Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

LOL. Not sure the Freepost envelopes would have been big enough though.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

As a contractor you can claim back £0.40 per mile, netting you well over £4K from the tax man.
Your car is too new and "environmentally friendly" to run on anything but environmentally damaging derv (go figure).
Normally SVO costs me 71ppl, but Tesco are doing a deal so its about 50ppl.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

At this moment in time I don't know who (if does happen that is) I sign this 6 months with, it could be the agency or the company in question.

Would this make a difference?

How would I go about claming it?

Do you claim the full 40p or is it up to?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

If this is your first time contracting, then it would be easiest to go through an umbrella company, otherwise you can go Ltd company or similar but if you do that make sure you have a damn good accountant and make sure you have control over the bank accounts.
There are several of us on here with contracting experience, so it'd be best to start a new thread on it.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Surprised Roy Bremner or some one hasn't done a Gordon Brown parody of those ads

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Oh no! Gordon left his mic. on *again* after leaving Buckingham Palace! :shocked:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t16PTMOnLEc

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Arn't we signed up to a certain vat rate in the lisbon treaty to bring all EU member states into line on vat and that it has to be implemented within a certain time i am sure i heard that somewhere. As i said in another thread loving the way labour supporters are on the back of this coaltion after less then a week in power when they didn't get on labours back in the thirteen years they robbed us of many of our rights and did all the damage that now has to be put right.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Having just had a quick skim of the Lisbon Treaty I don't think there are any new VAT rules but I seem to recall looking at the rules in the mid-90s which talked about aiming to harmonise but I don't think there has been a formal process. I think there were two levels of VAT (necessities and luxuries) which countries had to keep the VAT level within. However on items which were/are zero rated this could be maintained but if VAT were then charged on these items it could only be reduced to minimum. This happened with VAT on domestic heating bills. The Tories removed the zero rating and levied a rate of 8%. When the Labour party came to power they could only reduce it to 5% and not back to zero previously

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Ask not what your Country can do for you, ask what you can do for your Country.
Waits for RizzyKing to announce he has got on his bike. ;)


Slowcoach – 65 years old and still working for the good of the Country. :p:

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

One thing correcting something mentioned earlier in the thread, the threshold for a vote of no confidence hasn't changed, it's still a simple majority and no confidence can lead to a dissolution of Parliament still, the 55% refers to a vote for dissolution. Given that dissolution couldn't even be voted on previously this is in no way restrictive of previous freedoms.

The Labour party are promoting the view that they are the same thing, the BBC are happily reporting it, it's not the case. This explains it better.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

So, the implication is that there can be no confidence in the Government but it is possible for Parliament not to be dissoleved?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

I have put this point on the "Have your say" section of the BBC - we shall see. ;)

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Correct. Have a read of the link.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

I suppose it gives a chance for another coalition to have a go without having to go to an election. The only issue I have is I believe in a simple majority in any vote in the House of Commons

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

So did Gordon Brown actually force these bankers to act irresponsibly then?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

I said at the begining of this election crap, if the Tories get in they will make cutbacks in services, and they are, it was stated today that they are making cutbacks in service's straight away to save money, up goes VAT to 20%, cutbacks in services, they are going ahead with crossrail, even though it is expensive, who is going to pay for all this US. what is next for cutbacks, income tax will go up next, l told you so.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

I think you'll find that is up to four thousand pounds that he can set against his taxable profits (only for the first ten thousand miles, it is twenty-five pence per mile after that), assuming he is paying basic rate tax, that will net him only eight hundred pounds (or up to one thousand six hundred pounds, if he pays tax at the higher rate).

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

No - he just set up the regulatory framework which allowed them to do so unhindered by proper scrutiny. Whilst they were at it he was too busy spending and dining out on the tax revenues generated to worry about what was going on and what it was all based upon. The fact that he doled out honours to a large number of them (including a Knighthood to Fred the Shred) and spoke boldly of his desire to 'encourage the risk takers' during an official address to City financiers indicates that he wasn't exactly discouraging their activities or advocating the 'prudence' he boasted so much about during his time as Chancellor.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

So, he didn't cause the collapse of the banks, they brought that upon themselves.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Yep. We were always going to have to pay for it.

The new Government have a pretty tough task ahead of them, they've inherited an economy on life support and a country thats been spending FAR more than it was making for a number of years.

