The 2015 General Election

[chrisp65]

So, Tristram Hunt, son of Baron Hunt of Chesterton, educated at University College Independent School London (and then on to Trinity College, Cambridge where he joined footlights etc etc), just tried to put down the tory education secretary because she went to private school and was taught by 'nuns'.

 

Tristram, he's just one of us.

[snowychap]

I gather he made the nuns comment to Christine Odone and not Nicky Morgan (in the context of talk about qualified teacher status) though, yes, there is something to be highlighted about the status of the teachers/quality of teaching that Hunt would have received at University College School.

[Jon]

Tristram hunt = wanky, career politician from privileged background, using labour as a vehicle into power. People like him are the reason, or one of them, why labour lost its soul. I'm not sure he has (m)any socialist bones in his body. OK, Tony Benn was from a privileged background, but he had socialism running through his veins, and stood for his beliefs.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Jon

[tonyh29]

Tristram hunt = wanky, career politician from privileged background, using labour as a vehicle into power. People like him are the reason, or one of them, why labour lost its soul. I'm not sure he has (m)any socialist bones in his body. OK, Tony Benn was from a privileged background, but he had socialism running through his veins, and stood for his beliefs.

apart form the tax avoidance schemes he had in place to avoid paying huge amounts of tax on the £5m fortune he left his children you mean  ?

[Demitri_C]

In fairness I agree with a lot of Labour rhetoric regarding cost of living like the living wages so they could yet get my vote. I don't think we'd get 5 years of Milliband either, he'd be toppled eventually.

 

The thing is with labour it seems that there will be tax rises and i think that would just cause further damage

 

[chrisp65]

 

In fairness I agree with a lot of Labour rhetoric regarding cost of living like the living wages so they could yet get my vote. I don't think we'd get 5 years of Milliband either, he'd be toppled eventually.

 

The thing is with labour it seems that there will be tax rises and i think that would just cause further damage

 

 

 

agreed, we should never raise taxes, we should cut taxes, especially for the rich and big companies - just cut more services and benefits in the name of austerity

 

otherwise Amazon and Apple and Starbucks and the guy running Boots might leave

 

given a choice of maintaining libraries or giving Amazon whatever they want there is only one logical choice

[omariqy]

I never get the hate for tax avoidance schemes to avoid IHT.  They are completely legal and in most cases backed by HMRC.  If you've got access to the right advice and money then why would you not do it.  If it was illegal then it would be a whole different argument.

[tonyh29]

 

 

In fairness I agree with a lot of Labour rhetoric regarding cost of living like the living wages so they could yet get my vote. I don't think we'd get 5 years of Milliband either, he'd be toppled eventually.

 

The thing is with labour it seems that there will be tax rises and i think that would just cause further damage

 

 

 

agreed, we should never raise taxes, we should cut taxes, especially for the rich and big companies - just cut more services and benefits in the name of austerity

 

otherwise Amazon and Apple and Starbucks and the guy running Boots might leave

 

given a choice of maintaining libraries or giving Amazon whatever they want there is only one logical choice

 

 

Sunderland has done rather well well out of Nissan thanks to Thatcher and the tax deal she struck with Nissan in order to get the plant there ...

 

I guess Nissan could have paid full whack , I guess they could have built their plant in Rennes instead ...  instead Nissan got a tax break , Sunderland got a bit of a boost , people got jobs and weren't being paid benefits and of course the government got extra tax income from the people that were employed   .... so the £30m that Thatcher let Nissan off has probably paid dividends in the long run

 

now I understand people are struggling and want to sit in Starbucks typing furiously into the interweb on a laptop they purchased online from Amazon and demand these evil corporations pay more ... but sometimes it's not just about the tax being paid   ...   companies have and will continue to re-locate if the deal is right  ... heck I helped move 2 banks from the City to Canary Wharf  .. they didn't relocate because the scenery was nice , they went because they were given 5 year rent free leases ... and then other banks followed , the jubilee line was built and the rest is history  

 

ok that's a very simplistic view on it , but personally I don't wake up in the morning worrying if IBM have changed their Dutch offshore tax avoidance scheme or if Amazon are channelling the money the labour party pay them to an account in Luxembourg

[tonyh29]

I never get the hate for tax avoidance schemes to avoid IHT.  They are completely legal and in most cases backed by HMRC.  If you've got access to the right advice and money then why would you not do it.  If it was illegal then it would be a whole different argument.

 

If  you are Miliband or Benn it's legal and not a problem  , if you are IDS then it's an absolute scandal and makes you choke on your lentil stew 

[tonyh29]

 

In fairness I agree with a lot of Labour rhetoric regarding cost of living like the living wages so they could yet get my vote. I don't think we'd get 5 years of Milliband either, he'd be toppled eventually.

