to be really scared of the Tories getting into power?

[Coldhands]

I've never really been into politics but now I have a DS, I am thinking about the things that have helped us etc and I realised that Labour has actually done a lot to improve the things that I think are important.

If the Tories get in, the things they want to change/cut effects me and my family and I am really really dreading them getting into power to the point that it is making me quite upset.

I am on In Cap benefit for M.E./CFS and everytime I have a medical I have to prove how I cannot work. It is difficult to do this with a fluctuating condition that you cannot test for or see and the Tories want to retest everyone on In Cap with harder tests and I am terrified of not passing and being forced back to work where I would end up at square one again and have no energy, have to give up work again and go through the whole sodding process again whilst not being able to afford to live.

Then they want to get rid of the Child Trust Fund for anyone who earns over £16000. My DH earns just over this and it wouldn't be fair to subsequent DCs for them not to have a TF and DS has one so we would have to find the money to start them one.

They want to cut funding to Surestart that I have found to be absolutely brilliant and it really helped me when I had PND. There is more stuff that I can't remember and don't want to make my post too long.

I have sent off my postal vote so I have a voice but me and my DH were talking and we really don't see Labour getting back in as there are so many people who are fed up them and blame them for everything. One reader in The Sun (I know, quality paper that I read) was blaming Gordon Brown for the sodding volcano.

AIBU?

'I didn't mean it was a dirty job. All jobs are important from GPs to cleaners. I was responding to

"not everyone can be a banker or barrister or whatever, the street sweepers and orderlies of the world are just as if not more important!"

saying that street sweapers are well paid. '

I knew i should have put in a disclaimer, i know all jobs are important, shame to tories don't.

I agree about special schools.
I would have had to home ed DS2 if mainstream was his only obtion.

It pisses me off that parties seem to have to have some cant about educating children with special needs or disabilities.
Why can't the aim be to proivide optimum care rather than "all kids should do x"

LOL @ Rivens video!

I remember many people who worked with me wringing their hands in horror and fear 13 years ago. I thought it was pointless trying to anticipate trouble then and I think the same now.

No party is likely to have a big enough overall majority to bring in anyhting without th eagreement of one of the other two parties. In effect that will mean I suspect business as usual for most people.

the single biggest effect on most people will actually be whetehr the economy can ecover quickly and I suspect thats not down to party politics but business confidence.

I don;t see the point worrying about something which might not happen when in fact you probably should be worrying about the thing you haven't even thought of

I know Labour are not perfect but in the first five years they were in power they made a real difference to reducing those in poverty. Unfortunately they couldn't keep that up and then just flat lined but I really do think that Tory policies would have widened the gap between rich and poor. Still whatever party gets in we are in for a rough ride now. All the parties are going to take the things you like....we really can't afford it.

Or we tax those that can afford it and keep the support for those that need it. I would welcome more taxation. I'll pay to keep our society a nicer.

Personally I'm far more concerned about what Labour would do if they stayed in power.

Love Rivens video. I am also terrified. I can't even stand to think about it much because it makes me actually feel physically sick.

Loved that video! I'm worried about the tories coming in and how that will affect my job and family. I always end up voting Labour as it seems the best way to keep Tories out.

Riven - thank the lord for small mercies huh!

I am not scared. I cast my mind back to 1997, and loads of people were terrified at the idea of labour, thinking back to the winter of discontent. I don't imagine if the tories win we will return to the days of Thatcher.

However, I would not be at all happy with a Tory government. I personally cannot agree with the main tory ethos (scratch the caring surface and it it still there) of each man for himself, if you do well great but if you are one of the unfortunates, stuff you, you can look after yourself. In the main despite all their protestations of equality the conservatives stand for white, CofE, middle class, male.

I remember 1997 - I was 19, had a baby, was single, worked on the shop floor in a factory and was utterly broke. I have felt under labour that I could hold my head up high, that I was not some kind of representative of the underlcass, and that I had some worth, and some potential.

I will probably benefit under tory policies, I claim no benefits and am on the higher tax
band. However what of people who are in need of supplementary benefit? I do not want to go back to the days where people in need were disregarded. I know that there will be cuts whoever gets in. I just trust labour more to ensure that people are looked after.

And finally, as wonderfully spun David Cameron is (by an ex NOTW editor) I cannot think that he has any idea of what life is like for the majority of the population of the UK. If you are one of the prosperous, second home, privately educating middle class type (embodied by the lifestyle pages in the Sunday Times), yes, he knows your kind of life and will preserve it. Anyone else - nope.

I cannot have any kind of faith in someone who is the type to join the Bullingdon club. Yes, OK, he was young, but that is not excuse. Your sense of morality and values are pretty much there at that age (mine was), what kind of person thinks it is a good thing to belong to a vile society which upholds all the distinctions of class and superiority which we are trying to eradicate in this country? Underneath all the matiness, David Cameron is just an nasty old tory of the old school. No thanks.

I am so confused

Me too, Tired. I just can't decide.

I'm no great fan of the Conservatives and will probably vote Labour (albeit reluctantly), but I'm struck by all those who say they can't imagine how DC could understand what life is like for a working class family. Do people honestly think that the Labour Cabinet are representative of 'normal' Britain? Most of them are Oxbridge, privately educated types too. I did work experience at Labour HQ whilst I was a student, and even though I was privately educated myself I remember feeling very intimidated - even by people not much older than me.

