so now youve had chance to think about it....

[ThatVikRinA22]

are you happy with how you voted?

i currently work in the nhs and am about to go into policing within the next month. 2 areas that are about to get axed massively.

are you happy with how you voted? i am the only one in my household and in my workplace who feels i was true to my beliefs and is still happy with how i voted.

are you still happy or do you think your were duped?

i voted labour and i would again.

Am happy. Voted Tory in a labour Scottish stronghold so didnt make any difference locally, never does. But glad the socialists are out, dont think i could have coped with any more new laws and loss of liberty.

The dwp is a monolith, the benefits bill must be slashed, and the tax credits, whilst lovely, are only any good if they are affordable. Socialist governments always leave the country at the brink of bankruptcy, it must feel good to throw the money at the people, but the bill must still be paid.

God i cant sleep

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/18/deficit-cuts-dont-repeat-30s-folly

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/18/british-budget-deficit-coalition-cuts

There's a lot of people saying 2 things -
1 Labour caused this,
2 Dramatic cuts are absolutely necessary.

these 2 statements are put about as fact when they are not fact they are an ideological position.

I'm frustrated that the other side of the case is not being put to the public strongly enough at the moment.

I'm distressed that on a reactionary whim this country has voted in a government which I think will cause undue suffering not just in the short term but in the medium and long term also.

I voted Labour.

Robyn, I couldn't agree more.

Rupert - have a look at the performance of the Major government before you start pretending the Tories are good at managing the economy. And Maggie's two recessions and de-regulating the City. We can all see where the latter got us.

You also need to look up the definition of socialism. Doesn't actually have much to do with Blair's government.

Oh, and perhaps you need a reminder that it was Bush who was in charge in the US when the financial crisis hit. Hardly a socialist.

If Labour were so bad with the more vulnerable how come under LAbour DH ahd a job, and I felt sure our DLA would continue (see lengthy post further down- not bringing myself down troting all that agin) and that ds3's SNU would still be open next year.

And now DH is having to work for himself on far reduced wages, not convinced DLA will keep exisitng as we have invisible disabilities here, and SNU is being given less and less kids which looks shaky.

'Course BA, we've no work wthic right? Those saving we had that we lived off were imaginary? DH's 2 jobs whilst I studied full time (for something that would have led to work had SN childcare been available- no dx's when I started) and cared for rthe boys and their needs. And did a bit of volunteering.

Lazy fat arsed can't be botherd types, us

Les bolleaux.

I did not votefor the ConDem government. the latest Dave Cameron ruse is the Big Society gsome think it is designed to cover the major cuts story which will greatly effect poorer people. That will be part of the reasoning. Politicians are devious by nature, that is part of the game. Severe welfare cuts are also on the cards from Camerons Tory party. my sypathies are with the poor, in the UK we have great divisions of wealth. Nil desperandum, we live to fight another day. yipeeee. Keep smiling.. Laughter is agreat medicine. Hear the one about the vicar well he did, yes, with the Bishops wife ....thats enough of that.

The poor will suffer disproportionately, as they always do, but we're all going to suffer under this government, with the exception of the super rich.

The very rich are always OK, whoever is in power and whatever happens to the economy, but the rest of us will feel the repercussions of this lot selling off the family silver for decades.

I also very much doubt that the cuts the government are proposing will equate to savings. Privatising various government functions will line the pockets of some very wealthy people in the short term (as happened here - yes under a Labour government but there's plenty more to come), and in the longer term there is absolutely no guarantee that they will cost the taxpayer less (I'm inclined to think the exact opposite, tbh).

All I see right now is a government driven by ideology and self-interest. I am all for privatising functions where they will benefit the country, but when they won't, for example, give the Academies Bill the attention is requires, I despair.

I voted Tory and got a new Tory MP. I thought about voting LibDem, but the resulting coalition is the best of both!

The cuts are a necessary evil, and Labour's plans to keep borrowing had filled me with horror. So I now look at the coalition plans with a muted sense of relief, balanced with a complete review of our own family spending and anticipate belt tightening!

I felt that Cameron's "Big Society" was a very positive part of their manifesto, and I was rather confused when it seemed to disappear after the election. Therefore, I am delighted to see it back at the forefront, and I fully understand that it did have to take a back seat while we all focussed on the financial disaster left by previous government and made plans to recover!

However, I am saddened by the cynicism being targeted at the Big Society campaign, apparently by Labour supporters (see the BBC blog). I don't want to be centrally controlled and I do want to have more of a say in local issues, and I accept that I have a duty and responsibility to help where I can. The "Big Society" should not be viewed as a means to cut essential public services, but it should encourage and enable everyone to do more to help their own communities and their own lives.

just because it's in bold doesn't make me believe it I'm afraid plusfourmum!

Plusfour - sounds suspiciously like old-fashioned Tory 'the poor should rely on charity' to me. Citizens have rights to state benefits (if they fulfill the qualifications) and rights to public services. No-one has a right to charity.

