Budget 2025

[Dorset Boy]

Gordon Brown was the best chancellor out of that lot.

He really wasn't.
He was a terrible chancellor in so many ways - the pension tax raid, stuffed up the introduction of stakeholder pensions, sold the gold at the bottom of the market, introduced and then scrapped the lower rate of tax, his tax credit system was an utter mess for anyone with flexible earnings, often leaving them worse off with a debt to repay, allowing the BoE to keep interest rates artificially low to avoid a recession that then blew up triple sized with the GFC, allowing mortgage lenders to leand 125% of property values, then list goes on.

 

[Dorset Boy]

Don't know, all the references I saw said CV but then went on to mention her LinkedIn. Do you provide a CV and apply to become Chancellor of the Exchequer?

I very much doubt it, but she has undermined her own credibility with the blatant lie.

 

[Psamathe]

[quoting Brian, not the intervening posts]
Certainly not to the same degree. But by the same token he was a lot less crap than Truss.

Reeves is being singled out a bit, I agree. Some is self inflicted because she's in the public eye and massaged her CV more than I've ever done, vis. her time at the BoE. Some of the rest is inflicted by Labours over use of trial balloons. Hard to say how much of that is the treasury, naivety or hubris, but it's hugely damaging.

Note however that Lammy did exactly this in order to decide between 2, 3 or 5 year potential sentences for non-jury trials, and no one has yet questioned whether he was under 12's school tiddlywinks champion or not.

Re: Lammy's Pitch Rolling
Maybe because for most of us thrial by jury of judge is not something that will directly impact our lives and not something veyr prominently push with the election manifesto.

Whereas rates of taxation is something that would affect us so many pay it a lot more attention.

What I saw of Lammy's pre announcement leaking might also be attempts to make his intent more palatable ie just come out and say your rent increasing by 10% and "oh my God", but suggest your rent is going to increase by 20% and "Oh my God" but then agree to only increase by 10% and tenant more towards "thank goodness".

 

[secretsqirrel]

He really wasn't.
He was a terrible chancellor in so many ways - the pension tax raid, stuffed up the introduction of stakeholder pensions, sold the gold at the bottom of the market, introduced and then scrapped the lower rate of tax, his tax credit system was an utter mess for anyone with flexible earnings, often leaving them worse off with a debt to repay, allowing the BoE to keep interest rates artificially low to avoid a recession that then blew up triple sized with the GFC, allowing mortgage lenders to leand 125% of property values, then list goes on.

So the best chancellor out of that lot was…………? (drum roll….)

 

[Pross]

So the best chancellor out of that lot was…………? (drum roll….)

Hammond

 

[secretsqirrel]

Hammond

Ah yes wasn’t he victim of the great Brexit purge?

 

[Dorset Boy]

So the best chancellor out of that lot was…………? (drum roll….)

Darling, Osborne or Hammond.
Especially given the deal the first two were handed with the GFC and its fall out.
Osborne oversaw a huge reform of pensions which has been a massive success - contrasting completely with Brown's pension failures.
His main failing was implementing austerity for too long, but 2009-2012 there really was no alternative.

 

[Pross]

Ah yes wasn’t he victim of the great Brexit purge?

Yeah, and ended up in the position at about the worst possible time. We need more politicians like him but they've been driven out by the populists of all persuasions. Grown ups that know running a country and fixing problems isn't about short-term soundbites to keep the media and X commentators onside.

 

[Ian H]

Darling, Osborne or Hammond.
Especially given the deal the first two were handed with the GFC and its fall out.
Osborne oversaw a huge reform of pensions which has been a massive success - contrasting completely with Brown's pension failures.
His main failing was implementing austerity for too long, but 2009-2012 there really was no alternative.

There was an alternative, as many economists will tell you, including Keynes (if he was still alive).

 

[BoldonLad]

There was an alternative, as many economists will tell you, including Keynes (if he was still alive).

Has any Economic Theory ever been tested in practice, on a National scale, or, an International scale, and, found to work?

Does anyone know for how long the test period would have to be, ignorer to have some confidence (say 80%) in the results?