Why would you vote Conservative

[BigGrannyPants]

Just that really, I am utterly bemused why anyone would vote conservative knowing the lies they've told, the lives they've ruined and the fact they are only interested in looking after their rich friends. I appreciate the choice of parties aren't great, but surely Tories need to be at the bottom of the list? If you are planning to vote Conservative please enlighten me! This thread isn't intended to bash anyone so if you could try and avoid that if possible!

I think TM was seen as Centrist. I suspect that was never correct, judging by her voting record. I don't think she can be seen as centrist at present. She was seen as a safe pair of hands, but only because the rest of the field were so dismal. Her record at the Home Office is not one of success, but of survival.

My personal opinion is that she is mainly interested in a) her own ambition and b) the Tory party, and will cut the cloth of her coat accordingly. If, in the unlikely event that a whole phalanx of right wing Tories were given the boot in the election, she would change her mind again.

So what it boils down to is we have a choice between a pragmatist (May) and an Idealist (Corbyn)?

I am not sure that May still is a pragmatist, but has turned into something of a demagogue. So that's your choice now.

I will probably hold my nose and vote conservative to give the SNP a bloody nose. It wont make much difference to how many seats the SNP get however the conservatives are the only effective unionist party. I voted to leave the UK in the last indie referendum however I really don't want to be part of an Independent Scotland within the EU. We'd end up a horrible cross between Greece and Sweden. EU enforced austerity (see giant budget deficit) coupled with an insane virtue signalling immigration policy. Imagine Easterhouse and Castlemilk stuffed full of Afghans and Somalis.

We'd end up a horrible cross between Greece and Sweden.
With Sweden's lifestyle and Greece's Mediterranean weather, you would be onto a winner. Perhaps a shade too hot.

Enjoyyourvegetables - "My problem with Corbyn is not that he is left wing. I think economically what we have isn't working well enough. I don't think Corbyn has the answers but he at least admits the problems.

My problems with Corbyn are more about his instincts, organisational abilities and who he sees as his allies - from seeing him over his career in Parliament."

Yes, this ^ is my thinking too

A pragmatist? Ooh I don't think so. She feels more like a middle manager promoted out of their capabilities and confusing an inflexible hard stance with being a strong leader.

If TM is a middle manager promoted beyond her abilities what does that make the rest of them though.

Don't tempt me

I am voting Conservative because I support TM and agree with the way she is handling Brexit.
I have not always voted Tory and am a floating voter.

TeenandTween: May is not a pragmatist!

At the moment its a choice between a left wing idealist and a right wing idealist.

The sort of Brexit the government is taking us towards is about as far away from a pragmatic Brexit as it is possible to be, it is an ideological one.

I am hoping that if the Conservatives don't get the overwhelming majority everyone expects them to get, they will soften a bit on the principle of a hard Brexit at all costs. Brexit will still happen, but we don't have to cut off our nose to spite our face, and I wish that they would prioritise trade, jobs and human rights more than they currently are. If they do very well in the GE, they will take that as a mandate to plough ahead towards the cliff edge at full throttle.

How exactly is Theresa May handling Brexit? Apart from soundbites?
As to today's comments about leading the world in preventing tourism, I can't see what that will achieve.

I heard that Peregrina!
"We want to lead the world in preventing tourism"
Freudian slip?

I don't think the BBC will be showing that clip. But I bet it does the rounds on 't'internet.

They did highlight it on PM on R4.

I work for the NHS, I am heartbroken by the state it is in, but with a heavy heat I feel that I am forced to vote for the Conservative party in the GE due to the pledges I have heard from the labour over the last few days, which have shown that they just doesn't get the situation we are in.

Their pledge to scrap the 1% pay rise in favour of a 3% pay rise sounds great, but would cost £1.5 billion. As a nurse who knows how tight the budgets are, I'd rather keep my 1% and have that £1.5 billion spent on patients, if it was available, not that I think it is for one minute.

In education, he has pledged free school meals for every primary school child. We know that most schools struggled with having the infrastructure to cope with providing free school meals for every infant school child, the scheme wasn't a roaring success and again, where is that money going to come from?

