I won't be voting Labour because

I dislike the constant state interference in every aspect of my life.

I resent the fact that I am presumed to be a danger to children,unless I have a piece of paper saying I'm not.

I resent the fact that Labour hates and fears rural communities and has taken every opportunity to put the boot in to them.

I feel ashamed that my country invaded Iraq.

I have a long memory too and can remember the last Labour government,the strikes,no bread in the shops,no electricity,rubbish piled up in the streets.

It too depressing to think about them anymore.Roll on election day.

I can remember the last recession too, and I was 13 when Mrs Thatcher was elected. I can also remember the Callaghan government.

Under the Tories I had a good state education; got O levels, A-levels and a degree with a grant and my fees paid. I got jobs under the Tories, we owned our own house and my husband's job was secure.

Under Labour I have seen the rise of a client state. I have seen means testing creep in; state surveillance with databases is increasing; my data has been sold off via the DVLA to raise money for this government; rural post offices have been decimated; defence has been starved of money and education has been subject to inequities of funding depending upon whether you live in the Labour heartlands or the Lib Dem South West. I have seen the increase of young people who think the government 'owes' them a living; I have seen 'stealth' taxes increase and the middle earners hammered time and time again. The effects of fiscal drag have more people paying 40% tax than ever before - I'd watch it Vicar, it may be you soon. I have seen the tentacles of the EU creeping more and more into British law and into British life.

There is no point in basing your voting intentions on what Mrs Thatcher did, as she was ousted from power in 1990. You have to - 20 years ago. You need to look at what the current incumbents have done and if you think they have earned your trust to continue to run the country. Labour have never had mine anyway, but I cannot find one single reason to vote for them.

Who said you have to vote tory ?... vote for whoever you like.

You're on the wrong thread anyway

no - your not reading my posts. i was a child when thatcher got in. i didnt want to buy a council house. my mother had one.

i could have really done with one when my husband got made redundant and we had to move lock stock and barrel half way up the country to get a roof over our heads.

it was wrong as a policy. i dont care who implemented it - i would have a problem with it.

where has the money ever been since to rebuild a load of houses that were sold in the boom/bust years of a conservative government?

bribing people to vote wasn't a policy. it was bribery.

no one has given me one single decent reason to vote 'tory.

Vicar - you said you did not like Thatcher because:

"sold all our social housing (council houses)
were generally greedy bastards so the rich got richer and the poor got poorer."

The point I am making is that a lot of Labour voters liked Thatcher back then for the policy of selling council houses and those 'poor' people in Council houses got 'richer' as a result.

A lot of poorer people therefore felt they benefited under Thatcher. You did not get the chance to buy a council house so you felt poorer but it was not just a case of the Tory Govt helping the rich.

Besides, Labour has not exactly built a whole load of Council Houses to replace the ones sold off in the last 13 years to reverse Tory policy.

and im still not getting your point?

yes a whole generation of people benefited from social housing and then bought up almost the entire stock - thats people (wankers maybe) but the government of the day made that possible when it should not have been, then didnt do anything to replace them.

some people are open to bribery. still not sure what the point is though. is that the only way the tories could get in? shame.

Selling off council housing would have been OK had LAs been allowed to use the proceeds to build more social housing. IIRC they were barred from doing so.

My point is that Labour voters voted in droves for council houses to be sold off because they wanted the security of owning their own home at less than market price. They ditched their principles out of self interest then went back to voting Labour again.

Your position was that you could not get a cheap house to live in. The older generation of Labour voters enjoyed the benefit you needed.

I found this but it only relates to single workers and I think it includes employers' contributions too.

Bloody complicated figures to compile though.

Perfectly good reasons...

Because I am a stupid and/or greedy cunt.

abetadad - not sure exactly what your point is there - so tories bribed people with cheap houses? thats not exactly a selling point for them is it.

what did it leave for the rest of us when social housing was needed? sod all. 18 years ago my husband lost his job, i had a 3 month old baby and we had to move in with hubbys parents, 3 of us shared a room, we couldnt get a council house for love nor money. i think under tory gvmts the country was ransacked. all that was good was pillaged to line peoples pockets and, i can hand on heart say that if i had been lucky enough to get a council house i would not have bought one, no matter how cheap it was, because nothing has ever been built to replace them. In the end we had to rent until we had the deposit to buy.

the last recession was far worse and that was under a tory government.

under the labour gvt i can honestly say ive never been so well off. i got help with nursery and child care with working tax credits, child tax credits, none of which i got with a tory government.

i am about to join the police, so my husband and myself will be earning a reasonable wage for the first time ever, but nothing in the tory policies would be to my families benefit.
i will gain nothing under them. so why should i vote for them?
ive benefited more under the labour government.
It does make me wonder who is the average user of this site - is the media portrayal correct?

Can someone please link to somewhere showing that we pay more taxes than the rest of Europe?

VicarInaTuTu;

Re; The pit closures.....what you need to remember is that Neil Kinnock (Labour leader at the time of the miners dispute) distanced himself from the strike, critizing Arthur Scargill every step of the way.....

Scargill always maintains that had Kinnock (and the Labour party) backed the miners more, the outcome would have been very different.

DF - we now have the highest average tax rate in Europe so I have plenty of sympathy for anyone who feels like they're being fleeced.

I see he hit cider drinkers hard as well.

Just lifted this from the budget website.

The 50 per cent rate of income tax will come in next month, but only affects those with earnings over £150,000 a year.

I'd LOVE to pay 50% TAX, it would mean I was paying less than 50% on the first £149,999

(I know, I know, you have to pay NI as well, but the same principle applies)

Because I am a socialist -I like that answer

VicarInaTuTu - I happen to know an elderly couple voted Labour all ther life except on one occasison - when Thatcher said she would let them buy their council house on the cheap. Like plenty of Labour voters did at the time.

oooh... can you link me to these labour policies RE school skirts and shoes for dogs?

DF- yes, my husband will have to pay the 50p tax rate, but I don't think it's ever justified to use punitive tax rates on high earners to attempt to recue a failing government from its own mistakes.

Quite simply there is always the same bone of contention in these arguments; a left wing system will always favour low income voters, while a right wing system tends to favour higher earners. However, under Labour we have a system which ecourages apathy and mundaneity, and propogates a terrifying dependence on the state- frankly, it's a system which traps voters.
A right wing system, on the other hand, while being initially beneficial to wealthier families, also encourages competion and aspiration.

There is another reason why I wont be voting Labour- Harriet Harman. The idiot woman who wants to make it illegal for girls to wear skirts in state schools and force dogs to wear shoes in Muslim houses and calls it equality. She must be stpped before she forces mandatory hermaphroditism on the entire country. it's only a matter of time I tell you!

I won't be voting labour because... there is no way that they will get in in my constituency. The last time they did was 1966-1974. Which, to be fair, is more recently that the Tories, whose last MP here was between 1816-1854.

So not really a "swing seat" for either party in 2010!

panicmode I thought so. you were basically quoting from Camerons post budget speech in the OP, I just wanted to check if that was why.

Kathyjelly You would only pay 40% tax on a higher than average income and that whole income would not be taxed at 40%. We all pay council tax and fuel tax.

I wondered if perhaps needle had a husbant who earns so much he will have to pay the 50% tax on part of his income.

"I'm sick of single parents getting so much money"

the money is for their kids. That's what a good society should be providing for families, even those who are not 2.4 chilren married families.