To despair that people still vote Tory given their track record and outright dishonesty?

[flashbac]

I don't get it. Its depressing. We deserve better than this surely? Why give them the green light? What kind of society do we want? One where liars get our approval?

@SinkGirl

We can't afford any of that either. If the government don't rain the spending on soon we are going to see serious declines to the standard of living in this country.

For whom? Not for the big bosses of the companies the tories have been chucking money at. The standard of living has already seen a “serious decline” over the last decade - the number of food banks should tell you that. The number of people booted off disability benefits despite not being fit to work. The bloody bedroom tax which has disproportionately impacted disabled people.

If anyone’s standard of living decreases, it will be those who are barely coping already. That’s the precise nature of the problem.

Yes he poor will be hit worse. All other parties want much higher spending which will mean the country goes broke much quicker. Conservatives are terrible but still by far the best option.

Yanbu op. I will never ever vote Tory. DP is NHS frontline and is treated appallingly. With the tories in charge this will never change and I just truly hate everything they stand for.

Yes he poor will be hit worse. All other parties want much higher spending which will mean the country goes broke much quicker. Conservatives are terrible but still by far the best option.

It’s not a household budget. Increased public spending stimulates the economy, it doesn’t mean the country will “go broke quicker”, and they are very far from the best option.

@the80sweregreat

My son was ranting about the Prince Phillip boat yesterday. I m shocked if they do this ( but not surprised if they do ) Considering that Corbyn was ridiculed for suggesting free broadband 18 months ago and now oodles can go on this and a new media room and all the other things they have paid out for , it does seem a kick in the teeth. People will just shrug though..

Prince Phillip boat: cost £200 million. Free broadband: cost £20 billion, potentially 5 times that.

@Blackberrycream - the left is not perfect, but the current crew are beyond everything I can remember. I think it is perfectly possible to behave ethically and morally even if I disagree with your politics - there are many Tory politicians I can think of like this - I didnt agree with Teresa May, but I was sure she was trying to do what she felt was best for the country. Rather than what was easiest, best or conferred most glory on her.

@SinkGirl

Yes he poor will be hit worse. All other parties want much higher spending which will mean the country goes broke much quicker. Conservatives are terrible but still by far the best option.

It’s not a household budget. Increased public spending stimulates the economy, it doesn’t mean the country will “go broke quicker”, and they are very far from the best option.

Increased government spending would mean higher taxation, higher borrowing or printing more money.

The first depresses the economy, the second means finding more money to service higher borrowing costs and the third means inflation, particularly of assets.

There has been a lot of the third in the UK since the GFC.

Countries don't 'go broke' like businesses, but they do default on their debts, and the outcome is messy. The UK came very close to defaulting in the late 70s, other rich countries have suffered similar.

I've never voted Tory before either but tonight I have.

I'd rather vote Tory than Labour or any of the other woke parties who pretend to care about women but don't in reality. If your party tells me I'm an evil bigot for questioning whether male bodied people should be placed in female prisons then you're not a party I can trust to take a reasonable stance on anything else.

The Tory party might not care much about women's rights either but at least they know (and have been prepared to say publicly) what a woman is.

Tory = Least. Worst. Option.

It’s not a household budget. Increased public spending stimulates the economy, it doesn’t mean the country will “go broke quicker”, and they are very far from the best option.

Considering Labour loudly promoted thier last 'fully costed economic policy' was published in an op-ed signed by non economic journalists etc the cons are better for the economy, especially when labour decided to buff up the free stuff and offered free broadband which was comical in the costs analysis, the meme of it isn't a household budget at this point shows more about your lack of economic understanding than it does to the poster you are trying to call out.

@Justanotherlurker

It’s not a household budget. Increased public spending stimulates the economy, it doesn’t mean the country will “go broke quicker”, and they are very far from the best option.

Considering Labour loudly promoted thier last 'fully costed economic policy' was published in an op-ed signed by non economic journalists etc the cons are better for the economy, especially when labour decided to buff up the free stuff and offered free broadband which was comical in the costs analysis, the meme of it isn't a household budget at this point shows more about your lack of economic understanding than it does to the poster you are trying to call out.

Good job really as they spend over £800 for a roll of fucking wallpaper.

I'm no longer in the UK but the I think the trans issue is a bit of an iceberg everywhere.

I find it's quite normal for people in daily life to be baffled by it all. Yet in the media it's apparently all a done deal.

I suspect that the Tories, by dragging their feet slightly have positioned themselves very astutely without painting a target on themselves.

@Justanotherlurker

It’s not a household budget. Increased public spending stimulates the economy, it doesn’t mean the country will “go broke quicker”, and they are very far from the best option.

Considering Labour loudly promoted thier last 'fully costed economic policy' was published in an op-ed signed by non economic journalists etc the cons are better for the economy, especially when labour decided to buff up the free stuff and offered free broadband which was comical in the costs analysis, the meme of it isn't a household budget at this point shows more about your lack of economic understanding than it does to the poster you are trying to call out.

On what basis are the tories better for the economy?

