Let's Get Political!

[Red and Proud]

Millions would agree with most of what you have written.
I have heard so many people, including myself, that Milliband couldn't run a bath let alone a Country.

The editor of The New Statesman paper has written a very reasoned article in The Daily Mail as to the why's and wherefores of Labours downfall. Worth reading if you consider yourself to have 20/20 vision politically rather than a skewed and blinkered view either left or right leaning.

[Arriba]

Don't get why this has to be so black and white. So (and this isn't a direct reply to you Artiba it's more a general observation on many comments I've read on line over the last few days) it seems if you voted Conservative you're selfish, uncaring etc, and it's only the defeated labour supporters that wanted social equality etc.

Well I think that's a load of bull, I want a better standard of living for everyone, but my view is to get to that utopia you need a sound economic future. As soon as you delve into the detail and logic behind many of labours policies thes no way I could be happy to see Miliband get the keys to no.10. It'd be extremely damaging to the recovery and that'd mean to keep his promises our debt would grow and grow.

So personally, yes I did vote Tory, but the major reason for that was lack of alternative, their simply wasn't another party available to go for. If you'd offered me another 5 yrs of con/lib coalition I'd have gone for it in a flash, as I said five years ago I like the concept of a well formed coalition.

Looking forward to a higher personal allowance which will benefit millions. Also happy to see the zero hour contract debate fade away, as many are happy using themincluding most of the staff up our local, and unfortunately extra pressure on employers to make staff permanent after a set period would not have led to the desired results, it'd probably result in a logic people losing their jobs.

I won't get into the non-Dom debate but that was something out of nothing to, a headline grabber if ever there was one.

I do think people voted selfishly. They thought "I'm doing ok, I don't want Labour to take that from me" and bought the scaremongering. I am very comfortable myself with only a mortgage (which I'm able to pay more than double the amount a month) to worry about. No other debt and money in the bank. I could so easily have done the same as many Tory voters have. You won't get a better standard of living for all under a Tory government though so I will never vote for them. It is that black and white. People will suffer and that doesn't sit well with me.

I don't understand why people see Labour as unelectable. They had plans and will have drawn money but in a different way to the Tories. The deficit would have taken longer to get down but so what? Does it really matter?
Yes the coalition did inherit a deficit but that deficit would have been there anyway. It's daft to think there would have been a different picture for the nation's financial situation post the crash. Labour did a lot of good during their terms and that has been just brushed under the carpet and forgotten.

Zero hour contracts are awful for many people. These are people on low wages when they do get called into work with unreliable hours on low money when trying to run a household is hard for them. Many still have to draw benefits because of this. Many businesses using these contracts are doing very well and making huge profits. It's becoming like slave labour. A backwards step for the British workforce.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

Could you spare me a couple of grand arriba?? 

[adje]

God knows that the labour party has its faults.  I cringe every time Milliband, Balls etc. jump on the absurdly lazy get out of jail free bandwagon of blaming everything on "the greedy bankers".

But the current Tories have no feel for how to unite a nation in difficult times except through fear.  How Cameron can claim to be a One Nation Tory is beyond me.  The removal of the 50p tax at a time when everyone was being asked to knuckle down and accept the realities of the economic crisis was what summed up the last government for me.

I thought that Balls showed a lot of class when he lost on Friday, especially given how visibly excited the young woman who won it for the Tories was.

God knows that the labour party has its faults.  I cringe every time Milliband, Balls etc. jump on the absurdly lazy get out of jail free bandwagon of blaming everything on "the greedy bankers".

But the current Tories have no feel for how to unite a nation in difficult times except through fear.  How Cameron can claim to be a One Nation Tory is beyond me.  The removal of the 50p tax at a time when everyone was being asked to knuckle down and accept the realities of the economic crisis was what summed up the last government for me.

I thought that Balls showed a lot of class when he lost on Friday, especially given how visibly excited the young woman who won it for the Tories was.

this is the post that most closely reflects my thoughts on the matter.

[Reg Smeeton]

I do think people voted selfishly. They thought "I'm doing ok, I don't want Labour to take that from me" and bought the scaremongering. I am very comfortable myself with only a mortgage (which I'm able to pay more than double the amount a month) to worry about. No other debt and money in the bank. I could so easily have done the same as many Tory voters have. You won't get a better standard of living for all under a Tory government though so I will never vote for them. It is that black and white. People will suffer and that doesn't sit well with me.

I don't understand why people see Labour as unelectable. They had plans and will have drawn money but in a different way to the Tories. The deficit would have taken longer to get down but so what? Does it really matter?
Yes the coalition did inherit a deficit but that deficit would have been there anyway. It's daft to think there would have been a different picture for the nation's financial situation post the crash. Labour did a lot of good during their terms and that has been just brushed under the carpet and forgotten.

Zero hour contracts are awful for many people. These are people on low wages when they do get called into work with unreliable hours on low money when trying to run a household is hard for them. Many still have to draw benefits because of this. Many businesses using these contracts are doing very well and making huge profits. It's becoming like slave labour. A backwards step for the British workforce.

Great post arriba.

