To wonder about the values of Tory/UKIP voters

[Campaspe]

Why would anyone vote for a party that promotes austerity rather than a progressive, liberal party (Labour, SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru)? I'm not saying for a minute that Tory voters don't care about poor or vulnerable people, so how do they square their political support with their conscience? Is it that these voters genuinely believe Labour caused the recession (most analysts now discredit this theory and point to Tory failure to manage the deficit, but maybe these voters aren't aware).

So, given the economic mismanagement stuff doesn't stick, why??? Dislike of Ed Miliband - in which case, why not another progressive party? How do such voters justify the bedroom tax, benefit sanctions, supporting tax evasion, failure to protect libraries, the growing divide between rich and poor etc etc. What are their reasons???

Guinnessguzzler - yes. Seems sensible.

Brummiegirl, I have to disagree on the work point. I keep hearing that apparently the job market is picking up, but as someone looking for work (living near two cities!), I barely get an interview. It's not me by the way, I have been told my CV is excellent .

Thanks everyone, interesting things here. I've was really careful in my OP to stress that I know voters of all parties care for others. My questions are an attempt to understand why Tory/UKIP voters feel OK with policies which seem to me to be unfair and to be unhelpful to the vulnerable in this country. It's actually a genuine question!

well it depends what you thinks fair tbh I think some not all of these welafre cuts have been a long time coming

What I don't think is fair is to keep people on welafre keep people dependant on the state

I don't think the pubic sector runs very well it's not cost effective I used to work for the council it's actually quite shocking the waste and some of the jobs are quite frankly non jobs

I also don't go in for champaign socialists which many labour voters are in my view
They like the medicine for eveyone elese but are not keen to take it themselves
Diane about any one but of course she close Dow all the grammar schools so my son can't get they type of education se pays for

I also don't think it's fair to our unemployed of our bristish ethic minortes to pretend immergation is simply not a issue and any one who says so is a rasict UKIP is a symptom of labour throwing open the door to to Europe and not asking any ones also branding those who wanting to be asked a rasict

Of people think they are morally superior because they vote labour then fair play to them

Tory are looking at the bigger picture by improving the economy and actually getting more people into work

Whilst simultaneously cutting the benefits of people who cannot work, employing corrupt companies to perform tests on whether they're fit to work, and resulting in many deaths of people who've been wrongly found fit to work.

And where's the support to find a job? Where are the jobs?

Welfare claimants and immigrants are scapegoated and blamed for society's ills. Austerity means reducing disability benefits and increase in child poverty and food bank use and privatising the NHS rather than taxing the wealthy a bit more. Count me out of that austerity.

And what moomin said.

I wouldn't dream of thinking I am more moral than a labour voter are those the type of values you mean just think we have a diffrent view on the same issue

Tory are ... actually getting more people into work

Into self-employment, often out of desperation/no other choice; or into minimum- or below-minimum wage jobs; or into precarious zero-hours contracts.

The Tories also count in their employment figures people who are on benefit sanctions – so those who are actually too ill to work but have been deemed by the government not to be.

I feel more comfortable with a lot of labour's policies, but after their last innings, I just don't trust them to resist going on a spending binge again.

Taxing the wealthy more isn't the answer. If they have worked hard and already pay a lot of tax, why should they shoulder more costs just because they have worked hard and done well in life?

The government is not responsible for people's choices. They get the blame for them wrongly. Many make bad choices and feel it is the responsibility of everyone else and not themselves to fund those choices. If it's wrong to encourage personal responsibility then life is truly screwed.

I always think Labour are like a stroppy teenager who blow all their pocket money & run up a huge phone bill. Then Conservative have to be the parent who cuts their pocket money to pay for it, whilst the teenager moans about how unfair it all is that they have to pay off the money they ran up.

Sigh this thread is like a Tory party political broadcast. It comes down to what media is more successful in brainwashing people I think. All the soundbites are in here.