The country cannot go on spending money it does not have, unless you have another solution then cuts have to be made and taxes have to rise to cover the mismanagement of the last 13 years.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Which was a world-wide problem resulting in many countries across the globe having to take similar measures as the UK (though not necessarily as severe).

The reality was that the international banking system is so intertwined that many banks found themselves exposed to dodgy practices elsewhere in the world. Brown bears part of the blame, but it's not obvious he could have done much to avoid it.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

He didn't hold a gun to their heads but he made it possible for them to act in the way they did.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

You missed this bit:

Brown clearly did not directly cause the collapse but he and his Government were culpable by allowing it to happen on their watch. As the world's pre-eminent financial centre Brown had a clear duty to ensure the City was subject to adequate scrutiny.

---------- Post added at 13:02 ---------- Previous post was at 12:57 ----------

...and he rewarded them for it.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

So, he is to blame because the banks have no morals?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

No, he is to blame for not regulating appropriately.

(btw, I love the way you keep changing the question when you don't get the answer you want.... ;) )

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Does anyone know how much of the current debt is due to the banking crisis, and how much is due to 'regular' overspending? I.e: how much debt would we have had if there hadn't been a banking crisis?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

You noticed that too :) The way some people try to deflect responsibility from Brown, anyone would think he wasn't Chancellor for all those years.... ;)

* .....and isn't that just what they do with respect to referenda on the EU?..... ;)

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

The trouble is Daniel, is that much of the extra public spending has been due to the recession and supporting those who have been affected by it. It would be interesting to see the figures from the year before the crisis.

---------- Post added at 14:48 ---------- Previous post was at 14:47 ----------

I must have missed that, what have I kept change?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Probably the easiest way to estimate that would be to compare the figures for govenment borrowing just before the banking collapse and after their intervention but it's not just about actual debt/losses, there's also the question of future liabilities. The additional complication with what happened to the banks is that potential losses still cannot be quantified. IIRC RBS in particular (and hence the UK taxpayer) is still exposed to some extremely dodgy lending which could wind up costing us £billions more than has already been spent/lost.

There's more detail here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4...oxic-debt.html

and here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...t-1833830.html

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Thanks Hero, but I was rather hoping for soemthing a bit more detailed than that. Something which showed the full year's figures perhaps.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Does this help? Guardian
And if you click on the link for "Britain's public debt since 1974", you get this , which shows the steady growth in the amount of UK public debt, and in 2007/08 it was 618.7 billion, up from 399.9 billion in 1996/97.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Thank you.

Interestingly, the figures for nineteen ninety-seven were still worse than they were before the crisis.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Yes, debt has gone up since '97 (disregarding the crisis now), but it actually decreased as a % of GDP, which would presumably be the most appropriate number to look at.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Yes - recovery from the early 90's recession was complete and the economy was then in surplus, which it continued to be while Labour followed the Tory economic plan. Regrettably these plans ended and began to be unwound by 2000, with the reversal complete by 2002 when, despite sustained economic growth, the then-chancellor staring running deficits again which he continued to do despite a very long and sustained, albeit unsustainable, period of economic growth.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Perhaps Foreverwar accidentally posted the climate change hockey stick ;)

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Another interesting piece of data from that article suggests that taxation as a percentage of GDP, relevant to the first thirteen years of Tory government, from nineteen seventy-nine, was higher than the same period for the Labour government. So on the face of it, another myth busted it would seem.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Yep - for a couple of years the Tory economic plans were still doing their thing causing a nice rapid drop and the economy was doing very well with good sustained growth - much better than the Eurozone's.

For the bored you can compare the UK to other countries here.

---------- Post added at 15:34 ---------- Previous post was at 15:28 ----------

Which myth would it be busting?

It refers to tax take not tax rate, when the economy is in the excrement tax take goes down due to less people working and paying taxes, this doesn't mean the nominal tax rate is lower just that less of it got paid for whatever reason.

