Starmer's vision quest

[BoldonLad]

So another top Labour minister failing to handle the detail.

Rachel clearly didn't pick very good agents to use when letting out her home, or sort out the appropriate due dilligence with Southwark Council.
Somewhat embarassing for her and Keir.

One would assume, that as Chancellor, she would have "advisors" or "staff", and, it surely is not the first time that a minister of state has rented out a house, surely? You have to wonder at the levels of (in)competence in Downing Street.

 

[Stevo 666]

One would assume, that as Chancellor, she would have "advisors" or "staff", and, it surely is not the first time that a minister of state has rented out a house, surely? You have to wonder at the levels of (in)competence in Downing Street.

I think that we're past wondering and into knowing.

 

[Ian H]

Nobody is stopping them from doing so.
Words are cheap.

I'm not sure you can just send HMRC a cheque for £XXX without having a legal liability.

 

[Pblakeney]

I'm not sure you can just send HMRC a cheque for £XXX without having a legal liability.

You can now be sure that you can.

"You can give a donation to the government via the form of a direct bank transfer. To do this the potential donor should write to Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) at accountsreceivable@hmtreasury.gov.uk specifying that they wish to make a donation towards public expenditure and lay out the value of the donation and the planned date of the donation (which must be seven calendar days in advance).
The donor must also confirm that the money is theirs to give and is not derived from crime, money laundering or other illegal activity; additionally the donor must acknowledge they cannot request a refund of the donation once it has been made. HMT will then provide details of the bank account and reference to be used for the donation. HMT also does advise that the gift cannot be ring-fenced for a specific purpose or assigned to a specific area of public spending.
Donations can also be given specifically to reduce the national debt. To do this all the donor needs to do is download, complete and submit a form to the United Kingdom Debt Management Office (DMO). More information on donating to the government is here."

 

[BoldonLad]

I'm not sure you can just send HMRC a cheque for £XXX without having a legal liability.

Not sure what you mean by the bolded bit, but, certainly, with a self assessment account, you can send them a payment (not related to tax owing) either with a cheque, or, with this new fangled bank transfer method.

However, since it is widely held on this forum that all billionaires are, by definition, tax evading bastards, they could just evade a bit less.

 

[Pblakeney]

I am guessing that the 75% in favour (or, at least, a lot of them) do not realise that they are "the wealthy" 😊

The debate then becomes "What is wealthy?".
It's funny, the amount of people who like to declare/show off how wealthy they are, until the taxman comes calling.

 

[BoldonLad]

The debate then becomes "What is wealthy?".
It's funny, the amount of people who like to declare/show off how wealthy they are, until the taxman comes calling.

Been down that rabbit hole on this forum, not inclined to repeat the journey 😂

My personal definitions for "poor" and "wealthy", "rich" are:

"The poor, starts at me, and goes down, the wealthy and/or rich start just above me, and goes up" 😊

 

[CXRAndy]

I am guessing that the 75% in favour (or, at least, a lot of them) do not realise that they are "the wealthy" 😊

Everyone is now on the hook for Rachel's blackhole!

 

[Xipe Totec]

Aw you just aren't used to someone speaking to you
about independence the way indy supporters do to everyone else.

Just short of two years, after being out of England for a total of 24 years. It is quintessentially indy supporter to make a dig about my opinion on the basis that I wasn't there long enough. If I want to go back when I retire, do I get a valid opinion only when I am there?

The point I am making is that if in 10 short years (less in fact) absolutely everything about the independence case has changed, what actually is the carse and what will it be next?

Any clear thinker will conclude that the SNP work back from the answer and try to make the Lego, sorry Duplo, blocks fit.

The only reasons I can come up with for the basic premise that independence would be good, regardless of the consequences, are not good. Things like dislike of England, desire for power, Scottish exceptionalism, that sort of thing.

Cue supercilious, condescending, contrarian snark.

QED.

Anyway - thank you for the timescale, although you perhaps haven't read/understood what I said. Your list of gotchas was reminiscent of the 2014 Project Fear rhetoric rather than the way discussions of these matters tend to have gone over the last 5 or so years, so I assumed - quite reasonably, I think - that your own engagement with these questions was based on the thinking at that time. And realistically since independence is something you oppose and is also very much not a current issue in Scotland, there's no reason why it should be otherwise.

I tried to address the points you made but I'm not entirely sure you got to that bit before detecting attacks where there were none intended, as that's what your slightly baffling response seemed concerned with.

I have no real idea why we're even having this discussion - I've repeatedly made it clear that I understand there's no possible route to a second independence referendum, and it's a lot more likely that devolution will be increasingly pared back, if not out & out revoked by an incoming Westminster government.

Scottish independence will not happen in my - or any of our lifetimes, if at all. And I think I'm a lot more over it than many people here seem to be.

 

[CXRAndy]

Your list of gotchas was reminiscent of the 2014 Project Fear rhetoric

They are real issues

Borders, currency, EU joining criteria, defence

 

[CXRAndy]

View: https://x.com/Basil_TGMD/status/1983852089445912626?t=2wSObxGxo6L2yPizjsVfwg&s=19

 

[Rusty Nails]

Well, it means that I prefer not to use "it" as a reason "rate" other people 😊

I doubt that many people do.

Has anyone done that on here?

 

[First Aspect]

QED.

Anyway - thank you for the timescale, although you perhaps haven't read/understood what I said. Your list of gotchas was reminiscent of the 2014 Project Fear rhetoric rather than the way discussions of these matters tend to have gone over the last 5 or so years, so I assumed - quite reasonably, I think - that your own engagement with these questions was based on the thinking at that time. And realistically since independence is something you oppose and is also very much not a current issue in Scotland, there's no reason why it should be otherwise.

I tried to address the points you made but I'm not entirely sure you got to that bit before detecting attacks where there were none intended, as that's what your slightly baffling response seemed concerned with.

I have no real idea why we're even having this discussion - I've repeatedly made it clear that I understand there's no possible route to a second independence referendum, and it's a lot more likely that devolution will be increasingly pared back, if not out & out revoked by an incoming Westminster government.

Scottish independence will not happen in my - or any of our lifetimes, if at all. And I think I'm a lot more over it than many people here seem to be.

Project fear seems to have been correct then, doesn't it. (Somewhat reminiscent of Brexit). And if the economic case made in 2014 is ancient history, imagine if you were actually living with the consequences of it right now. The 2019 case (pretty much the current one) is just as fanciful, and you should be deeply concerned that it needed to change so much so quickly.

There is a route to independence, but it is such a terrible idea it's worth a bit of piss taking.

 

[Stevo 666]

There is some speculation that Rachel From Accounts may have broken the ministerial code with her failure to get a rental license. Sounds quite similar to the recent case of Honest Ange and her stamp duty underpayment....

 

[Stevo 666]

Not sure what you mean by the bolded bit, but, certainly, with a self assessment account, you can send them a payment (not related to tax owing) either with a cheque, or, with this new fangled bank transfer method.

However, since it is widely held on this forum that all billionaires are, by definition, tax evading bastards, they could just evade a bit less.

Shouldn't be too difficult for most people who might be in the 'evil rich' category to engineer - pull your money out of ISAs, stop making AVCs into your pensions, sell shares or assets to crystallise gains. Etc etc.