Thit UK Independence Party has said it would cut income tax from 40p to 35p for people earning up to £55,000.
At its party conference, UKIP will also promised to raise to £13,500 the amount people can earn before paying any income tax.
In a plan to win the "blue-collar vote", Nigel Farage's party pledged to fund the changes by leaving the EU and cutting UK foreign aid by 85%.
Given that our nurses are one of worst paid in their profession in comparison to other developed nations and actually earn less than the UK average wage I don't think there would be too many in the nursing profession benefiting from it.
It always gets to me when wage comparison of the genreic word "Nurse" is added to the equation.
Are you aware that a Band 9 experienced RCN earns between £77,850 and £98,453?
Now I know very few 'nurses' are that experienced or work in specialist fields, but a mid range RCN on Band 6 or 7 will earn more than the UK average wage - and some significnatly more.
Still not enough though.
Of course I am aware that some (very few it seems) nurses earn a pretty decent whack reflective of their training, experience and responsibilities. Much like any other profession. But it's entirely disingenuous of right wing politicians to suggest they, as representatives of typical ordinary workers, will benefit from tax cuts when the vast majority will not. It's a transparent attempt at appearing to be supportive of the few truly valued public sector workers.
Then you, and increasingly more people, are relieved of paying tax. The lowest earners in our society. Something that should have been done years ago. Perhaps by a party that is supposed to represent the 'ordinary' people?
Another interesting Guardian article on privatisation. Always thought it was only the Tories who took this route. But it appears not:
1997-2001: New Labour's compromise
HEALTH PFI/Cumberland The Cumberland Infirmary in Cumbria, the first hospital built under the private finance initiative (PFI). New Labour had made electoral capital out of the Tories' unpopularity over privatisation, but only pledged to stop the sell-off of air traffic control. Even this minor promise was betrayed. For, if Thatcherism had not won the argument on public services, it had so comprehensively demolished the militant left and trade unions that there was nothing to prevent Labour from adapting to neoliberalism. The major privatisation policy introduced in this period was thus an awkward compromise between a managerial leadership and Labour's electoral base, known as the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) – a fudge originally pioneered by Norman Lamont. Introduced into the London Underground, the NHS and schools, these policies raised money in the short-term without the need for higher taxes. But there was also a streak of pro-market evangelising involved. Both Peter Mandelson and his successor at the department of trade and industry believed it was the role of government to foster entrepreneurial culture.
• 2002-8: Aggressive PFI
Northern Rock Seeks Emergency Help From Government
The second and third New Labour administrations pressed aggressively for further state down-sizing and privatisation. Blair had based his 2001 re-election campaign on the extremely unpopular PFI. The calculation was that even if the measure wasn't popular, his victory would prove that there was no realistic alternative. Though there were few major sell-offs, the government's policies on the Royal Mail and the NHS had, as their logical conclusion, the privatisation of these services. Even the fiscal crisis in the NHS, resulting from the high costs of PFI initiatives, did not dampen the ardour. It was not until the credit crunch and the ensuing crisis that the pendulum began to swing, if only temporarily, in the opposite direction when Brown was forced to belatedly nationalise a string of failing banks. But even then, it was clear that the intention was to restore these companies to private ownership as quickly as possible.
Labour policies I've heard of: 3,000 more nurses Reunite trains with tracks to run railways better A two year (not two minute) constitution commission Raise the minimum wage (which should lower benefits bill) Build more housed (behind the scenes they want to tackle housing benefit) I expect there is a manifesto process to develop the full offering.
Housing benefit and benefits for the low paid are two massive government bills, far bigger than the EU budget contribution or overseas aid! These two benefits are basically subsidies to landlords and to large corporations from the public purse. Employers campaigned against the introduction of the minimum wage in the first place claiming it would cost jobs but employment has been going up every year.
Milliband not too charismatic but he's smart and he's not making mistakes. The latest policy about youth apprenticeships is very persuasive - jobs and training is good for individuals good for the benefits bill and good for the country.
