To feel increasingly alienated by Tory voters?

[BarmyBrunhilde]

I am in despair as to where our country is at. With the cost of living crisis looming (and already beginning), this winter is going to be brutal and likely life ending for so many in the UK, and the current aspiring leadership of the Tory party seem to be more interested in litigating culture wars and appeasing NIMBY pensioners in the Home countries than actually addressing any of the serious problems in the UK.

I've never been a Tory voter, but I've always been able to get along with people who have different views (provided they aren't racist/homophobic etc). But how anyone could see all the misery and deprivation on the horizon, look at the prospective leaders and frontbenchers with their complete lack of sultions, and continue with supporting them is genuinely beyond me. I find myself slowly being consumed by bitterness and rage against people for their views, and it frightens me. Am I alone in this?

Yet another Conservative voter bashing thread, really tiresome. Come up with solutions instead of whinging. "Misery and deprivation" - yet I bet all those miserable and deprived people can magically afford the fastest broadband, Netflix, Amazon Prime and yet go to foodbanks because they are "poor". Take some responsibility and get a life. Just to add you would probably class me as miserable and deprived as I cannot work due to health issues, yet I manage to pay my bills, enjoy good food and live a good life by helping others on a voluntary basis.

Yes, hattie, I do think things would be better under Labour. We'd at least have the extra £37 billion that wasn't squandered on Test and Trace and worthless PPE.
All governments have had to deal with these global issues and yet we're the ones with runaway inflation and negative growth. And you're telling people who aren't happy with the Tories to 'get a grip' . . . .

This is the kind of post that makes these threads an absolute farce.

You have actually said that the MAJORITY OF BRITS wish that anyone in receipt of benefit would die. Do you see how ridiculous that is as a statement?

You actually think anyone who doesn't vote for labour is hoping for genocide?

Horrible sweeping generalisation there.

*Corbyn excuse the autocorrect. I’m not even Tory but unfortunately Lib Dem is such a completely pointless party at the moment. So I’m a Tory with my £26k salary and rented accommodation because I genuinely feel like they’re the best option available 🤷🏻‍♀️ I just don’t get why people are so judgy, what does it matter if people vote differently to you. I’m struggling to understand your issue here

Oddly, my sis read me the riot act about the twaw policy. She's very middle class, educated, retired and yet this issue has really got to her. The reason is she can remember not being allowed to count her salary towards a mortgage, not being able to apply for some jobs, being regarded as basically an accessory to her husband.

And that's my concern. I'm younger, always had my own money, my own mortgage, never had to consult a man about anything. I take women's rights for granted because to me, they go without saying. I am any man's equal. But to an older group of women, that isn't true. They sense the risk and it's another reason to distrust Labour. Labour need to understand that - and I don't think they do.

Do you think your life experience matches every other person in the country? Do you think all of these economic forecasts about people not being able to heat their homes, or for a massive recession are all just for a laugh? Do you think that your subjective experience and personal circumstances are exactly comparable to everyone else?

Of course people should do the best they can for themselves and their families, but the odds shouldn’t be stacked against them like this

Well I think that's rather revealing - I'm sure a 'very middle class' retiree (with a triple locked pension) has the luxury on focusing on 'twaw policy' as being some major issue. For most in this country, including hundreds of thousands of working families, we're focused on rather more pressing matters!

@BMW6 what car do you drive?

Where do you get your money from?

I despair - but if all of them too.

“The idea people care about toilets or pronouns than being able to heat their homes, pay their rent and feed and clothe their kids is fairly laughable.”

This casual and uneducated dismissal of what you think should be important is why you’ll never understand why people vote differently to you. For me, and many women, it’s a single issue vote. It’s about the existential definition of women and their rights. Once we’ve lost the right to be proctected as a biological sex-class - 50% of the population we are talking about, we are back to the dark ages. That’s frightening. Many women are the backbone of the family life and carry the home based issues that you describe. I think therefore it’s fairly important to uphold women’s sex based rights. What a shame for you that you don’t give a shit - and clearly don’t understand - about something so fundamental.

@Justcallmebebes FPTP ensures the majority does not get their wishes or a representative number of seats.
I do agree that the opposition does not have anything to say about what could help the country weather this storm. I read the Guardian (so, hardly hostile to Labour or openly supportive of Tories or Tory policies) and I can’t tell you even broadly what Labour’s policies are, what they stand for. Everyone’s asleep at the wheel as far as I can tell

Excellent post @UWhatNow, couldn’t agree more.

