Page 4 | What exactly is the Conservative government doing or going to do, for the 'working classes'? What are their tangible, core policies, to benefit the average Joe & Jane?

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 13/05/2017 18:25

They are scrambling a manifesto up as we speak, hoping it will beat Labour's.

Well we haven't seen Labours yet just an old draft.

Tories will win the election whether people like it or not.

Labour members chose to keep Corbyn now they have to live with that decision.

jelliebelly · 13/05/2017 18:30

They are scrambling a manifesto up as we speak, hoping it will beat Labour's.

But they don't need to beat Labours manifesto they just need a manifesto that makes sense and can actually be delivered without the need for unicorns and fairy dust...

WhatALoadOfOldBollocks · 13/05/2017 18:39

I would like to know when people, assuming they are adults, start being self sufficient and standing on their own two feet instead of sponging off of other people's hard earned taxes?

Damn those pesky disabled and mentally ill people. Lazy scroungers. Damn those stupid abused mothers who have escaped their partners and want to make a better life for themselves and their children, but can't go to uni to improve their job prospects because they can't afford childcare. Yeah, fuck 'em! BTW, I'm none of the above, I have a comfortable life, I'm just able to see the bigger picture and not assume benefits claimants are scroungers.

BadKnee · 13/05/2017 21:21

Sorry - I know the manifesto per se hasn't been released but I meant that generally - ie "promises". But you are right - it was lazy writing!

minifingerz · 13/05/2017 21:33

I really, really don't know.

I do know that they have utterly fucked over state education to the point where you would be hard pressed to find anyone who works in it who supports their education policies.

JoffreyBaratheon · 13/05/2017 21:33

Well let them in one more time we will have no NHS. So I guess the 'plebs' will be back to having no medical care. Education budgets also have been shredded. So there's that. May won't rule out more cuts to disability benefits. So we will be living in some grim shitty future dystopia. Business as usual whilst we have these callous shites in charge.

Maybe we'll be allowed to doff our caps as they drive past splashing us with mud.

Same as ever, in other words.

minifingerz · 13/05/2017 21:43

"I would like to know when people, assuming they are adults, start being self sufficient and standing on their own two feet instead of sponging off of other people's hard earned taxes?"

There have always been people who can't make ends meet. Sometimes it's through life circumstances - illness, divorce, being raised in a chaotic household where no one values education, being inadequate or having substance abuse problems or undiagnosed learning difficulties. In the past these people would just live in abject poverty and usually die an early death.

Then the welfare state, the NHS and decent public sector housing made this largely a thing mainly of the past.

The Tories are dead set on bringing it back. :-(

JanetBrown2015 · 13/05/2017 22:21

The Tories support the welfare state and the NHS. There is a lot of misinformation out there at present for obvious political reasons. Someone earlier on this thread said Tories were bringing in fox hunting. That is yet more fake news - instead there will be a free vote on it which may well go the way of the last - no fox hunting.

Just be very careful to check everything for accuracy whether you are a Conservative or Labour voter.

DorisMcSweeney · 13/05/2017 22:33

It's clear that Labour will be fully supportive of the working class. Right up until the point when they pick up the phone to the IMF and beg for a bail out

minifingerz · 13/05/2017 22:55

"The Tories support the welfare state and the NHS"

Why do we need food banks now then?

Why do we have record levels of homelessness when the Torys have been in office for so long?

Over a quarter of children living in poverty?

A smaller proportion of GDP allocated for healthcare than almost any European country?

Massive reductions in education spend per head? Biggest in a generation...

Original poster

MaggieLightBlue · 13/05/2017 23:09

May supporting fox hunting is not fake news. There is very recent video footage of her pledging her support for it.

I don't believe they're putting in more money than ever into the NHS.

The cuts and changes within the NHS have badly affected my family.

More importantly, there seems to be no feasible plan from this government to build afforable homes. We've made so many of our own cuts and sacrifices as a family, but still can't afford to save a penny towards a house deposit. DH works particularly hard. He overworks himself

OP posts:

christinarossetti · 13/05/2017 23:28

They have no policies aimed at redistributing wealth to ensure that everyone in one of the richest countries in the world has enough to eat and somewhere safe to sleep, let alone anything else.

I sort of think that if May did have any policies which might have popular appeal, she might actually participate in a TV debate.

RainbowsAndUnicorn · 13/05/2017 23:31

If children are living in poverty, it's not the governments fault regardless of the party. The parents are responsible for the children, no one else.

Throwing money at people doesn't work, it just creates a nation with a low work ethic and a huge sense of entitlement.

Railgunner1 · 13/05/2017 23:46

Parents have been made redundand through austerity, or work zero hours, or fell ill, had an accident that left them disabled...

