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???

I truly don't understand how any kind, moral person can go to voteforpolicies.org.uk/ and be told they should vote Tory / UKIP.

No. Martin Freemans accountat did NOT fuck up.

Ms Abbington ( his partner) openly admits she didn't put enough money aside to pay her tax bill. So she decalred herself bankrupt to avoid paying the £140 000 bill .

She won't say why her partner and father of her children didn't pay the bill or why they only settled it when the news hit the media over five months later.

Tedand lola - read teh thread. That question has been answered a hundred times. Oh, and please don;t lump UKIP with Tory unless you want us all to lump SNP?labour together? They are different parties entirely, in case you hadn't noticed.

Dawn - you can be as rich as you like and call yourself a socialist. What you can't do is avoid tax, send your kids to private schools and hide your money in a tax loopholed account AND call yourself a socialist, Martin.

I'm not lumping them together, I don't understand how any kind and moral person could vote for either of their policies, as different as they are. That's after reading the thread. Their policies are not kind or moral.

TedandLola I did the 'vote for policies' thing and got 40% Tory & 20% UKIP - I can assure you that I am both kind and moral.

Very, very narrow minded to broad brush us all as uncaring and without compassion, although apparently very typical judging by threads such as this.

(I also got scored 30% Lib Dem & 10% Labour).

All those Labour voters who make sure they work the absolute minimum ( or not all) to gain maximum benefits are such kind, caring, sharing guys, aren't they?

Just re funding libraries. If you live in a small rural town like I do, and you don't have access to the internet at home, libraries are VITAL. Looking for jobs needs to be done online. The job centre is an infrequent, expensive bus ride away or a long walk (3+ miles very hilly).
The problem is that most people do care about others (is that what we mean by "morals") but we all find it hard to understand what it really means to be someone else, even if we have characteristics in common. The likelihood is that DC isn't a demonic bastard rubbing his hands together with glee at the thought of people with disabilities suffering in poverty and the rising rich-poor divide.
I'll be voting for the party that seems most compassionate towards the most vulnerable, and the most equalist, and the least demonizing of the NHS. For me that seems to be the Greens.

Oh and I pay tax and don't claim benefits, if that matters.

Posters on here who keep bracketing Tories with UKIP, are either ignorant of their policies or are deliberately trying to be offensive to conservative supporters.
It's a pity they don't have the intelligence or will to understand what the two parties actually stand for.

Our library is now run by a group of over 70 volunteers.

It is a MILLION times better than before. Open longer, more friendly hours. Coffee, cakes, art shows, craft shows, adult learning, kids reading groups, sewing groups, craft and bake sales.

It's nice that your library is better than before Casually, our library had all of that before they tried to close it down. Being very rural it's the centre of the community here. Fortunately we've managed to keep it going.

Socialists do send their children to independent schools, and they're allowed to. Gone are the days when all had to go to comprehensives. There are many reasons why a child might benefit from an independent school rather than state schooling, in the same way some children will benefit from state schooling.

I think it must be that the 'socialists' who send their children to private schools must believe in that true socialist ideology of ' Selective Schools'.

There is nothing wrong in believing in private education, apart from when you preach to others about Comprehensive education. The same goes for Martin Freeman 'preaching' to people when he was conviently doing the best for himself and partner not for' SOCIETY'

I'm not defending Freeman, per se.I know very little about him, I am saying that the trope of the champagne socialist is more than a little hackneyed.

what's doing my nut is that it seems that, (and on here even more so) it's morally acceptable to vote for who will make you better off if better off means you get more back from the government but not if better off means you pay less in. If we all actually voted on moral grounds all parties would be putting human rights, climate change etc at the top of the agenda. I don't vote tory but I can see why people do and to say I want to pay less tax is equally as valid as I want more stuff from the government. This is one consideration but by no means the only one.

Also there is a choice to be made on the economy and some people believe that austerity is the best plan. That's not selfish that's a valid opinion.

I vote on moral grounds, based on what I think is best for the country, not what I think is best for me. That means I vote conservative. And I am insulted by anyone equating that to voting for UKIP, who I think are scum and only slightly better than the BNP.

There is nothing wrong in believing in private education, apart from when you preach to others about Comprehensive education. The same goes for Martin Freeman 'preaching' to people when he was conviently doing the best for himself and partner not for' SOCIETY'

He also admits to using private medicine.

Not keen on private education, private medicine, selective schools except for exceptional talents such as music or sport either
I am a socialist. But labour started this privatisation of the NHS that the coalition has continued so I don't think I can vote for them.

calculators do you think people feel it's morally acceptable to vote for a government for what you get out if them if you are living on the breadline, like many disabled people, but it is hard to feel much pity for high rate tax payers wanting to "get more" by paying less tax?
I agree that it seems many here who want to vote Tory seem to be basing it on what they believe is best for the economy, so not focusing on themselves particularly.

We have five kids. We are almost £500 a month WORSE off under the tories a sthey scrapped the CB for our income group.

I still vote for them as I believ ethey are the best for the country as a whole. A weak economy is hideous for ALL of us.

The economy is worse under the Tories. We lost our credit rating!

Hahahahaha!

That's funny.

You do know about the , " no money left " note, don't you?

makemine I think there's a perception that the country is populated by the poor or the rich forgetting there's a lot of people in the middle that are just about ticking along and worried that a rise in tax be it through income tax ni or vat would make them worse off. But saying you would vote based on what is best for you unless you are on the breadline is seen as morally wrong.

makemine you do realise that over half of NHS spending has always gone to profit making companies/people.

You do know about the , " no money left " note, don't you?
I'm firmly convinced that the Labour hierarchy were secretly relieved to lose the last election.
They had run out of money, and knew that they could no longer carry on with the same borrow-to-spend policies. They would have had to reverse course after winning the election and discredit themselves in the eyes of their faithful supporters.
It was better to let the Tories take the hard measures and the resentment that went with them.
Now, the two Eds want to have another go with the same old failed policies. If they get into power it will all go back to square one.

I did the vote for policies and came out UKIP/Labour - so what does that say about the OP? No idea what it says about me! (No morals? Or moral high ground?)

It really isn't that simple.