Something of note in the figures in the article is that the Tories in the 13 year period between 1979 and 1992 you mention reduced the national debt from 47.2% of GDP to 27.2% of GDP, on similar levels of tax take to 1988-89 when the Tories reduced the deficit by approximately 6% of GDP (a boom period pre-early 90s recession) under Labour the deficit was actually rising and in any event you can't compare the two - if you're looking for a nominal tax rate those aren't the figures we need, that's just what was paid, not what was being charged.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

The one about Brown and New Labour being competent to run the economy perhaps??.. :rofl:

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

That seems to suggest that the debt was actually at the same level as the Tories left us back in '97 or better until early 09 when the debt seems to have shot up, coinciding with the crisis?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Absolutely. The economy had just completed a recovery from recession. The debt dropped for a while - Labour followed Tory policies for a bit and it dropped rapidly, then the drop slowed and it started creeping up again as the change from Tory to Labour spending plans kicked in despite the economic growth.

Previous 'booms' coincided with a paying off of debt, GDP up, tax take up without increasing rates, Labour had an extra long boom and chalked up debt for a large part of it.

Check out http://www.measuringworth.org/datasets/ukgdp/index.php

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

You appear to confusing taxation (as a whole) with personal taxation - of the £516.6 billion net of tax revenue in 2008-09, £156.7b was income tax, NI £97.7b, and VAT £82.6b. Over £100b was raised by Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, Stamp Duties, Corporation Tax, Business Rates, and other Taxes and Royalties.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Shurley not ...

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Which of those taxes are not paid by the "taxpayer?"

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

I'm more interested to see if you're going to accept that you have been confusing 'tax rate' and 'tax take'.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

And I suppose by definition you are going to assume...what? That perhaps not everybody funds the tax take of the UK? Corporate taxes are ultimately paid buy the consumer, don't you agree. The rates of income tax is no the only indicator of how much tax a taxpayer pays.

---------- Post added at 19:28 ---------- Previous post was at 19:26 ----------

Forgot to ask:

What were the tax rates from nineteen eighty-eight, compared to two thousand and ten?

What were the VAT rates from nineteen seventy-eight, compared to to nineteen ninety-one?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

£1500 = approx 275gal = 13750 miles@50mpg = £4K (@40ppm) + £937.50 (@25ppm) = £4937.50

turnover - expenses = profit (ie you're taxed on what you earn after expenses have been paid, you don't take expenses out of the tax you've paid)

This is assuming £1500 extra cost in 6 months for business mileage.

Even when I worked for NTL as a basic tax rate payer on PAYE I claimed over £1500 one year.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

... or possibly just stop asking questions and start answering some for a change... :D

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Love the way you pick certain years.

Forgot to ask:

What were the tax rates from 1976, compared to 1989? (answer, 35% basic and 83% highest, compared to 25% basic and 40% highest)

What were the VAT rates from 1979, compared to 2009? (answer, 15% compared to 17.5%)

Easy game to play, this......

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

See there you go asking questions and answering them .... :D

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

That is the amount of money you can set against your taxable profits, not the amount of money saved from the amount of tax you pay. On your calculation, of thirteen thousand seven hundred and fifty miles, you would pay nine hundred and eighty-seven pounds less tax, on basic rate, not four thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven pounds.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Seriously, how can you not understand that when the economy is doing well, more tax is paid as more people are earning and spending, and when the economy is doing badly, less tax is paid because fewer people are earning and spending?

---------- Post added at 23:01 ---------- Previous post was at 22:55 ----------

Last time I checked it's the tax man (HMRC) which dictates that you can claim the 40ppm and 25ppm as legitimate expenses.
You don't put a claim in for the tax you would have paid had you not claimed the expenses.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Since I've seen you do this before: when figures go over a certain amount, I find numbers a lot easier to comprehend. As in:

Being a lot easier to digest than:

Is there any specific reason for using the long-hand notation? I find it really hard work...

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

I haven't confused anything, it is many on here who are refusing to accept that the Tories have taxed us more than Labour have.

The tax rates are lower now than they were when the last Tory government were in power, are they not? The Tories increased the standard VAT rate from eight per cent to seventeen and a half per cent, didn't they?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Don't have the figures to hand, will look for them when I can. The ones we have aren't hugely helpful as they are not the same as nominal tax rate which is the key thing, not how much tax was actually paid as that has many influences.

The only thing that is unequivocal from the figures is that, despite being left a strong and healthy economy in surplus Labour, without any economic downturn, turned that surplus into a deficit and increased taxation at the same time (evidenced by GDP growth with a simultaneous increase in tax take as % of GDP).

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Presumably you mean: There have been certain years under the Tories where the tax rates were higher than in certain years under Labour? Which is as valid a statement as the reverse would be, which renders the whole exercise rather pointless.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

What? You told Homer that he he could net over four thousand pounds by claiming forty pence per mile.

