When can we get rid of this government?

[abraid]

When is the earliest we can throw them out? I feel like starting a calendar and ticking off the days.

Yes the Tories will win I'm afraid but things are going to get bloody awful after that

Do you really think that parental rights, low-income families, the NHS and special needs provision will improve under the Tories? They are going to dismantle all of those things that improve our lives.

Labour has achieved so much - not perfect, no, but my God! If you think this is a sleazy corrupt government bent on lining their own pockets then you have a very short memory

I know somebody that knows Cameron socially - she's not a toff - they met because they both had disabled children and he helped her get a funded place for her daughter at a special school (this was a long time before he became head of the party and he stayed in touch with her and the two parents became mates)

She always said he was ok - sincere, honest, humorous . Aware of his privilege, slightly embarrasseed about it but all in all a decent guy.

Osborne on the other hand is an utter twat. Don't know anybody that thinks otherwise. It scares me that Cameron and he may have the same sort of Blair/Brown pact.

But other than that (sorry about bitty posts.... teething bitey abby BF as I type )

WTC kept our headabove water when asd prevented me working; maydo so again as Dh's job up for redundancy but he has a small business at 16 hours we can try to expand

Flexibleworking law enabled dh to remain in employment when theasd got too problematic (his hourswere altered so that he didnt have to try andsleep whilst 2 asd kids screeched all day- night shift)

I've witnessed sureatrt save famillies in dire sits, such as post- refuge

Tory party not committed to SN schools whih would mean cidlren such as my ds3 being oput back ito MS at the detriment of both thema nd no doubt other kids; ditto ds1's support

I'm surprised as the Sn palce ehre was only obtained with LD help, Tories uninyterested. however, I really don't hink that kids, esp. middly needs ones such as mine, will benefit in any way from a tory governemnt, theirs is the sort of provision that melts away pretty quickly when council budgets are tightened.

i also think that if the tories had been in charge when lehman brothers collapsed in Sep that set off the chain of events with banks etc, they would not have stepped in to bail out banks as Darling did as they would have adopted a more hands off approach - goes against the grain/ free market etc for them and we would be in an absolute mess now (and things could definately be a lot worse than they are now). Thank god labour were in power when that all kicked off.

To answer the OP - the last general election was on 5 May 2005, so that the next election must be held by 4 May 2010. UK elections are generally in October or May/June, so October this year or late April next?
BTW I won't be voting Conservative - lived through the 1980s - and the legacy of that is still affecting this country.

i'm not very political and may get this completely wrong and not put across very well but how come the labour party, which bought the country to its knees in the 70's, can be reborn as New Labour in the nineties but no-one can see past Thatcher and allow the conservatives to be the New Conservative party now?

sorry me again, I also think the saying neil Kinnock came up with before his last defeat.. something along the lines off "don't be old, disabled, below average in any way" if the tories get elected will never be more true than for the election in 2010. Services will be slashed to any vulnerable group not able to put up a fight but called "being efficient". I can already see this happening in London under Boris.

Comlpetely trying hard to be unbiased type answer bamboo?

probably because I was far too young to be aware of the seventies but had the misfortune to be a young adult under the Tories collapse.

A more spersonal answer? because of the amount of protection now available for those of us suffering probable job loss- compared to how we'd have been affected in the eighties and to how we would be now, pretty dramatic, this time we'd keep the house for a start.

One votes for ideals, beleifs, aspiration: but also a roof above your head and a school for your DC.

I would never vote Conservative.

Exactly Molly which is why I am petrified, as a Mother to two boys with ASD, a child possibly at the start of an ADHD / Dyspraxia dx, and enforced carer role due to Sn school buses / lack of SN childcare.

Feeling quite vulnerable in this atm.

Actually Peachy - that is very good point - in the 80's people lost jobs, homes- The then Tory Govt didnt give a toss.

Lilymaid - the election doesn't have to be held by 4th May - the current Parliament expires 5 years after it first met, not 5 years after the date of the election, and this Parliament first met on 11th May 2005. A General Election is generally proclaimed before a Parliament expires, or on the first practicable day afterwards (though this is not actually a statutory requirement, but it would need very unusual circumstances for it not to happen)
After the Proclamation is issued, the procedure then takes 17 days, not including weekends & Bank Holidays, which would take us to June 3rd.

I would actually be really interested to see a poll on MN, for which party would you vote for should an election be called.

Labour
Conservative
Lib Dem
UKIP
BNP
Other
Nom of the above

Maybe something could be set up so you just click on your choice. It would have to be anon of course.

I don't think we do polls here do we? Everyone wuld be up in arms worrying abut tickers/ huns / flashing smileys

Unless a aprty paid MN for it obv LOL

wasn't there a poll a few weeks or months ago about whether smacking children should be banned?

bamboobutton - (going back a bit here) - I think one of the reasons that people (and I'll include myself in this group) are very suspicious of the move to the centre of the Tories is that there really isn't terribly much info out about their actual proposed policies.

What there is, seems a bit worrying; promises of public spending cuts to deal with the financial crisis (eek); castigation of the Labour "bailing out of the banks" - with no viable alternative offered (eek); and weird things, such as all all those low-paid parent tax measures and family benefit to be replaced by a flat-rate hand-out (!) [that was floated by a think-tank - I hope they were joking.].

The above don't sound awfully different from the sort of things that went on in the previous Conservative government. It indicates that, while there has been a shift away from the truly vile rhetoric that washed through the public arena in the 80s, policy-wise, their focus hasn't shifted very much at all.

See I quite like polls, It's one of the only things I think that MN should have. Especially if they weren't dumbed down polls!

Maybe a one off general elecion special to get a proper result. We could start a thread asking but many MNers would avoid it because they didn't want their political opinion known. Which is a shame because I think if you are going to vote for someone to lead your country you should hav no problem explaining why.

*have

And what neither part is fessing up to is what will have to happen in the next term. We simply do not have enough money to continue with the current level of public spending/borrowing.
So will be be higher taxes ( c'mon Gordy, you know you'll have to ) or slashing public services ( Dave me old mate, it's what Tories do)?
They rae both denying it but seriously, what's the laternative, we're all outta cash.

And a weeny, tiny rant:

Did you see the article by Germaine Greer on Margaret Thatcher, just reminding everybody how much of the foreign aid budget was spent promoting the arms trade?

back again, ds was doing a dancing on piss routine on the kitchen floor, had to have a clean up and sluice down.

i wasn't born in the 70's but remember mum going on about it and i'm also too young to remember thatcher, ive only really known a labour government so its interesting to hear other peoples thoughts on the matter.

Yes, Cherryblossoms, the tories in Government (need a shudder emoticon!) will treat all the most vulnerable groups in society as dirt especially single mothers but the lesson they have learnt is not not spout their vile opinions - just remove all funding to help them and encourage the right wing press in referring to single parents as irresponsible, immigrants as scroungers etc.

OP, I really hope that the electorate are not taken in by David Cameron's 'I'm a decent bloke persona' because at the end of the day, I believe that he is the leader of a right wing party that wants to protect and strengthen the interests of the rich and powerful at the cost of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society. Oh yes, I do believe in society unlike Thatcher.

It doesn't matter who the government is, because that's not where the real power is.

It's like saying sooty is better than sweep, when it's the same hand up their arse anyway.