Meanwhile I see the tories announce a tax cut for the rich by eliminating "pension death taxes". So income not taxed going into a pension will now be allowed to be inherited by next of kin tax free
You forgot the Mansion Tax on properties over £2m. Also you do not have to be rich to to have a defined contribution pension pot, which at present is taxed at 55% when you die after the age of 75. Pension experts say it will only cost the goverment £150m (small change in the goverment exspenditure). There are approx 12 million people who have some form of defined contribution pension they cannot be all "rich".
Posted without reading as per Len Glover, I think the Torries are happy to let this one go. It's like a Grand Slam tennis match. You win the first set, you struggle in the second and let it go to save energy and come back to win the the third and fourth sets.
Cameron has said that, by 2020, all patients across England will be able to access a GP seven days a week. Only he hasn't said where the hundreds of millions per year to pay for it will come from.
So, to be clear, the Tories are saying that, after they have been in power for ten years, sick people will be able to work all week, then go to the doctor in their own time.
Cameron has said that, by 2020, all patients across England will be able to access a GP seven days a week. Only he hasn't said where the hundreds of millions per year to pay for it will come from.
So, to be clear, the Tories are saying that, after they have been in power for ten years, sick people will be able to work all week, then go to the doctor in their own time.
Gee, thanks Dave.
I wouldn't worry about it. If it's anything like my local Post Office on a Saturday it'll be full of pensioners anyway as apparently the previous 5 days, when the rest of us were at work, wasn't quite enough time to buy that stamp for cousin Doris' birthday card!
Whoever bans retired people from shops at the weekend gets my vote :-)
Cameron has said that, by 2020, all patients across England will be able to access a GP seven days a week. Only he hasn't said where the hundreds of millions per year to pay for it will come from.
So, to be clear, the Tories are saying that, after they have been in power for ten years, sick people will be able to work all week, then go to the doctor in their own time.
Gee, thanks Dave.
I wouldn't worry about it. If it's anything like my local Post Office on a Saturday it'll be full of pensioners anyway as apparently the previous 5 days, when the rest of us were at work, wasn't quite enough time to buy that stamp for cousin Doris' birthday card!
Whoever bans retired people from shops at the weekend gets my vote :-)
I know there's a smiley but underneath there's clearly a problem for you with pensioners in shops. Are you ageist? Is it just shops I should be banned from or should I stop attending Charlton (except for mid-week evening matches) too? Just so that you can have more room to spread out and do what you want? FYI according to KPMG research, over the next ten years, two thirds of retail sales growth will come from the over-55s. And you think it's a good idea to stop the only demographic that's actually keeping High Street shops in business from using them at their convenience? Personally I'd ban anybody in work from shops during the week. There's no excuse for them not doing all their shopping on-line. After all, what were you getting at the Post Office that you couldn't have obtained on-line? You should have left the queuing to those less able to use modern technology shouldn't you? :-)
No - he's saying you can go to the Doctor whenever you want. Most GP appointments are not for life threatneing illnesses.
We live in a 24/7 world now, it's about time our GPs woke up to this.
By your logic, if you fall sick at 5pm on a Friday, no GP will be available to you for 64 hours.
Weekend opening suits employers. If I am sick, I should be allowed to take time off work to get treated. After all, if I am sick, my employer suffers; when I am well, my employer benefits.
If you "get sick" at 5pm on a Friday, you should go to A&E. If you're not so sick that you need emergency treatment, you should *plan* a visit to the GP. And it should be perfectly acceptable to do this in working hours.
The NHS is £30bn in debt. So we should spend several hundred million more to open up GPs' surgeries at the weekend? So much for a long-term economic plan!
It's a knee-jerk piece of policy, based on throwing another titbit to the masses, six months before a General Election. If it was vital - or even necessary - why would it take Cameron ten years to implement?