Original poster

MaggieLightBlue · 13/05/2017 23:48

Christina I'd like also like to see a live debate.

Rainbows I sort of see what you're saying; though most families who rely on the NHS and the provision of affordable housing, should not automatically be assumed to lack work ethnic or to have a huge sense of entitlement. That's such a broad, unbalanced statement to make.

OP posts:

coconuttella · 14/05/2017 00:30

They have no policies aimed at redistributing wealth

Of course they do (though not as much as you may like perhaps)....

Someone earning £100k will pay around £30k in income tax, someone on £15k, less than £1k.... quite substantial redistribution there!

coconuttella · 14/05/2017 00:43

If children are living in poverty....

This whole poverty thing is used by the Left disingenuously.... they know most people tend to think of poverty in absolute terms, when the measure they quote is relative (I.e. The official measure which counts poverty as being below 60% of median earnings).

If child poverty is rising, it's because more people are falling below this threshold,
Not necessarily because more are poorer in an absolute sense (in fact it's quite possible to become richer and find yourself become classified as 'poor' at the same time!.... as such it's a measure of what most people would consider 'equality'. I'd be 'poor' by this measure if compare against the population of Kensington and Chelsea, but I'm not 'poor' by any normal understanding.

Dragongirl10 · 14/05/2017 00:55

Raised the personal allowance twice...now it is 11K earned before paying tax..

Raised the minimum wage.

Introduced Help To Buy for first time buyers, introduced Help to Buy ISA.

Introduced substantial responsibilities on LL to protect tenants. Deposit scheme to protect tenants deposits to name one.

As a higher rate taxpaying family, there are many other policies l can think of that benefit the lower earners..but not one that has specifically benefited us....we still vote Conservative

CakeAhoy · 14/05/2017 01:38

RainbowsAndUnicorn I know right.

I mean, take me for example.

Went and got all bloody disabled so I can't provide for my own children.

Personally, what I feel would really improve my work ethic, would be watching as my children slowly starve.

Might have a problem though. Consultants say I can't work should be ok, we are scrapping the NHS soon right? I won't be able to have one of those soon

Employers don't want someone who is in and out of hospital so often too.

Tad 'unreliable' you see.

chopsticky · 14/05/2017 06:42

Throwing money at people doesn't work, it just creates a nation with a low work ethic and a huge sense of entitlement

Like most politicians then. Boom tish.

minifingerz · 14/05/2017 07:11

"Throwing money at people doesn't work, it just creates a nation with a low work ethic and a huge sense of entitlement"

It depends what your aims are. If your aim is to stop the children of the unemployed being bought up in dire poverty and experiencing the physical and mental ill health which goes hand in hand with this, then actually I think you'll find throwing money at unemployed people works quite well.

As for 'entitled', well talk to children at some of the top private schools in the U.K. 3x as much spent on their education as the norm, skiing holidays, trust funds etc, absolutely none of which they've earned or especially deserve, but nobody thinks that this is harmful to their characters or morals. Why does it only apply to the children of the poor?

Personally I'd like to see a citizens wage...

Believeitornot · 14/05/2017 07:25

The NHS cyber attack is a symptom of the Tories deliberate underfunding. So we will see more of the same from the Tories.

Education will continue to be under funded. The amount of funding per pupil has gone down and will continue to go down. This has been confirmed by independent watchdogs.

Social care will get worse. The Tories have cut 40% from local councils. Again, confirmed by independent sources. This will get worse.

We've had years and years of neoliberal policies which did not result in a strong economy (unemployment and inequality went up under Thatcher). When the Tories got back in in 2010, we had more neoliberal policies. 7 years later we have a low wage economy with high housing costs.

The Tories' founding principle is to keep things the same. So keep the rich rich and the poor in their place.

They have no aspirations for the "poor", the young, the disabled. If they did, they would invest in better public services.

If they had economic sense, they would ensure that the core basics are in place. School buildings would be maintained (they're not), the NHS IT basic systems would be maintained (I'm not talking about fancy projects here but the basics).

As a result, later on down the line, the school buildings that fall down will need replacing. It will cost much much more than if they were maintained now. The same for NHS IT, the same for social care, the same for social housing.

These are core provisions. The basics! Don't you wonder where all the money is going? It's going to things like high speed transport links, to prop up the Chinese investment in nuclear power stations, to fund unnecessary free schools.... it's going to the wrong places.

The Labour Party at least realised that these are the basics and is talking about them. Hell they made mistakes in office but we had a global financial crisis. It was global. Which countries got off lightly during that? Not many. I can't think of any to be honest - except maybe Germany and they spend a much greater proportion of public money on public services than we do.