New poll finds only privileged people will vote for Labour - but why?

Yes I agree with you re doctors and disabled people.

However no matter how sorry we feel for any group of people we cannot continue to borrow money to pay for things.
At some point that has to stop and worse, be reversed. There is no way round that. People will have to get used to the idea that they live in a country in decline with little or no safety net.

Thus we should start trying to fix it now while we still have a chance but that is going to involve growing the economy and spending money on things which help the country grow. So apprentices for young people = good as they hopefully start their own companies and pay tax. Money spent on investing in industries to create jobs and wealth = good. Money paid to people to not work = bad and we shouldn't do it. Not very kind, not very nice but that is what we are facing.

As someone who runs clinics it’s worth pointing out too that when someone misses an appointment to be honest I just get on with the 101 other things I have to do on my to list or can give a little bit of precious extra time to the other patients I’m seeing that day so definetely isn’t like twiddling thumbs during the missed appointments. Is hassle when constantly having to chase someone then find time to rearrange to see them etc though, always helps hugely if we can have advance notice, even if just 5 minutes but the more
the better as may be able to slot in someone else who we really needed to see. I definetely agree about people mote likely to be reluctant to seek treatment if they need to pay for it, I remember years ago living on next to nothing but getting really ill before getting treatment due to the cost of the prescription charge. Even now in an ideal world there are issues I’d like to get a specialist private consultation on for my children but we just can’t afford it

Talk about turkeys voting for christmas...

I can't see how that can be true. I mean reform have been quite vocal about cutting benefits. Why would people on benefits vote for them

Do you know which constituency in Britain is most dependent on benefits? Clacton.

The number of preventable deaths will go up as people decide not to pay for getting that persistent cough checked out. And disabled people will be disproportionately adversely affected because we tend to see the doctor more.

The missed appointments rate at my private dentist is comparable to that at my NHS GP. People miss appointments because they are ill, or their child is ill, or they clean forget (which can be disability-related, oh hi autism and ADHD), or their carer is ill and can't take them, or the bus doesn't turn up... Not because they wake up that morning and think "I don't feel like going to the doctor after all".

They have got down as one of their policies to change the triple lock to a double lock.

Sadly, Restore are anti-immigration loons that make Reform look like they are holding welcome banners at Folkestone by comparison. They talk about reversing legal immigration. Where do they think that a large proportion of our NHS, university, and agricultural workforces come from? This is a great shame, because the pension bill is bankrupting the nation and abolishing triple lock would help with that, but I won't vote for a party that wants my colleagues to go back to their original countries.

The most worrying thing about these threads and our current political system is who is going to actually bite the bullet and do something about the decline of the UK. I mean every month we borrow to pay our bills. Our debt gets bigger, the rate the market charges us gets higher and so the following month it's even worse.

We can be the most caring country in the whole world and want to help people with benefits and the likes but guess what. To do that - we are borrowing more money.
So at what point will the politicians actually sit up and say right listen up people. The UK is in deep shit. We are broke, in debt, growing inflation, poor growth, huge benefit bill and most of our 'wealth' is housing. Things have to change now. We are a poor country so you are all on your own. Earn money or die. I mean 80 years ago there was no NHS or welfare. So you saw a doctor if you could afford it otherwise you went without. I mean that is literally what happened and yes people did die in the streets.

The UK used to be wealthy. The UK is no longer wealthy but is still spending like it is.

They either take action now and have a chance of turning things round or they wait till it's too late and the IMF do it for them. Then benefits will be cut anyway. So that is coming whether we like it or not and quite honestly I think the politicians will be relieved as they can say 'Oh horrible bad IMF making us stop all your benefits'

Serious economists have actually been talking about this for a while now.
I mean do you remember when Greece needed bailed out not that long ago (less than twenty years ago) and we all felt sorry for them. Well now we (the UK) has to pay higher interest rates than Greece as the markets think we are higher risk. Now let that sink in for a while.

I am going to guess it is a lot of parents who have kids in Grammars who feel their friends with kids in private education have been bought down a peg or two. The champagne socialists who tutor their kids and pretend they are just "naturally bright".

Actually that is why I am considering reform. The NHS does need changed and yes it is going to involve some pain but the current system is not working is it.
We need a new system even if that involves us all paying a bit for it. I bet the number of missed appointments drops dramatically when people have to part with cash to see someone.

There is a new party 'Restore Britain' who you can't vote for yet but hopefully you will be able to for the next general election. They have got down as one of their policies to change the triple lock to a double lock.

That's the trouble. People who usually vote Tory (me) are turning away from them. I just don't think there current leader has got what it takes.

So who do we vote for. I think reform will pick up some of these votes.

Voting on one issue is not a bad thing. If the major political parties said they would remove women’s access to safe abortions I’d be voting for the one that wouldn’t.

I didn’t vote for Brexit and I wouldn’t vote reform, however I live in a highly deprived working class town with asylum seeker hotels. The impact that this has had has caused so much damage to an already struggling town - mainly safety, particularly for women and children.

Safety will trump a lot of things for people - more so even than health care or benefits. So I understand the mindset. Reform is not the answer, but people are feeling desperate.

That being said, my heart goes out to people fleeing war and persecution. I cannot imagine what that’s like.

I can't see how that can be true. I mean reform have been quite vocal about cutting benefits. Why would people on benefits vote for them.
I suppose if they are worried about the illegal immigrants or poor policing re shoplifting/antisocial behaviour they might think they would rather do without some benefits and get the country sorted elsewhere.
Or these could be the people who work full time and get benefits as well but are still struggling. They might figure they will still be better off under reform as full time workers if the tax rate gets cut.

