Current Affairs The Conservative Party

[ArtetaMoney]

Plans for automated surveillance of millions of bank accounts to catch welfare cheats should be scrapped, campaigners have said, warning the approach risks a repeat of the Post Office Horizon scandal.

The Department for Work and Pensions is seeking new powers to require banks to trawl the accounts of millions of people who receive benefits in an effort to cut the £8bn currently lost annually to welfare fraud. The plan is close to being passed into law by parliament and will be “fully automated”, the government said. It is likely to use artificial intelligence to flag activity considered suspicious by the DWP.


The government said no decisions on whether a claimant was committing fraud would be made on the basis of the mass surveillance, but it would examine cases flagged as possible fraud or error “through our business-as-usual processes”.

This would include pensioners as well as those receiving Child Benefit, not just those on Universal Credit. It would pretty much include a large percentage of the public.

Very authoritarian, very fascist. The Tories to a T.

Scrap plans to scan accounts of benefit claimants or risk new scandal, MPs told

Campaigners say ‘fully automated’ approach risks repeat of Post Office Horizon scandal

www.theguardian.com

I have no problem with the government going after anyone who cheats the system, but it needs to include all of those friends of the Tories who stole billions from the public purse during Covid, and not just the people on welfare.

In fact, it would be easier to chase that deficit back as it would be less people to prosecute, as opposed to the people stealing an extra couple of hundred quid a month.

 

[Spadge Vernacular]

 

[Baines' left foot]

And also why the Universal welfare state exists - everyone has a stake.

Incentive is a terrible term there Pete, it kinda ignores material inequalities and life's misfortunes such as the potential to become ill and no longer able to work. Which is why the self-responsibility narrative is a dubious one imho.

We are units for production and we will be happy with our ever decreasing services.

Pull your weight, one way or another, or you're in the ground.

 

[Xizor]

And yet the madness in the Right Wing media continues. I'm in a courtesy car at the moment and someone has set GB News as one of the saved stations (seems it's that kind of area). Some absolute berk presenter this afternoon honestly claiming that there aren't any real Conservatives surrounding Sunak in Downing Street. The country has been battered by hard-right Tory policies for over a decade and they're all "Woe is us, why do we suffer all these Blue Labour frauds in No. 10?".

I gave it a listen for about 15 minutes and they were absolutely hammering Sunak not just on the economy, but saying that he's weak on law & order because even after his speech the other day, they've learned the police won't be barrelling into this weekend's peace protests with truncheons flying the way Suella would have ordered. And of course were highlighting the numbers crossing in the small boats.

I don't know how widespread 'listenership' of GB News really is but if it's got a significant hold across traditional Right Wing voters then it's a real problem for Sunak because his own 'friendly' media is absolutely raging at him for being:

• Weak on the economy
• Weak on law and order
• Weak on immigration

These are 3 of the main planks of Conservative policy and for Tory-leaning voters to keep hearing in their own bubbles that Sunak has failed them so utterly, I'm really beginning to believe these 20% polling numbers that are dropping weekly.

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

Yeah, used one of the online calculators earlier. Someone on minimum wage earns circa £23k
(based on the £11.44 rate for 37.5hr weeks). They'll save £341/yr. Someone on £50k will save £1310/yr.

It does feel rather skewed. Especially when folk are struggling.

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

And yet the madness in the Right Wing media continues. I'm in a courtesy car at the moment and someone has set GB News as one of the saved stations (seems it's that kind of area). Some absolute berk presenter this afternoon honestly claiming that there aren't any real Conservatives surrounding Sunak in Downing Street. The country has been battered by hard-right Tory policies for over a decade and they're all "Woe is us, why do we suffer all these Blue Labour frauds in No. 10?".

I gave it a listen for about 15 minutes and they were absolutely hammering Sunak not just on the economy, but saying that he's weak on law & order because even after his speech the other day, they've learned the police won't be barrelling into this weekend's peace protests with truncheons flying the way Suella would have ordered. And of course were highlighting the numbers crossing in the small boats.

I don't know how widespread 'listenership' of GB News really is but if it's got a significant hold across traditional Right Wing voters then it's a real problem for Sunak because his own 'friendly' media is absolutely raging at him for being:

• Weak on the economy
• Weak on law and order
• Weak on immigration

These are 3 of the main planks of Conservative policy and for Tory-leaning voters to keep hearing in their own bubbles that Sunak has failed them so utterly, I'm really beginning to believe these 20% polling numbers that are dropping weekly.

Sounds like a LOT of the stuff in the Telegraph. I'm really not sure how representative it is of wider society, they seem to be the outlets for a niche who are unfortunately close to power and have outsized influence currently.

 

[Walken]

Yeah, used one of the online calculators earlier. Someone on minimum wage earns circa £23k
(based on the £11.44 rate for 37.5hr weeks). They'll save £341/yr. Someone on £50k will save £1310/yr.

It does feel rather skewed. Especially when folk are struggling.

No doubt those struggling folks who might need public services will be the ones actually paying for their richer countryfolks tax break.

One last disgusting money grab and cut of vital services before the election

 

[Amw79]

No doubt those struggling folks who might need public services will be the ones actually paying for their richer countryfolks tax break.