Yesterday, I said we now have 2 years of Tory squabbling over how to frame the EU referendum to look forward to, plus how the Union is going to be sorted.  The third key strand, will be can Osborne, make his proposed massive cuts, without social cohesion breaking down further.

[Ardiles]

I do think people voted selfishly. They thought "I'm doing ok, I don't want Labour to take that from me" and bought the scaremongering.

I don't.  I think the Tory vote was higher than expected because Labour's proposition was feeble.  Miliband and Balls never articulated a coherent vision and Balls, in particular, had an image that was every bit as toxic as Osborne's.  When you add in the collapse of the Lib Dem vote (speaking as a Lib Dem voter myself) and the lacklustre campaign by UKIP - there was only one other place for those votes to go.  The Tories mopped up not because they were loved but because, unlike Labour, people felt they were competent.

I've heard a lot of scalded Labour supporters in the last few days blaming the rise of the Tory vote on greed and selfishness.  Not only is this misguided from an electoral point of view; it's also plain wrong.  Most of the people who voted that way will have had well-intentioned reasons for doing so and if Labour, which now has a serious brick-by-brick rebuilding job to do, is smart and serious about getting elected again, they could start by talking to a few of their ex-voters to find out why they switched.  If they're not smart, they'll continue insulting the electorate as they have been for the last few days like a jilted lover.  If they choose that route, they're going to find themselves in opposition for quite some time to come.

[Reg Smeeton]

I don't.  I think the Tory vote was higher than expected because Labour's proposition was feeble.

There was very little difference between the Tories and Labour in terms of policy, if we had a Labour government today, 2 of the 3 key issues facing the Tories would still be there, namely the Union, and austerity.  Some trimming around the edges, but nothing substantial.

There's no doubt Crosby's tactic of raising the spectre of an SNP/Lab coalition scared off many. I was talking to a lady yesterday, reliant on benefits as a carer for ageing and infirm parents....who was pleased she'd voted Tory as she didn't want Scots in the Parliament...

[Swindon Town Fan]

Long shot, but has anyone got three tickets together in the Don Rogers to swap for two plus the cash for the third obviously, thanks. 

[Swindon Town Fan]

Sorry put in wrong section , please ignore

[Summerof69]

University tuition fees... first introduced by Labour...much like what's happening with the NHS - Tories wouldn't be where we are now without Labour opening the door for them....

House price inflation.... mainly due to nimby members of the population not wanting new houses built anywhere...

Social housing construction is a problem but no worse than it was 1997-2010....

Not only that but Labour hit millions of their 'working man' voters by taxing pensions (one of the first things Gordon Brown did as Chancellor in 1997), and then saw final salary pensions for the private sector virtually disappear over the next ten years when they became unaffordable for companies, yet everyone is supposed the subsidise the final salary pensions for the public sector.

[jonny72]

There's no doubt Crosby's tactic of raising the spectre of an SNP/Lab coalition scared off many.

It's an insult to voters to suggest it needed the Tories to point out the prospect of an Lab/SNP and the dangers of it.

The polls were clear that a Lab/SNP coalition was a very likely outcome and especially that Labour couldn't get a majority on their own. Miliband continually came across as weak and Sturgeon had the upper hand in the televised debates. The SNP (primarily Salmond) made it clear they would make the most of it and hold the threat of withdrawal of support over Labour. Sturgeon repeatedly stated she would do anything and everything she could to keep the Tories out of power.

The facts were clear to many and the Tories raising it was just stating the obvious and no more.

For me at least, not wanting the SNP in government doesn't mean I'm anti-Scottish and Cameron needs to ensure their voice is heard as it can't be ignored.

[Reg Smeeton]

 By all means feel insulted....

 All polls do is flag up stated voting intentions....how that is interpreted is conjecture.  It's fair enough scare tactics to flag up something imaginary, as it's fair enough for you to believe it.

[Berniman]

Don't get why this has to be so black and white. So (and this isn't a direct reply to you Artiba it's more a general observation on many comments I've read on line over the last few days) it seems if you voted Conservative you're selfish, uncaring etc, and it's only the defeated labour supporters that wanted social equality etc.

Well I think that's a load of bull, I want a better standard of living for everyone, but my view is to get to that utopia you need a sound economic future. As soon as you delve into the detail and logic behind many of labours policies thes no way I could be happy to see Miliband get the keys to no.10. It'd be extremely damaging to the recovery and that'd mean to keep his promises our debt would grow and grow.

So personally, yes I did vote Tory, but the major reason for that was lack of alternative, their simply wasn't another party available to go for. If you'd offered me another 5 yrs of con/lib coalition I'd have gone for it in a flash, as I said five years ago I like the concept of a well formed coalition.

Looking forward to a higher personal allowance which will benefit millions. Also happy to see the zero hour contract debate fade away, as many are happy using themincluding most of the staff up our local, and unfortunately extra pressure on employers to make staff permanent after a set period would not have led to the desired results, it'd probably result in a logic people losing their jobs.

I won't get into the non-Dom debate but that was something out of nothing to, a headline grabber if ever there was one.

Agree with this

[Samdy Gray]

[RedRag]

a very reasoned article in The Daily Mail .

the perfect example of oxymoron?