Bedroom tax 2

[rds60h]

Have you checked what they get, or are you summising. I can't generalise or give any other specific information than that of my brother who was on a far better dead living in Denmark on the welfare state. Unfrotunately he split up with his missus, and because of the state (not welfare) struggled to see and support his kids - so he came back to England....

They were on much better pickings than what he could ever claim over here in Britain. I also know that in Germany and France you are given a better deal but only for a short amount of time, and it is fixed to 24 months' ish..... then you are on handouts and charity. Which I think overall is a better system anyway.

Poland as an instance, they have to have worked for 365 days in the previous 18 months to be eligible to claim, there has to be a set percentage of unemploye people in the area where you claim and the benefit is paid for either 6 month or 1 year. The benefits are paid dependant upon work experience and other circumstances (including having children to support, or over 50 and having worked for a previous period of 20 years !).
The payments range from 115 Euros to 183 Euros per month.
Those who have claimed unemployment benefit in other European countries before returning to poland are encouraged and advised to continue claiming from the other EU country !
If you go to Poland looking for a job you can transfer your unemployment benefit from here but it will only be paid for 3 months. The homeless assistance system is very poor and provides very few properties (most of which are flats or apartments in very poor condition) and so private rental is the main source of housing........................for which you have to pay and therefore be working.

If benefits were better or similar in most of the EU countries do you honestly think Britain would be such a magnet for those coming in ?

[Hoppy01]

Waw, a didn't think a would see the day when people are happy about a new tax, like typical Tories that tax hits the poorest, some of those people will have to pay extra through no fault of their own.
Don't get me wrong, there are idiots who are abusing the system, i have a guy a few doors down who is living in a 2 bedroom house the same as mine and he's probably never worked a day in his life.
In a short and only conversation i have had with him he told me his pal was the landlord, a know the landlord as 2 years ago i was being dragged off him after he told my Missus to f*** off, a don't think am allowed within 50ft of him now.

Dumbarton is like any other town, there are a lot of new private estates, all the good Council houses have been sold and many demolished, there has been no new Council development in 30/40 years.
A actually don't think there are any single bedroom council houses in Dumbarton at all.
Anyone living in a single bedroom house is renting from a private landlord, thanks to Thatcher flogging everything in the 80's we now have this situation so a guess the best thing to do is now tax the peasants more for their mistake.

A don't mind clowns like my neigbour having to pay more, he shouldn't be in a house like that in the first place so Hell mend him, but as usual it will affect a lot of innocent people who are struggling.
A know there are a lot of people who are ripping the p*** but there are a lot of people who don't and are experiencing unemployment for the first time etc.
A can see both sides of the debate but just keep in mind that these changes may affect you one day and you might regret letting the Tories run riot with the very safety net that's there to catch you in times of need.

[Snowy79]

I feel sorry for all those Prime ministers that have been in power since Maggie Thatcher as they've been unable to reverse any of the policies that she implemented. You know the ones that Labour savaged whilst they were in opposition and then once they got into power kept going. She must have some magical powers.

More likely all the political parties are as bad as each other but the general population don't make it easy on them.

We moan that there's not enough council accomodation as that naughty Maggie sold them all off when in reality every party has played it's part. I never saw labour coming to power then saying 'We've made x millions from the sale of council property to we'll now spend that on new council houses.'

Just do the maths to work out if it's the lack of council accomodation that's caused the problem. Remember those that bought their council house were living in it already so it wasn't available to anyone else anyway. Private builders have built millions more houses than were already available in the times of Maggie and some council tenants have moved into these. Again freeing up some council houses. The biggest issue we've had has been immigration and our own teenagers popping sprogs out all over the place and as such jumping the council queue to get a house.

I'm sure most of the people on this site that are nearer 50 would struggle to name any girl that had a kid whilst still at school and if they did the girls parent took on a lot of the responsibilty of looking after the kid. Families were more tight nit and stayed together longer. Now it's a case of pop a sprog and get out of the family home asap. Speak to any housing association to get an idea just how many houses have gone to single parents.

Maybe if they clamped down on providing accomodation to those under the age of say 21 it might stop kids from having kids then becoming a burden on the state. If you're old enough to have a kid you should be old enough to provide for it. If you can't provide for it don't have it until you can.

I know some will say what happens if you're from an abusive family and want to escape. Maybe they could spend some money on providing services for these people to approach and increase the punishment for those commiting the abuse to a level where it's not worth doing it.