The irony..

So where are Labour then? Where is the shadow chancellor and leader? Don’t see them popping up with helpful ideas. I see “tax more” floated around. Like the enough is enough thread. Tax the people who shoulder 90% of the tax burden even more? What kind of solution is that? With that and Brexit can the last skilled professional please turn off the lights.

I have always voted labour, remainer and I’m in a unionised profession. Pretty much left as can be in this country I guess. However, I am kind of getting sick of the lack of opposition, the expectation that everyone else should be paying for each other’s decisions. My husband pays more in tax than I earn and I studied for four years for my job. He is in a high paying industry and very much “essential infrastructure” in today’s world. We seriously discussed emigrating last night and I think we will when our child has finished GCSEs and he’s top 1% yet there is no incentive to stay here. The only answer in this country is tax people more and more (whose salaries are globally, comparatively poor). There is no incentive to work hard or become a higher rate tax payer.

I feel sorry for those just tipping 40% they are truly fucked. It’s not a high salary when you re paying in full for everything, rising costs and everything is going up. Yet they will be paying 40% of their incomes to top up everyone else. I don’t think people realise how shit the pay is in this country and how high the tax burden is.

'Many women' is doing a lot of work there. Can you provide me with a single piece of evidence that a statistically large number of female voters are 'single issue voters' on this issue? Because I can assure, when I'm at a coffee morning with friends it pretty much never comes up - but worry about paying for bills, childcare, and NHS waiting times are coming up more and more as the years march on. The MN feminism board isn't real life, and frankly I'm fed up of the media and politicians banging on about this instead of actually addressing issues that affect people's day to day lives.

@AnotherDayAnotherView and you know for sure that everyone using food banks are sitting at home watching Friends repeats on Netflix all day long?
you can speak for all of them, right?

The UK has had positive growth though in 2022, and for the past five years. I think people may not see clearly how difficult things are elsewhere and around the world. Brexit is a negative, yes, and an anticipated one but disruptions around COVID and the war in Ukraine seem to be having even more impact.

The UK's modest rate of growth in 2022 so far is the same as Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and the USA, slightly worse than Ireland, Norway, Canada, Spain, and Australia and slightly better than Sweden, France, Denmark, Austria, and New Zealand.

This isn't to say the UK could not and should not be doing better, but I don't think it's a "gotcha".

I used to care. I used to vote labour and try and do my bit to share my good fortune and make the UK a nicer fairer place to live in.

Now? Couldn't give a rats arse.

If the UK votes Tory again, then I am going to
A. Stop my voluntary work
B. Stop giving my employees above inflation pay rises
C. Stop giving my employees a profit share
D. Move abroad

Because the country will have shown me that it wants us to be selfish, greedy, and "me first", so that's what I'll become.

@BarmyBrunhilde That triple locked pension of £176 a week! 😀 While she teaches supply one day a week !

Don't dismiss people's concerns like that. Dismissing people's concerns about immigration gave us Brexit and the red wall turning blue.

Being consumed by bitterness and rage...

Yes, you are being unreasonable (and sound unhinged). You need resilience coping strategies & a level outlook & take joy in life.

"Misery and deprivation" - yet I bet all those miserable and deprived people can magically afford the fastest broadband, Netflix, Amazon Prime and yet go to foodbanks because they are "poor".

You'd lose that bet. You'd have more luck on betting on the reappearance of Lord Lucan.

I'm sure the people who continue to vote for this incompetent, venal, corrupt incarnation of a Tory government will cope with the tiresomeness of the whole Tory bashing.

@Itisasecret cost of living, housing, energy, a government asleep at the wheel, an opposition that might as well not be, little concern (“get rid of the green crap”) or incentive to tackle such issues (scrapping grants for home improvement/insulation, eg), culture wars, foreigner scapegoating, imaginary deals that, if they come to be, will remove safeguards being in the EU used to give us… my hope is that the UK market is small enough that American corporations won’t want to push their chlorinated chicken and forever chemicals here and run the risk of having their practices exposed.

I’m also considering emigrating but it breaks my heart. I don’t want to but don’t feel like I have much of choice, given what the country has been turning into in the last decade and a bit