As the dust settles following Labour’s election victory, it’s clear what our readers are looking for when they look at our traffic statistics: information on what it means for their finances in the coming months and beyond.
It’s easy to see why. During the election campaign we pointed out many times that, at first glance, the Labour manifesto didn’t offer much detail about our personal finances.
In short, there was no need to get involved in unnecessary disputes over taxes or get bogged down in controversies over radical reforms that might dissuade certain voters.
And let’s face it, Labour had all the ammunition it needed on the fiscal front – I personally found it hard to take Rishi Sunak seriously when he discussed Labour’s tax plans, given that he was both Chancellor and the acting Prime Minister who oversaw the freezing of tax thresholds.
Building wealth: This is Money readers are a smart bunch and rightly want to know what the future of our finances will look like.
In fact, those freezes probably left us with the largest tax burden on households since World War II, and voters were rightly fed up.
As a result, millions of aspiring workers who are climbing the social ladder will be dragged into the net of higher tax rates in the coming years. To me, that is one of the most anti-conservative measures in living memory.
No, all Labour needed was a basic campaign, with a simple slogan: “change” and very few details about what we can expect.
I think that has created some concern about what will happen in the future with our aspirations for wealth.
At least for the next few months, it seems there isn’t much planned.
New minister Rachel Reeves has ruled out a budget before September and even hinted there would be no surprise tax changes.
We know that Labour has promised not to increase income tax, national insurance, VAT or corporation tax rates.
But this in turn has raised fears about what was not in the manifesto and could be a raid via capital gains tax, inheritance tax, council tax or pension tax cuts.
At the time of writing, this is all rumors and we have no idea if, or at all, any of the above will be changed.
What can we really expect? Our team of specialist journalists have been working hard to try to predict what might happen next, although at the same time they did not have huge amounts of information at their disposal.
Let’s focus on what I would describe as some of the main pillars of personal finance: pensions, savings, property, investments and taxes.
On the pensions front, Labour has pledged to implement a triple lock on state pensions, but more importantly, it appears to be planning a radical overhaul of the entire pensions landscape. A colossal complex for any political party to wade into.
Tanya Jefferies has everything we know so far: What will happen to pensions under a Labour government?
For savers, two of the crucial measures that could be in the spotlight are adjustments to the Personal Savings Allowance and tax-free ISAs.
Sylvia Morris has the crucial details: How savers can protect their cash
On ISAS, Helen Kirrane spoke to five experts and asked: Are ISAS ripe for a Labour incursion?
In terms of real estate, one of the loudest promises in the manifesto was to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
As Helen Crane pointed out in our recent podcast: What does Labour mean for your money? Can it make us richer? It is not political parties that build homes, but private companies looking to make profits.
If it were that easy to solve the housing crisis, it would surely have been solved already.
New homes must also be of good quality, of the right size and not simply built haphazardly in soulless neighbourhoods without adequate supporting infrastructure.
Ed Magnus looks at whether the idea of building 300,000 homes a year is viable: Labour wants to build 1.5 million new homes – can it really deliver on its promise?
And part of the rhetoric in the run-up to the election was the notion that the Conservatives had achieved higher mortgage rates.
It may be a little unfair, but many ordinary people simply link the disastrous Tory mini-budget of September 2022 with higher mortgage bills.
Ed delves deeper into this topic here: Can Labour really cut mortgage rates?
For investors, it seems that the new government has not created much panic, probably because most of what happened was already expected: that is, the markets had been expecting a Labour majority since the election date was announced.
Indeed, stock market professionals currently seem happy with the conditions created by the government’s “don’t spook the horses” stance.
All eyes will be on any raid on the CGT, although let’s be honest, the conservatives also made a good attack in that regard.
And on tax, Labour has no plans to unfreeze those income tax rates, nor has it committed to fixing the 60 per cent tax loophole, a point that This is Money editor Simon Lambert has long harped on.
Beyond all that, Sam Barker looks at whether his plans for GB Energy will translate into lower bills. I am genuinely baffled by Labour’s promise to create 650,000 new jobs through it (in fact, I asked Sam if that was a typo when I was editing it).
At This is Money, we will be following all of the above closely and reporting in our own apolitical style.
We always want what’s best for the country, and that means keeping the balance between growth and taxes at the right level, rewarding workers who move up the social ladder, and encouraging economic growth.
In this respect, the Labour Party certainly has a big task ahead of it…
If you have any urgent money-related questions about the new government, please contact us: editor@thisismoney.co.uk
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