I hope that the Conservatives will be less wasteful than Labour. I find it ludicrous that there are disabled people on here unable to get winter fuel allowance. My parents receive it because they're over 60, even though they have absolutely no need for it whatsoever as they are such high earners.

I think GetOrf's post is brilliant, and love Riven's video.

The Tories don't care about anyone who can't help themselves.

Without Labour we would still be scared of getting ill because we couldn't afford to pay for treatment, would not have had the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Race Equalities Act, basically most things that make life worth living for the ordinary "common" person.

I am terrified of the Tories getting back in, and I rely on no benefits whatsoever.

Whoever get in will have to make major cuts.

Yes Labour did make a big difference to the lower paid during their first 5 years of GVT but they did not inherit a budget deficit as large as this one!

Cuts will have to be made - to put it very simply "you cannot spend wht you have not got!!

Obviously everybody can only see things from their own perspective....

No pensioners on MN as they are working in B and Q because Gordon Brown runied their pensions with his ill thought out tax raid.

I'm sure a lot of service personal aren't big fans of Labour and Gordon Brown. Soldiers killed because they were sent to fight an illegal war with inadequate equipment......

ETC ETC ETC

Honestly I fared well under the last Tory Govt but I realise my perspective in the London Suburbs will be different from people who live in other parts of the country.

I haven't suffered under Labour as we were home owners before the prices went through the roof. My children will not be so lucky.

Teenagers are lucky to get a job with a starting salary of £15k around here, I earnt that doing an office job in 1992! House prices have tripled but wages have stagnated. My children will only ever be able to rent.

But then maybe I'm insane because I actually adore David Cameron!

OP I agree with you. Initially I thought they might be okay for us because we pay soo much tax (well dh, i dont pay any myself..) but after seeing some of the debates and hearing more from them all I don't like the sound of DC @ all, i actually prefer labour. Originally you just look @ all the tax and think why do we have to pay so much? feeling like you don't get anything for your money, but when you consider all the public services actually we do get a lot. I wouldn't be happy to see any cut to sure start or NHS, eductation or any of that so rather just continue with the high tax if the choice came down to that. These kind of services cant work with 'every man for himself' attitude. I think a lot of people might go pro conservative for a 'change' but when you look @ what may be changed, will probably be worse off in the end?

ah pagwatch sadly never heard Rumfields known unkown speech but I have adopted and I learnt very quickly that whatever you spent hours fretting over was unlikely to happen but instead something completely different did. This is a mantra a repeat to all prospective adoptive parents and just two weeks ago I was emailed by one who was on the point of travlling to Kaz to adopt saying "how right you were - we certianly weren't worrying about a volcanic eruption on iceland!". I love it when I'm right (they are there now so I'm allowed to be smug!).

"I cannot think that he has any idea of what life is like for the majority of the population of the UK" - would anyone like to place a bet on how many past prime ministers had experience of life as it affects the majority of people on the UK? I guess Thatcher had one of the more "normal" upbringings and it hardly imbued her with empathy.

We've had better public services under Labour because:

• they borrowed the money
• they've introduced as yet unpaid for public-private partnerships (so the nice new hospitals are yet to be actually bought, as it were)
• they have introduced more stealth taxes than any government, ever, in the history of governments

They've left the country in an absolute house of cards position where one puff and we're gone. Because of the high rate of borrowing that GB's done to support his acts of bribery (tax credits, benefit levels, improved public servies) the country is in a dire, dire financial position. Why on earth any other party wants to take on this poisoned chalice I really have no idea.

I am absolutely all for making sure that there is a proper, well funded safety net, and it's clear to me that the "modern" Tory party supports this too, as do the Lib Dems. We're not going back to any dark ages here - and forget Mrs T - that's all dead and buried.

No matter who comes into power it's going to be a very, very hard few years. Tories are likely to try to make cuts in the wastage that Labour are famous for - but also in the pointless things Labour brought in to bribe the voters. Things which really should go are the Child Trust Fund (I mean.. FFS), and I'm not keen on the health in pregnancy grant although I'm sure it's useful to many (so means test it). Similarly the "elderly" fuel allowance should be means tested and maybe more given to those on low incomes, and remove it from those on high incomes.

Tax credits - now don't get me started there. As a way to get people into work - fantastic. But I was "entitled" to £400 a month that I just didn't need so I didn't take - which seems odd but it seemed so wrong - therefore the system is screwed. Similarly one can live better on benefits than on the minimum wage. That's not a safety net, that's government incompetence.

I've voted for Labour in the past as it was clear that the Tories had run out of steam and needed to go. This time, I've thought long and hard between the Ts and the LibDems but I don't like quite a few of the LD policies personally - but they do seem to be a good alternative.

Labour has done a lot of good for a lot of people but it's done it on a wing, a prayer and a whole load of borrowing. It's not real and the good times are over guys... either accept less from the government (tories and LDs) or more and more taxes (labour). It's gonna be a hard few years. The country's credit card is a maximum and now it's time to pay it back - with interest.