Add message | Report | Message poster Littlemonstersrule Fri 03-Apr-15 09:56:40

The government is not responsible for people's choices. They get the blame for them wrongly. Many make bad choices and feel it is the responsibility of everyone else and not themselves to fund those choices. If it's wrong to encourage personal responsibility then life is truly screwed.

totally agree

I vote conservatives and there's nothing wrong with my morals. Labour wants to keep spending when there's no money to spend - and then they take from the hardworking but that's still not enough. I don't think the Tories encourage tax evasion ( I think many confuse this with avoidance which is legal ). I support a reduction in welfare and many more of their policies.

I also never understand when people say that austerity affects the poor most. It just seems blindly obvious to me. The poor rely on the state more so if cuts are made, the poor will be affected more . It genuinely seems like simple maths to me

Also , Labour doesn't do any favours for the poor. It just makes them more reliant on the state and when the state can no longer afford welfare, they will be far worse off.

People banging on about personal responsibility are ignoring the fact they have been cutting disability benefits. People don't choose to be disabled nor are they irresponsible to be so.

Am off on holiday now.

The views on this thread are really depressing. Britain is not a kind place to be right now.

Little, I see your point, but unfortunately we get the super rich, and their money schemes. They cause so many problems with tax evasion, and it doesn't seem to be dealt with. So I when I hear about the rich getting taxed more, a part of me think 'that's right, stop taking from the poor and disabled, get those rich buggers'. Of course, those who try and avoid tax, will continue to find ways to do so. Big businesses will carry on heading their offices abroad, paying the minimum into the economy. They pee me off more than 'benefit scroungers' ever will.

I've always voted labour. This election I am undecided by swaying towards tory.

Their policies just make more sense to me and I'm worried that labour will put us back to where we were 5 years ago.

I'm undecided because I've always disagreed with the mindset of the torts but having read the policies and listened to them in debate I just don't have confidence in Labour or their leader

So welsh labour refused to ban zero hours contracts?

So approx 60-70 labour mps employ people on zero hours contracts?

People love a hypocrite don't they.

fat why tax the wealthy a "bit" more?. They are already taxed a lot more and yet use less of the services.

Do you have a habit of going to friends who earn more than you and asking them to pay for you? This isn't just to ffat but to everyone who agrees in taxing more from the richer.

Add message | Report | Message poster bereal7 Fri 03-Apr-15 10:02:02

Again agreed labour created a massive welafre sate they wrongly thought the keeping people more would a dependant on them would keep their voting base big also instead of being tuff with big buniness and making them pay a living wage they simply toped up low workers pay with yep yet more welafre so not only did they have the unemployed relaying on them also the employed they accuse torys of all sorts they had 10. Years to sort big buniess as

I'm a bit confused (and offended) by the idea of a couple of PPs that those who work hard and don't claim will vote Tory and the others Labour! I'm a hard working single parent, own (outright) my own home and have never claimed anything except child benefit and SMP. I don't get child benefit anymore as child is 19. I would never vote Tory.
You suggest that people who have worked hard will vote for their own interests (lower tax etc) then wonder why people sometimes think Tories are selfish/uncaring of others.
Remember also that it was a world recession that caused the depression, not Labour's spending...

We are probably on a higher income than average BTW.

Well..pay a bit more but still be wealthy..or lose more and end up having to eat from a food Bank. Hmm.

But it's not just as simple as 'redistributing wealth'. The whole system is very finely balanced and like it or not, society needs 'the rich' as it is them who make the biggest contributions to society in terms of tax, wealth generation, jobs etc etc.

Go too far with the 'redistribution of wealth' and the ones we actually need to keep the cogs turning will take it all elsewhere, and then we really will be fucked.

Having said all that, I loathe how the Tories have demonised and shafted the poor and vulnerable this time, and made out that it is them who is to blame for everything that has gone wrong. Initiatives like Workfare are just disgusting really, and I just can't vote for more of the same. There is no other option in my constituency really than to vote labour (lib dens no way, and the greens just aren't credible), and our labour candidate is ok I think so I will be voting labour.

However, I won't be going on about how much better I am and how much more sound my values are, than people who don't vote the way I do

Yes it was a world recession. Very good point indeed.

Also employers should pay a higher minimum wage rather than people having to have tax credits then having them cut so they are plunged into poverty.