I won't be voting Tory because...

At the risk of having things thrown at me, I'd like to suggest an alternative side...

It's already been mentioned to check Factchecker on the whole SureStart conundrum so use that as well as other sources to make your mind. I'm a single parent & my local centres are FABULOUS, I'd be lost without them - but I'm aware that their success & working together with other bodies hasn't worked as well in all parts of the country - which is a shame because when they work (as it seems from this discussion) they do great things.

I actually think the Tory ideas to pay SureStart health visitors is FANTASTIC - I moved back home, having left a violent relationship with a baby who'd been born prematurely (33wks)... I saw a health visitor ONCE, I was in an absolute state and really needed the help and it just wasn't b**y there! Due to the effects of my long-term abuse I was totally depressed so couldn't face going out to ANY group, or meeting people. More help from health visitors would've been a lifeline. Health visitors might also tackle the problem of reaching out to families who for whatever reason feel SureStart is not for them - these "hard to reach" families are key targets for most volunteer charities also.

BUT in an effort to support the hard to reach, we ought not neglect the fact that EVERY parent needs help, advice, love, support etc. doesn't matter what class, race, religion, income level you are - kids (especially your 1st one) can be scary & confusing!

Oh and for all those who keep saying "I remember last time" well, things can change - check out this book There IS such a thing as Society

Oh and incidentally for all those who use the aged argument "they don't know what real life is like" just WHO do you think MP's are? They're not landed gentry as in 'days of yore', well not all of them, some trained as GP's, others as teachers - a whole mix. Ok, no one thinks the chamber is entirely representative but there's only one way to change that - get involved, don't sit on the sidelines. And, my Dad (naming no names or parties) IS an MP, so he at least knows real life - he had a daughter experience domestic violence, and all sorts of other things and had her back home struggling to care for a prem babe (who's doing brilliantly now by the way) working her way back to happiness... MP's are real people, dealing with real problems... they're human and fallible, just like any of us....

... because hell will never freeze over.

(that and they don't seem to have any policies, no social ethics and no chins)

'(minimum wage, WTC, FTC

Calvert

"Secondly, it is reported that in order to close the financial deficit we currently find ourselves in, Labour are seriously considering abolishing tax on childrens clothes and VAT on household essentials (as well as increasing the VAT threshold to 20%). In my mind, if this is a tax on the poorer members of our society, I don?t know what is, because it sure as hell will hit poorer families"

Do you mean that Labour are planning on abolosing the VAT-free status on certain essentials?

Link please?

To be honest I really do not know who to vote for. Once again politicians are ignoring the single, 30ish childless person. Nothing any party does benefits me now I think. Oh yes in the future I am sure.
I have been quite slack and ignoring it to be honest which is odd for me as I am usually quite into my politics.

because they don't offer me anything substantial. i don't get the impression they will be any different.

Haven't read all of this, so apologies if someone's already said it. But a whole raft of big cheese economists and city gods wrote an open letter recently to tell say George Osborne's plans are just plain daft and scary to boot. Kind of says a lot surely.

Calvert - I agree that there should be a 10 per cent band, or something like it. Believe me, I absolutely think that Labour should do a lot more to extend progressive taxation. But at least the other policy initiatives of the Lab government have gone a long way towards benefiting those on low pay (minimum wage, WTC, FTC

Because I couldn't look at myself in the mirror afterwards knowing I've done this country such a huge diservice.

Puts on Lola voice:

CompletelyRemembersMargaretThatcherTiggaxx

I won't be voting Tory because I'd rather die. Bit dramatic perhaps, but I'm pretty sure I actually mean it!

I could never look myself in the mirror again.

To be fair, TheCalvert, someone needs to pay for care for the elderly. And with the whole baby boomer thing going on, and the ratio of workers per pensioner dropping, it can't really come out of normal taxation. In many ways, dead people are probably the best ones to tax, as they have few financial commitments. And are unlikely to complain.

But this is academic; last I heard, the 20k estate levy was removed from the list of options given to the commission that's supposed to be working this all out.

I was never going to be voting Tory but I'm glad to see how many people are answering because of Surestart on this one.

I won't vote Lib Dem either because I think despite all the posturing they are actually well to the right of Labour. I remember the context in which the SDP was founded and most older Lib Dems have their roots in the SDP. (That definition probably doesn't work so well for anyone my age - 40 - or younger)

I've not yet voted for my MP in 14 years living in the constituency - one of Labour's safer seats - in 1997 I voted Labour where I used to live until 1995, just one of thousands voting out the 20 year Tory MP - in the by election when our MP died in 2000? and in 2001 I voted Socialist Alliance, in 2005 I voted Respect. This time I could vote Green for a sort of friend though we've lost touch lately, I could vote for a local candidate standing on a socialist platform - I can probably risk it but I might actually just vote Labour for a change! Not because they're great, they're not, but

policywonk - the 10% tax band still no longer exists! A Tax on the poorest!

