopefully they will.

Almost half the rail companies are already in public ownership, costs still go up.
It was an easy win to raise fuel costs. A green policy too.

 

[Eddi]

Anyhoo, she regularly helps friends, relatives, neighbours in completing claim forms (and appeal forms).

That's very good of her

 

[Secret Chief]

That's very good of her

There was a recent news story of someone charging £600 to do claims for people (recouped from the successful applications).

 

[Secret Chief]

As one might expect, the new leader has set off on the right foot...

- Covid bereaved angered by Badenoch’s ‘insulting’ Partygate remarks

 

[Tomef]

UK governments have centralised power more and more since Thatcher started the trend of trying to do everything herself. So, whoever you get in, they can't get anything done, because they people in the top layer get bogged down in too much detail but they won't devolve decisions to local government. So it doesn't really matter who is power, it still isn't going to work.

 

[RestlessSoul]

Is the whole network being renationalised?

As the franchises expire, they won’t be renewed. So it will happen gradually over the life of this Parliament.

Network Rail, which maintains the tracks, has been classified as a government body since 2014, saddling the taxpayer with £40 billion worth of debt accrued by Railtrack. Something similar happened with East Coast Mainline when Virgin Trains were allowed to bail on their contract. The whole industry is a mess, but shareholders were still getting dividends, even during Covid when losses were underwritten by the taxpayer. Jeremy Corbyn rightly called it “Privatised profit, nationalised risk.”

 

[Sumadji]

Jeremy Corbyn rightly called it “Privatised profit, nationalised risk.”

I think so. The Thatcherite philosophy is that private enterprise will run these things more efficiently if geared for profit than cumbersome bureaucratic state agencies.

But it doesn't in the end work like that. Public services are cut that don't reward shareholders. Bus routes and so on. These are government duties