PM resigns but Zahawi remains in post as Chancellor
Conservative MPs with accounting credentials are already circling Number 10.
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Excellent. Perhaps the next one will remember that he is at least prentending to be a Conservative and start cutting taxes. Hopefully Sunak will not smarm his way to PM. That really would be the end.
They're only interested in cutting taxes for big companies i.e. the ones they get backhanders from. The welfare of small companies and workers are of no interest to them.
SEISS and Furlough give aways are about to cause us some real issues for us all I would guess so Sunak has got out before he gets thrown out by the electorate. Giving money to people who didn't need it is an Economic crime that we will all pay for.
Such a short memory!! For many many workers, of all ages, men and women, across the whole country, the lockdown in March 2020 was catastrophic in terms of earning anything. That the Government and the much ( usually correctly) maligned HMRC was able to respond as quickly as they did was nothing but praiseworthy, and an economic lifeline for very many. The COVID loans were to Companies excluded from the original assistance, who were, ( where in genuine need,) just as badly affected, also by the additional delay. Yes hindsight, and maybe common sense says other checks, simple in nature, should have been put in place, but given the panic and real need at the time, some generosity of hindsight is absolutely needed.
@Roderick, within minutes of the loan announcement, there were posts on here staying he loans were insane due to the lack of skin in the game of the banks and lack of checks
Indeed the banking industry is on record as having challenged it and been overruled by the Treasury.
Its not about hindsight, its about a lack of basic understanding of what they were doing at the time shining a bright light on their incompetence. Any reasonable person would have ensure basic checks arose, such as sight of the prior years company accounts for the bounce back loans to check turnover.
Part of me understands your point perfectly; the problem is bandwidth. The Treasury would have had two instantaneous reactions, firstly along the lines of 'We rush out what they were clamoring for, and instantly they are unsatisfied and want more/variations/adjustments etc'. Secondly, 'we are coping with a major crisis, other things need our very urgent attention like eg, how do we continue to fund the money already promised for the first grants and continuing Gov expenditure....' We are looking, as always, at too narrow a focus, compared to everything else that was going on.
I agree the scheme was too hastily cobbled together, but it smacks to me of a buck passed downwards, in partial extremis, to a lower level civil servant who simply did what was asked of them, rather than ... think through for a moment. From personal experience I know of several clients who were soiling underwear wondering what they could do, how to keep going, moaning it's all right for everyone else but I also have staff, suppliers, clients I need to continue serving....
NEXT TIME... and it WILL happen again, perhaps the Accountancy bodies instead of just screaming for help, might come up with oven-ready solutions with reasoned bases for their suggestions???
Had client, fruit and veg, Covent Garden 30 years, claimed all the grants and furlough yet still ended up in Liquidation (no grant money was used personally). So that is the other end of the scale.
+1
BB Loans to companies were a fraudsters charter from day 1.
Banks doing checks were overuled by HM Gov and instructed to get loans out.
SEISS rules on claimant were such that NOBODY is going to fail the test for entitlment despite trade being uninterrupted
All controlled by the last three tax returns submitted
The point is that Government should have systems in place for such an event i.e what lessons where learnt from the AIDS's crisis back in the 1980's. You are saying Government acted well as a result of the panic the Pandemic brought on us all - what I say is we employ Government to be ready for the "might be" , they were not ready and so the system was ludicrous were many gained Taxpayers money when they did not need it. I am not saying that many innocent people needed funding but the country was closed , no one could spend so why was so much money frittered away - thats the point.
You must have a better memory than me of the AIDS crisis - I don't remember one, at least anything remotely resembling the Covid-19 situation - lock downs, NHS under extreme pressure, mass injections using a number of putative vaccines etc. The only things I recall they had in common was no cure for either when first identified and vast advertising campaigns from the government of the day.
I do indeed remember it - take a look at the "lost tapes" on TV . It was a disease that Government thought would multiply so fast that it would have serious implications on the population of the UK. Because it was classed as a "queer" disease it was ignored until panic set in which caused the campaign on TV. I am sure if it had affected more of the "none queer" population a cure would of had to be found . Sadly today no cure has been found just a treatment. My point was that a disease that could not be controlled was in the general population ( not in the same way as Covid as it was more sexually transmitted) BUT it should have shown Government that a Pandemic might happen ( as they had in Asia ) and so a proper measured plan could have been put into place. What actually happened was a bunch of lieing loonies panicked - came out and said we will "look after you all" bowed to public pressure and gave money out willy nilly when no one was actually spending not to mention letting 1000's of people into care homes killing people (including my Father in Law) . What choice did they have but to vaccinate everyone in the end - does that mean that every other error of judgement is ignored ?
