Is austerity working- and will it ever end?

[Ms Macbeth]

I believe the £107 is for a single person, it assumes they can rent shared accomodation. Families benefit is higher.

Isn't it right that someone who has been caught by the safety net of benefits should have to use lower quality accomodation? I don't mean slum housing obviously. But welfare payments should be there to ensure people aren't destitute / unhealthy etc.

It's not nice having low grade accomodation and having to scrimp on everything but, unfortunately that's what it has to be, unless we all agree to pay more tax to fund it.

 

Local Housing allowance, for private housing in Sheffield, is actually £107 for those entitled to two bedrooms, ie a couple with one child, or two small children. There are a few properties advertised around £100-110.

 

You are right, its not nice. We should be supporting the really vulnerable properly, but defining who is entitled to what is often in dispute. The principle behind universal credit seems good, how its being administered has caused real hardship.

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[lil-minx92]

Back on topic, I wonder if it is possible for anybody to provide figures of national debt before austerity, and national debt now? Is it even that simple?

 

Has any debt been paid off? Was that the point of austerity measures? Id prefer the answer from an accountant rather than a politician of any party.

[nightrider]

Back on topic, I wonder if it is possible for anybody to provide figures of national debt before austerity, and national debt now? Is it even that simple?

 

Has any debt been paid off? .

 

No, because we are still running a deficit in the national budget. I found graphs of debt (as fraction of GDP) and deficit vs year here:

 

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicspending/bulletins/ukgovernmentdebtanddeficitforeurostatmaast/march2018

 

Deficit appears to have reduced, whilst debt (as fraction of GDP) is slightly smaller than it was. Presumably the absolute value of the debt has increased, given we have been running a continual deficit year on year.

 

---------- Post added 09-10-2018 at 16:23 ----------

 

Borrowing is continuing to fall and has done since the start of austerity. Once borrowing isn't needed then the debt can be paid off. Plenty of economic data to prove this is the case.

 

Major's government had a five year plan that was still in effect after they lost the election in 1997; it's why we had a surplus in the first few years of Labour then it went pear shaped around 2001/2002.

 

There is obviously a need to start putting more money into certain parts of the public system post austerity, but to just revert back to what it was pre crash is folly; austerity has forced a lot of the public sector to work smarter and find new ways of doing things when previously they didn't have to and probably wouldn't have done so. Just going back to how things were in 2007 for the sake of it isn't the way forward.

 

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Other countries (e.g. Sweden) invest far more in public services than we do I believe, without running huge deficits. So I don't think it's necessarily true the only way to pay for things is to run a huge deficit.

[truman]

No, because we are still running a deficit in the national budget. I found graphs of debt (as fraction of GDP) and deficit vs year here:

 

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicspending/bulletins/ukgovernmentdebtanddeficitforeurostatmaast/march2018

 

Deficit appears to have reduced, whilst debt (as fraction of GDP) is slightly smaller than it was. Presumably the absolute value of the debt has increased, given we have been running a continual deficit year on year.

 

---------- Post added 09-10-2018 at 16:23 ----------

 

 

Other countries (e.g. Sweden) invest far more in public services than we do I believe, without running huge deficits. So I don't think it's necessarily true the only way to pay for things is to run a huge deficit.

 

Genuine queastion.. what's the tax level in Sweden?

[nightrider]

Genuine queastion.. what's the tax level in Sweden?

 

First £1500 is not taxed:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Sweden#Income_tax

 

Here the the first 11,500 is not taxed....

 

Above £1500 they pay 32%, above 40k you pay 52% (if I understood correctly - it lists 20+32%, not sure why its separate).

[Cyclone]

Back on topic, I wonder if it is possible for anybody to provide figures of national debt before austerity, and national debt now? Is it even that simple?

 

Has any debt been paid off? Was that the point of austerity measures? Id prefer the answer from an accountant rather than a politician of any party.

 

https://fullfact.org/media/uploads/uk_government_debt_in_cash.png

 

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiFz-HD5vndAhVE4YUKHYRDA4wQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ons.gov.uk%2Feconomy%2Fgovernmentpublicsectorandtaxes%2Fpublicsectorfinance%2Fbulletins%2Fpublicsectorfinances%2Fdec2016&psig=AOvVaw2nXS_uOCZCnp-tUwHaR5-P&ust=1539189679499313

 

https://www.economicshelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/uk-debt-100-years.png

 

Austerity has done nothing at all to reduce debt, it's increased massively either in GDP or in absolute terms.

[El Cid]

Austerity has done nothing at all to reduce debt, it's increased massively either in GDP or in absolute terms.

 

I seem to remember Labour planned to repay the debt, but slower than the Conservatives.

[woodview]

The idea of austerity was to return to a neutral spend, e.g not increase the debt, or attempt to slow its growth.

It's impossible to say what the debt would have been if the spending cuts had not been made.

But we can't continually increase national debt.

[Robin-H]

https://fullfact.org/media/uploads/uk_government_debt_in_cash.png

 

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiFz-HD5vndAhVE4YUKHYRDA4wQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ons.gov.uk%2Feconomy%2Fgovernmentpublicsectorandtaxes%2Fpublicsectorfinance%2Fbulletins%2Fpublicsectorfinances%2Fdec2016&psig=AOvVaw2nXS_uOCZCnp-tUwHaR5-P&ust=1539189679499313

 

https://www.economicshelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/uk-debt-100-years.png

 

Austerity has done nothing at all to reduce debt, it's increased massively either in GDP or in absolute terms.

 

Austerity was never meant to reduce our debt.

 

It was meant to reduce our deficit, which in turn prevented our national debt from ballooning much higher than it would have done otherwise.

 

Until we tackled the deficit the debt is obviously going to continue to grow. That was the point of austerity, and it's done a pretty good job..

[truman]

First £1500 is not taxed:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Sweden#Income_tax

 

Here the the first 11,500 is not taxed....

 

Above £1500 they pay 32%, above 40k you pay 52% (if I understood correctly - it lists 20+32%, not sure why its separate).

 

Might explain why they can spend more on public services.. ?

 

---------- Post added 09-10-2018 at 23:25 ----------

 

https://fullfact.org/media/uploads/uk_government_debt_in_cash.png

 

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiFz-HD5vndAhVE4YUKHYRDA4wQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ons.gov.uk%2Feconomy%2Fgovernmentpublicsectorandtaxes%2Fpublicsectorfinance%2Fbulletins%2Fpublicsectorfinances%2Fdec2016&psig=AOvVaw2nXS_uOCZCnp-tUwHaR5-P&ust=1539189679499313

 

https://www.economicshelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/uk-debt-100-years.png

 

Austerity has done nothing at all to reduce debt, it's increased massively either in GDP or in absolute terms.

 

You have to get rid of the deficit first don't you?