I won't be voting Tory because...

[2cats2many]

• My children go to a Surestart children's centre and I don't want that threatened when they start their slash and burn;
• The schools in my area are going to get their Building Schools for the Future funding soon. The torys are saying no BSF project is safe unless all the contracts have been signed, so if they get in, my children's future secondary schools are likely to stay over-crowded and sub-standard;
• This report in the Evening Standard today about Boris Johnson's raft of broken promises since he was elected makes me think that a future Tory government is going to deliver on little that they are promising now.

Not sure who I will vote for though. I think I voted Green last time.

And the SNP can't think past the Central Belt. There's little difference between any of the parties as far as northern Scotland goes. I grew up near Liverpool - the Tories aren't too popular there either - but I have a brain and I make my own decisions based on NOW not then.

...because I remember the last time, because I remember the miners' strike, because I remember the sinking of the Belgrano, because I remember black Wedneday, because I remember poll tax, because David Cameron is as slimy as Tony Blair, because I loathe the conservative party and everything that they stand for.

I was surprised- that he made the public promise in the first place.

I thought he was supposed to be a PR man??

'I can't bear to go back to that overt "fuck you" culture' - exactly how I feel.

Wow! I've never started a thread with so many responses

As I read through the posts, I can't help but agree with everyone who's said that they won't Tory, because of George Osborne. He's up there on my list too. He really does come across as a Tory of the old school-hard faced, hard-hearted, I-know-best-you-miserable-poor-person-who-only-gets-what-you-deserve-and-who-should-pull-themselves- up-by-own-bootstraps, etc, etc.

Whatever they might say or out on their posters, I just know that a tory government will have their sights trained on all those 'namby-pamby, soft-hearted, wolly liberal' schemes that have made my life with small children much easier.

That's just my opinion though and I'm still, unfortunately, battening down the hatches (so to speak) in expectation of them of winning in May.

Because they don't give a shite for the people at the bottom. And because Gordon and Co, for all the cock-ups, do.

And also because I can't. My mother's ghost would rise up and do something unspeakable.

Interesting about George Osborne. I heard recently (R4??) some speculation that the Tories knew what a liability he is and have shunted him to the back a bit, to avoid making our skin crawl before the election (and reveal him in his true glory after, presumably)

...mind you he seems all over the gaff at the moment so it seems unlikely

wasn't it him that said he'd rather go and "beg in the streets" rather than send his dcs to the local primary?

oh, I beg his parsnips. It was Oliver Letwin back in 2002 ie before GO was born.

He is still a complete bastard, though

Policywonk summed it up for me (don't faint, dear! ).

They don't care about people like us, and we pay taxes, too.

A rather disproportionate amount in comparison to most of them, a good many of whom don't pay tax at all, but seem to assume they are qualified to dictate what happens to mine because, well, I'm who I am and they are who they are.

Oh, and also because DC uses too much Botox on his forehead.

He's nearly five years older than I am and I'm fairly well-preserved.

There is no way anyone's forehead looks like that at his age unless he's got a portrait in his attic or his plastic surgeon on speed dial.

I really don't want to live in a world that's got Dave's agenda driving it. I don't think he's remotely in touch with what Britain needs, and I reckon the Tories are using him as a thinly veiled attempt to disguise their true intentions. Beware the smiling assassin.

We've been warned that cuts in public spending are going to be 'worse' than under Thatcher already, and I just dread to think where the 'little' money that will be available will be spent under Conservatives. Certainly not on basic education & healthcare for the masses, I fear.

All this stuff about 'broken Britain' - what a joke. We have it better than we realise. I know unemployment has rocketed during the recession, but no-one's starving (unlike the 80's - remember Wigan? Starved back to work across the picket lines...) and many of the unemployed people I interview for jobs at my work may be struggling, but are 100% not desperate!

You repeat yourself a lot Lucy - identikit post on three threads.