The two diseases are not, I would suggest, comparable. AIDS still is primarily, but not wholly, a sexually transmitted disease, whereas COVID passes easily in virtually all circumstances. It appears you are blaming HMG for not taking recognition of the earlier scares... incorrectly if this is what you are suggesting. Unfortunately for GB, the officials took plans for influenza and used those as a basis. Evidence, which if a certain far eastern country had been properly reporting ( which by every metric IT WAS NOT!), would have shown this to be quite ineffective and incorrect.
What REALLY takes my biscuit is your statement that "no one was actually spending" With respect, that is b*llocks. What about food, light and heat, rent, mortgages and credit card debt, ALL must come from cash flows....
Discretionary spending - restaurants, theatre, pop concerts, days out, yes that ceased but that is only an element of the circulation of money.
Your point about care homes is perfectly valid, and one would hope at least that the promised enquiry establishes how this catastrophic mistake came to be made..... the panicking behind it is more easy to comprehend.
More than that I think should await full disclosure of what happened... if we ever get it!
My local hospitals were paying up to £1k per person for care homes to take the elderly patients being discharged early. The money was supposed to help cover the extra costs of preparing the homes and caring for them in isolation. Needless to say that Covid then ripped through those care homes, whereas those that hadn’t had the space to take anyone in stayed relatively safe.
I stand by what I say SIR . When I say spending of course I met on extras meaning a basic allowance could be given for essential, mortgage loans etc would be placed on hold until Government could appraise the situation. With the HIV the fact is a virus could spread from person to person by whatever means so it showed this sort of thing might happen and so a plan should be in place i.e. IT systems and funding those with no income . Just giving funds to those who didn't need them is mad by anyone standards. That no doubt why the Government is in melt down.
Create the mess and leave it for others to get their hands dirty picking up the poo.
Dishy Rishi? More like sh..y Rishi
I guess the takeover plan starts now
Updated article
I thought Liz Truss was in with a shout
The leavers pretended that the resignations were not co-ordinated, per BBC news
Who are the ones caught with pants on fire now?
Trade envoy to Morocco? That's the one that shocked me.
Did not know we had one.
My son suggested that the leavers should have resigned one a day to have real continuing impact.
The cabinet refilled in no time..
All at once is an open cabal.
Liz Truss? Sheesh. How low have we sunk here. She only looks vaguely OK next to the combined braincell of Raab and Dorries.
Chancellor is the headline act.
Best to have an act most people have heard of.
Civil servants do the thinking, planning, and give a small range of options that the actors supposedly choose from.
Liz Truss I had to laugh at that.
I wouldn't trust her to clean a toilet without supervision.
Headline from FT on 27 Jan 2022:
Nadhim Zahawi was ‘instrumental’ in securing Greensill loans approval, said Gupta
https://www.ft.com/content/fe8c33e7-a846-4f98-ab33-68b580c6896f
@Rebecca, yup he is just another one of the "very rich boys" carrying on the noble Tory tradition of enriching their donors and cronies through tax breaks, soft loans and highly dodgy contracts.
Expect more of the same whilst the Tory press lap up any crumbs for Tory voters fixated on minor tax cuts and happy to walk past the foodbanks and blaming the poor for being poor.
Nadhim Zahawi is unquestionably a "yes man" and will likely do as he's told by BJ (a reversal of RS's CT rise would actually be good overall in my view). RS was probably the worst Chancellor in history, having presided over a Treasury that wasted a good £100bn+ unnecessarily during Covid as stated by others above and that added quite a few % points to the inflation rate. He was also disembling re his non-dom and GC status.
I agree with the comments here: https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/any-answers/will-mtd-go
At least you all now know (if you didn't already) that you were comprehensively lied to by BJ re Brexit.
Let's just say that his financial dealings are less than satisfactory.
To appoint him as Chancellor of the Exchequer is frankly an affront to the reputation of this nation... but hell you have to take a look at who appointed him.
So what further lies is Boris going to tell us next week that rishi couldn't get on board with and felt he had to resign over? Based on what he has lent his support to previously, the new thing must be pretty bad.
Zahawi's interview on BBC Breakfast this morning was interesting. Imagine being made to squirm by that plum John Kay? Bit wet. How many times did he say err?
I would take Sunak's sadness at resignation with a Pincher of salt. The revelations of the [***] artist groper's antics were no doubt the final excuse he so badly needed.
