Tory Poll Tax Mark 2 - Will It Cause the UK's "Arab Type Spring"?

Cameron is a prime minister who would far rather be out of the country than in it, understandable really given the utter mess, chaos and confusion he, Osborne and Clegg are causing.
Last Wednesday he flew to Algeria , no one really understands why, but most likely he was informed about Algerian oil and gold (don't forget "our Dave" doesn't do detail so he was probably unaware of this beforehand) and hastily went to eat humble pie and apologise in person after insulting the Algerian government and Abdelmalek Sellal, the Algerian prime minister over the recent hostage situation. The Algerian PM has insisted he had to act immediately because of  a rapidly deteriorating situation and the hostages rescued by Algerian forces back that up. It may come as somewhat of a shock to "our Dave", but other PMs really do have a grasp on their own internal affairs and know how to handle them and it is not a good idea to publicise a top secret rescue mission before it is actually carried out! (Walls have ears and all that.)

Dave in Egypt

Of course any normal prime minister would have realised the vastness of Algeria and the immense difficulties of policing and defending such a country and used diplomacy plus plus plus and withheld his "fury" and showed better judgement than to rant and rave at the Algerian government, personally insulting the Algerian PM on national and international airwaves, by telling the whole world and his brother (including al Qaeda no doubt they've now stored that up for future reference) that he hadn't been kept informed and how disgusted and "furious" he was. But that's David Cameron for you, he never knowingly passes up a chance to strut and puff himself up on the world stage and this is one such chance he really didn't want to miss. In my opinion, what really rankled "our Dave" was because he missed the chance to order the SAS in and reap all the glory for himself, brinkmanship is an unpleasant and very dangerous trait but it's one "our Dave  has in spades and he showed this trait when Egypt was going through her uprising. Not to be outdone by the the then French president Sarkozy, "our Dave" took some time off from the ill timed Middle East arms soiree he was on with  all his Tory doning arms dealer mates (who flog arms to small Arab countries) and dropped in unannounced and unscheduled on the then interim government in Egypt just days after the so called "Arab Spring" uprising, completely upstaging former President Sarkozy (and Dave really does wonder why all European countries hate him and us!) "Our Dave" made sure he was the first Western leader to visit Egypt after the uprising! You may remember the time? It was February 2011 and "Our Dave" had just managed to embarrass the country after making that dreadful speech on multiculturalism, where he virtually accused all Muslims of being extremists.

However, in the same vein and not being one to let the grass grow under his feet on the Algeiran visit either, Cameron decided to drop in on Tripoli in Libya, note he has avoided Egypt like the plague this time (after all he doesn't want to be associated with all what's going there at the moment "nuffink to do wiv me guv - honest"), so Egypt will have to wait, after all there are much better photo opportunities and news stories to be had elsewhere. You could almost see the pleasure in Cameron's stance as he basked glowing in the hastily assembled Libyan stage managed adulation emanating from the professional 'rent a crooning crowd' (remember this used to be done for Qaddafi too). It's enough to make one reach for the vomit bowl. Cameron clearly wants us (and the world) to view him as a statesman, while he may have forgotten that his and Foreign Secretary William Hague's disastrous foreign policies and decisions that saw British nationals left to fend for themselves in Libya and  Egypt, we haven't. William Hague making bizarre statements and ordering strange covert missions in the dead of night in helicopters when all they had to do was inform the Libyan's that they were coming and  someone wold have been there to meet them! (And this from the government who berated the Algerian PM for not disclosing details of a top secret rescue mission in case it harmed hostages chances!)

Now we get to the bit where I say "you couldn't really make this stuff up"!

David Cameron actually had the front to chair the UN poverty meeting in Liberia.

Mr Cameron told a UN meeting in Liberia that eradicating "extreme poverty" should be the focus of a new set of international development goals.

The PM (call me Dave) was co-chair of the panel, which met on Friday to discuss new targets to replace the millennium development goals which expire in 2015.  

On the day that "call me Dave" was in Libya creating photo opportunities in the hope of increasing his poll status, it was announced that the poor, the unemployed and the low waged will be forced to pay council tax out of money they simply do not have in what has been dubbed as "Tory poll tax mark 2".

On that day the PM also decided to insult British children with this comment:

Cameron then asked what they wanted to be when they became adults and many replied doctors or lawyers. Cameron joked: "That is very impressive. In my country, they all want to be footballers or pop stars," The Guardian.