If this last month has done anything it has reminded me why I vote Labour.

Not to say it's all bad. But the general tone I dislike, and I can't see a LibDem influence.

Big society? Big bollocks.

FrameyMcFrame - North-East? You mean the North-east where Nissan set up the largest car factory in the UK, enabling us to export cars to Japan? That North-East?

I voted Labour and would again. I'm horrified by what is happening now, and the incoherent and Victorian Big Society nonsense. I am about to have my first baby and sad that he will grow up under this regime.

BarmyArmy, indeed Nissan in Sunderland is great, but the North East is a big area AND nissan is only one employer.
What I was referring to was the ship building, steel and coal industries that were destroyed by the Tories in the 80s. There are communities still deeply scarred by this and second generation benefit culture has been the result.
The public sector is the biggest employer up here now, and likely that cuts will hit hardest here again.

Apparently grants to charities are being cut - or dropped entirely - because councils have been told their funding will be slashed. So just as Cameron demands charities take over the work of the state, he pulls the plug on the funding for their existing work. What's the betting the charities won't get any money for this new work, either?

Volunteers are all well and good - I am one - but you need people to train them and support them. Which costs money.

Those industries weren't 'destroyed' by the Tories. The subsidies that had been propping them up were withdrawn. Unemployment (although unpleasant for those going through it) is a sign of efficiency returning to the economy.

Funny how subsidies are OK when they are going to the City. Massive double standard here. 'Uneconomic' is a value judgment. Personally I can't think of anything more uneconomic than the financial services industry over the past two years, but the guys in charge seem to have survived without suffering any of the pain they have spent the last three decades inflicting on other 'uneconomic' industries.

Everyone else gets thrown on the scrapheap without even a 'sorry' but Tory bankers and their mates get propped up by the taxpayer and apparently that's fine.

I voted labour and would again.

I voted LibDem, because I am (broadly, not in every detail) in favour of LibDem policies. I didn't do it "to keep the Tories out". I would have liked a LibDem government (although I didn't think for one moment that I'd get one) and voted for them on that basis.

I'm not a huge fan of most of the Conservative policies that are being implemented, and still less of a fan of many that are being talked about. But, realistically, the LibDems were always going to have very little influence in the coalition because our current voting system means that their share of the vote didn't translate into many seats (and I don't buy that their share is only x amount because so many vote for them tactically -- the tactical LibDem voting is in areas where they do win seats (or have a realistic chance of it) as no one votes LibDem tactically in areas where they aren't in with a shot of a seat, surely?). It's not like a marriage where both parties are equal; at best they were only ever going to be the tea-boys. I'm hoping that they'll be able to buffer some of the worst Tory excesses but will be voting for an alternative vote system (or whatever PR-type alternative we are offered) when I get a chance. I don't expect AV (or whatever) to get in, though.

Realistically the LibDems couldn't have gone into coalition with Labour; the numbers just didn't work. And the Conservatives got more votes than Labour so the mandate wasn't there either. If Labour had got more votes/seats than the Tories we'd be looking at a Labour/LibDem coalition today. The alternative was to push the Conservatives into a minority government lasting only a few months and then go through the whole election process again. I think in time it may appear to the LibDems that that would have been the better option, but as a pro-PR (and hence pro-coalition) party they can't refuse to participate in a coalition just because they don't have as much influence as they'd like -- it would be silly.

I'd vote LibDem again, for the same reasons, even though I'm not happy with the national situation. I couldn't see voting for either of the other two main parties and am just not sufficiently in tune with Green policies (although I like many of them a lot and would like to see the Greens have more influence).

I live in a notional marginal but in practice pretty safe Tory seat, though, so I knew my vote would make no practical difference.

how is this big society thing going to work when they are asking voluntary groups to offer more services while cutting funding?
big society my big arse.

I voted Lib Dem but in fact voted 'anything but Labour.' The whole system seemed to have become completely corrupt, our local Labour MP included.

I am appalled at what is happening - Cameron et al are just children. They have no notion of the real world, privileged career politicians to a man.

And the nonsense that is being pedalled about this country not being able to afford its public sector is outrageous. It is the private sector that relies on the public sector - to educate, security, justice, health, for democracy. Everything with true worth.

They'll be raiding you bank accounts. Normally putting extra cash into the economy is called Quantative Easing and seen as a Bad Thing when Labour do it. Obviously, not so when the ConDems do it. Or is it "borrowing" from us - I thought borrowing was also a Bad Thing [confused

The cynicism of the Big Society is breathtaking

I have always voted labour and always will and thank god I did. I have been utterly screwed by this government as has DH, many of my friends and all my staff. All respect I ever had for the Lib Dems and any chance of me ever voting for them in my constituency has gone. Nick Clegg is the worst thing to have ever happened to the Lib Dems and I think it's a shame that his desire to feather his own nest has probably screwed the party long term and lost them lots of supporters.