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 ?

exit

....except I am vehemently anti Europe.

I prefer to say vehemently anti EU. Euprope I don't mind, the EU.......

Splitting hairs I know, but a useful distinction to make in the battle ahead.

I think that's true, Morris.

I've seen people say how could you marry someone with different political views or mostly, I could never marry a Tory.

But I don't think people have that entrenched views on party politics in reality, do they?

Surely many, many people must be floaters (ooh er) otherwise they'd never be a change in Governments.

Nobody accused labour of fucking up the economy. A poster said her husband felt they had.

The generations who haven't worked - I went to school with them!
In my case it originated from when the mills closed down in the 60s and 70s. The generation I went to school with had no hope for the future -they really did foresee a life on benefits (and this was in the early 80s).
I have read the Rowntree research and I don't believe it -or at least wonder about the criteria - I imagine

'Have you ever worked?' Answer - Yes

(failing to say that was 20yrs ago when I was forced to work for 6 months as part of a 'back to work' scheme)
Ignoring party politics and the financial aspect - I really do think we have and are letting down generations of people by creating a reliance on benefits. And (afaik) research shows that long term unemployment is bad for both physical and mental health....
Don't know how you tackle the problem, don't have any solutions but the insistence that the 'problem' doesn't exist isn't helping anyone.

(And BTW the global crisis bollocks not being Labours fault - we should have been in a much better position than we were ...
I'm not an economist - but I wanted to move to a bigger house but wouldn't buy a new house after 2001 - I could see the property crash coming ...it was just common sense...it was an artificial high based on borrowing that would have to be paid back at some point - a ticking bomb. I have now bought but do think he property market is due to crash again - but figure living in the house means that it is academic whether it is worth less or not)

I sat in an MBA finance class back in 2000. I remember my prof, a Dutchman enamoured of avoiding tax and making money, suggesting that London was the place to be. So much more "innovative" than NYC. No rules! Just go, go, go! "Light touch" regulation in London was taking business off the New York exchange, and it was a race to the bottom.

So, while I don't think it's reasonable to say that Labour caused the financial crash, their decisions did help it along. They scrapped a lot of rules in the City, and fed the housing bubble.

oliversmumsarmy "But Labour did f**k up the economy. They even boasted about it with their 'Dear chief secretary, I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left,' Note"

I only voted labour because there the most caring out of an insensitive bunch.

I'm interested in this idea. Do people who vote Labour really do so on the basis of their being 'caring'? To me, whether a party is 'caring' or not is beside the point and might even be a point against them. I vote for whoever seems most capable of seeing the bigger picture and balancing the various competing interests in the nation, without getting swayed by moral panics or sob stories. In my observation sentimentalism always makes bad policy and always has unintended consequences.

Perhaps this is the basis of the 'hard-hearted bastards' accusation that gets flung at people who lean right of centre.

IceBeing there it is again. 'People are so stupid' if they don't happen to agree with you. Personally I'm a bit incredulous that some people believe Labour are blameless for everything that happened in this country post 2008, but I don't feel the need to insult you.

The downturn was global, and was caused by global factors, but Labour had built Britain's economy on a house of sand which was bound to utterly collapse at the first sign of any problems wherever they came from. The entire economic boom was based on debt, public and private, and the housing boom which effectively created money for nothing by allowing to people to borrow against inflated house prices. Wages were stagnating and housing and fuel costs were going up, meaning that there was an awful lot less disposable income to go round the economy, so the economy was fuelled by debt rather than earnings. Industrial output also collapsed under Labour far more than it ever did under the Tories.

Yes if you read the Guardian it will tell you 'Labour was not to blame for the economic crash', if you read a less partisan publication they may well tell you that they were responsible for not adequately protecting the economy of them fallout from such a crash should it occur.

I really don't understand that argument anyway, that Labour weren't responsible for anything that happened while they were in power and were just buffeted by the winds of fate one way and another. Do I really want to vote for a government which is so ineffective it cannot exert any influence over what happens in it's own country, or plan effectively for any future problems? No I don't.

The left wing/believing leaders paradox was magnified in the Scottish Indyref. We are well able to govern ourselves, we have the talent, the compassion etc.

Oh no hang on just over half of us are Tory barstewards who believe everything they read in the right wing press :)

itsmine I certainly didn't say it was only the Tories. They disgust me because they preached hate and fear while in power to stay in power. They are still doing it now.

Once Labour or anyone else for that matter gets into power I will be disgusted with them for doing the same.

I repeat - we should get better from our leaders than the politics of hate, fear and division.

Gordon Brown said he would end the cycle of boom and bust then left the banks unchecked. He then announced the sale of most of Britains gold reserves so making it known to the markets that there was suddenly going to be a huge dump of gold coming on the market so forcing the price down.

and I am called stupid. Even me with no qualifications held my head in my hands when the latter was announced.

Nope - it genuinely is stupid to think any one government in this country was responsible for 2008.

