isn't that what liz truss tried and got fired over? not convinced more neo-liberalism is the answer.

It's the economical equivalent of "beer got me into this mess, so it can damn well get me out of it"

Was it? I get she had (and still has) a total lack of awareness of… well, anything… but I thought the problem was that that (income) tax cuts she announced weren't connected properly to the expenses in the same budget and the international markets (and IMF!) said "you can't afford this level of borrowing".

Neither rent control, for all its long term issues, nor utility bill limits were something I remember being brought up.

Council tax in particular, I think isn't done by central government? Although it probably should be, given how messed up local council funding seems to be.

Council tax is done locally and basically has to be as high as it can be because the vast majority of it goes to things like care for wealthy pensioners (about half of council tax goes to adult social care). This used to be at least part-funded by central government (which raises its income mainly from taxing workers)

It's sort of based on house values, but that's values in 1990 so very little relevance to today, and its certainly not proportional -- someone in a £5m house pays just 3 times the amount someone in a £80k flat.

Liz Truss's vision of 'growth' meant cutting caps on bankers' bonuses, and an unfunded tax cut for people earning over £150,000.

That's not likely to get many extra people into the pub, because there aren't that many people earning >£150k.

Those that do earn over £150k a year don't have to worry aobut how much they spend eating sunday dinner at the local pub

Those earning 55k a year used to, now they can't afford it.

(Marginal tax at 55k for a parent with 2 kids and a student loan is 69%, for someone on 150k who's probably paid off their loan it's 47%)

No. She didn't do anything to stop the draining of productive output by the land owning class, and neither the tories nor labour have ever tried to do this.

The problem in the UK is less that everything is expensive, but that nearly everyone is poor. Inequality really appears to be going rapidly the wrong way.

The problem is the decimation of the middle earners, the ones that drive the service economy. More and more of their income (especially in London) is taken by rent and bills. Lower earners have had massive payrises - 24% in real terms since 2010. Median earners are up just 2.8% in real terms since 2010

From 2010 to 2023

Minimum wage has risen 76%

House prices have risen 76%

State Pension is up 52%

Median earnings is up 45%

CPIH inflation is up 41%

NHS Band 7 salaries (41-47k) are up 37%