Clint Planet
Utter Cad.
Put your son's school's post code into this:
https://www.schoolcuts.org.uk/#!/
Funding cut by £500 a pupil at mine.
This is MASSIVE.
Current Affairs 2017 General Election
- Thread starter neil999
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Put your son's school's post code into this:
https://www.schoolcuts.org.uk/#!/
Funding cut by £500 a pupil at mine.
This is MASSIVE.
It's a shame his convictions over stopping Brexit aren't as strong as his desire to nationalise a postal carrier that has been outflanked by around a dozen competitors in the current market.
Clint Planet
Utter Cad.
Tory social care plans fail to tackle basic funding challenge, IFS says.
Institute for Fiscal Studies warns of less generous system, as Labour says ‘savage attack’ on pensioners could sway election
Under the Conservative manifesto, more elderly people would have to pay for their own social care in the home. Photograph: Jacob Lund/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Heather Stewart and Peter Walker
Published:20:08 BST Fri 19 May 2017
Theresa May’s flagship manifesto proposal to shake up the funding of social care for older people has come under fire from the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies and opposition parties.
The IFS warned on Friday that the complex new system outlined in the Conservative party’s manifesto, which would force more elderly people to pay for their own care, “makes no attempt to deal with the fundamental challenge of social care funding”.
While some households would fare better because of a higher, £100,000 means test, the IFS said that overall the new system would be “less generous”. It would fail to tackle the “insurance problem” that means individuals cannot plan for the risk of having to pay very high costs in their old age.
On Thursday, the Conservatives announced plans to make people needing help in their own homes pay the costs of long-term social care, with only £100,000 of the value of their estate protected. Announcing the plan, the party said it would “address the fundamental unfairness at the heart of Britain’s elderly care system and tackle the long-term challenges of an ageing society”.
Labour attacked the plans as part of a “triple whammy” for hard-up pensioners, alongside the weakening of the triple-lock guarantee on the basic state pension and the means-testing of the winter fuel allowance.
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, called the changes a “savage attack on vulnerable pensioners” on Friday as he sought to position Labour as the party representing older voters.
Speaking in London alongside the shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, McDonnell unveiled a new Labour election poster warning of a “triple whammy for pensioners”. The slogan and poster deliberately echo a famous 1992 Conservative poster warning of a Labour “double whammy”.
McDonnell also criticised May’s party for providing few projected costings for its pledges. He contrasted the Tory manifesto with Labour’s, which offers a supporting document of assumed costs and tax revenues, and he predicted that this could be a tipping point in the election campaign.
“Yesterday the Conservative party abandoned older people,” McDonnell said. “There was a triple whammy: the tearing up of the triple lock, the attack on the winter fuel allowance and the plans on care costs, so people can lose their homes.”
He cited a calculation by the Resolution Foundation thinktank showing that the projected savings from means-testing the winter fuel payment meant five out of six pensioners, or around 10 million people, would lose the allowance. “To be frank, I am angry,” McDonnell said. “This is a savage attack on vulnerable pensioners, particularly those who are just about managing. It is disgraceful and we are calling on the Conservatives now to withdraw it.”
A Conservative spokesman said: “Theresa May and her Conservative team are offering a long-term plan to ensure that elderly people in need of social care receive the dignified and high-quality care they deserve, with the funding to make the system sustainable.”
Tory manifesto: more elderly people will have to pay for own social care
Separately, the Conservatives were accused of hypocrisy after the Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson, confirmed that the winter fuel allowance would remain universal for pensioners in Scotland.
Appearing alongside the prime minister to launch the Scottish Tory manifesto, which is more centrist in key areas than May’s, Davidson said the Conservatives would use Holyrood’s devolved powers to keep winter fuel payments as a universal benefit, because Scotland’s winters were worse.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, said: “The Tories are utter hypocrites. How can they take cash off English pensioners and then give it to Scottish pensioners? It looks like a cheap election bung and it won’t wash.
“It is utterly scandalous that the Conservatives want to axe the triple lock and now do this. Theresa May and her ministers are just taking pensioners and their votes for granted. They don’t seem to care about them.”
Pensioners voted overwhelmingly for the Conservatives in the 2015 general election, and are more likely to turn out and vote than their younger counterparts. The former prime minister, David Cameron, repeatedly pledged to maintain pensioner benefits, but May appears to be sufficiently confident in her commanding poll lead to risk policies that could be unpopular with older voters.
Speaking in Edinburgh on Friday alongside Davidson, the prime minister said the Conservatives would help Scotland to “grow and flourish” after Brexit, by investing heavily in the country’s industries and deprived communities.
Repeatedly referring in her speech to the “Conservative and Unionist party” and her “unionist government”, to bolster her hardline stance against Scottish independence, May said she would offer “a unionist government at the service of ordinary working families”.
