The UK Politics and EU Referendum thread - merged

[TightEnd]

the response from Corbyn was fascinating. really does have trouble thinking on his feet. it was a short,quiet budget with one standout rabbit from the hat,national insurance....

and..

Faisal Islam‏ Verified account @faisalislam

Responding to Budget v difficult -but not mentioning Govt's apparent manifesto break on NI is one of biggest ever misses from an Opp Leader

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Labour has now two hours later come out against it, despite a number of left leaning economists (such as bell above) being pro the NICs move

[doubleup]

Re The NIC issue

First abolishing Class 2 NIs is going to remove state pension eligibility for a large number of low paid SE.

The Single Tier Pension was overall costed as neutral with the aim of providing a state pension equal to the pension credit level.  So its a disgrace to claim that the cost of the uplift from single tier should be borne by the self employed while ignoring other groups who are paying more for less to fund the new scheme.

Also removing the low paid self employed from eligibility completely defeats the purpose of single tier ie to avoid people relying on means tested benefits.

[DMorgan]

I thought Hammond came across pretty well, certainly more accessible than Gideon but I guess he's still on his honeymoon, hasn't had much to do yet

The jibe about funding for research into driverless cars which Labour know all about was great

I hope that he wrote it himself

[PokerBroker]

A pretty uninspiring budget by all accounts. 

Same old vanilla style, nothing radical or progressive. 

The self-employed are likely to find ore expenses to claim to offset the additional NI contributions and the reduction in tax free element for shareholders/directors.

Yet again the large corporations seem to get a free ride, in austerity Britain we should be hitting them in the pocket to lug gaps, instead of sending out signals that post brexit we will be in a race to the bottom. 

[TightEnd]

Forty-two of the top fifty constituencies for self-employment are held by the Conservatives. Three by Labour. Sort of interesting

[TightEnd]

Self-employed made up a third of jobs growth under the Tories - hence 2015 promise not to raise their taxes.

Click to see full-size image.

[PokerBroker]

Self-employed made up a third of jobs growth under the Tories - hence 2015 promise not to raise their taxes.

Click to see full-size image.

Was it jobs growth or was it a case of employed folk switching to self employment.

I know this to be the case in many mortgage and insurance brokerages . . .

And no doubt Uber/Deliveroo/Hermes etc has contributed to the spurt in self employment.

[TightEnd]

Click to see full-size image.

sign a treaty maybe?. in Rome maybe?

lol/ffs delete as applicable

[arbboy]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/09/self-employed-backlash-could-decimate-tory-majority-future-election/

[TightEnd]

David Davis last night on Brexit plans A,B and C

Click to see full-size image.

[TightEnd]

19% lead

YouGov/Times: CON 44 (+2) LAB 25 (=) LD 10 (-1) UKIP 11 (-1)

[PokerBroker]

This is a good read, probably written by someone in England but the arguement pretty much is the same across Scotland/Wales and Ireland.

https://network23.org/rottenpleb/2017/03/09/what-now/

[PokerBroker]

Surprising that with all the polls that get posted on this thread this one was missed out. 

https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3854/Support-for-independence-rises-as-referendum-speculation-grows.aspx

[Doobs]

Surprising that with all the polls that get posted on this thread this one was missed out. 

https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3854/Support-for-independence-rises-as-referendum-speculation-grows.aspx

Is the Scottish Referendum going to ask for a 1-10 scale?  It seems a strange poll and hard to judge, though surprised that the remainers seem more hardcore than the leavers. 

Also notice 27% of Scots believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden looking at the 2nd one.  Though I expect the number is higher in England.

[Ironside]

There was a poll before indyref1 thar showed 52% of Scots were going to vote yes in the end only 45% did. The 2nd poll shows why it will be hard for leave to win 45% (8-10) hardliners unionist is a huge starting block versus 38% (1-3) nationalist