But that is not possible, as a schedule "D" tax payer, one does not "claim back" anything. One uses that amount to reduce, i.e. set against, one's taxable profits (in other word increasing ones expenditure), therefore not having to pay tax on the equivalent amount of profit. If that equivalent amount of profit is four thousand pounds, it would mean you would pay eight hundred pounds less tax.

---------- Post added at 23:37 ---------- Previous post was at 23:29 ----------

The first thirteen years of Tory rule, the mean percentage against GDP was thirty-six point three, the thirteen years of Labour it was thirty-five point three.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Net as in a string bag used to catch things :rolleyes:
Sorry flyboy, but if you aren't able to fathom that HMRC allow you to claim it back as expenses then I really wonder how you're going to understand that while VAT was increased from the two rates of 8% and 12.5% to a single rate of 15% income tax was reduced considerably.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Yes, let's compare an administration that inherited double-digit inflation, a nice fat recession (2.36% drop in GDP in Q3 1979), and militant trade unions with one that inherited a stable, surplus running economy shall we?

Makes it impossible to compare the tax take, which is the stat you are looking at. The actual tax rates, no idea of, however it would probably be somewhat fairer to take the Tory numbers a bit later on once they'd had a while to work on the economy.

This is interesting reading.

Oh here's a thought for you Flyboy, despite the crap the Tories inherited they still managed better average GDP growth than Labour.

Thought number 2 - Brown removed the tax credit on share dividends, increasing the size of or causing pension deficits within companies, and causing people to invest in property instead of standard pension funds - cost to pension funds of this by the way is guesstimated at upwards of 100bln. People investing in property caused a housing bubble, more demand for similar supply. As part of satiating this demand and due to the ever increasing house prices lenders such as Northern Rock began to offer riskier and riskier mortgages on the assumption that the non-stop and rapid rises in house prices would continue.

You see where I'm going with this. That smash and grab on pension funds caused incalculable damage to our economy. From people not being able to afford homes due to the housing bubble through to mortgage backed debt bringing down lenders through to people using their homes as cashpoints, fuelling their consumption with debt while bankers fuel the economy from their end gambling away the liquidity the housing market generated.

This was the basis of a good part of Labour's economic growth, public sector employment was responsible for a good part of jobs growth.

One thing you really, surely, honestly aren't going to do is try and say that Labour's policies were good for the economy?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

A self-employed person does not claim anything back, because they haven't paid anything to HMRC, before they calculate their taxable profit at the end of their accounting period. Any mileage allowances are added to expenditure, therefore reducing the taxable profits, I have not said that someone cannot use a mileage allowance. I think that you are the one who is confused and are trying to do a bit of wriggling.

As far as VAT is concerned, you may have noticed that I wrote "standard rate." So, no misunderstanding at all then, eh.

---------- Post added at 23:54 ---------- Previous post was at 23:51 ----------

Wouldn't mind doing a quick comparative analysis of those GDP figures, I don't suppose you have them to hand, do you.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

But it seems like you're just cherry-picking the data. And the data cannot be interpreted without taking the economic circumstances at the time into consideration.

This is what I hate so much about UK politics, and why I love the fact that we have this unlikely coalition now. UK politics revolves around slagging off the other party to gain support for your own. In a way, it would be funny, if it weren't so bloody inconstructive (if that's a word). Get a grip, get some perspective, and start working for the country rather than your party. This is something that, given the election result, Cameron and Clegg were forced to accept. Let's hope they recognise that it's actually a really good way to do politics.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Oh for pete's sake :rolleyes:
You really are mandleson aren't you?
You are claiming expenses by claiming mileage, the tax man dictates what you are allowed to claim and what you can't (such as "entertainment").
Everyone I know of refers to it as claiming expenses back off the tax man, because you are, you declare your expenses to the tax man and he approves them or not.
That you don't actually hand all the money over then get it back is by the by.
You still don't seem to understand the bit about income tax being reduced when VAT went up.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

But, have you now realised that one cannot "claim" a "net" of four thousand pounds based on a calculation of forty pence per mile?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Ah I see what you've done, you've purposely (well, I hope you did it on purpose) misunderstood the word "net" as "nett" rather than how it was used which was just "net"

