[kreuzberger]

Events, dear Boy, events might be on the near horizon to get Rach out of her bind (the growth one, not something manufactured by that scrawny northern twat), and lead her to easing her financial chastity belt in favour of defence investment.

"A penny on your tax or your sons will be in the trenches" has suddenly become an easy sell rather than purely hypothetical.

I would suggest that Starmer needs to light on his feet here, too, especially if Kemi and Lord Rothman's pivot to the national interest.

[Abernathy]

Indeed. People could do with a reminder that historically, income tax was introduced in order to pay for Britain to fight the Napoleonic wars.

[The Weeping Angel]

Of course it's all Reeves's fault.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg7gewqevqo

From April, employers will have to pay National Insurance at 15% on salaries above £5,000, instead of 13.8% on salaries above £9,100 at the moment.

The government has said the rise is necessary to fund public services and fix a "black hole" in public spending plans. it claims it inherited from the Conservatives.

The Treasury told the BBC it had delivered a "once-in-a-Parliament budget to wipe the slate clean and deliver the stability businesses need to invest and grow, while protecting working people's payslips from higher taxes, ensuring more than half of employers either see a cut or no change in their National Insurance bills, and delivering a record pay boost for millions of workers".

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has consistently defended her Budget, acknowledging she had made "difficult decisions" but that they were "the right decisions in the national interest".

But it has led to a political row, with opposition parties arguing it will dent future economic growth and make companies less likely to hire workers.

The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), estimated that the UK unemployment rate edged up from 4.3% to 4.4% in November.

[The Weeping Angel]

Fancy that.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gwgpjgl5zo

Average wages are continuing to outpace inflation with pay packets rising for both the public and private sector workers, official figures show.

Pay, after taking into account the pace of price rises, rose 3.4% between October and December compared with the same period a year ago, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The UK's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.4%, although the ONS has advised that its jobs figures should be treated with caution because of low response rates to its employment survey.

The figures follow warnings from businesses that they are planning to cut workforces and raise prices ahead of higher employment costs in April.

Employers have raised concerns that paying more in National Insurance, along with minimum wages rising and business rates relief being reduced, could hit pay rises going forward and also affect investment.

Without taking account of inflation, the ONS said annual pay growth, excluding bonuses, was 5.9% from October to December. which was up from the previous figure of 5.6%.

Earnings growth for the private sector was 6.2%, while for the public sector it was 4.7%.

I Guess Rachel from Accounts does know what she's doing after all.

[Killer Whale]

Unsustainable. You know full well that the economy will only be deemed successful when the rich take all the gains and the poor know their place.

[Andy McDandy]

"Despite" takes up less space than "thanks to".