Cameron has said that, by 2020, all patients across England will be able to access a GP seven days a week. Only he hasn't said where the hundreds of millions per year to pay for it will come from.
So, to be clear, the Tories are saying that, after they have been in power for ten years, sick people will be able to work all week, then go to the doctor in their own time.
Gee, thanks Dave.
I wouldn't worry about it. If it's anything like my local Post Office on a Saturday it'll be full of pensioners anyway as apparently the previous 5 days, when the rest of us were at work, wasn't quite enough time to buy that stamp for cousin Doris' birthday card!
Whoever bans retired people from shops at the weekend gets my vote :-)
I know there's a smiley but underneath there's clearly a problem for you with pensioners in shops. Are you ageist? Is it just shops I should be banned from or should I stop attending Charlton (except for mid-week evening matches) too? Just so that you can have more room to spread out and do what you want? FYI according to KPMG research, over the next ten years, two thirds of retail sales growth will come from the over-55s. And you think it's a good idea to stop the only demographic that's actually keeping High Street shops in business from using them at their convenience? Personally I'd ban anybody in work from shops during the week. There's no excuse for them not doing all their shopping on-line. After all, what were you getting at the Post Office that you couldn't have obtained on-line? You should have left the queuing to those less able to use modern technology shouldn't you? :-)
Deary me.
For the record, no I don't have a problem with pensioners and you can attend The Valley any time you want. Literally. It was an attempt to lighten the mood of the thread but don't worry it won't happen again.
Also for the record I was taxing my car, which for reasons I won't go into I cannot do online otherwise I would have.
Those generous people supporting their local high street by buying their book of stamps on a Saturday morning rather than a Friday are the real heroes in today's society and I apologise profusely for my thoughtless post.
The UK Independence Party has said it would cut income tax from 40p to 35p for people earning up to £55,000.
At its party conference, UKIP will also promised to raise to £13,500 the amount people can earn before paying any income tax.
In a plan to win the "blue-collar vote", Nigel Farage's party pledged to fund the changes by leaving the EU and cutting UK foreign aid by 85%.
Given that our nurses are one of worst paid in their profession in comparison to other developed nations and actually earn less than the UK average wage I don't think there would be too many in the nursing profession benefiting from it.
It always gets to me when wage comparison of the genreic word "Nurse" is added to the equation.
Are you aware that a Band 9 experienced RCN earns between £77,850 and £98,453?
Now I know very few 'nurses' are that experienced or work in specialist fields, but a mid range RCN on Band 6 or 7 will earn more than the UK average wage - and some significnatly more.
Still not enough though.
Doubt there is a band 9 nurse at more than a handful of Trusts around the country. As Henry says in order to achieve band 9 you would need to be a Senior Manager responsible for strategic policy, and large budget holder.
Senior clinical nurses are band 7 at best with a top of band incremental point of £40157. Decent but for the level of responsibility and stress involved not so attractive.
Most ward nurses that you see will be on salaries in the mid 20k range.
Since 2011 the NHS has had a relative pay cut of 15-16% and have been told there is no pay rise in the pipeline until 2017.
There will be industrial action. The Royal College of Midwives ballot has called for industrial action. They are hardly a left wing militant group.
The NHS is systematically being carved up by this coalition. Definitely not safe in Cameron's butter fingers.
Genuine question - how is it being carved up? If I believe the propoganda, the NHS budget has been ring fenced for this entire government, -- no increase, but there again no cuts. Isn't this a good thing?
Genuine question - how is it being carved up? If I believe the propoganda, the NHS budget has been ring fenced for this entire government, -- no increase, but there again no cuts. Isn't this a good thing?
Due to inflation wouldn't that lead to the NHS' funding being cut in real terms every single year?
