To ask those who voted for the conservatives ....

[ginorwine]

Reading the threads here there is much criticism about conservative policy .
A lot of people must have voted for them .
Where are they on mums net ?
And on threads such as those re the w t c cuts are they not representing their views as it was clear this would happen ?
I can tell that they may be slated but surley differing views can be expressed so long as it doesn't get nasty - a know that feeling run high but surley ppl can do so .
So to Tory voters -is it how you anticipated .what are your views ?

I voted for them. Even though I'm quite a big loser being I run a one man limited company, take most of my income through dividends (dividend tax changes will hit me) and get a lot of my work through agencies (potential taxation changes plus tightening up of IR35 on the horizon). however even I can see it wasnt really fair that my tax payments on 120K income a year was around 30K at most. So whilst I lose out, I can see why and its probably a lot less than I would have lost under labour.

I support the cuts to WTC and the tightening up on the rules generally. There are too many people in this country who choose to do the bare minimum they have to who really could do more but can get away with trotting out the same excuses "it doesn't fit around my life to do more". Well I don't like living away from my husband mon-fri but I do because its how I earn the income. I'm sure if people had to, they could work alternate shifts around child care - they may not see much of their partners but at least they would be providing for themselves. People should think about what could happen before they have children and yes, what happens if the other half dies/leaves me etc should be one of those considerations.

too many people expect the likes of me to go out to work to pay for them to have a nice life without doing more than the bare minimum to help themselves.

I'm happy to pay more tax where needed but not so people can hold out for term time only jobs but only between 9am and 2pm and then wonder why they can't find work.

I didn't vote Tory. MN is more left wing op.

Why does it matter? It's no wonder the conservative voters are often not to willing to share that they voted for them. All they get is abuse and " I hope your happy", " I have no sympathy for anyone voting torrie" comments.

The country spoke as a whole and the conservatives won. Proving MN is not a representative sample.

Going to agree with auntiestella before i foget her name

The viterol on here especially directed at tories was dreadful, i dont blame anyone for keeping their head down

And yes i do agree that posters who said they were tories were being obnoxious too, its just that there seemed to be a lot of personal insults being hurled in their direction

I'm Scotland's only Tory voter. Like other Tory voters I don't generally advertise that fact here because I don't particularly enjoy the cries of "shame on you" or evil cunt name calling that inevitably turns up in these threads. I support a general weaning off WTC, but I do think the Tories are going too far too quickly right now.

We(our family,in-laws and parents) voted conservatives. My husband and fil are in the construction trade and Tories are investing in new roads etc. Plus we are able to buy our housing acc flat.

I didn't vote for the Conservatves but I considered it. I'm a floating voter.

Why did I think about it? I was concerned about the competence of the two Eds and I was unreassured by EM's assertion during one of the debates that he wouldn't form a coalition with SNP. Nothing particularly "new" or helpful there, I know OP, but that's why I might have voted Conservative.

I think that the majority of voters support welfare reform if the polls are to be believed. MN isn't representative. Me, I think that reform of tax credits is needed to avoid people (a minority, I know) deliberately doing the bare minimum and having babies they can ill afford, but I'm horrified that people who work full time ("doing the right thing") are struggling, and will be even more so from April. The government seems to have conflated the working class with the underclass. Mistake.

There are vast swathes of people who voted Conservative at the last election, and are quite happy with how things are.

Many of these people vote from from a global economic standpoint rather than a political one per se, and are not in the slighted bit impacted by the general belt-tightening because they're comfortably off.

There are a lot of these people.

"I'm sure if people had to, they could work alternate shifts around child care."

People who already do that are losing tax credits too.

Anyway, to answer the OP, there were loads of threads full of conservative voters round about election time and there were threads with people on them who supported the tax credits cuts when they were first announced.

I know a fair few of my friends voted Tory not because they agreed or liked many of their principles but because they liked the labour principles less - lesser of 2 evils if you would as opposed to joyous support.

