so is there anyone with the guts to admit they were wrong when they voted tory at the last election??

Why is it a shock to hear a Lib Dem calling for the privatisation of the Post Office, when it was in their manifesto??

From the Lib Dem manifesto 2010 (page 28): network.libdems.org.uk/manifesto2010/libdem_2010_job.pdf

Give both Royal Mail and post offices a long-term future, by separating Post Office Ltd from the Royal Mail and retaining Post Office Ltd in full public ownership. 49 per cent of Royal Mail will be sold to create funds for investment. The ownership of the other 51 per cent will be divided between an employee trust and the government.

If you didn't bother to read the manifesto before you voted, then really, it's much more your fault than theirs. Sure, the percentages being discussed now might not be exactly the same as those in the manifesto - but the principle is there, in black and white.

You would have a legitimate case for saying the Lib Dems have backtracked on VAT, or on legalising hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. Arguing they have betrayed you for doing exactly what they said they would is quite silly, though, really!

It's a shock to hear a Lib Dem advocate the full privatisation of the Post Office. And to hear Nick Clegg defend Andy Coulson at the expense of Gordon Brown. Well, actually, Clegg isn't a shock .

re. ideology - how else would it be, though? They're not going to say "We're going to cut the deficit but apart from that we'll leave nearly everything the way Labour had it, because it worked so well." What Labour did was ideological, too.

Why was it a sellout when the Lib Dems made it clear that they were prepared to support either the Tories or Labour, and that they were more likely to support the winner of the election, as having the strongest mandate to govern? For the whole campaign and a long time before that, the winner looked like being the Tories.

The surprise element was a full coalition rather than a support agreement, but I'm glad they did go for full coalition in the end. The risk with a minority government would have been greater, and the Tory Right would have had more influence.

I voted Tory and would again - the finances were getting frightening, and hopefully the Tories will begin to tackle them.

StuckInTheMiddleWithYou - I think that EVERYONE agrees that the BEST thing for the poor is to give them to earn some/higher wages. It's the how that is the problem.

quasi markets in public services, namely the health service, have caused untold damage.

The best way to help the poor is to give them money. Preferably in the form of wages but that's not so easy these days.

longfingernails - THANK YOU for that excellent post

StuckInTheMiddleWithYou This ridiculous idea that Tory voters are unconcerned with poverty just because we don't think the best way to help the poor is necessarily to give them money is very lazy.

Ideas like quasimarkets in public services, cutting corporation tax to encourage the creation of sustainable jobs, having less legislative red tape for business, and balancing the budget to ensure we have a long-term platform for growth will do much more to alleviate poverty than any amount of unemployment benefit.

I voted LibDem to keep the Tories out (Labour don't have a chance in my constituency). That didn't work very well then did it!

I have always voted lib dem or labour, mostly lib dem as labour has no chance round here.

If I met Nick Clegg today I would have NOTHING to say to him.

What a fucking sell out.

ladymuck teh privatisation reorganisation of the NHS will cost a lot of money, at a time when we are supposed to be saving money. The reasons of the changes are purely ideological.

Where the cuts will fall - again ideological.

The tories are using the financial crisis to drive through a lot of large ideolgically driven changes very very quickly. They are doing this as it is unlikely that they will get a second term (whoever won would be unlikely to get a second term given how hard the coming years are going to be) and they want to make some irreversible changes to the structure of our country.

All govts were going to have to cut, the focus of the cuts is pure tory, it was always going to be. Everyone knows what you get with the tories.

I voted Tory and was sorry the moment I walked into the booth.

However, I was faced with a shipped in Labour candidate, a shipped in pathetic Lid Dem one, a variety of racist twats, and the then sitting (Tory) MP - who - while Tory has had a good track record helping local people with issues......

I knew we were going to hell in a hand basket no matter what happened or who I voted for.

I agree with Annie (and I have voted labour since my dad frogmarched walked me down to the polling station first election after my 18th )

The yah boo sucks side of British politics always fucks me off - and then we get it on here.

I wonder why we get shitty , taunting, negative, wanky , playground politicians. And then it all makes sense.
Goading people to apologise about their vote. Really?

"LFN says people who voted Tory knew exactly what they were voting for.

What about people who voted Tory because they believed that:

• front-line public services would be protected
• the vulnerable would be protected from public spending cuts.

Both are things that Cameron said during the election campaign and which clearly aren't going to happen."

Oh come on, nobody with an IQ of two figures or above actually believed this. Seriously, you would really have to be pretty thick to believe that coming from a Tory.

If you voted Tory, you either voted to screw the poor or you misunderstand the political landscape of the UK.

And the alternative would have been?

The cuts haven;t actually happened yet. I think this needs to be revisited next year TBH once it has all kicked in.

The country was going to hell long before last May.

I'm really pleased with the government's performance at the moment. I was fed up of everything the Labour party did - waging wars, infighting (Blair and Brown didn't speak...), lying, taxing us to the max, government meddling in every part of life, banning everything that moved, lobbing benefits at everything that didn't - and a change of philosophy was long overdue. Labour are now saying that they'd have kept spending at the same rate but, truth is, that Darling was already warning about spending cuts worse than the Thatcher era pre-election.... so all credibility gone there.

No regrets whatsoever.

domestic - me too!!

Disclaimer before I say this, I'm not a Tory supporter.

I've see this kind of post on MN before - So, Tory voters, are you proud of yourselves? Tories hate your average working Joe, we'll all starve, and it's your fault for voting for them!".

But you never see posts along the lines of, "Labour voters, are you proud of your party and the way you voted last time? They've managed public funds appallingly, run us into the ground and made us the biggest nanny-state in the world where common sense has completely gone out of the window. And it's all your fault!"

Both parties, it seems to me, are total brainless wankers. Unfortunately, in this broadly democratic system, we have to choose the party we perceive to the lesser of the two evils when it comes to election time.

Perhaps you'd be better saving your ire for the politicians who are screwing our country up and screwing us all over (and I mean pretty much all politicians in whatever party) and not for us poor sods who had to vote for somebody and just chose as best we could.

I voted Lib Dem.

Margaret Thatcher was enough to put me off the Tories for life. Ditto Tony Blair with Labour.

I honestly though that the Lib Dems offered a real alternative. How wrong I was!

They could put a monkey in a blue suit around here and it would still get voted in. Oh wait a minute that's what they did do

I'd vote Tory again. The cuts need to happen, they would have happened under Labour eventually but not before even more money was poured down the drain.

What I do regret, is ever voting for the previous Labour government, I really really do.

I'm in a safe seat so it didn't matter who I voted for.

...and the country was going to hell beforehand, it's not changing much and just has a different (and less gurning) label.