Why are you dreading a Tory government?

[Swedes]

Social mobility under Labour has fallen to the levels experienced in the 1950s. That means if you are born poor, you remain poor and if you are born wealthy, you stay wealthy.

I heard this morning on R4 that the NHS is experiencing the worst funding crisis in its history.

I could go on but I'm sure you get my drift.
Labour have had over a decade to fulfill their promise that "things can only get better". It's time for a change.

Can you please give me a few good reasons why Labour should remain in office?

Lenin - Well the gay community (are they really a community?) are clearly a special case and understandanbly so. Most people don't vote for a party for their stance on one single policy and ignore the rest.

I too agree that Mr Cameron hates single mums so for that reason he wont get my vote. The smug git!

I also think that conservative thinking is an adherance to old-fashioned patriarchal ''values'' and mark a refusal to acknowledge that change in society is normal and inevitable.Life=change. I just think of the old boys network when I think of the Tories - and elitism. Mabe that's my prejudice?

Peter Mandelson - effectively deputy PM - isn't an MP ie hasn't been voted for

Gordon Brown PM - hasn't faced an election as PM

Anyone like the new proposals to interfere with Home Educators ?

I honestly doubt David Cameron hates single mothers. Where is the evidence for this?

Actually cammelia whilst i'm not certain about it I can see the benefits of the HE debate- becuase I have been the person a child being abused and kept shut away by her family ahs approached in fear. Of course the vast majority of HE famillies are above board (I have HE'd myself for a time), but there's a lot of abuse / neglect picked up through schooling that could be missed otherwise. No section of society is exempt from abusers.

I'm surprised at the German NHS- there's a lady in our baby signing group from germany who was enthusing about how much better the system is here and she moved from Germany this year.

SWC I think lots of people vote on single isues tbh, or are greatly informed by them

I categorically could not vote for a prty that would threaten my son's special needs unit- and the Tory record on them was hideos. We tried mainstreaming with support, it was crap. neither can I afford t vote for one with no obvious policy on carers benefits. I ahve to eat after all.

Similarly my aprents- as victims of a pensions collapse (an American based company, not here) with no pension income remaining bar £2k compensation, they need to base their vote on whoever will help them best in a benefits claimant position. They, like me, do not feel that will be the Tories.

other things are counted in, but we'd be daft to vote for something that would significantly affect how we exist.

Peachy - If I was wealthy and voted Tory because of their favourable inheritance tax policy, you would think I was a complete arse. But I might just be doing what a lot of people do, voting for the party that would give me and my family the best outcome. There is a double standard isn't there?

Swedes, mostwealthy people i know do vote tory

however the loss of inheritancetax benefits in no way equates to the lossof income, or tyhe possibility of education for a disabled child

there's a baseline: things you cannot survibe without. CA is one for me, and wtc: hb for me;te SNU for ds3.

Pretty much anything else is wiondow dressing. I do take other stuff into consideration- the environment, immigration, europe- but feeing myself and having a roof that's not a B&B is essential and not voting with that in mind would be foolish

And when I am done with benefits, there will always be poeple in the same place, and I will ahve the memory and the empathy to vote for their best interests because I will have the security to know that I can cope regardless

To be fair, the things Len mentions aren't just favourable to her family - they're also indicative of a broader inclusive outlook, which was a refreshing change back in 1997. Cameron's Conservatives claim to have made a similar advance - I guess we'll find out whether they really have or not next year - but the Tories in 1997 would never had done what Labour did re. civil partnerships.

So it's not just self-interest - it is (or was) an ideological difference. (Just as opposition to inheritance tax can be characterised as an indeological difference, if someone really believes that lower taxes contribute to wealth formation).

PW - I have already said that Len's single issue vote was entirely nderstandable.

Peachy, I'd love to vote left, but how can I? (I didn't think voting green was voting left, aren't they rather small-c conservative in some ways?)

I pay 95% of my income in childcare for two children and got a crap letter back from my MP when I queried her about why childcare vouchers didn't go up. She just blathered on about child tax credit - which we don't get (but not by that much). Empathy and understanding? None. And as a civil servant, Gordon capped my salary for the past few years when times were good, leaving me with far less money than someone in my job had in 2004. Yes I still have my job, but we'd be better off under the Tories with me not working (since they are planning to allow spousal transfers of tax allowances).

And when I called the Lib Dems to say that a local income tax would put me in a far worse state than council tax (because DH and I got on the housing market late so lived in a small-ish house mid-way on the bands) and suggested that taxing property and housing wasn't too bad an idea from a green point of view, the woman told me that after all, "we don't tax the works of art you own, why should be tax your house". Left-ish maybe, but obviously in my local area far too upper-class.

I want to vote for a party with a social conscience, but Labour doesn't care about me, the working mother who isn't in a high-flying city job but still does an essential service on a daily basis. Sometimes I feel like it's an unspoken policy to keep as middle class mothers, who can scrape by on one income, at home with the kids. I'd prefer the Torys, who say it outright, rather than someone who takes away options by financial reasons while proclaiming the opposite.

Sorry I have not read the whole thread but Lenin, on seeing the part of the authoritarian centre right party.
I agree with what you say about the same sex law changes. But feel you cannot deny that this Govt have seen a massive increase in authoritarianism. The ID card, the increase in laws approving of survelliance (especially those being used by local councils)the attempted arrests of MP's in the commons and so on. I have always voted Labour but really feel I cannot do so this time as I feel ths govt has become more alienated as time has gone by. The increase of the power of the state into every day peoples lives has been allowed to go on unchecked, I do feel people now resent this. (This of course is just one of the reasons for this govt's current unpopularity)
Anyway my point is that I do feel that we have seen an increase in authoritarianism by the Labour Govt.

Lenin - It is very annoying to work hard, save hard and then to have to pay 40% tax on your total assets over a derisory limit. It seems to encourage fecklessness. But it wouldn't be sufficient on its own as an election promise.... I'd need some tax breaks during my lifetime.

Lenin - Why specifically do you not want a Tory government as opposed to a return to power of this Labour government. Be specific. Not about the history. About now.

peachy, I have lived in the uk for 13 years now, so, my personal information does come mostly from family that lives in germany....and whilst it is going down, it is still above NHS servises and quality....and I do think the main part is free choice of doctor and self referral, plus no or short waiting lists for general appointments.....of course surgical procedures still have waiting lists and referral criteria attached...