Cap on Tax Credits and Working Age Benefits

I would suggest Cameron sorts out the poverty he is causing in his own country before he pokes his nose in elsewhere. His policies will result in over 200,000 more children living in Britain today being pushed into poverty. 

The government's assessment of the bill shows that 85% of households with children will be affected by the cap. This means it will affect families from all walks of life – both in and out of work. [The Children's Society] estimate that those who will be affected include around 300,000 nurses and midwives, 150,000 primary school teachers and 40,000 armed services personnel.

And for many families the losses will be large.

The Children's Society found that:

• A lone parent working as a nurse with two children, earning £530 a week would lose £424 a year by 2015.
• A couple with three children, one earner, a corporal in the Army, earning £619 per week would lose £552 a year by 2015.
• A lone parent working as a hairdresser with one child, earning £195 per week would lose £296 a year by 2015.
• A couple, one a childminder earning £240 per week, and the other a postal worker earning £395 per week, with two children would lose £351 a year by 2015.
• A couple with two children with one earner working as a primary school teacher earning £600 per week – would lose £424 a year by 2015.

These cases assume that the households are not receiving housing benefit, either because they own their own home or because their income is too high. The impact on families is likely to be even greater if they are renting their home and receiving housing benefit. This is because in most areas, maximum support with rent will also only be uprated by 1% in 2014 and 2015.

Low-income families face even more risk

The impact of this bill is based on predictions of inflation over the next three years. The government expects prices to rise between 2-3% every year. If prices rise faster than this families could lose a lot more than has been estimated here.  

This is particularly worrying given that the incoming governor of the Bank of England has suggested that central banks consider scrapping inflation targets. The benefit uprating cap transfers much of the risk of high inflation from the exchequer to low-income families.

If a low income family only has a part time job and cannot manage to find another job or persuade their employer to increase their hours to at least 16 hours per week, then these people will also be facing a cut in their working family's tax credit.So not only are the unemployed and the poor being penalised for being poor, so too will those who cannot find work for 16 hours or more per week.

Tory Poll Tax Mark 2

I warned back in 2011 that this was going to happen, I tried and failed to get the national press to take an interest, well now it is almost here, the Tory Poll Tax Mark 2 is just around the corner. Cameron, Osborne, Clegg, Eric Pickles and Iain Duncan-Smith and this appalling mongrel Tory controlled coalition government have this new "poll tax" poised like the "sword of Damocles" and hovering over the heads of the poorest and the lowest paid workers in the country. In April these feckless, reckless ideological idiots are going to allow the sword to drop and sever the lifelines of the poorest, lifelines which once helped them keep their heads just barely above the rough financial waters and the havoc that the Tory doning bankers have wreaked upon this country!

Speaking to the The Sun newspaper on the 7th October 2012 prior to the Conservative party conference, Prime Minister, David Cameron said:

"We are helping with the cost of living by freezing council tax"

The day before on the 6th October the Chancellor, George Osborne told the Mail On Sunday:

"Council tax is to be frozen for a third year in a row – a move worth £80 a year for the average Band D council tax payer"

I wonder if the PM and the Chancellor can explain why they are cutting funding to local authorities thus forcing the leveraging of new council tax bills on the poor and the low paid, despite their pledges in the Tory press and the Tory party conference to freeze council tax and doing it in such a deceitful and underhand way by trying to pin the blame on local authorities for the rise in council tax?

Where is the right wing press on this? Where is the broadcast media? Why are they allowing Cameron and this government to get away with this?We all know that if this were Labour trying to pull a stunt like this the right wing malcontents would be all over them like a rash!

At the very time that David Cameron's unelected government was defending policies back home that will see the introduction of the "Tory poll tax Mark 2" and the country's poorest people and those on benefits and those in work on low wages being forced to pay council tax from money they simply do not have, Dave was strutting around like a peacock trying to bolster his image.  At the very time a lady in Cornwall was shown on TV crying in fear and distress saying that she is not "a scrounger or a shirker" and that she simply does not have the money to pay for an increase in her council tax and she simply doesn't know what to do or where to turn "our Dave" is grandstanding on the world stage telling others about how they need to eradicate poverty, when he and his government are pushing 200,000 more children into poverty in his own country! Cornwall council forces the poorest households to pay rise in council tax.

