ELECTION SPECIAL: The Reform UK and Green Party manifestos explained

[@jeffocks793]

Great, informative discussion thanks. The whole electorate should be watching this.

[@Arpit89]

Government cutting spending does not work Imagine this if out of 100 people 5 people decide to save money and invest that money there are 95 people who are spending the same qnd their is more cash for banks to lend but if everyone starts saving money and don't buy stuff their will a fall in demand and factory closures, what government need to do is spend money on infrastructure not cutting revenue expenditure

[@brotherbarnes]

Energy needs to be as cheap as possible if you want to compete in the world

[@ChrispyNut]

Without detailing what's included/excluded from the cost calculation, along with the weighting for each "as cheap as possible" is utterly meaningless.

[@adzali12]

I think the overall idea of it being as cheap as possible is good. Certainly would lower the operating costs for every business, and then make high energy intensive manufacturing viable again. If coal is cheapest do coal if nuclear is do nuclear.

[@tancdiscovery9432]

Greens is by far the best economic plan for the UK long term.

[@Hiram8866]

Thanks for this very informative video.

[@DrewSpencer1]

Starmer just waffles to fill up his time slot when interviewed as he’s so worried about the cracks showing. Main problem with Labour’s Manifesto is that it’s so small on ideas no wonder they can afford it, much more is needed for ‘change’ and therefore much more is unfunded eg, any further doctors salary increase is not budgeted. This Labour obviously means more taxes would be coming.

[@niknikmoore]

The use of a whiteboard would have been better - Pictures paint a better picture .

[@plerpplerp5599]

Reform UK's policies are ineffective, unrealistic populist rhetoric lacking any substantive details or coherent plans to address major issues facing the UK. Their flagship "migrant tax" proposal is as unworkable as the Rawnda bill and as economically damaging as Brexit. They are nothing but a fringe party without a genuine governing agenda, whose only raison d'etre is to pressure the Tories from the right rather than present viable policies. Their policies of climate change denial, draconian immigration curbs, and drastic unfunded tax cuts would severely damage the UK economy far beyond the Conservatives' controversial Truss budget, by undermining green industries, exacerbating labour shortages, and unsustainably ballooning trade deficits and public debt. So, spot the difference between the Tories and Reform UK? It's the difference between Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dummer. 😂

[@Micfri300]

So the german model is ineffective 😂😂😂 Honestly go and read some books on how other countries run their economy because the way the uk is going without reform they are more similar to Argentina Venezuela and south africa than they are germany and the us.

[@Micfri300]

Imagine typing all that long waffle and getting nothing right.

[@KellySmunt303]

I will be voting reform over green this time I think.

[@22DeusVult22]

Vote Reform 😅 do your grandkids some good 🇬🇧

[@AVerySillySausage]

@@22DeusVult22 Lol, grandkids will be underwater.

[@markbaker4708]

The reality is tax comes well down the list of the public concerns after the Cost of living, The maintenance, of NHS, affordable housing, and imigradration it not a vote winner anymore! I Agree with a large cut in migration as it has gone up 4 times the amount coming in this nation then under the last Labour Government who actually opened up the doors in the first place. Unfortunately the Tories are the party of massive migration 6 million more then in 2010. If you cut public spending you ruin a already broken NHS which probably does need changing. Some private investment is essential. Also you increase the gap between the the very rich from all the rest of the country also the very Rich don't want Tax cuts fact as they have have had their taxes in real terms cut whilst everyone else tax has gone up. It sounds and is Insane so glad the Tories will be be out of power!

[@stumac869]

What hasn't been discussed is the motivation for people to work hard if you significantly raise or reduce tax. Let's be honest raise tax too much and people give up and revenues fall. Whereas reduce tax and people are more inclined to put more effort in because they get more benefit and revenues rise (higher earnings generate more tax even at lower rates). A wealth tax is guaranteed ro motivate the rich to move their wealth overseas which happened to the French when they implemented such a thing. We've had an endless expansion of the state since Blair and we're broke with record taxation and nothing works.

