The Budget 2011 - What It Means For Young Britain

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne:
"This budget has put fuel back into Britain!"

George Osborne promised a "neutral" budget.

For every give-away, there was a take.

Here are some of the main highlights of the budget that will affect young Britain:

EMPLOYMENT

Funding is to be put forward for 24 NEW technical colleges, as well as 100,000 NEW work-experience placements and 40,000 NEW apprenticeship schemes.

HOLIDAYS

All rises in passenger duty (the amount you pay) have been DELAYED.

FUEL

The price we pay at the pump has been REDUCED by 1p per litre EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

 The fuel duty escalator has been SCRAPPED and the planned rise of 4p per litre at the start of the new tax year (Monday 4th April) has been DELAYED UNTIL 2012.

TAXES

The current amount of money you earn before you start paying tax will RISE to £8,105 from APRIL 2012.

Communities Secretary - Eric Pickles:
 "This should help all the families that have been squeezed"

Council Tax is to be FROZEN across ALL COUNCILS in the UK, with OVER 40 seeing their council tax rate DECREASE.



PENSIONS

A NEW single tier scheme to be unveiled estimated to be worth £140 PER WEEK.


 But,with all these so-called give-aways, there are the "take-aways" to consider:


ALCOHOL & TOBACCO

The price we pay for a pint will RISE 2% ABOVE the rate of inflation, equating to roughly an EXTRA 10p.

The price we pay for a packet will also RISE 2% ABOVE the rate of inflation, equating to an EXTRA 50P.

THE ECONOMY

The amount of money the country will produce for 2011 has been DOWNSIZED from 2.1% to 1.7%.

The rate of inflation (the price we pay for groceries, electrical goodies etc.) will RISE from 4% to 5%.

Estimated amount of money it will borrow for 2012/13 was £91 BILLION,
 the revised figure is £101 BILLION.

There's one thing that we, the general public all learn from a very young age about borrowing:

You have to give it back sometime.

Labour Party Leader Ed Milliband:
"It's hurting, but it's not working."

Labour Party leader, Ed Milliband keeps repeating the catchphrase:

"It's hurting, but it's not working"

But with no clear-cut plan from his party, what choice do we really have?

Find how long it takes to hurt you using this 

budget calculator and post your results on the facebook page.

VAT 20% Right Way To Grow?

What is VAT?

Well VAT is simply a tax charge which is allocated for most transactions on day to day spending. For example, businesses attach VAT to the price of the product, which they are selling.
To break it down, there are three different types of VAT rates which are :


Standard rates 20 per cent
Reduced rates 5 per cent
Zero rates: 0 per cent


Standard rates:
Standard VAT rates within the UK, are rates which have been implemented among most of the goods and services that we purchase.  These are such things as bus fares, electrical goods and price of holidays.


Reduced rates:
Reduced rates, these are products or services which have been reduced –rated , because of the product itself or the circumstances of the sale. For example products which are on the January sale. Also goods being reduced because of the condition that they are in.


Zero rates:
Zero rated goods, are products which have absolutely no tax rates.
For example food, except for meals in restaurants and also children’s clothing.

Why is there an increase of tax?

Well according to the government, they think, “it is necessary to help bring down the UK’s high budget deficit”.

When the tax increased was revealed in the summer of 2010, chancellor George Osborne stated “ it would raise more than £13bn a year by the end of the parliament”.

So how is the increase of VAT going to effect us ?

Personally, even though the government are increasing VAT to bring down the UK’s high budget deficit. This poses as an extreme burden towards working class people.

This is because mostly everything which we purchase, has had a 2.5% increase. Even towards the little things such as bus fare. For example bus fare was £2 and now at the new price of £2.20. 

According to “this is money” there would be an increase towards London underground fares by 2%. Also Products like the zone 2-6 one day travel card will be permanently eliminated.

 Even the labour party have accused the government of penalising low- income families. Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband has stated that it is the wrong tax at the wrong time.

As lower income households usually spend a greater portion of their income on taxed products, this is clearly obvious that they are being effected a lot more by this dramatic VAT increase!

By Ismael Hinds

What Is Alternative Voting?

Evolution NOW with Deborah Grayson (Centre) 

Evolution NOW met with Deborah Grayson (pictured), a local event organiser for the YES! to fairer votes campaign, to find out how to AV will create a TRUE DEMOCRACY.

Democracy means the ability to vote for your leader – but what about the way we vote?

The current voting system in place is a system called First-Past-The-Post (FPTP). This system is based on say three candidates, and you having to vote for one of them. Once these votes are collated, the winner is determined by the first to achieve a measly 30% of the votes.

Not only is this a poor representation of the turnout of those who voted, but as an individual, maybe the person you voted for isn’t exactly your first choice. Suppose for example, you like only one or two of that party’s manifesto pledges but can appreciate the views of the other parties on the same issue?

Much like the attitudes and views of some of our elected politicians at present, FPTP is obsolete, tired and not representative of what we all think.

Alternative Voting (AV) is a system that seems foreign to many, when in actual fact it is being used all around us:

• The recent Labour leadership race used it.
• Mayor of London Elections uses it.
• Presidential Elections in Universities use it.
• Australia’s Prime Minister was elected using this very system.

AV is simply a multiple choice ballot. Instead of an “x”, you get to chose who your favourite is out of say five candidates. Then listing from 1 to 5 (1 being the highest, 5 the lowest) you select who you would like to win. The percentage needed to be declared the winner on such a type of ballot is 50%.

This means the voting would embrace a wider audience, encompass more of the community if you will and reduce the margin of winning via tactical voting dramatically. It makes your vote a more valuable commodity to the person trying to obtain it, as literally every vote would count towards reaching the 50% target.