In an economy where people are struggling to make ends meet, why are they making pledges like this? They should be making pledges to tackle the hard problems that society is dealing with now. And that's why I can't trust them to lead our country.

Just out of interest: Why Conservative not Lib Dem lougle?
If you are worried about the NHS, but think Labour are too far left, it seems like voting Tory is quite a jump from left to right, without considering the middle ground?

I don't think May has made many promises at all yet - we still don't know any of her plans (beyond Brexit) for tackling the problems society is facing. All I've heard is the same soundbites over and over. Strong, stable soundbites at least. That combined with her track record and the rhetoric coming from her party make it even harder for me to trust them than Labour!

The Lib Dems destroyed my trust in them in the last election. They lied to get into parliament. They betrayed their voters and said that the ends justified the means. Much as I dislike many Tory policies, they generally do what they say they will do.

lougle, the Conservatives are no more honest than other parties, and I think that a lot of people's disappointment in the Lib Dems is due to a massive overestimation over how much power they actually had as the minority partner in a coalition. They had to compromise on some things (look how much worse the cuts etc got once the Conservatives had free reign). Maybe they compromised on the wrong things, maybe not, but I don't see them as betraying their voters anymore than other parties. Politics is about compromise.
inews.co.uk/essentials/news/politics/three-broken-tory-manifesto-promises-one-looks-impossible/

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/yvette-cooper/election-promises-broken_b_7949232.html

The Tories are the only party (with a chane of getting in) who say they care about reducing the National Debt. Labour doesn't. I am very worried about the debt. If it keeps spiralling out of control, it will ruin this country and future generations will pay for it. It may means cuts and austerity now, but if we don't take action now, it will be the poorest and most needy who suffer the most as those debt repayments spiral.

There have been recent arguments about Tories making the debt much worse than any other party, but that's only because they've been in government for more years than Labour have after the financial crash of 2008, which has forced governments to borrow. In Labour's last year in office, they borrowed the most money, by far, in one single year, than in any other year in history. If they'd been in power the past 7 years, I feel they would have borrowed much more than the Tories have.

we'd end up a horrible cross between Greece and Sweden.

With Sweden's lifestyle and Greece's Mediterranean weather, you would be onto a winner.

Wait...

I came to this thread late and haven't read the whole thing yet

But who do i need to vote for to get the above?

Please and thank you

The Lib Dems destroyed my trust in them in the last election. They lied to get into parliament. They betrayed their voters and said that the ends justified the means.

Which lie did you mean to get into parliament?

One of the main desires for the Lib Dems is to get proportional representation (PR) which would be coalition politics would be the norm rather than the exception. So it would seem rather odd if they refused to enter a coalition at the first chance they have of being in one.

The fact they got into bed with the Tories and got crucified for it shows naivety rather than anything more sinister.

The student fee debacle was firmly self made but even then I can see how they wanted to try and show a united front with the Tories but that's akin to the scorpion and frog.

Much as I dislike many Tory policies, they generally do what they say they will do.

OK, let's see. At the last election, Cameron trumpeted that only the Tories had a 'long term economic plan' to reduce the deficit and that voting for Labour/SNP would be a disaster.

Since then we had a disastrous Brexit vote which was caused by Cameron's inability to shut up the Eurosceptics in his party. That led to Gove, IDS & Boris, all Tories to lead the charge to the exit. Whilst Gideon & Cameron (Also of course Tories) leading the charge to remain.

This has caused the pound to drop 20% in value. The world thinks we've shot ourselves in both feet. We've shown the world we're only fair weather friends. If we can't get our own way, we try to take our ball home.

Of course then Cameron jumped ship. Boris was about to step up to the plate but was stabbed in the back by his mate, Gove. That left the country being led by one candidate who lied on her CV, another who stabbed his mate viciously in the back and a pro-remain MP who suddenly became the biggest leave fan.

During this time the Tories have publically dropped their plans to balance the budget, citing Brexit as the reason. They're pursuing hard Brexit. Something Boris said wouldn't happen.

I don't know about you but I didn't see any of that in their last manifesto. So which part of that are the Tories doing what they say?