Genuine question - how is it being carved up? If I believe the propoganda, the NHS budget has been ring fenced for this entire government, -- no increase, but there again no cuts. Isn't this a good thing?
it is the infrastructure that has been put in place that is of concern. we are currently in an interim arrangement which just happens to take you past the next election which is, sort of, maintaining the status quo.
they have introduced a much freer commissioning model which, broadly, allows the big private health companies to enter the market for provision of services which will undermine existing suppliers (e.g. current hospitals). It is quite possible that a number of hospitals and other secondary care services will go to the wall as they will not be able to compete with the bids from private health. of course, having seen off the opposition, that leaves the private suppliers to offer services at any price they want and before you know it we will have a private health care system. It is interesting how many of the current cabinet sit on the boards of private healthcare firms.
the approach taken to healthcare also undermines most attempts to have integrated systems and joined up thinking. giving control of the NHS to GPs in a piecemeal way was an utterly stupid thing to do. most GPs have no interest in managing the NHS. All GP practices are, in effect, individual companies and they hate sharing anything among themselves so getting them to come up with a strategy for providing healthcare for a wider area is painful at best.
Genuine question - how is it being carved up? If I believe the propoganda, the NHS budget has been ring fenced for this entire government, -- no increase, but there again no cuts. Isn't this a good thing?
Due to inflation wouldn't that lead to the NHS' funding being cut in real terms every single year?
Genuine question - how is it being carved up? If I believe the propoganda, the NHS budget has been ring fenced for this entire government, -- no increase, but there again no cuts. Isn't this a good thing?
Due to inflation wouldn't that lead to the NHS' funding being cut in real terms every single year?
Spending on the NHS has increased over and above inflation every year since 2010. IN real terms, it is 5% higher than in was in 2010.
It should not have done. There's no reason why health should get a free pass while education, transport, defence and investment are cut. It was a nakedly political pledge, as was Labour's.
IN time of plenty, spending on the NHS goes up. In times of austerity, spending on the NHS goes up. It's got to stop a some point but the politicians are too cowardly and the public too emotive.
Would now be a good time to remind people again that our current Health Secretary is the cousin of former Health Secretary, BUPA director and spokesperson in the Lords for the Tories on health care privatisation, Virginia Bottomley? She also handed over her safe seat to Jezzer when she moved into lobbying the Lords and his company made millions out of a monopoly contract with the British Council, which she was sitting on at the time. But I'm sure none if this makes him feel in any way biased towards helping push through a privatisation agenda and I have every faith in his judgement.
Cameron has said that, by 2020, all patients across England will be able to access a GP seven days a week. Only he hasn't said where the hundreds of millions per year to pay for it will come from.
So, to be clear, the Tories are saying that, after they have been in power for ten years, sick people will be able to work all week, then go to the doctor in their own time.
Gee, thanks Dave.
He said exactly the same thing last year but very little has actually happened
Meanwhile cuts are going on everywhere eg FAVERSHAM is losing its out patient clinics and its minor injuries unit. The consultation was an utter sham and the people who pick up the private work are the same people who stopped our services. To me it is fraud and people will die as a consequence. People will wake up one day and find the entire NHS has been dismantled. Heartbreaking.
So the privatisation agenda is a ruse for relatives of politicians to make some dosh. And I fell for the Story it was to ensure the NHS wasn't run more efficiently and not for the benefit of those running the NHS.
Question the success but don't create conspiracy theories.
The number of agency nurses not employed by the NHS is not a government policy yet s the most obviously privatised element of the NHS, if it was cheaper and the government policy was to privatise nursing there would be blood on the streets.
The privatisation policy is pursued by both Labour and Tories and it's about ancillary services. Snouts may get in the trough but what's new, just different snouts.
So the privatisation agenda is a ruse for relatives of politicians to make some dosh. And I fell for the Story it was to ensure the NHS wasn't run more efficiently and not for the benefit of those running the NHS.
Question the success but don't create conspiracy theories.
Not what I was saying at all but if you're comfortable with such a nephotistic arrangement good for you.
Shock horror! Nepotism in government! Never happened before has it? Oh wait, yes it has, in every post war government. Blair being the maestro.