But naturally, there are ministers in parliament who are opposed to this voting system and are already banding together to make sure that the political system remains in the dark ages with archaic ideologies and an equally archaic voting system.

With the margin of victory so high, if there is no outright winner, the person with the lowest amount of votes is removed and the ballot is sent out again for you to vote for the remaining participants until somebody achieves the 50% needed to be declared the victor.

Think like how you vote off participants on the x-factor but on a much quicker scale. As a matter of fact...

...Even when voting for the X-factor, you’re using the Alternative Vote system.

To find out how you can say YES to fairer votes, attend one of the road-shows in your local area or be an ambassador and set up one of your very own.

University Degree? £9,000 Per Year Please...

Universities minister David Willetts announced proposals to raise the tuition fee cap to £6,000, with institutions able to charge up to £9,000 in "exceptional circumstances."

Students currently pay £3,290 per year in tuition fees.

What exactly is an exceptional circumstance? With all the other cuts in place surely we already have families living under exceptional circumstances: cuts to child benefits, caps on housing benefits which students who commute are NOT entitled to anyway, The abolition of working tax credits which added extra money to your parents’/guardians’ pockets will be GONE. And the tip of this horrible ice berg? If your parents are public sector workers, there are to be 500,000 jobs CUT over the next 4 years.

Under a "progressive" repayment system, university leavers would not need to start making contributions until they are earning at least £21,000, he said.

Under the proposals, students will start repaying their loans at 9% of their income at a real rate of interest when they earn £21,000, up from the current £15,000 threshold.

Outstanding loans will be written off after 30 years.

So based on this information, you’re 22, if you graduated from university 3 years ago and you cannot get a job because of the current economical climate, you would look at getting another qualification. You head to university; you struggle through with little to no financial assistance from the government, somehow graduate 3 years later.

When you get out, it takes you 6 months to a year to find employment – you work and start paying off your already huge debt. It gets cancelled after 30 years at this point you’re 56 and have another 10 years of working life ahead of you to save for a pension that will not even begin to help you survive for a week? Is this fair?

The universities minister also announced a £150m national scholarship scheme which would be targeted at bright potential students from poor backgrounds.

"Under our proposals, a quarter of graduates - those on the lowest incomes - will pay less overall than they do at present," How far will this fund go? Where is this money magically appearing from? Who gets prioritised? Which boroughs, communities, demographic?

Research conducted by the NUS and HSBC has found nearly eight in 10 young people would be put off university if fees were raised to £10,000, while 70% would be deterred by a rise to £7,000. Will this create a nation of “underachievers”? no job prospects, not enough money to go into further education – what happens? But hey, DC needs to look good in his photographs and the money to pay this photographer has to come from somewhere. Pick on the little guy who is trying to better themselves.

Right?

Lem Leon

Project Manager

Spending Review - What It Means To You

The Spending Review was the single most radical shake up in recent years in politics. but all the theatrics and bleating from within the walls of parliament aside, what does all these big budget cuts mean for us young people? in this blog we will pick some of the key sectors that we at Evolution NOW think will effect you.

And even show you the silver lining...

The Proposed Cuts will take place over the next 10 years and total to the amount of £81 Billion.


Communities and local government - Current Budget: £28.5 Billion - Cut: £6 Billion

Local councils are being urged By Eric Pickles to merge services and streamline buying of goods. Provisionally this means less digging up of roads and local improvements - but this could mean when the winter has passed this year, given last years deep freeze, we could be stuck with severely damaged roads and walkways but no money to repair them.

Culture, Media and Sport - Current Budget: £1.4 Billion - Cut: £0.2 Billion

These cuts are mainly going do be administrative promises the Secretary of State for culture, Jeremy Hunt. How will this effect London 2012 games? not at all as this budget will be maintained to ensure a successful delivery.

Education -Current Budget: £58.4 Billion - Cut: £1.2 Billion

Michael Gove's budget maybe going down but he is considered a winner for protecting the budget for schools which will help disadvantaged children. But ultimately, will cutting back on education hurt the economy in the long run as tuition fees are set to rise?

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - Current Budget: £2.9 Billion - Cut: £0.7 Billion

Considered one of the biggest losers in all the cuts, Caroline Spelman is forced to re-prioritise spending, focusing on British farming and food production. Could these cuts spell the end of British made products such as those advertised by Morrisons?

Energy and Climate Change - Current Budget: £2.9 Billion - Rise: £0.8 Billion

Chris Huhne Is one of the few who see a rise in his spending over the next four years. This is to ensure as a country we stay on course to cut greenhouse gasses and raise our usage of renewable energy sources. With renewable energy, this will eventually mean lower energy bills for us all.

Health - Current Budget: £103.8 Billion - Rise: £10.6 Billion

Andrew Lansley Benefited hugely from the Tory pledge to raise the NHS budget. The Secretary of State for health will see a rise of £2 Billion per year leading up to 2014/15, whilst a £200 Million cancer drugs fund will be set up. No matter how severe cuts elsewhere are, the NHS is still at the forefront of the coalitions thoughts and this is great news.

Transport - Current Budget: £12.8 Billion - Cuts: £0.8 Billion

Phil Hammond Maintains that bus travel for the elderly will remain free. That's the only good news here as in 2012 - train fares are set to rise 3% above the rate of inflation to pay for the improvements and help ease overcrowding, which will become commonplace as the Olympics comes to town.

This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg as fares will already become even more expensive, a single fare on a bus set to rise to a whopping £2.20. All these new fares - are they fair?

Other Good Spending Notes:

- Council tax is also set to be frozen for two years

- BBC TV License is set to be frozen for SIX years

-Free Museum entry protected

So when you're broke in less than two years time, you can always hire one of Boris' bikes and go to a museum...

By Lem Leon

Project Manager