Ah well Zahawi; your inheritance of the MTD minefield. Coming from Education, suggest you get a couple of schoolkids in to offer some overdue common sense.
Complete chaos! A shambles! No wonder nothing works.
A Prime Minister who probably doesn't have the authority of who he can appoint any more
Question time should be interesting today, although no doubt Keir Starmer will drop the ball again!
Interesting opinions all of them.
One thing strikes me and that is that the budget must be driven by the Treasury with only general direction from the Government. That being the case the Chancellor isn't necessarily the man to blame - much more likely to be the Treasury Mandarins. So we have a case of 'plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose'. The Direction will come from BJ and whilst he is a good bullsh***er he has about zero financial background. He has, for example, been throwing weaponry to Ukraine which is sensible but he isn't increasing the defense budget enough to replace it.
The problem with politicians is that few of them (on both sides of the fence) have held proper jobs so they know little of the real world and those associated with the media cannot get away from selling no matter how many lies are involved in the sales patter.
Not at all a good situation and if HMRC are anything to go by relying on the Treasury for sensible policies and actual performance is like using a chocolate teapot.
"He has, for example, been throwing weaponry to Ukraine which is sensible but he isn't increasing the defense budget enough to replace it."
This I really can't believe and I guess you imagine you're quite a sensible chap.
By any index the Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries on earth. There are no proper controls over the weaponry or the funds!
Weapons and money have been "thrown" at it like there's no tomorrow. I have heard rumours that over 54% of the money and the weapons have disappeared down the corruption hole.
No wonder Boris is such an enthusiast I imagine that the backhanders are mindboggling.
In the meantime you can pick up a Javelin and munitions by mail order on the dark web for about $US 30k! On sale to anyone no questions asked.
If CNN are reporting it you can bet the truth is even worse.
What happens to weapons sent to Ukraine? The US doesn't really know
CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/19/politics/us-weapons-ukraine-intellige...
Boris' position is untenable but when has that ever stopped him?
I think the Covid support schemes were sound in principle and quite inventive (perhaps with the exception of EOTHO but I wonder if that was Sunak's idea?) but the roll-out was rushed and the execution botched. A lack of basic diligence and checks left it wide open to abuse on an industrial scale.
I suspect a more measured approach would still have aided a similar number of businesses/individuals who were genuinely in need of support and helped them get through the most difficult days but could also have greatly reduced the numbers of opportunistic/fraudulent claims.
Sunak certainly didn't have any problem doling out other peoples money.
It wouldn't surprise me if we saw him back in politics soon despite the recent questions over his wife's non-dom status (which seems like a quaint old fashioned Tory sleaze tale compared to the shenanigans under Boris!)
Fishy Rishi has been looking to jump since his wife's Non Dom status was revealed together with Green Card issues. Good riddance to the man.
Perhaps it is time for a GE. The outcome of which will be a hung Parliament, so more chaos, but at least the people would have had their say. The interesting thing about the next GE is that Labour have said no return to EU, which only leaves Lib/Dems, who will quite probably have the balance of power.
Perhaps it is time for a GE. The outcome of which will be a hung Parliament, so more chaos, but at least the people would have had their say.
Oh, I dunno. The advantage of a hung parliament is that you get fewer extremist bills passed.
Wouldn't it be something if the Labour and Conservative parties got together and designed a manifesto for the country instead of their party. They seem to be able to do it in all party committee's.
Well Rodney ....another del boy chancellor wasting other people's money .. you couldn't make it up
5.20pm According to news sources, the new Chancellor has joined a delegation of ministers in telling the Prime Minister to resign.
***
If new chancellor is saying that Boris should go then it was dishonest to accept the job.
Shame
None of the parties have a credible alternative country leader.
We have a chancellor and an HM Gov website announcing a tax cut
No it is not
It is a previously announced increase in the NI threshold, or have I missed something?
5.20pm According to news sources, the new Chancellor has joined a delegation of ministers in telling the Prime Minister to resign.
***
If new chancellor is saying that Boris should go then it was dishonest to accept the job.
Shame
None of the parties have a credible alternative country leader.We have a chancellor and an HM Gov website announcing a tax cut
No it is not
It is a previously announced increase in the NI threshold, or have I missed something?
Ehhhhhh - all those years when we were assured that NI wasn't even a tax !
Biggest drag on the economy is the green lobby. Reality and truth needs to kick in.
Oh and plus the likes of the BBC with its childish person abuse rather than policy politics - we could get a Biden!