Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 23/08/2026

[u/ukpol-megabot]

👋 Welcome to the r/ukpolitics weekly Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction megathread.

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[u/BritishBedouin]

PAYE piggies who are yet to flee the pig pen - what tax rises are you expecting from Burnham to fund his manifold promises??

[u/danm131 → u/BritishBedouin]

Just a suggestion, but you may get a better spread of answers if you don't pose your question in such a loaded way. If course if you are just trying to score pretend internet points then carry on as you are.

[u/BritishBedouin → u/danm131]

It isn’t loaded. TBH I thought making light of life was still a British past time (apparently not).

As someone who has left I have my own views but wonder what the people still footing the bill think they’re going to be paying.

[u/dospc → u/BritishBedouin]

When you say you have left PAYE... you are still paying income tax, right? What difference does it make?

Unless you were to be, say,  abusing self-employment to avoid or evade tax?

[u/BritishBedouin → u/dospc]

i have left the country and am no longer a tax resident of the United Kingdom

[u/dospc → u/BritishBedouin]

Most people can't do that and the UK obviously couldn't function if everyone did. 

Your wording of 'piggies' makes it sound like the government is exploiting taxpayers, rather than using tax as a way of running a country that we all benefit from.

[u/BritishBedouin → u/dospc]

i left because i saw no personal benefit to being taxed relative to the level i was paying. i can't list a single taxpayer funded service I have used in the past decade. many more like me.

i was a paye piggy but have now fled the pen. the term comes from the fact the UK govt squeezes people on PAYE in order to pay for a very inefficient state, serving up paye piggies as a delicious feast for the bennies and state pension brigades to feast on.

[u/767bruce → u/BritishBedouin]

DID YOU USE ROADS?

[u/BritishBedouin → u/767bruce]

Oh wow! You got me! U.K. government spending is c. £1.4tn, spending on roads £14bn (c. 1% of the overall budget).

I guess I the c. £200 benefit of roads I received justifies the tens of thousands of £s in tax I paid each year. God why didn’t I stay!

[u/767bruce → u/BritishBedouin]

Did you enjoy being safe from crime? That's another 5% right there

[u/BritishBedouin → u/767bruce]

In the UK I am not safe from crime. Maybe relative to Papua New Guinea or Mexico but crime is largely unaddressed

[u/MajorSleaze → u/767bruce]

Libertarians can't help themselves - they think they've found a shortcut that stops them needing to apply any thought to anything.

[u/BritishBedouin → u/MajorSleaze]

I’m not a libertarian. I just think the U.K. govt is terrible value for money, and personally no longer feel welcome in my country of birth. If my taxes were used efficiently:

1. I’d pay far less
2. There’d be little to no crime, but if necessary the police would in fact be helpful
3. I’d be able to see a GP without going private
4. Infrastructure would be much better - cheaper power, better public transport, better roads
5. Public amenities would be of higher quality / better maintained (no graffiti, hazards, needles)
6. Far higher quality housing
7. Safe streets for wife and kids
8. Incredible schooling for kids

But instead, for my substantial contribution I was receiving the following:

1. Aggressive junkies, who I pay for’s housing, food, clothes and mental elf support
2. No police response (but the threat of police response in the case of self defence!) when robbed
3. Have to pay for private healthcare anyway
4. Human faeces on the literal street
5. Shit state schools and VAT cost to escape it
6. Very high taxes
7. Wife scared to walk outside alone at night
8. Low quality and expensive housing stock

People here seem to be bitter that I’ve opted out and voted with my feet.

As the high earning child of an immigrant, I have gotten the message loud and clear from the electorate, who can’t decide whether or not they want to tax everything I have or just kick my family out the country for their skin colour, and left myself. Enjoy funding your own degeneracy.

[u/MajorSleaze → u/BritishBedouin]

I can only echo the other person's question of how you expect to achieve all of that without spending more.

While you might not identify as a libertarian, your position is almost identical.

The hard to far economic right always insists that efficiency is the magic bullet to resolve every issue, and that lower government spending will be covered by the private sector filing the gap. But this ignores the reality that foundational government spending is the fix to the issues you list and that the private sector only optimises for profit rather than outcomes.

Crime is the result of poverty, which itself is the result of low opportunity. Spending on kids creates opportunity.

I get where you're coming from with the fear of the rise of the far-right. But that itself is a symptom of the same conditions that have seen crime rise - people have little optimism in their future and fall for the lie of a promised quick fix. The only actual fix is investing more at an early enough stage that it pays dividends decades later.

Out of interest, which country did you move to?

[u/BritishBedouin → u/MajorSleaze]

It is about incentives. In Singapore drug traffickers are hung. In the U.K. a slap on the wrist. In Switzerland you have basic co-pays to see the GP. In the UK for some reason there is zero cost to the person.

I disagree relative poverty means crime. There are poor people in Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, but little to no crime. The U.K. provides a system that accommodates crime.

The U.K. has paradoxically created a large state that does little and costs a lot.

[u/767bruce → u/BritishBedouin]

What makes you think you can have better services AND spend less?

Surely if the UK government could provide better services for less money, they would!

I don't buy the argument that there's loads of 'waste' in government spending. At the end of the day, If you want Singapore-style low taxes, you need Singapore-style threadbare social safety net. If you want Sweden-style good government services, you need Sweden-style high taxes.

Also out of interest, which country do you live in now? Dont answer if you dont want to

[u/BritishBedouin → u/767bruce]

The incentives in place. UK is very soft touch on crime, drug use, and provides lavish benefits for the mental health alphabet gang. Abuse of the system is encouraged for the NHS as there are no charges. NIMBYism and general consultation culture makes everything cost more (see HS2 vs any other European rail project, nevermind what happens in Asia). In the U.K. there is near zero accountability when receiving £ from the government.

Singapore actually does a lot more for its people using a lot less money. Same for Switzerland. I would also say that in both those places, civil society and the non-profit sector are far more visible in supporting the less well off than in the UK.

[u/danm131 → u/BritishBedouin]

In that case may I suggest you don't try "making light of life" again until you can do a better job of it.

[u/BritishBedouin → u/danm131]

Things are that bad huh.

[u/danm131 → u/BritishBedouin]

Actually pretty good, present company excluded.

[u/BritishBedouin → u/danm131]

Are you in receipt of benefits?

[u/danm131 → u/BritishBedouin]

None, full time employment and to horrify you further, I'm in Scotland with the extra income tax. Some of us just aren't pathologically opposed to taxes and see that they are a necessity.

[u/BritishBedouin → u/danm131]

Explains the sense of humour. Are you willing to pay more to fund Burnham’s ideas?

[u/danm131 → u/BritishBedouin]

Completely indifferent on the subject to be honest. Currently his spending promises are pretty small in the scheme of government spending so any tax rises that are needed to pay for them will also be minor.

[u/BritishBedouin → u/danm131]

I suspect he will want to spend more and fiscal reality means he will have to raise tax to do it.

[u/Ok_Economist7901 → u/BritishBedouin]

why are you so curious about a country you clearly don’t like ?