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 ?

Oooh and its a jammie dodger ad well. My favorite.

But the question is, Iliveinalighthouse, why did you stoop to just making an ad hominem insult instead of debating in a reasoned manner?

I voted conservative. I was a floating voter but when it came down to it I didn't trust Labour with the economy. Hearing what the new Shadow Chancellors thoughts are on the country holding a reserve further cements my thoughts I was right to vote conservative. and that's just one point

If the same Labour leadership team is in place at the next general election I won't be a floating voter. My decision will be made really easy. I will vote Conservative. I can't vote for a government that isn't willing to get the country out of debt. I speak as someone that will be hit by increases in certain tax and other changes George O is putting in place.

With regards why I dont get involved in MN political debates. Well I can't be bothered. I am happy with my decision and that's all that matters.

I voted Tory as couldn't stomach the ridiculous Ed Milliband and the Ed stone was the final straw.

Unless the Labour Party provide a sensible alternative, and that's not on the cards with the present lot, then I would vote Tory again.

As a natural
Labour voter from a red hot labour background I despair of them.

I don't feel like being labelled as a benefit bashing single mother bashing immigrant bashing disabled bashing selfish hate filled bully.
Mumsnet seems obsessed with calling people for insulting or judging groups of people unless they are conservative voters.

I think a lot of people just can't be arsed to deal with the unbearable moral smugness of some left wingers.

I'm not particularly left or right, very middle of the road politically, but life has taught me that people don't always act in accordance with their political label i.e. some of the most generous, charitable and thoughtful people I know are right of centre while some of the most uncaring and mean spirited on a personal level are left of centre.

But, yes, if you voted Conservative why are you going to engage with posters who height of debate is a load of copy and pasting and the recurrent phrase "Tory scum"? I mean, what's the point?

Because I do think the Tory voters look down on the poor. The government announced there would be welfare cuts, but did the voters think about that before they ticked, no they did not. They just thought fuck the poor as long as the rich are getting richer, and I'll obviously never have to claim any benefits, as I'll never become sick disabled mentally ill or unemployed, or to put in another way. I'm alright Jack., but now they're announcing WTC cuts a lot of Tory voters are not feeling so gleeful are they. I don't know if you watch but hence the women on Question Time in tears almost over tax credits cuts. I feel sorry for her of course I do, I'm not some cold hearted bitch with a brick for a heart but like I said she knew before she went into that ballot box that there were going to be cuts to the poor and did she give a shiny shit. No. because she believed they wouldn't affect her,., so now she knows how the poor felt when they woke up on 8th May and realized they were still in power.
Yes I know there has to be cuts. I'm not stupid but it'd always the poor and vulnerable that are targeted. They could start with their own astronomically high saleries and stop giving tax breaks to millionaires.

Well I for one agree with lighthouse comment. It is the single parents and the disabled who I feel sorry for. You could pay me a million quid and I still wouldn't vote tory.

Having grown up in a single parent house (not UK mind you) with my widowed mum receiving fuck all help from the Gov't (she worked ft too) I grew up in penny counting household. I would hate to see the vulnerable down the shit creek with no paddle and I am a high rate tax payer.

Who ever is in power will always get flack, I do know people who voted conservatives as they thought labour were going to break up the uk, but are now going to suffer due to the disability changes, and these are previously fit people in constant pain, not workshy.

Which brings me on to the next point, a whole dialogue of "scrounging" has been drip fed over the last couple yrs, from those dodgy letters saying how much of our money goes on benefits etc but no reality check about how this dwarf against tax breaks and grants of big business. Little mutterings of tax avoidance but is downplayed yet the two don't have equal prominance.

Benefit fraud is seen as a hanging offence, tax avoidance is jolly japes.

I do agree on the

I don't think they vote Tory to be spiteful; they just naively believe that if you "work hard" and do the "right thing" then it will afford you the same lifestyle that it did 40 years ago

point made above, eg my parents were able to buy a brand new house on an apprentice and secretary wage with no help from family in the south.

My friend claims tax credits to supplement her income as a TA. She can't up her hours or she would loose her benefits. She has her rent paid. One teenager still at home getting free school meals.

She has been abroad twice this year.

Me and dh are both SElf employed. No holiday for 3 years and no benefits.

No I don't feel mean voting Tory.

I didn't vote for anyone at all this time. Would have voted LD if I had been able to vote. I think.

But I think for a lot of people, the Cs represented stability and seemed to be doing an OK job on the economy. I think a lot of people are concerned about growing inequality, but they probably also looked across at Europe and thought, "well, at least over here most people are in work, and if we end up with really high unemployment rates like many European countries, maybe we will wind up even worse off than with the Tory's austerity." "Better the devil you know" and all that. I don't know whether that is true/reasonable/accurate or not, but I think a lot of people felt that way.