I want Labour out as they have screwed the economy, education and defence. The Tories have said they will ring fence the NHS, and foreign aid, but that everything else will be liable for cuts - that seems fair enough. We HAVE to make cuts to bring the budget back into line.

Think of it as a massive overdraft that your monthly salary doesn't cover and is getting worse all the time as you don't rein in your spending or make economies. On that basis, you wouldn't expect your bank to keep lending to you, or your credit rating to be good so why should the bond markets keep buying UK debt and why should UK keep it's AAA rating? We have to be seen to be making economies and cuts and living within our means as much as possible. There are huge savings to be made in tackling benefit fraud for example; in stripping back some of the layers of local government; in closing some quangos.

As for the 'smiling assassin', well, the same goes for Blair/Brown, thinly veiling the fact that Old Labour is still there and never went away.

Completely agree, Lucy.....

Do people actually remember that there was a Conservative government post Thatcher? I'm not that old, and even I remember.

Plus, all 3 major parties HAVE to make cuts (the country cannot possibly sustain itself on its current spend proposals...). I totally agree with scaryteacher; cuts need to happen to make the economy work.

Also - cash for questions Labour??? Yes, I must admit they are always ALWAYS honest. Really.

And it seems like some people on this thread are saying that the Tories don't care about the people at the 'bottom'. I take it this assumption is based on actually reading the Tory policies on their website?

lol@ "they don't care about people like us"?

Wasn't it Gorgon who scrapped the 10% tax bracket?

I just cannot get over the fact that people just don't see why cuts need to be made now as they did when Thatcher came to power. It's fucking mind-boggling truth be told.

Vote Green! Vote Green! Vote Green!

I am going to be standing in the general election, (yes I have name changed).

Good luck Ludlow!

The 'cuts have to be made NOW' narrative is a political one - that is, whether or not you believe that depends on your position on the political spectrum. There are many, many respectable economists who believe that cuts should be deferred, and that the debt could be managed in the long term by economic growth and inflation WITHOUT the need for swingeing cuts.

The Tories' insistence on immediate and deep cuts (while giving massive inheritance tax breaks to the richest, and refusing to countenance the possibility of progressive income tax rises) is just one reason for the popular perception that they care not a jot for the impact on the poorest.

And of course, the 10 per cent thing was a terrible mistake. But one that Labour acted quickly to correct.

Oh, Policywonk, I was about to post a facetious remark about my grandfather coming back to haunt me if I did, but your mother's ghost beat him to it

policywonk Indeed, they reversed that decision pretty quickly (not smoothly I might add)- but what an utterly bizarre decision to make by a party which allegedly works for the poorest of the people.

Seriously though, economic growth? Bwaahahaha - from what? C'mon seriously - do you have any idea what's happened over the last decade ? What's going to grow?

policywonk - the 10% tax band still no longer exists! A Tax on the poorest!

And although you mention IHT, you make no mention of the Labour proposals for the introduction of a £20,000 tax levied on everyone who dies in our country to pay for care for the elderly. This would definately eat into any possible financial gain notwithstanding IHT.

The Labour party are a sham and only interested in lining their own pockets. Stand up Stephen Byers and Patricia Hewitt...

I was never going to be voting Tory but I'm glad to see how many people are answering because of Surestart on this one.

I won't vote Lib Dem either because I think despite all the posturing they are actually well to the right of Labour. I remember the context in which the SDP was founded and most older Lib Dems have their roots in the SDP. (That definition probably doesn't work so well for anyone my age - 40 - or younger)

I've not yet voted for my MP in 14 years living in the constituency - one of Labour's safer seats - in 1997 I voted Labour where I used to live until 1995, just one of thousands voting out the 20 year Tory MP - in the by election when our MP died in 2000? and in 2001 I voted Socialist Alliance, in 2005 I voted Respect. This time I could vote Green for a sort of friend though we've lost touch lately, I could vote for a local candidate standing on a socialist platform - I can probably risk it but I might actually just vote Labour for a change! Not because they're great, they're not, but