I think any true through Tories wouldn't want to post on mumsnet atm as any thread they contribute to usually results in them being accused of being benefit-hating, silver-spoon sucking, selfish human beings - no reasoned debate that I have seen am afraid

I'm a Tory voter - which is always assumed to mean i'm old (true), rich (quite the reverse) and able-bodied (I have been disabled for years).

I would not trust labour with the economy if they paid me.

MN is massively left leaning and some of the Tory hating comments on here have been vile and extreme. If you would like examples, let me know.

I'm a Tory. I'm even a member of the party.

But on here people think I must be indoctrinated by the media etc so I rarely bother to argue. In fact I generally avoid politics threads on here.

Well put it this way. Not me. I don't get off on the poor becoming poorer.

They weren't explicit in how the tax credits cuts were going to fall - wonder if it was something they were not planning to do as aggressively when anticipating a coalition where they would have had to negotiate.

That said, I think tax credits were one of the worst excesses of the Labour government and the way they support big business to pay staff poorly is disgusting. It undermines the basic principles of capitalism and markets (which like it or not, we are stuck with) and employers have no incentive to pay higher wages as government top it up for them and they can secure labour cheaply.

What I'm unsure of is the best route to correcting it, clearly wiping thousands of pounds off of a family's household income isn't fair and despite theoretically disagreeing with them I feel huge sympathy for the people losing out on this income.

If you want one as an example from another thread, the following referred to a Government Minister:

"Always looks pasty and sweaty. Like he has spent the morning masturbating over the coffins of dead poor people. The utter shit."

I pity the author, would you really want to have such thoughts as this?

We both voted Conservative, neither of us felt that Ed Miliband was competent enough to run the country. The Conservatives were the lesser of two evils I suppose, plus our local Conservative MP is proactive and works hard for his constituents so on a local level we wanted him to remain in Parliament.

I'm new to this site so haven't seen any nastiness directed at Conservative voters but having seen what people have said on Facebook, nothing would surprise me.

I voted Tory last time but have previously been a Labour voter. I find the politics threads on here almost unbearable and this is probably one of the few I have contributed to over the last year.

The level of debate and discussion is like a sixth form common room and there seems to be a complete lack of acceptance/respect for a difference of opinion. And comments like 'I don't get off on the poor getting poorer' is an excellent case in point .

You supports general wean off WTC,Noo. Yes so do I but not because I agree with your mates the Tories but because WTC should not need to exist. Oh don't get me wrong I'm glad they do, but your wages alone should be enough to live on, (not just survive). If you're going out working 40 hours per week, in all freeekin elements and you're still needing help to pay your rent then quite frankly the system is stinking. Employers should not be allowed to get away with paying a pittance. In the knowledge that it'd okay because tax credits are there to hold peoples hands. A fair days work for a fair days pay should mean exactly that.

I'm s Tory voter and party member.

I don't really understand the OP's questions.

I avoid the politics threads too because there is no debate, just insulting comments, sneering and a determination to stifle any other opinion. And they call the Tories the nasty party!

Ilive proves the point.

Apparently because I voted for the Tories I "get off on the poor getting poorer".

Would it be acceptable to point out that I didn't vote Labour because I don't get off on the Country spiraling into unrecoverable debt while we tax payers support those people that choose a life on benefits?

I voted conservative and would do it again tomorrow. Tax credits don't change my view. My reasoning is that we are in a rapidly evolving global economy and they remain the only party capable of making the difficult decisions to keep the country on the right side of that global economy.

Letting the left wing run our economy at this point as we continue to emerge from a devastating economic period would be like allowing an 8 year old to do all the Christmas shopping with an unlimited credit card days after both of his parents were made redundant and the house had no income.

Well put it this way. Not me. I don't get off on the poor becoming poorer

There we have it. Snidey comments start. First prize to Iliveinalighthouse . There you go, lighthouse.

The debate always gets derailed.

Tory voters are accused of all sorts is it any wonder we stay quiet.
We are all entitled to a vote- I think most people genuinely look into the policies and vote for the party they believe in- I did and I don't think I should have to justify it or defend myself because of it- just as I wouldn't make someone else do that.

Thank you. My first biscuit. I'll have it with my coffee.