[hypersonic]

Lets get the country's problem in perspective.
The UK government is borrowing around ?450million pounds each and every DAY of the year to pay for benefits, the NHS, education, public sector pensions etc. etc. Some legacy for our children! ~ This is because we are spending ?450million more per day than is raised in taxes. The bedroom tax was dreamed up to limit housing benefits in London and the South, but it will affect people in the North in greater numbers.
How long do you think we can carry on borrowing this amount of money and not end up like GREECE.

[Hoppy01]

Lets get the country's problem in perspective.
The UK government is borrowing around ?450million pounds each and every DAY of the year to pay for benefits, the NHS, education, public sector pensions etc. etc. Some legacy for our children! ~ This is because we are spending ?450million more per day than is raised in taxes. The bedroom tax was dreamed up to limit housing benefits in London and the South, but it will affect people in the North in greater numbers.
How long do you think we can carry on borrowing this amount of money and not end up like GREECE.

Thing is mate everyone always jumps on the benefit issue, i agree that the debt is huge and God knows how we will get on top of it.
My problem is with the spineless politicians, a just don't believe a word they say.
Remember when Cameron first came to power, him and that bitch Clegg made huge noises about the debt crisis, 5 min later we are off to Libya spending millions for their freedom and bailing out Ireland, it kinda makes you wonder.
It also makes me mad when a see banks turning big profits with big bonuses yet don't you dare have a extra bedroom in your council house.
Its madness and even more mad that we accept it...

[hypersonic]

I'm 76 this year and I can remember when politicians were elected from the working and business professions. Now, most politicians are recruited from the chattering classes, who leave university with no work experience outside parliament. Their parliamentary salary, expenses and golden pensions shield them from the results of their bankrupt policies. They are all the same and have no principles or the backbone to sort this country out. There is always money for wars, but not for pensions. There is always money for overseas aid but not for hospitals and the NHS. There is no urgency to collect taxes from professional sportsmen, bankers, millionaires and even MPs who use offshore trusts to avoid paying their taxes. I won't go into the avoidance of corporation tax by the likes of Starbucks and Amazon. We are not allowed to have our say on immigration, Europe, Iraq, Afghanistan and overseas aid, etc. The northern parts of the UK are suffering badly because all major investment is concentrated on London and the south. We, Joe public are the ones who finance these chancers through our PAYE (try and avoid paying that) The chattering political classes have declared war on the hard working wealth producers of this great country and they will surely live to regret it.

[bobwill]

A lot on here think we should just borrow more and let the young ones who follow them pick up the tab . What people have not worked out is that interest rates are at a thirty year low and if the rate went to the average rate of 5% the government which ever one is in power then would soon default on its loan .Which would mean no money to pay pensions ,benefits and public wages would not be paid like in Greece.

I remember the seventies when labour last messed the country up and had to go cap in hand to IMF for a handout Jim Callaghan the left wing Labour leader made a speech which every politician since have forgot

Jim Callaghan. (Image ? Getty)

"We used to think you could spend your way out of recession and increase employment by boosting government spending? I tell you that option no longer exists. And so far as it ever did exist, it only worked on each occasion? by injecting a bigger dose of inflation into the economy, followed by a higher level of unemployment as the next step."

[hypersonic]

The majority of Labour MPs come from the North of England and Scotland (in fact, Scotland has only one tory MP).
Yet, when Labour get into power for 12 years, what do they do for the north and Scotland. Sweet FA ! They grovel to the chattering classes in London and forget their roots. The Millipede brothers are examples of what working class Labour MPs have been supeceded by. ~ and don't get me started on Ed Ballsup. God help the UK if they are the future.

[Leslie Simpson]

A lot on here think we should just borrow more and let the young ones who follow them pick up the tab . What people have not worked out is that interest rates are at a thirty year low and if the rate went to the average rate of 5% the government which ever one is in power then would soon default on its loan .Which would mean no money to pay pensions ,benefits and public wages would not be paid like in Greece.

I remember the seventies when labour last messed the country up and had to go cap in hand to IMF for a handout Jim Callaghan the left wing Labour leader made a speech which every politician since have forgot

Jim Callaghan. (Image ? Getty)

"We used to think you could spend your way out of recession and increase employment by boosting government spending? I tell you that option no longer exists. And so far as it ever did exist, it only worked on each occasion? by injecting a bigger dose of inflation into the economy, followed by a higher level of unemployment as the next step."

Human memory is short. Not everyone remembers examples from the past, and if they do, they think that now the same situation cannot happen. On the contrary, it seems to me that the chance of instability is even higher than it was before. Now, in the digital age, the balance in the world is extremely unstable. Perhaps this is my prejudice, but somehow so.