Of course it's not only Cornwall where this will be happening, it will most likely cover the whole country in many  constituencies, whether they are Labour, Tory, or Lib Dem or even independent. However, the Tory controlled government has cut funding to Labour local authorities more than they have to to Conservative local authorities.


Bedroom Tax

What is the so-called 'bedroom tax'?

• Under controversial plans, those living in social housing who are deemed to have a spare bedroom will be asked to downsize or face a cut in benefits from April.
• Ministers want to cut housing benefit by 14% for those deemed to have one extra bedroom and 25% for claimants with two or more spare bedrooms.

How many people will this affect?

• The 'bedroom tax' will affect around 660,000 social housing tenants across the country.

Who will be affected?

• Separated parents who share the care of their children and who may have been allocated an extra bedroom to reflect this. Benefit rules mean that there must be a designated ‘main carer’ for children (who receives the extra benefit).
• Couples who use their spare bedroom when recovering from an illness or operation.
• Foster carers because foster children are not counted as part of the household for benefit purposes.
• Parents whose children visit but are not part of the household.
• Families with disabled children.
• Disabled people including people living in adapted or specially designed properties.

Source: The National Housing Federation

Lisa and Brett's story. 

This the story of a disabled couple who are so distressed at the situation Cameron and his government have placed them in that they are breaking down and sobbing on national TV they are absolute heartbroken that they may lose their little 2 bedroomed house.
This is not going to tackle the housing shortage, but building MORE houses NOW will and it will also help kick the start the economy, it is what Ed Balls and Labour have been calling for ever since this government came to power when they slashed the house building budget!
This is going to affect all people up to the age of 67. What this government is failing to recognise is that these people are not just losing the place they live in, they are losing their HOMES, where no doubt they have lavished love and attention on.

This is a spiteful vindictive move by this government, who clearly believe that if people are poor then they do not deserve to have a comfortable home with a spare room and they are going to make it impossible for them to stay in their homes. So in effect they are being punished simply for being poor, if they have no money then Cameron, Iain Duncan-Smith and Osborne are going to be drive them out of their homes. It's horrendous and once again with the exception of ITV, the right wing press and the broadcast media are hardly even publishing it. When I remember the fuss that the Sun newspaper made because the PM Gordon Brown who is partially sighted wrote a handwritten note to a fallen soldier's mother and he had got the surname muddled up between Janes and James, the terrible headlines about it day in and day out, yet they apparently do not class this government driving people out of their homes important enough to make it headline news! It's staggering we have a government causing terrible pain and distress to people and the right wing press are taking no notice because the PM promised a referendum on the EU which is going to take place sometime never! They've all been had and they cannot see it.

Combined Effect of These Cuts

The combined effect of these benefits cuts may mean that many council tenants and housing association tenants and also tenants of private landlords will suddenly be unable to pay their rent. There is a huge potential for thousands of families being forced into poverty, unable to pay for their hating, food and rent, they will find themselves homeless and their children taken into care. I've been warning that this is coming, but I'm pretty sure people do not think that these rule changes apply to them, they are soon to have a very rude awakening. Also with the universal payment, people will be given their own rent and rate rebates to pay their own bills, these benefits will no longer be paid to the relevant local authority departments. People short of money facing a choice v between paying their rent or feeding their child are going to feed their child and keep that child warm, this is another huge propensity for people to find themselves homeless.

Food-Banks 

Again we see the incompetence and the inability to grasp the fundamentals of change from Cameron, Duncan-Smith and Osborne, they don't appear to have the wit to realise that their policies will have a catastrophic effect and cause pressure on other parts of the benefits system. This is like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Cameron completely fails to understand that it is not a good idea to tell others how to eradicate poverty elsewhere in the world, when in Britain of all places, in 2013 he is causing extreme anxiety and poverty in his very own country! Where he has presided over a government that has caused the use of food-banks to quadruple over the past 2 years, as people struggle to pay bills and feed and clothe their families. Food banks, which "call me Dave" describes as a "good thing" and an example of his "Big Society" in action, (See what did I say about "our Dave" never knowingly passes up a chance to grab a headline and make it all about himself?!) It passes completely over his head that the people using these food-banks are in dire and desperate need and have gone hungry for days before being given vouchers to collect food parcels. I doubt too that Cameron actually knows that people can only use these food-banks up to 3 times, so what they do after the third time is anyone's guess.

What an indictment on this country's reputation that the poor, the vulnerable, the employed, the unemployed and the disabled feel they need to go on national TV to defend themselves against their very own government and feel they need to convince others that they "deserve" to be helped!  It is a travesty against our once civilised country's way of life and the once inherent decency of the British people.