Institute for Fiscal Studies warns of less generous system, as Labour says ‘savage attack’ on pensioners could sway election
Under the Conservative manifesto, more elderly people would have to pay for their own social care in the home. Photograph: Jacob Lund/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Heather Stewart and Peter Walker
Published:20:08 BST Fri 19 May 2017
Theresa May’s flagship manifesto proposal to shake up the funding of social care for older people has come under fire from the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies and opposition parties.
The IFS warned on Friday that the complex new system outlined in the Conservative party’s manifesto, which would force more elderly people to pay for their own care, “makes no attempt to deal with the fundamental challenge of social care funding”.
While some households would fare better because of a higher, £100,000 means test, the IFS said that overall the new system would be “less generous”. It would fail to tackle the “insurance problem” that means individuals cannot plan for the risk of having to pay very high costs in their old age.
On Thursday, the Conservatives announced plans to make people needing help in their own homes pay the costs of long-term social care, with only £100,000 of the value of their estate protected. Announcing the plan, the party said it would “address the fundamental unfairness at the heart of Britain’s elderly care system and tackle the long-term challenges of an ageing society”.
Labour attacked the plans as part of a “triple whammy” for hard-up pensioners, alongside the weakening of the triple-lock guarantee on the basic state pension and the means-testing of the winter fuel allowance.
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, called the changes a “savage attack on vulnerable pensioners” on Friday as he sought to position Labour as the party representing older voters.
Speaking in London alongside the shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, McDonnell unveiled a new Labour election poster warning of a “triple whammy for pensioners”. The slogan and poster deliberately echo a famous 1992 Conservative poster warning of a Labour “double whammy”.
McDonnell also criticised May’s party for providing few projected costings for its pledges. He contrasted the Tory manifesto with Labour’s, which offers a supporting document of assumed costs and tax revenues, and he predicted that this could be a tipping point in the election campaign.
“Yesterday the Conservative party abandoned older people,” McDonnell said. “There was a triple whammy: the tearing up of the triple lock, the attack on the winter fuel allowance and the plans on care costs, so people can lose their homes.”
He cited a calculation by the Resolution Foundation thinktank showing that the projected savings from means-testing the winter fuel payment meant five out of six pensioners, or around 10 million people, would lose the allowance. “To be frank, I am angry,” McDonnell said. “This is a savage attack on vulnerable pensioners, particularly those who are just about managing. It is disgraceful and we are calling on the Conservatives now to withdraw it.”
A Conservative spokesman said: “Theresa May and her Conservative team are offering a long-term plan to ensure that elderly people in need of social care receive the dignified and high-quality care they deserve, with the funding to make the system sustainable.”
Tory manifesto: more elderly people will have to pay for own social care
Separately, the Conservatives were accused of hypocrisy after the Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson, confirmed that the winter fuel allowance would remain universal for pensioners in Scotland.
Appearing alongside the prime minister to launch the Scottish Tory manifesto, which is more centrist in key areas than May’s, Davidson said the Conservatives would use Holyrood’s devolved powers to keep winter fuel payments as a universal benefit, because Scotland’s winters were worse.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, said: “The Tories are utter hypocrites. How can they take cash off English pensioners and then give it to Scottish pensioners? It looks like a cheap election bung and it won’t wash.
“It is utterly scandalous that the Conservatives want to axe the triple lock and now do this. Theresa May and her ministers are just taking pensioners and their votes for granted. They don’t seem to care about them.”
Pensioners voted overwhelmingly for the Conservatives in the 2015 general election, and are more likely to turn out and vote than their younger counterparts. The former prime minister, David Cameron, repeatedly pledged to maintain pensioner benefits, but May appears to be sufficiently confident in her commanding poll lead to risk policies that could be unpopular with older voters.
Speaking in Edinburgh on Friday alongside Davidson, the prime minister said the Conservatives would help Scotland to “grow and flourish” after Brexit, by investing heavily in the country’s industries and deprived communities.
Repeatedly referring in her speech to the “Conservative and Unionist party” and her “unionist government”, to bolster her hardline stance against Scottish independence, May said she would offer “a unionist government at the service of ordinary working families”.
So McDonnell is calling Gordon Brown a savage? 
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Clint Planet
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Who?
Clint Planet
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Tory ministers accept 20 luxury food hampers from Saudi Arabian regime worsening famine in Yemen
Campaigners said the gifts were a symbol of the government’s close relationship with the autocracy
- Jon Stone Political Correspondent
- @joncstone
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox are among ministers who accepted hampers since the bombing in Yemen began AFP/Getty
Senior Tory ministers including Boris Johnson and Liam Fox have accepted luxury food hampers as gifts from the Saudi Arabian government despite criticism of the country for its human rights’ record and contributing to a famine by bombing civilians in neighbouring Yemen.