It’s amusing that you accuse others of ignorance while making unsubstantiated statements like “the conservatives are better for the economy” - on what basis? Here’s a brief analysis on various different metrics over the past couple of decades. Please show me which of these metrics suggest that the conservatives are “better for the economy”?

Slashing public spending to the bone does not necessarily equate to “better for the economy” - you can mock the very brief response I made all you like, it’s true regardless. The irony is that Labour have historically not borrowed more than the conservatives

The whole “Labour just want to spend all the money” is right up there with “Labour caused the global financial crisis” as ridiculous arguments.

Sorry, link didn’t post: www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-qa-which-party-has-a-better-track-record-on-the-economy

Nice one Hartlepool!

@TomPinch

I'm no longer in the UK but the I think the trans issue is a bit of an iceberg everywhere.

I find it's quite normal for people in daily life to be baffled by it all. Yet in the media it's apparently all a done deal.

I suspect that the Tories, by dragging their feet slightly have positioned themselves very astutely without painting a target on themselves.

In a nut shell. That’s all they have done on the trans debate. Which is enough to buy tune for important discussions. Which won voters kicked out of Labour.

It’s sad really that’s all we have to cling on to but it shows how important the issue is that we are will to do this.

It will get worse, growing inequality and poverty will lead to more and more authoritarian and right wing policies being implemented, fear the other they are coming for your women/homes/jobs/rights and with a complacent if not corrupt media it will be encouraged, I'm disabled so you can save a bit of welfare spending there when their policies do kill me of out of neglect as more and more of the services I access are closed due to lack of or inadequate funding from government

That was a resounding message from Hartlepool

Labour will flounder if they don’t listen to people. Peter M was good to hear this morning but the party has gone very badly since Blair years.

Interesting people are concerned about women’s rights with Tories but Labour have never elected a female leader in their history .

I once heard someone say a gay person should never vote Conservatives even though they were the party to legalize gay marriage, put Alan Turing on money, allowed gays to donate blood for the first time. I often wonder do people think people vote Tories for the sake of it?

@SinkGirl Most of the debt the Conservatives have racked up is due to defecits they have inherited from Labour. If for example George Osborne had inherited a balanced budget in 2010 do you think he would have massively ramped up the spending? Of course he wouldn't, we would have had a balanced budget for 10 years up to the start of the pandemic.

[quote bp300]@SinkGirl Most of the debt the Conservatives have racked up is due to defecits they have inherited from Labour. If for example George Osborne had inherited a balanced budget in 2010 do you think he would have massively ramped up the spending? Of course he wouldn't, we would have had a balanced budget for 10 years up to the start of the pandemic.[/quote]
Fell for the Tory bullshit that austerity was needed because of the household expenditure model they put out so simpletons could enact hostile policies on the vulnerable? Good job

@JustAnotherPoster00 As Tom correctly explained above. The governments options are.
A) Raise taxes (which Labour were unable to do as they left us with a massive deficit.)
B) Borrow the money. -(obviously the bondholders will want interest)
C) Print the money (Causing inflation and will make everyone other than the rich who have assets poorer in real terms)

Now it seems like all governments are going with option C. Despite claiming they care about inequality the left want even more spending and money printing which will make the rich richer and poor poorer.

[quote bp300]@SinkGirl Most of the debt the Conservatives have racked up is due to defecits they have inherited from Labour. If for example George Osborne had inherited a balanced budget in 2010 do you think he would have massively ramped up the spending? Of course he wouldn't, we would have had a balanced budget for 10 years up to the start of the pandemic.[/quote]
Total. Bullshit.

@UrAWizHarry so you think George Osborne would have increased spending if he inherited a balanced budget in 2010?

"Fell for the Tory bullshit that austerity was needed because of the household expenditure model they put out so simpletons could enact hostile policies on the vulnerable? Good job"

I think you have probably forgotten so much what happened, the reduced regulation of borrowing and with banks which nearly brought the country to its knees. Introduction of university tuition fees, Cash for honours investigations and the gradual u turn on benefits which Blair was doing in 2002.

The majority of our tax goes on social care and health. Perhaps look at the spending yourself and see what should go

www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-public-spending-was-calculated-in-your-tax-summary/how-public-spending-was-calculated-in-your-tax-summary

[quote bp300]@JustAnotherPoster00 As Tom correctly explained above. The governments options are.
A) Raise taxes (which Labour were unable to do as they left us with a massive deficit.)
B) Borrow the money. -(obviously the bondholders will want interest)
C) Print the money (Causing inflation and will make everyone other than the rich who have assets poorer in real terms)

Now it seems like all governments are going with option C. Despite claiming they care about inequality the left want even more spending and money printing which will make the rich richer and poor poorer.[/quote]
D) Invest borrowed money in infrastructure, house building and green industry creating jobs and spending

Lets ignore the GLOBAL financial crash of A and blame Labour like all the good Tory stooges/aplogists did

[quote bp300]@UrAWizHarry so you think George Osborne would have increased spending if he inherited a balanced budget in 2010?[/quote]
Yes.