The Electorate's Ability to Swallow the Biggest of Untruths

[JGD]

Well, none of us can say we didn't know it was inaccurate.

And we don't get the benefit of ignorance, we know that the man who said it has a history of lies and exaggeration.

And that we knew he felt he could embellish his position by saying it in such a flamboyant way that demonstrated he did not give a flying fernickety for falsehoods foisted on potential voters.

But we all have to swallow now - and hard.

The Indie carries this Treasury statement:

The Treasury has confirmed that it will not be getting an extra £350 million a week after Britain stops paying into the EU budget, despite false claims by Brexiteers during the referendum.

Britain is in fact expected to be overall poorer by £1,200 per person because of Brexit's economic drag, according to the government's spending watchdog.

The chancellor's red budget book shows the gross EU contributions saved by the UK will be around £42 billion over the next five years, rather than the £91 billion claimed under the false figure publicised by Boris Johnson in 2016.

So for clarity, this total of £42,000,000,000 (£42 Bn) over five years equates to £161,500,000 (£161.5 m) per week which is not the £350,000,000 (£350 m) promised in the telling of the lie.

The actualite tells us we don't get £350 m per week, which over 5 years is equivalent to £91,000,000,000.00 (£91 Bn).

We only get £42 Bn - a shortfall of £49 Bn - and all on Tory Treasury figures too. Which also calculate it wil cost us £30 Bn in the short-term to stimulate and sustain the economy through the Covid-19 crisis. It is unknown what estimates for any medium and long-term support costs will be.

It is wonderful that democracy provides no money-back guarantee but then truth will out

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 95476.html

[mosy]

The referendum wasn't just to decide whether to leave the EU because of the money the UK paid into it was it?

In fact the bus myth was busted in every headline for a week before the referendum. However, I reckon the reality is that people who weren't in favour of the EU and its rules at voting time would have voted to leave had the amount been a mere fifty quid so the amount was irrelevant. The NHS bus might have persuaded some waverers over to Leave and persuaded them to go out and vote but arguably it's waverers or Remainers who chose not to vote at all that lost the Remain vote.

Actually, the amount sent to the EU is peanuts in the total budget income and spending/borrowing of the UK government. People don't have the opportunity to complain/decide via a referendum about the misuse or ill-advised or unpopular use of the majority of funds elsewhere. If they did, half of government spending could be cut overnight

[JGD]

An update.

We only get £42 Bn - a shortfall of £49 Bn - and all on Tory Treasury figures too. Which also calculate it wil cost us £30 Bn in the short-term to stimulate and sustain the economy through the Covid-19 crisis. It is unknown what estimates for any medium and long-term support costs will be.

Reading reports that the HMG's support package with increased rescue costs cast at £330 Bn (revised upwards within days from £30 Bn) is now deemed to be foundering and it that will require further patching up.

Increasingly "vulture" banks have been bending the rules to maximise their own profits by insisting that business owners provide onerous personal financial guarantees as a condition of accessing the government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) designed to provide interest free loans to businesses for 12 months. Funds that are designed to keep many companies afloat.

HMG on being alerted to the practice quickly stamped on it and have insisted that operational changes be made to speed up lending approvals.

HMG have demanded that banks radically simplify the application process, remove administrative hurdles and scale up lending to companies. Banks are no longer permitted to reject an application because of any lack of security on the borrower's part.

The Treasury announced on Thursday that 983 firms have now received support from CBILS, with £90m of lendings being approved. This from over 100,000 applications. This level of performance is of huge concern to HMG as its planned impact is being entirely dissipated.

HMG's announcements about large-scale schemes to assist businesses and the general populace are failing at implementation stages on several major streams.

CBILS failings and with further failings in Universal Credit where over 1m applications are overwhelming systems that will not and cannot cope with demand and issue material assistance to people, creates a very harsh reality at which HMG's inadequacies are at the heart.

HMG must take on-board the assistance and expertise that is genuinely needed and to desist from rejecting news and advice that emanates from sources outside their closed circles and for stupendously inept reasons like "they are not voices of our own".

The moment for seasoned disruptors who got elected in the last GE has ended abruptly.

The country is now in immediate and dire need of those with expertise and experience who can deliver change, systems and assistance methodically and effectively.

[JGD]

In today's News Shopper, finance expert Martin Lewis has advice for self-employed people affected by coronavirus.

Particularly for those who may have an abiding sense of being underwhelmed by the failure of HMG to meaningfully deliver what was a substantially generous and essential decision to get assistance to those undervalued services and self-employed providers in our communities who really need it.

Giving his opinion upon the government’s plans of action, the finance expert comments that “the state is trying to keep the economy going and support people through this” while stressing “its just being a little bit slow with the self employed because it's technically difficult to get there.”

He also advises people to consider what has already changed, including the deferment of tax self assessments by six months, and changes to employment support allowance, entitling the self-employed to “the equivalent of sick pay.”

Finally, he mentions the changes to Universal Credit, which he recommends people should not dismiss simply due to recent headlines.

“[Universal Credit has] been widely poo pooed because people have seen the headline figure of £1,000 extra to universal credit [...] which for many people out there who have bills coming in, is neither hither nor thither,” remarks Lewis.

Instead, he asks the self-employed to focus on important changes to housing payments within universal credit. According to Lewis this has been “increased quite substantially.”

“These changes to housing payment can work for private renters and interest of mortgages among other housing payments,” he goes on.

Perhaps even with this advice, there remains a sense of inadequacy in the support being delivered to those who have launched out on their own and through their hard work built up small and successful businesses but have had all income streams cut-off, caused by responses to the pandemic.

This is his video link: [youtubes]https://youtu.be/bn3ANq-uHtc[/youtubes]

https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/1837 ... /?ref=ebln