so is there anyone with the guts to admit they were wrong when they voted tory at the last election??

[ssd]

or are you all proud of yourselves now???

the country is going to hell, except for the well off, thanks to this government

so is anyone going to admit they were wrong?

I agree with Annie (and I have voted labour since my dad frogmarched walked me down to the polling station first election after my 18th )

The yah boo sucks side of British politics always fucks me off - and then we get it on here.

I wonder why we get shitty , taunting, negative, wanky , playground politicians. And then it all makes sense.
Goading people to apologise about their vote. Really?

I voted Tory and was sorry the moment I walked into the booth.

However, I was faced with a shipped in Labour candidate, a shipped in pathetic Lid Dem one, a variety of racist twats, and the then sitting (Tory) MP - who - while Tory has had a good track record helping local people with issues......

I knew we were going to hell in a hand basket no matter what happened or who I voted for.

ladymuck teh privatisation reorganisation of the NHS will cost a lot of money, at a time when we are supposed to be saving money. The reasons of the changes are purely ideological.

Where the cuts will fall - again ideological.

The tories are using the financial crisis to drive through a lot of large ideolgically driven changes very very quickly. They are doing this as it is unlikely that they will get a second term (whoever won would be unlikely to get a second term given how hard the coming years are going to be) and they want to make some irreversible changes to the structure of our country.

All govts were going to have to cut, the focus of the cuts is pure tory, it was always going to be. Everyone knows what you get with the tories.

I have always voted lib dem or labour, mostly lib dem as labour has no chance round here.

If I met Nick Clegg today I would have NOTHING to say to him.

What a fucking sell out.

I voted LibDem to keep the Tories out (Labour don't have a chance in my constituency). That didn't work very well then did it!

StuckInTheMiddleWithYou This ridiculous idea that Tory voters are unconcerned with poverty just because we don't think the best way to help the poor is necessarily to give them money is very lazy.

Ideas like quasimarkets in public services, cutting corporation tax to encourage the creation of sustainable jobs, having less legislative red tape for business, and balancing the budget to ensure we have a long-term platform for growth will do much more to alleviate poverty than any amount of unemployment benefit.

longfingernails - THANK YOU for that excellent post

quasi markets in public services, namely the health service, have caused untold damage.

The best way to help the poor is to give them money. Preferably in the form of wages but that's not so easy these days.

StuckInTheMiddleWithYou - I think that EVERYONE agrees that the BEST thing for the poor is to give them to earn some/higher wages. It's the how that is the problem.

I voted Tory and would again - the finances were getting frightening, and hopefully the Tories will begin to tackle them.

Why was it a sellout when the Lib Dems made it clear that they were prepared to support either the Tories or Labour, and that they were more likely to support the winner of the election, as having the strongest mandate to govern? For the whole campaign and a long time before that, the winner looked like being the Tories.

The surprise element was a full coalition rather than a support agreement, but I'm glad they did go for full coalition in the end. The risk with a minority government would have been greater, and the Tory Right would have had more influence.

re. ideology - how else would it be, though? They're not going to say "We're going to cut the deficit but apart from that we'll leave nearly everything the way Labour had it, because it worked so well." What Labour did was ideological, too.

It's a shock to hear a Lib Dem advocate the full privatisation of the Post Office. And to hear Nick Clegg defend Andy Coulson at the expense of Gordon Brown. Well, actually, Clegg isn't a shock .

Why is it a shock to hear a Lib Dem calling for the privatisation of the Post Office, when it was in their manifesto??

From the Lib Dem manifesto 2010 (page 28): network.libdems.org.uk/manifesto2010/libdem_2010_job.pdf

Give both Royal Mail and post offices a long-term future, by separating Post Office Ltd from the Royal Mail and retaining Post Office Ltd in full public ownership. 49 per cent of Royal Mail will be sold to create funds for investment. The ownership of the other 51 per cent will be divided between an employee trust and the government.

If you didn't bother to read the manifesto before you voted, then really, it's much more your fault than theirs. Sure, the percentages being discussed now might not be exactly the same as those in the manifesto - but the principle is there, in black and white.

You would have a legitimate case for saying the Lib Dems have backtracked on VAT, or on legalising hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. Arguing they have betrayed you for doing exactly what they said they would is quite silly, though, really!

I voted for them and stand by my decision. No guts involved.

Can I give longfingernails a round of applause please.

I think it's too early to say if i was wrong - plus don't think labour left it all looking like roses, with loads of money in the coffers.

A bit like starting a cake and not doing it properly and then someone having to take over - can't tell straight away if it's going to be ok - cos it was such a mess to start with.

The UK has no money to start with when tories/lib dems took over - so no wonder they are cutting left right and centre. Surely we don't want to be ostriches about it?

lfn, Royal Mail part-privatisation was in the Lib Dem manifesto, but I think the plan now is to sell a controlling stake, isn't it?

I voted Tory and stand by my decision. Since they have been in they have done some things I have hated and some things I think are great.
It was the first time I had ever voted Tory and I would happily go back to voting Labour if they would sort themselves out. But the last government, by the end, were completely untrustworthy and devoid of integrity as well as f*cking up the economy.

Oooh sethstarkaddersmum, you get a round of applause too.

or are you all proud of yourselves now???

yes

the country is going to hell, except for the well off, thanks to this government

the country went to hell courtesy of the previous government

so is anyone going to admit they were wrong?

nope, because I do not believe I was

yes, glad I voted Lib Dem, glad we went into full coalition. do I like everything the government is doing? no. do I think the Lib Dems need to be more vocal sometimes? yes, but they'll work out how to do it. That said, there is a lot of agreement, given that the Tory right have been sidelined (although am not happy about the sop to them re. immigration).

The Guardian's feature on the first 100 days of the coalition was interesting reading on its day-to-day functioning.

you know what though, I don't feel proud of myself for who I voted for because it wasn't something that took any effort and it wasn't in any sense a particularly courageous decision.

However some of my friends who had always voted Labour and agreed there is a problem with Labour right now took the opposite approach and joined the Labour party so they could actively work to improve it, and I think that is a thing that they should be proud of doing, even though I also think they voted the wrong way.

vesela I don't know the current percentages being talked about.

I know there were rumours of 20-25% for the employees - but I don't know if the government is going to keep a minority stake or not, or whether they will keep a controlling interest or not.

No, but I regret voting (and campaigning ) for the Lib Dems.