Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Author Archives: Peter Kenway

The Independent View: Government can ensure that the election debate on welfare and tax reform is informed as well as impassioned

By Peter Kenway | Tue 9th September 2014 - 4:50 pm

The changes to taxes and benefits that came into effect in April 2013 are the Coalition’s most important single package of work and welfare reforms. Some, above all the bedroom tax, have provoked fierce opposition. Others, like the replacement of council tax benefit by council tax support, have impacted millions.

But April 13 was also the moment when the income tax personal allowance went up by the largest amount ever, returning £5 a week to the pocket of anyone earning between about £9,500 and £41,000 a year.

Add in the fact that the knock-on effects of reforms as time passes are not always the same as the immediate ones and it is clear that this package of changes will have had complex and often contradictory effects, especially at a time when the economy itself had once more started to grow again steadily.

Continue reading »

Posted in The Independent View | Tagged iain duncan smith and welfare reform | 2 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

What can we really do to influence the situation in the West Bank? (Alan Juriansz)
Welcome to Lib Dem Friends of Gaelic Language and Culture (Caron Lindsay)
Going for four in a row in Scotland (Grant Toghill)
Lib Dems call for action on smart spectacles – some constructive feedback (Caron Lindsay)
AI has moved from future threat to present reality (Sean Worrell)

Advert

Recent Comments

Jason Connor
I agree Graham. I really don't understand this emphasis on appealing to such a narrow voter base. It's almost as if there's a drive to let other opposition part...
Matthew Harris
@AndyDaer Out of interest, I asked ChatGPT for a fact check of your last comment: There are legitimate arguments here, but also some serious factual distorti...
Jana
Is it not time for the Liberal Democrats to back the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement? Ordinary Israeli voters need to realise that voting for extrem...
Graham Jeffs
Simon Robinson "For that reason I’d expect the national party to want to focus a London campaign on keeping those seats". Well, one way of doing that would...
Adam
The language spoken in southern Scotland was old Welsh - not a variety of Gaelic, but rather a form of Brythonic. Gaelic was brought to Scotland from what is no...