I’m new to mumsnet and used to post on a political board, so apols if this is really dull. (I came off it because it's totally polarised and there's no balanced chat going on).
My position is that I’ve voted both Labour and Conservative pretty much equally in my lifetime. I really battled with what to do this year because I felt that no one was offering what was needed and I have a feeling a lot of people might have been in the same boat.
The short version is that I was scared to vote Labour because I really thought they might bankrupt us and I was scared to vote Conservative because I think they are picking on the vulnerable. What a choice!
I think the super rich should be targeted in terms of wealth taxes. No party will do this - why not? I felt like Labour thought anyone earning over £40k was rich and the mansion tax seemed like a tax on the South East (though Londoners clearly are fine with it as the areas heavily affected voted Labour anyway). Ed M said he would tax non-doms but other than that, didn’t say anything about so called tax relief schemes.
I also think that a lot of people who wanted to vote Labour actually voted Conservative. If you look at where the Conservatives made gains, they must have done, mustn’t they? Lib Dems who felt they were betrayed by the Lib Dems joining a coalition can’t have voted Conservative because that makes no sense. Their votes would either have gone Green or Labour, surely? So the votes the Conservatives gained must have gone over from Labour. I would imagine the increase in the minimum earnings pre-paying tax would have some link to this - as well as fear of bankruptcy.
Plus, I think many believe the welfare state needs to be reformed but….I think many such people would have been on the march at the weekend. There’s a massive difference between believing in reform and picking on the vulnerable. I’m all for reform and encouraging people to be self sufficient. But cutting things like carers’ allowance – hell no! Makes no sense. If that's austerity, no, I'm not in favour of it. Cut waste, certainly, but not this sort of thing.
The super rich are paying to keep their tax bill as low as possible. I’m not asking that they pay 60% tax. I’m asking they pay the same tax as the rest of us. I don’t see why that is complicated. It doesn't make victims of them because they won't really notice. (in fairness, some of them do say that themselves).
Does anyone else think this way? I'd be really interested to hear from posters who aren't committed voters for any political party and just evaluate as they go along. Thanks!