And although you mention IHT, you make no mention of the Labour proposals for the introduction of a £20,000 tax levied on everyone who dies in our country to pay for care for the elderly. This would definately eat into any possible financial gain notwithstanding IHT.

The Labour party are a sham and only interested in lining their own pockets. Stand up Stephen Byers and Patricia Hewitt...

policywonk Indeed, they reversed that decision pretty quickly (not smoothly I might add)- but what an utterly bizarre decision to make by a party which allegedly works for the poorest of the people.

Seriously though, economic growth? Bwaahahaha - from what? C'mon seriously - do you have any idea what's happened over the last decade ? What's going to grow?

Oh, Policywonk, I was about to post a facetious remark about my grandfather coming back to haunt me if I did, but your mother's ghost beat him to it

Good luck Ludlow!

The 'cuts have to be made NOW' narrative is a political one - that is, whether or not you believe that depends on your position on the political spectrum. There are many, many respectable economists who believe that cuts should be deferred, and that the debt could be managed in the long term by economic growth and inflation WITHOUT the need for swingeing cuts.

The Tories' insistence on immediate and deep cuts (while giving massive inheritance tax breaks to the richest, and refusing to countenance the possibility of progressive income tax rises) is just one reason for the popular perception that they care not a jot for the impact on the poorest.

And of course, the 10 per cent thing was a terrible mistake. But one that Labour acted quickly to correct.

Vote Green! Vote Green! Vote Green!

I am going to be standing in the general election, (yes I have name changed).

lol@ "they don't care about people like us"?

Wasn't it Gorgon who scrapped the 10% tax bracket?

I just cannot get over the fact that people just don't see why cuts need to be made now as they did when Thatcher came to power. It's fucking mind-boggling truth be told.

Do people actually remember that there was a Conservative government post Thatcher? I'm not that old, and even I remember.

Plus, all 3 major parties HAVE to make cuts (the country cannot possibly sustain itself on its current spend proposals...). I totally agree with scaryteacher; cuts need to happen to make the economy work.

Also - cash for questions Labour??? Yes, I must admit they are always ALWAYS honest. Really.

And it seems like some people on this thread are saying that the Tories don't care about the people at the 'bottom'. I take it this assumption is based on actually reading the Tory policies on their website?

Completely agree, Lucy.....

You repeat yourself a lot Lucy - identikit post on three threads.

I want Labour out as they have screwed the economy, education and defence. The Tories have said they will ring fence the NHS, and foreign aid, but that everything else will be liable for cuts - that seems fair enough. We HAVE to make cuts to bring the budget back into line.

Think of it as a massive overdraft that your monthly salary doesn't cover and is getting worse all the time as you don't rein in your spending or make economies. On that basis, you wouldn't expect your bank to keep lending to you, or your credit rating to be good so why should the bond markets keep buying UK debt and why should UK keep it's AAA rating? We have to be seen to be making economies and cuts and living within our means as much as possible. There are huge savings to be made in tackling benefit fraud for example; in stripping back some of the layers of local government; in closing some quangos.

As for the 'smiling assassin', well, the same goes for Blair/Brown, thinly veiling the fact that Old Labour is still there and never went away.

I really don't want to live in a world that's got Dave's agenda driving it. I don't think he's remotely in touch with what Britain needs, and I reckon the Tories are using him as a thinly veiled attempt to disguise their true intentions. Beware the smiling assassin.

We've been warned that cuts in public spending are going to be 'worse' than under Thatcher already, and I just dread to think where the 'little' money that will be available will be spent under Conservatives. Certainly not on basic education & healthcare for the masses, I fear.

All this stuff about 'broken Britain' - what a joke. We have it better than we realise. I know unemployment has rocketed during the recession, but no-one's starving (unlike the 80's - remember Wigan? Starved back to work across the picket lines...) and many of the unemployed people I interview for jobs at my work may be struggling, but are 100% not desperate!

Oh, and also because DC uses too much Botox on his forehead.

He's nearly five years older than I am and I'm fairly well-preserved.

There is no way anyone's forehead looks like that at his age unless he's got a portrait in his attic or his plastic surgeon on speed dial.

Policywonk summed it up for me (don't faint, dear! ).

They don't care about people like us, and we pay taxes, too.

A rather disproportionate amount in comparison to most of them, a good many of whom don't pay tax at all, but seem to assume they are qualified to dictate what happens to mine because, well, I'm who I am and they are who they are.