Don’t forget Landlords Boris?

Reply to the comment left by Appalled Landlord at 10/06/2019 - 17:02On rereading all the original post and the links I can see where the confusion has arisen as a result of each of us only cursorily rereading and, in my case and probably yours, having gone away and applied our minds to unrelated matters in between posts. There's a lesson there about not taking short cuts and relying on memory. However, no harm done in this case and their determination to get Corbyn into No 10 is undisputed

Reply to the comment left by Old Mrs Landlord at 11/06/2019 - 10:53
Hi OML

You’re very gracious, but it was my fault. I had forgotten that a union whose leaders follow the cult of Corbyn had also, like the FDA, said it was independent and nonaffiliated.

But independent only means independent of employers, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/52/part/I/chapter/I/crossheading/certification-as-independent-trade-union

Although it is not affiliated to the Labour Party, the PCS seems to be closely aligned to Momentum, firstly in its support for Corbyn in June 2016 https://peoplesmomentum.com/our-history/ “Promoted by Jeremy for Labour Ltd and Momentum”

and now with the PCS consultation “How can we increase our support for the election of a Jeremy Corbyn-led government?” which is on page 6 here: https://www.pcs.org.uk/sites/default/files/site_assets/campaigns/2019/ARTWORK-10024-general-election-booklet.pdf Eight options are listed.

On page 3 there is a photograph of the General Secretary of the PCS, Mark Serwotka, sandwiched between Corbyn and McDonnell.

Serotka was elected General Secretary of the PCS in December 2000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Serwotka

In September he was elected as President of the TUC for a year. He will preside over the TUC Congress in September. https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/mark%C2%A0serwotka%C2%A0becomes-tuc-president%C2%A0

Mark and his PCS colleagues do a very good job representing the lower grade employees. However they are far away from the influence of government policy as it is possible to be. The Civil Service is very much a top down managed organisation.
The higher grades of civil servants are represented by the FDA. However, not all employees are members of a union.
I am afraid I the initial comment about the young influential policy makers being anti landlord may have some truth. Especially if you look at the policies coming from what is called the Senior Civil Service.

“20,000 civil servants work on Policy - the largest cross-departmental specialism.” https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/whitehall-monitor/whitehall-explained/specialisms-civil-service

“London is the most policy-focused, with 15% of its civil servants working in policy roles. The region with the next highest proportion of policy workers is Wales, where 5% of civil servants are in policy roles.”
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/location-of-civil-service

“There are around 430,000 people employed in the civil service. Of these, 83,500 are based in London – an increase of more than 5,000 since 2017. The capital remains the region with by far the most civil servants, now by a margin of over 30,000.”
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/location-of-civil-service

15% of 83,500 is 12.525. So 63% of policy makers are based in London, which has the highest rents in the UK . They will be surrounded at work by London renters complaining about their lot and promoting the agenda of Generation Rent, however misguided it is.

Reply to the comment left by Michael Tucker at 10/06/2019 - 13:57
"The downside of course for some people saving into a pension fund, will be they won’t get the 40% rate added to their pension contributions until they earn over the new figure which could be never. "

It doesn't work like that.

Pension contributions (collected by employer) are from pre-tax pay, so the same amount goes in regardless of your tax band.

If one contributes to a personal pension, then the government just adds in the tax already paid

After the first ballot Boris has a significant lead with 114 votes (Others JHunt 43, MGove 37 and DRaab 27, SJavid 23 and MHancock 20). A significant lead! Boris, or any other contender, are unlikely to reveal a stance on the PRS or Landlords during this PM selection process - because it won't win more votes. If he is able to increase the 40% rate to £80K pa then that has got to be attractive especially to those landlords reeling from Section 24. But I wonder how he would offset this Gov't tax loss? At the end of the day the equation has to equal out!

Reply to the comment left by Rob Crawford at 13/06/2019 - 13:56
People who feel richer spend more, so perhaps he's hoping to make it up with VAT. But on the other hand, making the figures balance has never bothered Labour or the Greens.

An increase on the 40% tax band will certainly mitigate the ill effects of section 24 for my husband and I. I wonder if this is in some part a back door means of doing just that whilst maintaining the political appearance of shafting landlords to gain the tenant vote?

Everything Boris is doing is designed to win the votes of
1. MPs to get him into the last two
2. To win the votes of Tory Party members to get him into No.10.
There'll be a change in tone once he's PM!

Reply to the comment left by Michael Barnes at 11/06/2019 - 20:17
It certainly does work like that, the point you have missed is the amount that the Government contribute to your pension depends on your highest rate of tax paid! Example £6000 contribution by tax payer @ 20% = Government contribution £2000 total annual pension contributed to pension pot £8000 @ 40% = £10000. I hope that’s clear.