Should you not have purposely misunderstood, then appologies. Similar statements such as "net yourself a bargain at the sales" must also cause you consternation.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

So, when you wrote:

You meant what exactly? Because "netting" from the taxman, means that is what you will get. One cannot not get four thousand pounds from the taxman, by claiming forty pence per mile, no matter how much you try.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

^ This. Wish I could rep you for it.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

I can see some of us have got bogged down in a row about expenses.With all due respect the topic isn't about petrol/diesel bills or claiming expenses.It's about the overall effects of the present Coalition.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Yes and whilst Brown's policies were resulting in rampant house price inflation which created an unsustainable boom (in spite of what Brown was saying about having broken the cycle of boom and bust), they were still banging on about how awful it was that people couldn't afford homes. Of course, some people who owned property and didn't overstretch themselves with debt did rather nicely out of Brown's 'prudence'. I dare say they'll have voted for the guy in large numbers....

The truth is that Brown was quite happy to see the economy grow by hook or by crook. Sadly it was more by 'crook' and look where that got us...

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Had a look for the figures myself:

UK GDP since 1948

I couldn't spot a recession in nineteen seventy-nine, in fact, net growth for that year was just over two per cent. I thought that was right, but had to double check, just in case the memory was playing tricks.

What method are you using to theorise the GDP growth comparisons?

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

cam and sam = scaamm!!

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

Ooh we could play this game all night... :rolleyes:

If David Miliband wins the contest for Labour leadership - he is in trouble anagram wise...

In a few words - David Miliband spells "bad invalid dim" ;)

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

GDP dropped 2.36% in Q3 1979 then after a single quarter in positive territory dropped into official recession in 1980, before any Tory policies would have had any chance to take significant effect, but I'm sure you read my post and the statistics closely rather than picking out the bits you liked and disliked to try and make your point ;)

I'm not theorising anything by the way, I'm using inflation adjusted GDP figures and the science and art of mathematics. Please feel free to do the calculations yourself if you think you can manage to put aside partisanship for long enough to not try and find some way to skew them to fit your own prejudices.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

obviously not the same mathemagic your using -is it the Brown equation your employing;)
divide reality by six

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

meanwhile back on planet earth

THE government last night accused Labour of pursuing a “scorched earth policy” before the general election, leaving behind billions of pounds of previously hidden spending commitments.

The newly discovered Whitehall “black holes” could force even more severe public spending cuts, or higher tax rises, ministers fear.

“There are some worrying early signs that numbers left by the outgoing government may not add up,” said Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister.

David Willetts, the universities minister, claimed that Labour had left behind “not so much an in-tray as a minefield”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7127819.ece

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Doesn't surprise me at all! The deliberate 'policy' of a shambolic government in terminal decline or just a sign of their utter ineptitude I wonder??.... Perhaps both. Hopefully it'll become clear in due course and those remaining New Labour supporters will see just how badly things really were whilst Brown and his cohorts were trying to deflect blame and criticism onto people who hadn't been in power and had no role in the decisions that were made.

---------- Post added at 09:49 ---------- Previous post was at 09:40 ----------

:D

Now Brown's got a bit more time on his hands and is going to devote himself to 'good causes', I hear he's considering marketing his 'Brown Formula' to governments, organisations, individuals etc. who're mired in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy but don't want to feel bad about it. The detail is highly complex of course but in simple terms when you enter all the relevant financial data all the minus signs (for costs, debts, liabilities etc.) are changed to plus signs and all the income/revenue figures are quadrupled.... :rolleyes:

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

You would have thought that the Tory moles in the Civil Service would have kept them up to date on these shenanigans, strange. :dozey:

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Perhaps they feared being arrested by anti-terrorist police, having their homes and offices searched and their computers, mobile phones and other personal equipment seized....

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...raided-home.do

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

You only had to look to see the massive pre election bribes that Labour tried to use to see he was cavalier with our money.

Brown used his last few months in power to leave behind a legacy that will take years and years to fix. Reminds of Saddam Hussein setting fire to the oil wells just before his forces were evicted out of Kuwait. In my book Brown will be remembered for his total destruction of our economy and his lack of understanding of the public and what they wanted.

---------- Post added at 10:42 ---------- Previous post was at 10:41 ----------

Now way could that happen under a Labour Goverment :rolleyes:

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Indeed, how easy it seems people forgot that in 1984, Big Brother took control through IngSoc.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

This Tory government is much like a rainbow.