You can throw a lot of accusations at Tony Blair, but I am not sure "nepotism" fits. You do know that Ian (the Police Commissioner) and Lionel (the entertainer) weren't actually related to Tony, don't you?
Genuine question - how is it being carved up? If I believe the propoganda, the NHS budget has been ring fenced for this entire government, -- no increase, but there again no cuts. Isn't this a good thing?
Due to inflation wouldn't that lead to the NHS' funding being cut in real terms every single year?
Spending on the NHS has increased over and above inflation every year since 2010. IN real terms, it is 5% higher than in was in 2010.
It should not have done. There's no reason why health should get a free pass while education, transport, defence and investment are cut. It was a nakedly political pledge, as was Labour's.
IN time of plenty, spending on the NHS goes up. In times of austerity, spending on the NHS goes up. It's got to stop a some point but the politicians are too cowardly and the public too emotive.
God forbid you need its help then mate. You will change your tune I guaratee it.
Comments
Something that should have been done years ago. Perhaps by a party that is supposed to represent the 'ordinary' people?
Another interesting Guardian article on privatisation.
Always thought it was only the Tories who took this route. But it appears not:
1997-2001: New Labour's compromise
HEALTH PFI/Cumberland
The Cumberland Infirmary in Cumbria, the first hospital built under the private finance initiative (PFI).
New Labour had made electoral capital out of the Tories' unpopularity over privatisation, but only pledged to stop the sell-off of air traffic control. Even this minor promise was betrayed. For, if Thatcherism had not won the argument on public services, it had so comprehensively demolished the militant left and trade unions that there was nothing to prevent Labour from adapting to neoliberalism. The major privatisation policy introduced in this period was thus an awkward compromise between a managerial leadership and Labour's electoral base, known as the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) – a fudge originally pioneered by Norman Lamont. Introduced into the London Underground, the NHS and schools, these policies raised money in the short-term without the need for higher taxes. But there was also a streak of pro-market evangelising involved. Both Peter Mandelson and his successor at the department of trade and industry believed it was the role of government to foster entrepreneurial culture.
• 2002-8: Aggressive PFI
Northern Rock Seeks Emergency Help From Government
The second and third New Labour administrations pressed aggressively for further state down-sizing and privatisation. Blair had based his 2001 re-election campaign on the extremely unpopular PFI. The calculation was that even if the measure wasn't popular, his victory would prove that there was no realistic alternative. Though there were few major sell-offs, the government's policies on the Royal Mail and the NHS had, as their logical conclusion, the privatisation of these services. Even the fiscal crisis in the NHS, resulting from the high costs of PFI initiatives, did not dampen the ardour. It was not until the credit crunch and the ensuing crisis that the pendulum began to swing, if only temporarily, in the opposite direction when Brown was forced to belatedly nationalise a string of failing banks. But even then, it was clear that the intention was to restore these companies to private ownership as quickly as possible.
So, to be clear, the Tories are saying that, after they have been in power for ten years, sick people will be able to work all week, then go to the doctor in their own time.
Gee, thanks Dave.
We live in a 24/7 world now, it's about time our GPs woke up to this.
By your logic, if you fall sick at 5pm on a Friday, no GP will be available to you for 64 hours.
Whoever bans retired people from shops at the weekend gets my vote :-)
Is it just shops I should be banned from or should I stop attending Charlton (except for mid-week evening matches) too? Just so that you can have more room to spread out and do what you want?
FYI according to KPMG research, over the next ten years, two thirds of retail sales growth will come from the over-55s. And you think it's a good idea to stop the only demographic that's actually keeping High Street shops in business from using them at their convenience?
Personally I'd ban anybody in work from shops during the week. There's no excuse for them not doing all their shopping on-line. After all, what were you getting at the Post Office that you couldn't have obtained on-line? You should have left the queuing to those less able to use modern technology shouldn't you? :-)
If you "get sick" at 5pm on a Friday, you should go to A&E. If you're not so sick that you need emergency treatment, you should *plan* a visit to the GP. And it should be perfectly acceptable to do this in working hours.