Also, EM did not convince as a leader and I think it caused a lot of people to get cold feet.

If the Labour people want to get people back on side, they need to try and feel/show some empathy for the reasons why many people voted C--calling people names and so on is generally not helpful.

Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost
Because I do think the Tory voters look down on the poor.

That would mean me having to look down upon myself, which would be slightly ridiculous don't you think? None of my Tory voting friends are rich, so its silly for left wingers to keep telling us we are when it's patently untrue.

I didn't vote Tory but I was torn and voted Lib Dem. I'm sick of hearing the comments like 'poorer getting poorer' and 'I'm alright jack' when talking about Tory voters! It's ridiculous and childish. People vote for who they think will be best to run the country. No amount of name calling will change that and it only makes you look more ridiculous. One of my family members is a huge labour supporter and says exactly the same, however she's happy to try and claim pip when she doesn't need it (which she was turned down for). She's only started working when her kids were at an age when she had no excuse not to anymore. I keep my mouth shut cos it's not worth the hassle of arguing about it. Everyone has their opinion and that's it. No one else has the right to be abusive to anyone else.

Exactly silveroldie - the Conservatives won far too many seats for the argument that "only rich people vote for them" to have any validity.

I'm another Tory voter but there is no proper debate here, no willingness to accept that people who vote differently may actually have made a reasoned decision, no acceptance that history tells us That the UK is on the whole centre/right and constant references to the fact that we must have been somehow brainwashed. It's not really worth the effort to try and put forward any arguments- it just descends to "poor hating twats" type rhetoric.

I did not and would not vote Conservative.

I have a Facebook friend (ex colleague, haven't seen in ages) who posted something a bit gloating after the election about wishing all the labour voters would shut up now. She like me is a junior doctor and since then she has posted quite a lot of anti Jeremy Hunt things. I don't know if she regrets her vote but she certainly seems upset now they are targeting her. On the other hand I couldn't see her ever voting Jeremy Corbyn so I suspect she'll continue to vote Conservative however pissed off she is.

The thing is mumsnet is like twitter, its not the real world.

I sit in the pub and find most people talking politics are more right wing than me!

I believe the Tories actually want to help poor people, they want to better education standards, they want to give people the right to buy their homes. They want people to not come from generations of people who don't work. I think this is giving people real opportunity.

They'd get a fecking shock now tho I reckon, trying to buy those same houses in today's world.

don't these older tory voters read the paper? you don't have to be an economist to know that it will take about a bajillion years on the NMW without spending a dime on transport or food to get the money together for a 0 bed flat in London.

Add message | Report | Message poster Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost Mon 19-Oct-15 11:43:30
Because I do think the Tory voters look down on the poor. The government announced there would be welfare cuts, but did the voters think about that before they ticked, no they did not. They just thought fuck the poor as long as the rich are getting richer, and I'll obviously never have to claim any benefits, as I'll never become sick disabled mentally ill or unemployed, or to put in another way. I'm alright Jack.

Thank you so much for telling me how I think and how I thought and how I felt and how I feel, knowing all of these things about so many people you don't even know if you have met or not is an amazing talent.

Agree with most of what has been posted. I am not a Tory voter - Lib Dem - but we have a Tory MP - and he is q v good constituency MP.

The Tax Credits question is a tricky one. I work one day a week in a benefits-related position. Without fail everyone who comes in answers the question "How many hours do you work?" with the magic number "16". Taxi drivers, school assistants, retail workers - everything. Maybe that's fine, but there were a lot of people who voted who think it isn't fine.

Re "The poor getting poorer" - that is such a stupid statement and so utterly unhelpful. A policy that allowed poor to become richer ie the sale of council properties - was a Tory one, (one I disagree with I add). A huge factor in the poor working class condition has been the immigration question which simply cannot be debated on here.

Not all Tory policies make the poor poorer and not all Labour policies make the poor better off. Economics is really far more complex than that.

I was asked my opinion so I gave it. Which I'm entitled to.

The conservatives took about a 24% share of the eligible electorate - which seems reasonably consistent with the range of opinions expressed on MN tbh.

And even if it isn't there are good reasons why this might be the case. Remember that old people are significantly more likely to vote conservative than young people, and pensioners are notable by their near total absence on parenting websites.

In short, you would expect MN to "lean left".

I agree that yes a lot of people are taking the piss benefit / tax credit wise and that does need to be sorted asap, and I am in favour of getting rid of child benefit after two dc.

BUT through this process, we are sending more and more people into poverty which is unfair on them when quite frankly they need support. I have read posts on mn from posters wondering how they are going to feed their dc or buy winter coats etc when tax credits cuts come into play which means child poverty is just going to rise (bearing in mind over a quarter of UK children are already living in poverty..)

Ahhh Misti, the good old 24% argument again.

So the other 75% are all left leaning are they?