The Saudis have gifted Conservative ministers 20 luxury food hampers costing around £200 each since the party came to power in 2010, according to official government records analysed by The Independent.
Campaigners said the hampers were a “garish sign of friendship” between the autocracy and Whitehall, noting the irony of food hampers being given while millions starved due to Saudi bombs.
Fallon says Saudi Arabia is 'just defending itself' by bombing Yemen
The United Nations has warned that seven million people are in danger of starving to death in Yemen, which has been the subject of a bombardment by Saudi Arabian warplanes since 2015.
In January the UN said the death toll from the intervention, on the side of the internationally-recognised Yemeni government, had reached 10,000 people. It has also said the Saudi-led coalition is responsible for most of the civilian casualties in the conflict against Houthi rebels.
Ministers Mr Johnson, Mr Fox, Greg Hands and Tobias Ellwood have all accepted hampers since the start of the Saudi bombardment of Yemen in April 2015, with the other ministers accepting them before. Lib Dem Vince Cable also accepted a hamper in 2011. After being accepted most of the hampers were retained by the ministers’ departments, with some used for hospitality or passed on elsewhere.
The Foreign Secretary was also given a “solid metal/silver horse ornament” in September last year by the country’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir. The horse is being held by the Foreign Office.
“The Saudi dictatorship has one of the worst human rights records in the world – it executes its critics and treats women appallingly. Its bombing campaign in Yemen has killed thousands and pushed millions to the edge of starvation,” Joe Lo of Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) told The Independent.
“This garish sign of friendship is all too typical of the close-knit relationship between Whitehall and the Saudi regime. The UK Government should be using its influence to stand up for those suffering in Yemen, not accepting luxury hampers from those that are bombing them.”
The Government is currently defending a High Court legal challenge against CAAT over the issue of arms exports to Saudi Arabia. Ministers have continued to sign off arms exports to the country despite reports of the bombing of civilians and advice from the chief civil servant in charge of export control that it should be paused.
As many as 460,000 children face severe malnutrition in Yemen and 70 per cent of the population struggle to feed themselves (Reuters)
Targets reportedly hit by the Saudi Arabian coalition in Yemen include schools, hospitals, wedding parties and food factories.
Theresa May last month defended Britain’s ties to the autocratic country, while Donald Trump made the nation the first top on his first foreign tour.
“Rather than just standing on the sidelines and sniping, it’s important to engage, to talk to people, to talk about our interests and to raise, yes, difficult issues when we feel it’s necessary to do so,” the Prime Minister said.
An HM Government spokesperson said: “The Government has clear and strict rules in place on ministers accepting gifts or hospitality and all gifts are received in accordance with the Ministerial Code.”
A Conservative spokesman said: “These are not personal gifts that ministers have received – the goods are typically donated to charity or retained by departments. Governments of all political colours routinely receive gifts from diplomats.”
My youngest girl's school is expecting a change of almost £900 per child which equates to the cost of four teachers.
Clint Planet
Utter Cad.
This should be all over the papers - it's a ticking bomb. It's barely talked about, of course.
bring the ghost on
Player Valuation: £35m
bring the ghost on
Player Valuation: £35m
Still a big ask for Labour to take it to the wire, but luckily for them the Tories have scored a massive own goal with that manifesto (social care policy, school meals policy) and some of the Labour policies are resonating.
Bearing in mind Scotland and JC's personal popularity, it's still the Tories election to lose though I think.
Bearing in mind Scotland and JC's personal popularity, it's still the Tories election to lose though I think.
roydo
in memoriam - 1965-2024
Even if its half right, cant say I am surprised.
May has picked needless fights that would never have appealed to her core vote. Daft.
Clint Planet
Utter Cad.
It's worth noting, too, that all of her public appearances are carefully stage-managed and populated by drafted-in "supporters" and even then, she's not really coming across well. It remains to be seen how much Labour can exploit the fact that she is as terrified of facing the public as she is of facing Corbyn.
May is still hiding in her bunker and refuses to discuss her manifesto, and the issues that will affect the people of this country if she is elected. The Tory controlled media are becoming nervy about this, and the state controlled BBC are finding it more and more difficult not to have a go at the Tories. The Tories cowardice in not defending their manifesto is no surprise.
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Utter Cad.
roydo
in memoriam - 1965-2024
Think they all do that mate.
Thing is, when she called the election, it was under a "trust me about Brexit/need a strong mandate to face the EU" ticket. There is a kernel of logic that could be swallowed in that, even if we all know the real reason was to cash in on the supposed divisions in the Labour Party.
Now I wont speak for everyone, but I would guess that not many of the great "not that arsed" populace that generally deliver an election victory thought, "Great, lets sort out them free school meals, and I hope she makes sure my house is sold when I die".
At least Corbyn tells his support what they want to hear.
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