[@thomasdurrant1825]

The idea that people don't work harder under higher taxes is a truism, there is very little evidence to suggest this actually happens in real life, and if it does the effect is much less than you are implying. Would a 4% increase in taxes change your outlook? We've just had a 4% cut (2% this year and last year) and I've seen no meaningful change in anyone's behaviour or economic outlook as a result. It's also not increased inflation or improved the economy. For taxes to have a meaningful impact on either, the changes need to be significantly larger

[@kryp879]

@@thomasdurrant1825 Whether higher income taxes reduce motivation to work is probably a debatable topic. I'm not aware of any hard evidence for or against, and it probably depends partly on average hourly income and the welfare available. Eg, if taxes rise so much that it's hard to feed your family high taxes might counter intuitively motivate you to work more, but this could be offset by welfare. What we can say with some certainty is that increasing taxation in general will have a tightening effect on an economy and will lower GDP growth since it takes money out of the hands of consumers and businesses - money they might have otherwise of been spent and invested in the economy. Some of this tightening can be offset by increases to government spending, but in general it's unlikely that a government could increase net economic demand through taxation alone. I'll note that there are some nuances here though because if the government only took money that would have otherwise have sat in a retirement account and gave it only to those who are likely to spend it immediately then perhaps it would have a stimulative effect in the near-term. We also know that taxes on investments and wealth tax do alter how people invest. High capital gains taxes will change the risk appetite of investors who will continue to have full exposure to the downside of their investments while the government will now be taking a larger slice of any gains. Additionally we know wealth taxes often cause capital flight which can reduce both government revenue and net economic demand. So while the original commenter might not be correct that higher taxes would people from working, higher taxes almost certainly lower economic demand, slow economic growth, deter investment, and cause those with the means to leave in pursuit for a better standard of living when relative tax rates in a country become too extreme. In my opinion the reason governments tend to rely so heavily on income tax for increasing government revenue is because the average worker can't simply choose to not work. But businesses, investors and job creators generally can just up and leave so these tax rates have to be attractive.

[@ChrispyNut]

So, why do people volunteer or have hobbies? People will do less work they hate, for people/companies they hate, hence soo much nonsense gets peddled that you've peddled, because if people don't have to take horrendous jobs where they're treated worse than dirt, then the companies would have to improve pay and conditions, denting dividends, bonuses and shenanigans. If what you said had actual validity, then people wouldn't be doing the hard, highly paid jobs, they'd just take a "reasonable wage" job that's much easier. That's without even getting into the absurd assertion that "working hard" is a good thing for a society. Working smart, working efficiently and working to live seem far healthier to me, than the inherent implication of "working hard" that people live to work.

[@chrysalis4126]

They need to tackle tax avoidance as that will bring in a lot. The tories have always focused on extra staff for benefit cheats but the amount is tiny compared to the tax avoidance figures and they NEVER talk about clamping down on them.

[@luvadealme]

How do the Swiss do wealth taxes?

[@brotherbarnes]

Great question

[@luvadealme]

I think this is why a land value tax makes sense. You can't hide houses. Plus you could charge a higher % for foreign owned uk housing stock. Just use zoopla / mouseprice as a starting point for value estimates In a few years pensions dashboard will make everyone's pension assets much more visible to hmrc , so again it will be easier to level a % wealth tax on that too. The issue isn't complicated just that folks don't want to solve the problem...

[@tomrusack3266]

The state shouldn’t be doing anything except securing property rights. Laissez-faire capitalism solves all problems.

[@yusteryumeister4601]

Famously laissez-faire capitalism has always solved every problem, like healthcare

[@tancdiscovery9432]

Very funny.

[@kdmarrison8845]

Yes, works for those who have a monopoly on the majority of the wealth

[@pizzamad3334]

I can't wait to vote reform.

[@jimbowers8278]

I couldn't care less about a think tank's opinion. You're just policy steerers with an academic air of credibility, without having to subject yourselves to academic scrutiny. Run your claims and working out past peer review in a respectable journal; anything less and any think tank's output shouldn't be allowed anywhere near national policy influence and media exposure.

[@kdmarrison8845]

100% agree

[@jonnyspeed8974]

get an autocue so you at least look like you are not just reading this shit.

[@alanfrost4661]

Greens waste of a vote 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Newsopathy-gf2ug]

Seems slightly dysfunctional this programme. It puts two things together to compare them and it's like asking, 'which is your favourite, a white mouse or a double decker bus! Or, maybe, would you like some gravy on your jelly!? Completely inequable! For this reason alone, as Theo Paphitis would say, I have to say 'I'm out!'