100% aggreement with you.. If i could move to another country tommorow (australia
) then i would pack up and go and hand in my british citzenship (passport) and tell em where to shove it.. I hate this country so much and i aint afraid to tell a soul..
I looked into renouncing British citizenship in case they bring in the biometric requirements for overseas passport holders. I live W-A-Y out in the sticks, my health problems are bad enough that I'm on disability, and I seriously doubt that, if I had to go through one of their interviews, I could get to either NYC or DC (my nearest British consulates) without MAJOR trouble, pain and expense.
Yes, of course I can renounce my British citizenship, provided 1) I have another nationality (so you'd have to have Australian *citizenship* before they'd accept it) and 2) I'm sure you guessed it - I'd need to send them a large "filing fee". About two years ago, it was $700 US, or about 350 quid. Your two-fingered gesture would be the most expensive one you're likely to make...
I don't know for sure what happens if I just let my UK passport lapse *as an overseas holder*, but I suspect I'm going to find out when it expires in a couple of years. The Americans won't care, I have my US passport, and I think *I* don't care what the UK thinks about it. I suspect I won't be allowed back into the UK unless I renew it, but that's all. That's life.
And as for the original topic, I think the tax changes are treachery. There's no other word for it. They're the sort of thing you would expect from a Tory government, not a Labour one. Brown wouldn't know a Socialist if one kicked him in the teeth (an idea which I reckon has got a lot to be said for it). As for the "excuse" that they didn't realise how it would affect the lowest paid, that's just laughable. I could have told them that, no problem, and I know next to nothing about economics. Just take a couple of test cases, folks, and see how the theory (tax changes) work out, it's standard scientific method (if only any of them were scientifically literate).
They didn't CARE about the effect on the low-paid is the real reason. New Labour "thinking" is that the low-paid are overwhelmingly likely to vote Labour anyway, that's not the target electorate that Brown is after for the next election. He's taking the left-leaning part of the electorate for granted, and trying to fight for Liberal and left-wing Tory votes. I think he's going to be in for a big shock come the next general election.
OK, rant over. Let me know when someone like McDonnell or Corbyn gets in as Labour leader. I'll try to get an "overseas voter" registration when that happens - though I don't think that "permanent" ex-pats should be allowed to vote in UK elections, but that's a whole different argument. Maggie brought that one in because she thought the ex-pat communities would be overwhelmingly Tory, so I'd have no qualms in voting if I did ever register.
Brian.
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