Lower benefits cap

[Petminder]

we have plenty of space to build, a fraction of our country is build on, the problem is build more, the cost of housing goes down, the knock on to mortgage owner is that many will go into negative equity.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096

 

The great myth that a population only needs buildings and roads in order to expand and doesn't need farm land, woodland, parkland, wetland, moorland.

[phil752]

Again I agree Phil. But what is UKIP's policy on getting Councils to build homes? I honestly don't know but I would be surprised if they backed a major programme of Council house building.

 

I just checked - they just want to stimulate the market, no plans for state building http://www.ukip.org/ukip_leading_the_housing_debate. Disappointing, no?

 

I don't believe any party will, perhaps Corbyn, but he will never get in power and then i suspect it will be back to 60's 70's estates

 

---------- Post added 11-11-2016 at 22:30 ----------

 

That would be called theft.

 

Taxing it is clearly a far better option. A) provides income to the government, B) stimulates the use or sale (to people who will use it) of this land to avoid being taxed, c) doesn't get the government involved in owning land or building houses.

 

Hs2 seems to be doing it nicely

 

---------- Post added 11-11-2016 at 22:33 ----------

 

The great myth that a population only needs buildings and roads in order to expand and doesn't need farm land, woodland, parkland, wetland, moorland.

 

Not really there is plenty of set aside land that is not used.

[Petminder]

 

Not really there is plenty of set aside land that is not used.

 

As we leave the EU we should be bringing that back into agricultural production to produce more of the food we need.

 

---------- Post added 12-11-2016 at 07:35 ----------

 

There are also environmental benefits of setting land aside which benefits wildlife.

[Cyclone]

Are you about to retrain as a farmer then, or start labouring for one?

[Petminder]

Are you about to retrain as a farmer then, or start labouring for one?

 

No need, farmers want to farm the land they have that is set aside and we are good at making machines for use on farms. Machine and driver ploughs the fields, plants the crop and harvest the crop, or if a driver can't be found the land owner can use driverless machinery.

[Cyclone]

So they "want" to farm the land but currently aren't (I guess because the CAP pays them not to overproduce?). So we leave the CAP, food prices shoot up massively, and then ??? profit?

Or we leave the CAP, farmers go bust, we still import lots of foreign produce, prices go up massively, ???, profit?

[Petminder]

So they "want" to farm the land but currently aren't (I guess because the CAP pays them not to overproduce?). So we leave the CAP, food prices shoot up massively, and then ??? profit?

Or we leave the CAP, farmers go bust, we still import lots of foreign produce, prices go up massively, ???, profit?

 

The UK doesn't overproduce, we under produces, we also consume too much food, much of which is imported and imported food is bad for the environment and is likely to increase in price over the short, medium and long term, any increase in prices could be mitigated by eating less, eating fewer calories means lower levels of obesity and fewer health problems which would allow us to cut NHS spending and increase the productivity of the workforce.

[unbeliever]

The UK doesn't overproduce, we under produces, we also consume too much food, much of which is imported and imported food is bad for the environment and is likely to increase in price over the short, medium and long term, any increase in prices could be mitigated by eating less, eating fewer calories means lower levels of obesity and fewer health problems which would allow us to cut NHS spending and increase the productivity of the workforce.

 

I have to disagree with this. I'm aware of the environmental concerns, but importing food from poor countries allows them to grow, whilst allowing us to focus on activities that poorer countries can't do.

Trade is a wonderful thing and we should not take steps to reduce it.

[Petminder]

I have to disagree with this. I'm aware of the environmental concerns, but importing food from poor countries allows them to grow, whilst allowing us to focus on activities that poorer countries can't do.

Trade is a wonderful thing and we should not take steps to reduce it.

 

We can do both, the UK has some of the most fertile land on earth and a very good climate, not too dry and not too wet, we have people of all abilities, some good at the highly skilled jobs of making machines to farm the land and some less skilled people that need work, some of which can't be done by machine alone. The greater the distance your food travels the greater the environmental impact.

[Cyclone]

The UK doesn't overproduce, we under produces, we also consume too much food, much of which is imported and imported food is bad for the environment and is likely to increase in price over the short, medium and long term, any increase in prices could be mitigated by eating less, eating fewer calories means lower levels of obesity and fewer health problems which would allow us to cut NHS spending and increase the productivity of the workforce.

 

So your plan is to tell everyone to eat less and so the increases in the price of food won't be a bad thing.

Unless of course you're already poor, in which case it will be catastrophic...

Perhaps you're not poor, but if you want to eat less, then just do it, there's no reason to engineer an economic collapse just for the sake of your diet.

As a country we want to eat food that is seasonal or simply can't be produced economically in the UK. When did you last see an avocado farm in the UK? Or Oranges, or lamb at this time of year? Just to pick a few examples.

What are you expecting to happen, more grain to be grown, that's possible. Maybe a small expansion in animal rearing, but presumably we already supply enough pigs locally for the market or new pig farms would already be opening up... CAP is long due lots of modifications, but I don't think that leaving the EU will somehow let us produce the food we want at a price that is sensible (economically).