Am I in a parallel universe?

Mel Stride's announcement on MTD in the Commons today

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I am sitting through Mel Stride's announcment to the (almost empty unfortunately) Commons, literally open-mouthed.

I have never heard such propaganda and lies. Though why should I be surprised with this shower in charge of the country.

Replies (20)

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RLI
By lionofludesch
19th Feb 2019 14:39

Mel Stride is a gormless 'aporth of nowt.

What's he said now ?

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By DaveyJonesLocker
19th Feb 2019 14:42

The trial is going well......

It will be a great system to stop errors....

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By DaveyJonesLocker
19th Feb 2019 14:43

Oh and the best bit it will be easier/quicker to submit than the current system.

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Replying to DaveyJonesLocker:
RLI
By lionofludesch
19th Feb 2019 14:58

Usual lies, then.

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By DaveyJonesLocker
19th Feb 2019 14:41

His equivalent said the rosy picture Stride paints is far from correct.
Comes to something when Labour is now the champion of small businesses.

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Replying to DaveyJonesLocker:
RLI
By lionofludesch
19th Feb 2019 15:00

They always have been.

The Tories don't consider you're a proper business if you're not employing at least 50 folk.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
19th Feb 2019 15:17

These days it is more you are able to make 50 redundant though in the eighties they did seem to like blokes with vans.

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Replying to DJKL:
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By Mr_awol
19th Feb 2019 16:35

It wasn't as far back as the 80s but I once saw a detailed calculation of how much you needed to earn before it was 'worth' voting conservative from your personal financial position. It was about 10 years ago and came to about £45k or so.

Now it doesn't matter so much what your earnings are - you just need to be a [***] idiot to vote for Tess and her chums. Only problem is whether you need to be a lesser idiot, or an even bigger idiot, to vote team Jezza. I honestly couldn't say which is the lesser of two evils.

If ever there was a time when the liberals should be able to clean up, it is now. They wont, obviously, but it should be easy pickings.

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By jon_griffey
19th Feb 2019 16:51

In fairness, he is probably just relaying what HMRC have briefed him. There seems to be a culture in the civil service of always telling the minister what they want to hear rather than the harsh truth.

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Replying to jon_griffey:
RLI
By lionofludesch
19th Feb 2019 17:02

A decent boss would take a look round for himself and not rely on his minions saying "Sure, everything's grand, so it is."

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Replying to jon_griffey:
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By Accountant A
19th Feb 2019 17:29

jon_griffey wrote:

In fairness, he is probably just relaying what HMRC have briefed him. There seems to be a culture in the civil service of always telling the minister what they want to hear rather than the harsh truth.

Given his position, you might have hoped that he would have read the reports from the House of Lords committees who seemed to have seen though most of the half truths and unsubstantiated assertions.

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Replying to jon_griffey:
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By Open all hours
20th Feb 2019 17:23

True. Sadly it’s too much to expect Mel Stride to do any of his own thinking and research.

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By Accountant A
19th Feb 2019 17:02

Complete cobblers!

http://www.yourthurrock.com/2019/02/19/thurrock-businesses-urged-make-ta...

“Anything that helps businesses to manage their tax more easily so they can focus on what they do best – innovating, expanding, and creating jobs and profits – is what every modern business needs."

And this is just an outright lie: "There is no change to ‘what’ information is provided through MTD"!

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Replying to Accountant A:
RLI
By lionofludesch
19th Feb 2019 17:12

Accountant A wrote:

“Anything that helps businesses to manage their tax more easily so they can focus on what they do best – innovating, expanding, and creating jobs and profits – is what every modern business needs."


Well, that's true enough. Pity MTD doesn't fall into this category.
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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By Accountant A
19th Feb 2019 17:30

lionofludesch wrote:

Well, that's true enough. Pity MTD doesn't fall into this category.

Indeed. Another politician who hasn't a clue what they are talking about. Quelle surprise!

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Replying to Accountant A:
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By DaveyJonesLocker
19th Feb 2019 17:33

He's been getting his info from the CrapBooks adverts

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Tornado
By Tornado
20th Feb 2019 11:51

Everyone knows that it is the Civil Service that run this country. The antics of Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes Minister are probably just the same now as they were then with Ministers setting (trying to set) policy and the Civil Service trying to implement it, or otherwise if they do not like the policy.

Our succession of Bexit negotiators are just the figureheads of the negotiations, largely having to work with the results of work prepared by the Civil Service. They are frustrated as the negotiation criteria are not their own.

So yes, it is all very well to be a Minister, but the real work is done by the Civil Service who are far more knowledgeable than you about the sector you represent. So what are you to do other than to report what they tell you. This is particularly obvious when the previous Minister resigned/was sacked a couple of weeks earlier and you need to look as though you know what you are talking about.

Mel does indeed seem to be saying what he has been told to say as he has no choice.

He is certainly being set up as the scapegoat for when the MTD project fails.

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Replying to Tornado:
RLI
By lionofludesch
20th Feb 2019 16:38

Tornado wrote:

Everyone knows that it is the Civil Service that run this country.

In fairness, how can MPs get a job on Monday and be experts on Tuesday ?

Mind you, there's no need to advertise your ignorance like Karen Bradley did, wondering why there were no Tory MPs from Northern Ireland.

Mrs Lion, who normally takes a keen interest in all things Northern Ireland, didn't even realise that James Brokenshire was a real person. She thought he was a character in A Perforated Ulster*

*A satirical BBC Radio show, for those on the Big Island.

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Tornado
By Tornado
20th Feb 2019 16:18

Mel says

‘I can announce today that over 16,500 businesses are now signed up to the service, and I would encourage all those businesses that will be mandated to use Making Tax Digital from April to sign up now and get used to the new service.’

He also says

Stride said HMRC will have written directly to every business that is mandated to join Making Tax Digital by the end of this month, with 1.2m letters going out to signpost them to the help and support that they need in order to prepare.

How can he be not the slightest bit worried that only 1.375% of all those that will be mandated to use Making Tax Digital from April have signed up at this stage.

Am I missing something.

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Replying to Tornado:
RLI
By lionofludesch
20th Feb 2019 16:23

Tornado wrote:
<

Am I missing something.

Yes - you're missing that he's a gormless 'aporth of nowt.

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