To be annoyed about the budget

[nametaken]

It's all SPEND SPEND SPEND - and who is going to paying for this.

Our kids, for years to come, that's who - on top of never being able to afford their own home.

FFS, all this spending, EMAs, Child Trust Fund, Free school meals, £2k off a new car - WHERE is the money gonna come from to pay for all this.

[josie14]

You are right. We focus on what level of tax different people should pay without examining what its been spent on. Child Trust Fund, supposed to get us all into the habit of saving for the kids, is patronising and unnecessary. 2k off new cars will be great for the car manufacturing industry and celebrated all over Germany and Japan!!!

[MmeLindt]

The Germans did the £2K off new cars, that is where the idea came from.

The car industry is doing backflips, mainly the small/medium cars are sold out for months. The Ford car factory in Cologne are putting in double shifts.

New car salesmen are absolutely thrilled to bits, don't think they have known times like this.

Used car sales have plummeted though, and scrap merchants are having a hard time as there are so many cars being scrapped.

You can hardly give away old bangers at the moment, noone is buying them.

I don't think that it helps in the long run.

[josie14]

Yes! But I understand why the Germans might want to help its own manufacturing sector. Dont you think the UK government would be better giving help to a large sector of the UK economy (that's not owned by foreign companies) and keep as much of this £2k handout in circulation inside the country for as long as possible. Otherwise dont bother raising the tax and just let us go out and buy the imports of choice. Think they have been lobbied hard?

[VerityClinch]

I just got my P60 through from work.

So far as I can tell from that, the money is mostly coming from me

[susie100]

Could not agree more and I SHUDDER at the environmental impact of encouraging people to scrap 10 yr old cars. A car uses half the energy it is ever going use being made, if you really want to help the planet drive a banger. My 22 yr old Golf has never let me down once.

[MmeLindt]

I think that Fiat made more money out the Abwrackprämie that VW did. It was the cars that only cost 8 - 10K that were most popular

[Peachy]

CTF- do you mean payments for disabled children, or has it been extended elsewhere as well? Because that extra £100 etc for a child who can never work will inevitable be hoiked back somewhere in post 18 entitlements I assure you (or for a child such as ds1 might help themm with the additional struggle they will face trying to work in NT society).

EMA's will help people into higher paid jobs as well. When they get more money they will pay more tax.

And that is what its all hoping to do isn't it? increase the number and earnings of taxpayers so they can er- pay mroe tax

[Bonneville]

Sorry but how does EMA help people into higher paid jobs?!!!!! Its just vodka money!

[Peachy]

Bollocks is it, It can be but doesnt have to be

Take my dad (or rather the man he was then)- really tried to stop my sisteras and I going to college, we left as soon s we could just to shut him u

Had we had EMA we could have attended more often, leading to the Uni ? HE ed we eventually got so were obv capable of and subsequent decent pay; OK my income on a halt due to SN but both sisters, whilst not exactly rich, are definitely better off for the educational qualifications.

Loads of people I knew didnt go into FE because their wages were needed for the family pot. And are now on the scrapper because those low paid factory jobs that recruited directly from school don't exist any more.

Actually I thihnk EMA type pay should be wider spread, because a lot of adults are losing jobs in industries that are becoming extinct but you cant claim anything to help you complete FE.

Remember,FE isn't just quals in media studies; it's also A Levels, vocational quals leading directly to work in many areas.

I am biased by my time as a FE Assistant, but I have seen so many adults desperately trying to take all their studies at 34 and manage a job and family that others took at 16, just to get the next rung up.

[josie14]

Hi Peachy, Every child that was born after Sept 1 2002 has been given a child trust fund worth £250 to be invested and given to them at 18. If the family is on benefits that is raised to £500. It has nothing to do with disability and every child is eligible.

[Ivykaty44]

Before the budget fiat were selling like hot cakes - apprently a customer had to wait 8 weeks for a new car as there was a waiting list. Some small cars are still in demand without any voucher schemes to promote them.

[tiredemma]

Had EMA been about when I was 16, I wouldnt be here now as a 31 year old mother of to crawling my way through a degree, havng to work ridiculous hours.

I would have loved the opportunity to go to college back then and possibly be now further up the career ladder. I couldnt quite simply because I had to go out to work to contribute to the family home.

[tiredemma]

mother of two

[flockwallpaper]

nametaken, I couldn't agree more

[nametaken]

My point is, it's all very well Labour spending all this dosh to try to bribe people into voting for them at the next election but the fact is they have gotten this country into billions of pounds worth of debt.

That debt has to be repaid with interest, but labour don't care about that, coz they won't be in power then.

[Peachy]

josie they are making extra payments for kids with SN (DLA being the qualifier) announced in the budget but hidden beneath tawdry stuff