 

The thing is with labour it seems that there will be tax rises and i think that would just cause further damage

 

 

tbf there will always be tax rises no matter who is in charge

 

the slight of hand is the real skill ...  today we will give every person in the country a £5 tax refund   .... and then tomorrow we will introduce a seasonal variation thingymabob which nobody will take any notice off but will cost everybody £6 

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

If people are OK with letting billions disappear due to tax avoidance, then they should be perfectly OK with tax rises to help cover the cost.

[chrisp65]

I never get the hate for tax avoidance schemes to avoid IHT.  They are completely legal and in most cases backed by HMRC.  If you've got access to the right advice and money then why would you not do it.  If it was illegal then it would be a whole different argument.

 

I don't dispute that they often appear legal, right up to the point people realise they were duped by that nasty accountant and lawyer team they hired to look for tax breaks.

 

No, I don't have that big a problem with people paying the minimum tax legally possible. Why pay more? It would be verging on the idiotic.

 

I oppose the loop holes, ifs, buts, and deliberately shadey areas left in tax rules to allow wriggle room for people with so much money, they can employ people to find some space for dance floor on the head of a pin. Close the loop holes, or accept that the rich are better and more deserving than the poor.

[chrisp65]

 

 

 

 

 

Sunderland has done rather well well out of Nissan thanks to Thatcher and the tax deal she struck with Nissan in order to get the plant there ...

 

I guess Nissan could have paid full whack , I guess they could have built their plant in Rennes instead ...  instead Nissan got a tax break , Sunderland got a bit of a boost , people got jobs and weren't being paid benefits and of course the government got extra tax income from the people that were employed   .... so the £30m that Thatcher let Nissan off has probably paid dividends in the long run

 

now I understand people are struggling and want to sit in Starbucks typing furiously into the interweb on a laptop they purchased online from Amazon and demand these evil corporations pay more ... but sometimes it's not just about the tax being paid   ...   companies have and will continue to re-locate if the deal is right  ... heck I helped move 2 banks from the City to Canary Wharf  .. they didn't relocate because the scenery was nice , they went because they were given 5 year rent free leases ... and then other banks followed , the jubilee line was built and the rest is history  

 

ok that's a very simplistic view on it , but personally I don't wake up in the morning worrying if IBM have changed their Dutch offshore tax avoidance scheme or if Amazon are channelling the money the labour party pay them to an account in Luxembourg

 

 

Come on Tony, surely you can see their are different things at play here.

I'm all for regeneration zones and rent free periods - my last 3 office moves around the country have been on the back of such incentives and yes, we've used the money saved to employ a couple of people.

 

What doesn't then happen with the company I work for, is we don't employ them on wages so low the UK tax payer has to top them up, whilst making 'no' profit so paying no tax because we buy all our paperclips from our Bermuda based paperclip specialist, owned by us, but charging £250,000 per clip.

 

We also don't have one person sat in Ireland writing out the invoices so all those UK sales never were UK sales.

 

You must be able to see the difference? I always presume people can see the difference so apologies if you don't. 

[HanoiVillan]

So, Tristram Hunt, son of Baron Hunt of Chesterton, educated at University College Independent School London (and then on to Trinity College, Cambridge where he joined footlights etc etc), just tried to put down the tory education secretary because she went to private school and was taught by 'nuns'.

 

Tristram, he's just one of us.

 

Sung to the tune of 'Postman Pat',

 

Tristram Hunt,

Tristram Hunt is an ignorant . . .

[bickster]

RMT Union president announces he's standing in the general election, in Redcar… FOR THE GREENS!

[chrisp65]

Redcar is an interesting one.

Traditionally a 'comfortable' Labour seat won last time by the Lib Dems. Given the attitude of the electorate to the Lib Dems you'd think it should be one for Labour to win back. Not least because the current MP is standing down, so they have a new (26 year old) candidate.

 

A few thousand votes for the Greens could contrive to keep the seat LibDem.

[meregreen]

Redcar is an interesting one.

Traditionally a 'comfortable' Labour seat won last time by the Lib Dems. Given the attitude of the electorate to the Lib Dems you'd think it should be one for Labour to win back. Not least because the current MP is standing down, so they have a new (26 year old) candidate.

 

A few thousand votes for the Greens could contrive to keep the seat LibDem.

It really wont. They're toast. And well deserved too.

[chrisp65]

yeah, I think you're right

 

I can't claim to be a Redcar specialist, last time looks like a protest vote, new candidates all round

 

Looks like a Labour win from here.

 

Possibly best of both worlds for Pinkney and the RMT, they get to put a marker down without too much actual damage - that's my hunch.

[bickster]

Labours sad stupid pathetic response to the news was a tad predictable yet ultimately untrue.

"A vote for the Greens is a vote for the Tories"

Anyone think that even with the Greens taking a bigger slice of the cake that the Tories may get elected in Redcar? Thought not

[OutByEaster?]

A vote for labour is nearer to a vote for the tories isn't it?