I don't think Labour were blameless, I don't think the Tories are/were blameless. I don't think either of them 'fucked up the economy', and the proof in the behaviour of the global markets is obvious to anyone with the will to see it.

For reference: I will tell you what disgusts me about Labour. It is the divisive rhetoric that demonises parts of society for political gain.

Later....I will fill in all the other parties...coz I literally have nothing better to do

Good posts manatee.

Voting for someone on the basis of their ability to empathise over a problem rather than their ability to solve a problem is bizarre to me.

That's like needing surgery and choosing a surgeon who has done the operation twice but has a good beside manner over a surgeon who has done the operation 2000 times but is a grumpy sod with poor patient manner.

Many people were undecided until the actual election, but chose to vote Conservative because of concerns about Ed Miliband and Ed Balls.

Miliband's parting gift was the contrary Jeremy Corbyn, who seems to personify incompetence, and the unpleasant Tom Watson, so I think they made the right decision.

Ms Dorrell's misinformed rant about tax credits typifies exactly what is wrong with the benefit system: an unearned income of £21,000. The Conservatives promised a fairer system and this is what they are providing.

I voted Tory, and I think tax credits should go, for several reasons. I think they allow employers to keep wages low, they discourage people from taking full time work, and they are open to abuse.

I don't believe big government works. I think as soon as the government tries to fix a problem, the law of unintended consequences kicks in, see tax credits, right to buy etc. I think throwing money at people is an expensive and largely useless way of helping.

I don't like the labour party. I didn't like them in the Blair years, when they were rich hypocrites who damaged the fabric of our society by allowing the housing market to get out of control and encouraged indiscriminate borrowing. I don't like them now, when they adopt a morally and intellectually superior attitude without coming up with any practical solutions.

And I loathe the vitriol aimed at Tory voters. I am not evil or stupid, and I do not want to get wealthy at the expense of the poor or disabled.

I think the really unforgivable Labour decision was not letting the banks fail properly in 2008. It would have been rough but that's how capitalism works - risk has a downside and bad risks should be allowed to fail. Otherwise you lock in the bad systems and just kick the problems down the road. Instead Gordon Brown basically nationalised the bad debts and left the bankers privatising the profits. Socialism for the rich, and austerity for everyone else. It's an appalling global scandal and we have not seen the last of it by any means.

The only country that didn't take this approach and had the balls to let their banks fail was Iceland, and its economy is doing far better as a result. There's no reason to think the Tories would have done any different but I will never forget the fact that it was Labour that bailed out the bankers instead of letting them real what they sowed, and instead left the British public reaping it for generations instead.

Good grief - guess who the only chancellor to actually run a surplus in the last 35 years was?

Gordon Brown! Doesn't make me like him any more, just a bit surprised!

Othe I completely agree with you there!

I voted Tory. I wouldn't go near those threads near the election because unless you had a gazillion links to 'official stats' on every comment you make about how you think DC has done a good job, then you were ground into dust under the heels of hysterical lefties while being called a cunt. I do think the conservatives are doing a good job, and hope Teresa May is PM next.

really Theresa May? Why?

Those of you who vote left and genuinely believe Tories are sadistic, poor-hating, rich, selfish etc etc can you explain how you arrived at that conclusion? Was it based on your experience of actual Tories?

I've been at work and not read much of the thread yet .from skim reading it seems that some Tory voters are talking about their reasons why they voted Tory and I do not think they sound the 'unfeeling monsters' or whatever that they are implied to be on other posts .
I feel that it's not just about w t c but the ideailogy which I'd like to have the opportunity to hear about .
For eg it's assumed a cut in w t c - which I just said it's not about oops ! Will affect the poorest . However dc said he didn't want to affect the poorest - we used to get w t c but now we don't due to income - I must admit at the time I saw it as a perk but we were not poorley off at all so why did we get it ? We were on about 43 grand pa .my friend deliberately works less to maximise them - she said so as a normal discussion and saw it as entitle d income .i think that Wd be bad for the economy as well as us getting it when we didn't need it .on reflection now I woulndt have applied for it - it just seemed the norm at the time and I just can't justify it logically in retro spect .i think it's wrong that that was the culture and can still be .it should be there to help people in difficulty , the most vulnerable not someone in a comfortable position .not all benefits are causing g poverty - my relative has a disability and is a wheelchair user and her benefits are good / sufficient for what she needs not wants and she lives well - she would be the first to say it .
In this sense I welcome benefits cuts for myself as I didn't need them and Wd not apply for them if in same position .i imagine this type of cut is acceptable to some - it's not all about people dying due to cuts as some people fear ? To me we are all in it together and why should I not support a cut that wd benefit if applied widely , the wider society .? I think that labour was generous with things like this but helped to created an entitlement feeling to benefits in some respects and people saw the wtc as part of their income so object to it being taken away .however if dc keeps this for the poorest then that is protecting the most vulnerable .
Finding what I've read so far useful and intresting .im glad there is a expression of views . Thanks .