The NHS is £30bn in debt. So we should spend several hundred million more to open up GPs' surgeries at the weekend? So much for a long-term economic plan!
It's a knee-jerk piece of policy, based on throwing another titbit to the masses, six months before a General Election. If it was vital - or even necessary - why would it take Cameron ten years to implement?
For the record, no I don't have a problem with pensioners and you can attend The Valley any time you want. Literally. It was an attempt to lighten the mood of the thread but don't worry it won't happen again.
Also for the record I was taxing my car, which for reasons I won't go into I cannot do online otherwise I would have.
Those generous people supporting their local high street by buying their book of stamps on a Saturday morning rather than a Friday are the real heroes in today's society and I apologise profusely for my thoughtless post.
Senior clinical nurses are band 7 at best with a top of band incremental point of £40157. Decent but for the level of responsibility and stress involved not so attractive.
Most ward nurses that you see will be on salaries in the mid 20k range.
Since 2011 the NHS has had a relative pay cut of 15-16% and have been told there is no pay rise in the pipeline until 2017.
There will be industrial action. The Royal College of Midwives ballot has called for industrial action. They are hardly a left wing militant group.
The NHS is systematically being carved up by this coalition. Definitely not safe in Cameron's butter fingers.
If I believe the propoganda, the NHS budget has been ring fenced for this entire government, -- no increase, but there again no cuts. Isn't this a good thing?
they have introduced a much freer commissioning model which, broadly, allows the big private health companies to enter the market for provision of services which will undermine existing suppliers (e.g. current hospitals). It is quite possible that a number of hospitals and other secondary care services will go to the wall as they will not be able to compete with the bids from private health. of course, having seen off the opposition, that leaves the private suppliers to offer services at any price they want and before you know it we will have a private health care system. It is interesting how many of the current cabinet sit on the boards of private healthcare firms.
the approach taken to healthcare also undermines most attempts to have integrated systems and joined up thinking. giving control of the NHS to GPs in a piecemeal way was an utterly stupid thing to do. most GPs have no interest in managing the NHS. All GP practices are, in effect, individual companies and they hate sharing anything among themselves so getting them to come up with a strategy for providing healthcare for a wider area is painful at best.
It should not have done. There's no reason why health should get a free pass while education, transport, defence and investment are cut. It was a nakedly political pledge, as was Labour's.
IN time of plenty, spending on the NHS goes up. In times of austerity, spending on the NHS goes up. It's got to stop a some point but the politicians are too cowardly and the public too emotive.
lobbyingthe Lords and his company made millions out of a monopoly contract with the British Council, which she was sitting on at the time. But I'm sure none if this makes him feel in any way biased towards helping push through a privatisation agenda and I have every faith in his judgement.http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/your-practice/practice-topics/access/pms-seven-day-gp-access-schemes-yet-to-start/20007881.article#.VCrmRN1HmrU
Meanwhile cuts are going on everywhere eg FAVERSHAM is losing its out patient clinics and its minor injuries unit. The consultation was an utter sham and the people who pick up the private work are the same people who stopped our services. To me it is fraud and people will die as a consequence. People will wake up one day and find the entire NHS has been dismantled. Heartbreaking.
So what is this 'carving up'?
Question the success but don't create conspiracy theories.
The number of agency nurses not employed by the NHS is not a government policy yet s the most obviously privatised element of the NHS, if it was cheaper and the government policy was to privatise nursing there would be blood on the streets.
The privatisation policy is pursued by both Labour and Tories and it's about ancillary services. Snouts may get in the trough but what's new, just different snouts.
telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/11077656/NHS-cancer-services-are-close-to-collapse-it-is-warned.html
Is this one of "successes"?
Never happened before has it?
Oh wait, yes it has, in every post war government.
Blair being the maestro.