Axing Universal Benefits: Is it Socialist?

At work a friend asked me for an explanation of the universal winter fuel payment the current Government is abolishing. He asked if it was socialist/Marxist policy.

I am known as an anti-conservative at work. The presumption is that I vote Labour.

I hold up my hand, guilty. Yes, I have voted Labour in the past. But I have never voted for the Labour Party in an election when they have won power.

Removing the universal winter fuel payment to all those receiving the state pension is a policy I have little opinion on. It is a conservative minded policy. By continuing it for those only receiving benefits is a move solely about saving money. If they were to raise the amount significantly from the saving, that would push it into neutral territory. But they are not. They are following their true cause, their true philosophy.

Sir Keir Starmer is proud of his changed Labour Party.

But he never says what he changed it into.

You can tell a conservative by their actions. The laws and choices a government makes shows the philosophy of that Government.

That was the extended version of my answer to the question of how socialist/marxist the cut was. This government still feels like the last fourteen years, and I will not engage with that in anything other than a critical mind.

Once more we are facing austerity from a government in fear of raising direct taxation. No, I do not want my taxes raised. Nobody does.

Naturally, I would want someone else to pay. Those earning more than I. But that is neither fair nor morally right. A progressive tax system should tax everybody and those earning more, pay tax at a higher rate.

I am a serf; I struggle to pay the bills and save at the same time. If I do not save, I will not stay out of debt. But I also want public services that will be a benefit to everyone not just me. If achieving that goal means I pay one or two percent more tax each week, then I am willing. And it is only right to raise the higher tax brackets by the same amount (or one or two percent more).

I want a country to work for the majority and not pander to the wealthy. Were I the PM and the wealthy and ‘wealth creators’ told me if I raised taxes they would leave the country.

 My answer would be one word: Bye.

We cannot allow those whose only interest in the country is the tax rate, to hold us hostage. Those who want their businesses to make larger profits and so pay their workers the lowest they can get away with. And, to put it bluntly, treat them like shackle. Those who answer with ‘well if they do not like it, they are free to find other employment’ should not have any more say than I in the policy of government. Yet these people do.

If paying a few per cent more on what they generate here and around the world if they reside here, means they leave – so be it.

Bye, bye, I will drive you to your private plane at the airport and give the two fingered salute as you leave.

You are either committed to this country, which means all the people in it, or you are not. If you are not: just fuck off.