One last disgusting money grab and cut of vital services before the election

Yep. This is a final effort to scupper the incoming government (and cripple the country), while managing to get a bit more money in their own coffers at the expense of public services, and the less well off.

Even if Labour are actively dreadful, this lot deserve annihilation at the next election. The idea we should continue to give tax payer money to these proven charlatans and selfish, self interested crooks should not be entertained.

 

[Mr. White]

Yeah, used one of the online calculators earlier. Someone on minimum wage earns circa £23k
(based on the £11.44 rate for 37.5hr weeks). They'll save £341/yr. Someone on £50k will save £1310/yr.

It does feel rather skewed. Especially when folk are struggling.

It's all relative though. And it goes both ways. When taxes and NI go up, those who earn more will get hit harder.

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

It's all relative though. And it goes both ways. When taxes and NI go up, those who earn more will get hit harder.

Awww.

 

[tsubaki]

And yet the madness in the Right Wing media continues. I'm in a courtesy car at the moment and someone has set GB News as one of the saved stations (seems it's that kind of area). Some absolute berk presenter this afternoon honestly claiming that there aren't any real Conservatives surrounding Sunak in Downing Street. The country has been battered by hard-right Tory policies for over a decade and they're all "Woe is us, why do we suffer all these Blue Labour frauds in No. 10?".

I gave it a listen for about 15 minutes and they were absolutely hammering Sunak not just on the economy, but saying that he's weak on law & order because even after his speech the other day, they've learned the police won't be barrelling into this weekend's peace protests with truncheons flying the way Suella would have ordered. And of course were highlighting the numbers crossing in the small boats.

I don't know how widespread 'listenership' of GB News really is but if it's got a significant hold across traditional Right Wing voters then it's a real problem for Sunak because his own 'friendly' media is absolutely raging at him for being:

• Weak on the economy
• Weak on law and order
• Weak on immigration

These are 3 of the main planks of Conservative policy and for Tory-leaning voters to keep hearing in their own bubbles that Sunak has failed them so utterly, I'm really beginning to believe these 20% polling numbers that are dropping weekly.

its particularly galling to hear GB News go on about being weak on the economy because they are now £80 million plus in debt themselves

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

It's all relative though. And it goes both ways. When taxes and NI go up, those who earn more will get hit harder.

You mean these poor hard up souls?

Thought I'd share this from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/high-earners-bank-of-england-income-tax-rate-drop/

"When I saw the news that the point at which the 45p income tax rate kicks in is falling to £125,140, I had to laugh. By a whisker, it raises me into the lofty realms of the country’s wealthy elite – which is a very long way indeed from how I feel.

I may earn good money in my senior job in recruitment, but the moment it hits my account, that money immediately disappears. It certainly doesn’t go on extravagances. I get my hair cut and coloured every three months, but my clothes are high street and our weekly shop is from Asda. We take one bucket-and-spade family holiday a year, last year it was in Tenerife – lovely for the children, but hardly the Maldives.

feels like a kick in the teeth.

The other bills stack up, too. I pay £800 per month into my pension; energy bills are now around £300 per month; council tax is £255. Travelling by train into London to go to the office two or three days a week costs hundreds more every month. With food prices that constantly go up, phone, broadband, subscriptions for Netflix and Disney+ – I feel overwhelmed by it all.

Recently, we’ve been looking for ways to economise because having nothing left at the end of the month makes me anxious and stressed. We gave up our cleaner last year to save £45 a week and now do the cleaning ourselves. I no longer have a gym membership. We’re now considering moving up north, where I’m originally from, in the hope that we could buy a less expensive house and enjoy a better lifestyle in return for all our hard work."


Personally I don't have too much sympathy for a high earning Telegraph reader crying because they can't afford to keep up with the Jones'. Seems pretty entitled to me.

 

[Mr. White]

You mean these poor hard up souls?

No, not at all. Your example, not mine. This Telegraph story is an article baiting for clicks and comments.

Your previous post commented on the tax savings of those earning £50k a year as if they are the rich... A poor wage for some, a great wage for others, but so many variables to know which is true. A £50k wage does not deserve crippling tax rises... it could be a single wage supporting a family household. It could be a working class guy with a trade. It's not a wealthy wage, per se.

 

[Xizor]

Imagine being on £125k and whinging that Disney+ is too expensive. Unreal.

And "Hardly the Maldives". Ah, bless.

Faithfully lined up to vote for the absolute chancers that have caused all her 'hardship' though.

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

No, not at all. Your example, not mine. This Telegraph story is an article baiting for clicks and comments.

Your previous post commented on the tax savings of those earning £50k a year as if they are the rich... A poor wage for some, a great wage for others, but so many variables to know which is true. A £50k wage does not deserve crippling tax rises... it could be a single wage supporting a family household. It could be a working class guy with a trade. It's not a wealthy wage, per se.

It was an example to illustrate that higher earners will benefit, not as a beating stick. That is your assumption, not mine.

Edit: most folk I know earning that mark are of the opinion the money could he better used elsewhere. Unless they're a Tory rat of course. Ya Tory rat.