It looks good from a distance but on close inspection it has no real substance, you can see right through it and it's only there because of the sun.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

You appear to be slightly confused - it was Labour's attempts to form a coalition that was going to be a "rainbow" coalition (Labour, LibDems, SDLP, PC, SNP, Greens).

But much like a rainbow, there wasn't much substance to it, no one could find the beginning or end of it, and the only crock at the end of it was Ed Balls.

Mind you, your post is typical Labour - get something wrong yourself, then misattribute it to someone else and blame them....;)

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Well, the frothing, angry columnists on the lunatic fringes, both Left and Right, will be seething. A special conference of Lib Dem activists has 'overwhelmingly' backed Nick Clegg's coalition deal with Cameron:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8685341.stm

I don't doubt that there are plenty of doomsayers out there, just looking for the first signs of any cracks in the coalition. They will be disappointed to have been denied a chance to claim 'I told you so'.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Like hell it is - It's two colours and that is all and damn fine colours they are.

Rubbish - This new coalition has plenty of substance. There is no way the Libs should have aligned themselves with the loser party that is Labour.

This is a new era of politics - Now useless Labour lost the election, they got 2 million fewer votes than the Tories so the people have spoken - now get over it already. :rolleyes:

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Labour spin continues i see.

BTW when is the funeral for you dead party and when is the new leader picked by the unions.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

That story was done on 28.11.08

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

While I don't dispute that the Sun helped, do you actually KNOW this to be true, or are you just a bitter labour supporter?

For that matter, would you have said the same about a Labour/Liberal coalition?

---------- Post added at 19:33 ---------- Previous post was at 19:32 ----------

When we had a Labour government hell bent on reducing our civil liberties.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

are u blaming brown for this economy?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

You may wish to read the rest of this thread to get that answer.......

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Him and his party YES

Labour had a policy and it was.


Spend spend spend and then let someone else clean up the mess.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

I believe that there used to be a Pot of Gold at the end, but unfortunately Gordon sold it.

Yep :)

They didn't need to put it to Conference, given that the "triple lock" was already satisfied due to more than 3/4 of MPs and 3/4 of Federal Executive members approving the Coalition deal, but it was still good of them to give the Members a chance to discuss it & show support.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

its a very old policy ,this is not the first time we have been here:(

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Re. VAT - see this post (basically: it hasn't actually gone up *yet*. It probably *will* go up, but it probably would have gone up even if Labour had won, given the LACK OF MONEY).

Re. Income Tax - Erm, think again:

Conservative & Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreements

Out goes the Tory plan to give tax cuts to the rich via changing the Inheritance Tax threshold

In comes the Lib Dem plan to give tax cuts to low/middle income earners via increasing the personal allowance for Income Tax.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Crossrail is exactly the kind of infrastructure project that should have been invested in. Good, skilled job creation, unskilled job creation and an environmentally friendly result. That and a high speed rail system are exactly the kind of project even a small government fan like me is perfectly happy to see happen. They employee people, they stimulate the economy on many levels, they're good for the environment and there's a payback there which will reduce the deficit in the longer term.

Given you make 25k a year your income tax bill will be going down thanks to the coalition, as a higher earner and consumer I'll be picking up the slack as the policies are broadly redistributive.

I trust you'll remember that next year when thanks to this coalition you see your income tax go down from a big allowance increase, and continue to go down until you pay no tax on your first 10k?

Nah you'll probably find something else to complain about, even though the income tax drop will more than compensate you for a 2.5% VAT increase.

Just as a reminder, pointless as facts are for you, whoever got in services would be taking a cut, just a question of when and how much. Yes you have Labour to thank for that, they're the ones who spent too much.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

unless your home is in its path then its not so friendly to your environment.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Very few things are friendly to everyone's environment, doesn't change that the overall impact will be positive. Cars off the road, less congestion and emissions, less crowded tube trains, sweet. :cool:

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Yes, and he was so 'prudent' that he managed to get a very 'special' price for it all...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...rown-told.html

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

i dont think so, u have no clue!

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

And your evidence to the contrary is what? The huge surplus of cash the treasury has? The low national debt?

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

Explain.

Re: [Update] The Liberal-Conservative Coalition
 

I'd like to thank you for your reasoned and in-depth rebuttal.

I'd like to........:D