to think that the tories actually have nothing to offer families?

[lowrib]

I'm not a staunch Labour supporter by any means, and I certainly don't agree with all they've done - but if you look at what they've done for families, they've actually implemented a lot of things that make a real difference in practical terms, like

• professionalising the child minding profession
• increasing maternity leave pay from 6 months to 9
• introducing child tax credits & working tax credits
• providing more nursery school places
• putting in practical measures to make it easier for children to stay on at school post-16

And probably lots more things (anyone?)

The tories keep going on about helping families, and 'mending our broken society' but how exactly do they plan to do that?

We don't know where their promised cuts will hit, but personally I feel very uneasy. I really don't trust them to leave families alone, and think it will be absolutely disastrous to see all this unpicked. For some families these things are simply convenient, but for many children, it's what makes it possible for them to live a decent family life.

AIBU?

The tories will help a certain type of family - and it won't be mine.

If you plan to send your children to Eton, i'm sure taht they'll be only too pleased to help. Otherwise avoid them like the plague.

robin you are talking crap. labour have sucked us dry and i can only think the conservatives can be better - but there's no way we could afor eton - we can't even do private schools.

Oh, yes, I sooo want men who don't pay taxes (not to mention cheat on and leave their wives for a younger model) deciding what the unwashed masses should pay in tax and how it should be spent.

NOT.

DH has been a docotr for 18 years and he says labour has done a lot to try and improve the NHS

increased number of medical studenst

forced in the new consultant contract - consultants must work the equivalent of of 8-6 Mon-Fri before they are allowed to do private work

brought in the 18 week pathway

There's lots horribly wrong with the NHS (managers), but it's so much better than the days when you woukld wait years to even see a consultant

If tax credits go - I will go under financially. At present I rely on the tax credits I get to bump up my salary. With it I can just manage - without it I may as well not work. If on the other hand they up my salary to take this into account (not likely as I work for the NHS) then I could manage.

I am honestly not sure who I will vote for.
The NHS has definitely improved in terms of waiting times, personally I laugh most when any Tory MP goes on about dirty hospitals while conveniently forgetting that they were the people who privatised the bloody servces in the first place - that is when the rot set in.

since doctors contracts have got so amazingly better since labour came to power its hardly surprising that doctors are positive - more money for no out of work hours = biased professional.

jolly - wish i could remember the privatised hospitals in easten england that had been privatised and had no instances of people getting ill through gaining infections in hospital. so are you saying the press reports about people chasing targets rather than doing their jobs are wrong?

YANBU.

I'm not overly impressed with the current government, but I remember the last Tory government too well.

I'm also supressing a wry giggle at the people suggesting that Labour are somehow responsible for the global financial crisis of the past couple of years.

Fuel has gone up because the price of oil has gone up - can't see a Tory govt removing the levy on fuel either so that's a non-starter.

As for privatised hospitals being low with infection rates - am sure they are as they keep all their cleaning "in house" rather than contracting out to whoever charges the lowest rate. Also all their surgery is planned so it's not comparing like with like.

But yes - there are too many managers in the NHS and not enough bodys on the ground floor to do the actual work.

They are all lying twunts - and I wouldn't trust "call me Dave" Cameron any further than I could throw him whuch would not be far.

"We will recognise marriage and civil
partnerships in the tax system in the next
Parliament"

They don't say how. But as I understand it, a childless couple will get a tax break becasue they are married while a couple who live together who have childrn, or a single parent, will not have a tax break. The current government has the principle that money must go to children, whatever their family set up, which is right. Giving a childless couple a tax break for another holiday just because they're married, is ludicrous.

?stats have always shown that children do far better when bought up in married families.?

And when you weigh those stats for income, stats have always shown that the single biggest variable in whether children do better, is how much their parents earn. The children of married couples do better, because they are richer. So what's the tory proposal? To increase the income differential between the children of married and non-married parents, thus re-inforcing the very factor which leads to the differential in outcomes. Brilliant.

Oh and great for men who dump their wives for a younger model. Off they fuck, marry younger model and keep their tax break because they're married, while their dumped ex-wives and children lose their's because their family set up doesn't deserve to be rewarded. Nice to know so many women are comfortable with this.

Xenia please please stand for PM you totally get my vote[grin.]You are the voice of sanity echoing in the halls of the eternally downtrodden, the wage slaves and tiny cogs in the great Labour (spluttering, smoking ,juddering to a grinding ,wheezing halt, with broken bits tossed on the compost heap) MACHINE. You rock!

what is wrong wiv de fackin smileys today I really wanted to give that Xenia warrior bird a round of applause . Ah here goes again and another chuffing

The trouble with politicians is that they don't look beyond the next election. Scoring points off each other. A horrible way to run a country.

I find UK politics totally depressing and the way the country has been run into the ground financially scandalous.

Our children will have to pick up the pieces of our overspending.

I agree that our country is in a real mess, but as a family who relies on tax credits to survive each month what choice do you have to vote against that system?
DH and I are self-employed and work bloody hard, but currently getting a bigger tax break would make no difference to our income as we are barely crossing the threshold for paying tax to begin with.
I can understand if I was in a different profession my perspective would be different and I respect other's opinions, but in reality how do I vote if I don't want to cut off the income that we need to survive at the moment?

i think herbeutitude said it all!

dont vote red or blue

vote green!

Why is everyone saying the Tories would get rid of tax credits?

Here is their policy on this

They say they will get rid of tax credits for families earning over 50K - which I agree entirely with them on. You just don't need tax credits at that income level.

There are lots of genuine reasons not to dislike Tory policy, but it should be based on the reality of what they say, not on fiction.

If you are earning 50000 and say you still need tax credits, then you are lying. At that income they are obviously a nice bonus but ultimately a luxury.

Argh!!!

That should obviously read

There are lots of genuine reasons to dislike Tory policy, etc.

I was wondering where that Chinese whisper had come from. Soon it will be received wisdom, when it isn't true at all. What about those extra SureStart jobs? Aren't they going to be any good?

I'm sure Labour will be returned. There are too many people on benefits and employed by the state for the Tories to get much of a look in. No turkey is going to vote for Christmas.

Alot of comments about Labour and the tories here - what is peoples take on Lib Dems? or any other parties for that matter.

why shouldn't famalies earning over 50k get tax credits- surley they have paid enough into the system to have earned it? Our tax credits make it worth while for me returning to work (only just)

Labour policies have made a real financial difference to my family (3 kids, one of whom is severely disabled).

DD is 18, born in the last Tory era. I had no free nursery care, no tax credits, no nothing. I was a single parent, working full-time, living in the North and felt like I could have been in a Dickens novel.

That's it, people voting with the pocket. I don't blame you, of course. Of course you'd do that. Why wouldn't you?