This is where the incompetent PM's ill thought out, ill informed, child like government and their ill advised ideological policies have led us - right to the brink of an uncaring dog eat dog society.

Britain has more than 10 million adults living on between £12,000 and £30,000 gross, the majority in work, it's these people too that are being branded and insulted by this government and who are going to be badly affected.

For too many, social mobility has begun to slide backwards. A small but growing band of global pirates – billionaires all, without allegiance to community or country, devoid of civic responsibility – accrue wealth from the continued immiseration of the squeezed majority. These hugely rich are fawned over and subsidised by governments even as inequality widens to a chasm that may yet produce social unrest.

The Tory controlled government, is a government that is waging a war upon the poor and forcing them to shoulder the lions share of cuts, while they have given their mates the Tory 1% a tax cut, which means that millionaires will each receive around £40,000 per year tax rebate! £40,000 is more than most working class people actually earn in a year.

It's estimated that a one earner family could lose around £530 per year, however, I estimate it could be far higher than this, when all the lost benefits are accrued, it could be nearer £700, that's around £58 per month and this is not calculating the new bedroom tax. I

If people are forced to start paying for a spare bedroom, this is an extra 14% on top for one spare bedroom and 25% for two spare rooms, As a rough guide if your rent is now £400 per month, this is going to cost you another £56 per month for one bedroom or £100 per month for 2 spare rooms. This will be charged regardless if you work or not!

If you are a low wage earner, you could lose out in tax credits, housing benefit and may also see your rates rise, as mentioned above in the Tory poll tax mk 2 and on top of this, you could also be charged extra if you have a spare bedroom.

The so called bedroom tax is being mooted by this government that it will help the housing shortage, it will do no such thing. Most people who require to move into larger or smaller properties are already living in social housing, so this is a move within the system, how is it going to create more homes? It amounts to a tax being forced on the poorest most vulnerable people in society to pay for what the greedy Tory bankers did to this country.

If people cannot manage now, how are they going to manage when all these cuts start in April? I'm afraid we are going to see evictions, children taken into care and mass homelessness on a scale never seen before. This is also assuming that the government computers get the switch over to universal credit right, and IT experts have already warned the government that its IT systems cannot cope.

Will private landlords wait for their rent if the government's computers cannot cope, in an environment where they can easily rent out their property to someone else as rented property is now at a premium? Also will private landlords reduce their rent when the government cap housing benefits and people can no longer afford their rents? Again we see the propensity for a massive problem entirely of this government's making.

This Tory controlled government led by David Cameron, George Osborne, Nick Clegg and IDS are in the process of causing massive problems they have changed things for the sake of changing them, they are deliberately making the poor pay for what the rich did to the country and to try and divert attention away from them, they are causing rifts between workers and unemployed, private sector workers and public sector workers, enabled against disabled, working classes against working classes. What this government is doing is not just morally wrong and heinous, it is also extremely dangerous!

However, now we all have to face it, our country is now one huge mess thanks to the Tories and their insane austerity which isn't working and which is dangerous harming the economy.

The UK is an non-functioning total mess caused by inexperienced ideological politicians, playing at running the government. Cameron, Osborne and Clegg took the British economy over in May 2010 after the general election when the previous Labour government had got it back into recovery and on an even keel returning the economy to 2.7% growth. This feckless mongrel Tory controlled coalition government were warned repeatedly by the Labour party and by the vast majority of the world's leading economists that the course of austerity they intended to embark on was too much for our fragile recovery to withstand, that they were "cutting too far, too fast, and too deep", they chose to ignore those warnings and have ignored those warnings ever since and now we are in this truly dreadful mess entirely of this government's making. We came out of the double dip recession made in Downing Street, only because of the Olympics, now those affects are fast dwindling the economy is rapidly shrinking again and shrunk in Q4 by a terrible -0.3%, and the UK is on the road to an unprecedented triple dip recession - made once again in Downing Street!

I can see there being riots come April and May and we needn't think the police will be able to sort them out, cameron has sacked half of them, and the other half he has working on his mates plebgate affair, where Andrew Mitchell swore at police. The army wont be much help either as their numbers are being cut drastically and the ones that aren't have now been sent into Mali by Cameron who is hoping to get a poll bounce from them!

You honestly cannot make this stuff up!