I don't think that message has got through to Starmer as he is constantly banging on about working people but they are not the party for those 'working people' any more

I have a good Labour council that has, amongst other things, extended free school meals to every child attending an LEA school, avoiding the means-tested entitlements cliff edge that can see the poor-but-not-quite-poor-enough-for-UC children go hungry during the school day. I will be voting Labour this local election to keep it this way.

I recognise that local elections are just that: elections of local representatives that have a real effect on what happens in my borough. I will vote for the party that I think, given a majority in the borough council, will do the best for the people in my area.

Local elections are not any of the following:

• An opportunity to change matters at national level.
• An opportunity to protest against the party in government.
• An opportunity to protest against my MP.

The above three items are what general elections are for.

Based on poll results and previous posters, I estimate that around 99.9% of voters erroneously think that the point of local elections is to give an unpopular Govt a "bloody nose" in between general elections. Don't waste your vote like that. Use it to influence what happens where you live.

What do people expect with an ageing population?! The majority have paid no where near enough tax for a state pension & the NHS. That is the issue.

The triple lock is completely unaffordable but no party is brave enough to lose that vote

Horrible dismissal? The people who sold their own country’s economy down the drain because they believed some shite in the side of a bus? It has absolutely nothing to do with education and the fact you think it does is classism at its best. I think if modern politics and the rise of Trump and Farage and their ilk has shown us anything, it’s that people from all walks of life and every class and socioeconomic level have the capacity to be hateful and to vent their hate straight into the ballot box. Fact: when wages drop, populism rises. It’s not “sneery” (how reductive it was to even say that - maybe sit down and think for a second that men never seem to call each other sneery). It’s the fucking historical record.

I’m not saying anyone’s vote counts any less or any more than anyone else’s. But no, I don’t have respect for one-issue voters on any side of the “aisle;” I would be just as dismissive if they were little-l liberal as I am if they’re little-c conservative. When you vote on a single issue, whether it’s stopping immigration or energy prices or the sex/gender debate, you show yourself to be uninterested in the actual governing of your country, and guess what happens when the people voting only care about a single issue, and not the actual governing of the country? The country becomes shite. No one works together and you get what we have now in so many countries in the world. Racism. Tribalism. Enshittification on a social level.

Watching Labour get a clear mandate and then just totally waste it has been incredibly disheartening, and I definitely won’t be voting Labour unless it’s strategic.

But parties that use hateful rhetoric SHOULD be sneered at. When the hell did it become wrong to disapprove of evil? Is this how much they’ve used “be kind” to shut us up? That you can’t even call out racists? I loathed Reform UK’s ad here in Scotland this month: showing non-white people in a dinghy-style boat with the words “Scotland’s at a breaking point.” Funny, if you don’t want immigration, maybe worry about the almost million (898K) legal immigrants. If you claim to care about immigration and then mention the words “small boats,” yes, you’re going to look like a racist arsehole. That’s not MY fault, nor am I sneering at that. Racism isn’t something to be sneered at; people die as a result of it every single day.

this new breed of middle class claimants who are threatening to destroy the entire welfare state by refusing to work due to mild anxiety

With the exception of PIP, no working-age benefits claimant can be middle-class, by definition. No person out-of-work on means-tested benefits can be middle-class. Middle-class refers to earning levels.

Same here. I don't feel enthusiam for any party at the moment. I seem to be drawn to voting against parties i.e 'ie anyone but the Greens' rather than FOR anyone. Please can we get better quality candidates?

I have to say it’s really difficult to make a decision on who to vote for. So whilst historically this was not the case I can understand it. I would not vote for the current conservatives

Yes it is! I am a big fan of the Waterboys ❤️

They're doing very well financially for 'dim' people.

Bit rich coming from someone who pretended the words in the report she quoted meant something they didn't.

@TheLandlordsAreFrowning sorry to go off piste, but is that username from the Waterboys song? Fantastic!

One of the flaws in your argument is that benefit claimants are actually more likely to support Reform than Labour. Plenty of research out there if you Google.

Indeed @ConstantlyPeeing it"s a sad state of affairs when the whole of the UK's income tax receipt cannot cover the welfare bill.

I would think people who are on benefits and class themselves as poor (i.e. they don't work or only work a few hours) will vote labour to keep things as they are. In other words they are living on benefits so they won't want to rock the boat.

People who are in full time work and class themselves as poor/struggling will vote for someone else as they are working full time but are still skint due to high taxes. This is the group that will be totally fucked off seeing all the benefits getting dished out. Good chance this group will vote reform to see benefits cut.

Either way UK is in serious decline and has been for a while. Did you know the markets charge the UK more to borrow now than Greece, Morocco and Spain. If we get a more left government that will be viewed badly by the market. We can't even afford our current debt without borrowing more each month. We should be taking drastic steps to show the world we can make hard decisions when we have to. This is going to involve pain for most of us. If not our rate to borrow keeps going up and the decline speeds up. Right now the UK is beginning to look financially unviable with governments that are spending way over what they are bringing in.

As I heard recently the UK needs to start spending according to how rich it actually is. Not how rich it wishes it was, or thinks it is, or how rich it used to be.

Growth is stagnant, inflation is going up and spending is out of control.
If the markets decide they no longer want to lend to us at any kind of sensible rate then the shit will really hit the fan when bonds come up for repayment as we will not be able to borrow to cover it.

Vote for whoever you think will fix this not who makes your life the easiest by continuing to pay you to stay at home.