John Howard asks the age-old question: “Do you feel better off?”
Fair enough. But before we all clutch our wallets and glare at the Chancellor, let’s remember — this isn’t exactly a fresh horror story.
• Stealth Taxes? Reeves freezes thresholds. Osborne, Hammond, Hunt… they all did the same. It’s the political equivalent of hiding broccoli under the mashed potatoes and insisting you’re not changing the recipe.
• Record Tax Burden? Labour says it’s “fair choices.” The Tories said it was “responsible choices.” Different spin, same squeeze.
• Cost of Living Rhetoric? Reeves promises relief while raising billions. Osborne once promised “we’re all in this together” while hiking VAT. Hunt promised energy bill support while quietly dragging more people into higher tax bands. Spot the difference? Exactly.
• Welfare Trade-offs? Labour scraps the two-child cap but pays for it with tax raids. Osborne invented the cap in the first place, then funded his giveaways with… tax raids.
Howard’s column paints Labour as the villain of the piece, but the plot twist is obvious: the Tories wrote this script years ago. Labour’s just recycling the dialogue.
So when Howard asks if you feel better off, the honest answer is: not really — but we didn’t under his lot either.
Read Cllr John Howards political view here: https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/political-view-do-you-feel-better-off-5416611
