I won't be voting Labour because

[PanicMode]

next year they will be spending more on debt repayments than education, and that's just one example.

From a £6bn deficit in 1997 to £167 bn now....

Oh, and the only new idea (reduction of stamp duty) came from the Tories in the first place.

All those thinking of voting Labour, please read Squandered or The Rotten State of Britain before letting these financially illiterate numpties back in.

I would never, ever vote Labour. They are supposed to be the "working class's" party but they have betrayed their founders, their voters, their principles on every level. Picking only one example is hard but think about the last speaker, swanning round his own constituency - the poorest in the whole country - in his chauffer driven limousine, while his constituents were disenfranchised because their MP, being the Speaker was not allowed a vote and 'tradition' did not allow anyone else to contest the seat. At least the Tories 'do what it says on the tin' and stick up for their middle and upper class supporters. Several posters have mentioned the sale of council housing as being a bribe. I expect there was an element of that in the policy but it also was an example of a Tory policy which identified and met a longing among hard working people to have a stake in their own home and future. It allowed people like my parents, who both worked all their adult lives from 14 yo to escape from the rent treadmill and take some responsibility for themselves instead of having to rely on the whims of the local council and eventually to leave a modest inheritance to their family.

I am not a Tory - I do not agree with their ethos and I am poor(ish). Nonetheless, it is a fact that my family has prospered better during the Tory Governments than the Labour ones.

I am not afraid of a hung parliament at all. The Scottish Parliament has had 'no overall control' since its inception and yet has managed to pass loads of legislation, most of it pretty sensible BECAUSE policy has to attract cross party support or be amended until there is concensus.

I am a socialist, a nationalist and want trident scrapped. I will vote SNP.

I've never voted 'for' any person or party. But I have always voted, in every local/national/EU election. I always vote against a person/party. And in this coming election I will be voting Tory, because in my seat the Tories are in second place to Labour, and I want Labour out.

I totally agree with ABetaDad, scaryteacher, Needle and 101damnations. I see far too many able-bodied economically inactive people making a very nice living off the backs of the workers. And it's not fair.

I hate Labour - seems to hand out money hand over fist and yet take it from anyone who has worked their ballacks off to get a good education and a good job.

I do not understand tax credits - if you can't afford to have those kids and pay for them don't expect the government to do it for you - you do not have a right to have kids you need to get yourself into a place where you have taken responsibility for yourself and your standard of living and your financial situation and made a responsible decision before getting pregnant.

I am such a lilly livered liberal in some respects but I am fecked off with the government thnking it needs to top everyones pay up - taken all the ambition away from the workforce IMO.

Oh and loved the way that labour by stealth brought in the total abolishment of anyone who earns over 100k a years tax allowance - we should all get a bloody tax allowance - oh no not you people who have worked bloody hard you shouldn;t!! Bloody madness I tell you.

"if you can't afford to have those kids and pay for them don't expect the government to do it for you - you do not have a right to have kids you need to get yourself into a place where you have taken responsibility for yourself and your standard of living and your financial situation and made a responsible decision before getting pregnant."

OMG!!! I feel sick. Are people really that superior? That heartless? That mean? That's a level of eugenics I never expect to hear voiced in public. My faith in humanity has just sunk to an all time low

If the pay was sufficient in the first place the government would not need to top it up. Not everyone can be a high flying whatever, my dp earns little more than £12000 for doing his full-time very stressfull job, are we not allowed children? shpould we live in a tent? give up our existing children to the worthy infertile?

sam cam is pregnant

Granny23 - interesting points you make about the SNP. The opinion polls seems to be underestimating the potential impact of a big swing to SNP away from Labour in Scotland. I have long thought that Cameron needs to for a stronger alliance with SNP. think it very unlikely that Scotland wll ever swing back to the Tory pary but SNP seems to be a more natural party for 'Scottish Tory' voters.

Scotland is a power base for Labour, look how many of the front bench were Scots in the last 13 years. Undermine Labour in Scotland and a lot of the built in Labour majority in Westmnster is taken away.

I think the regional assemblies should all have more power but Scottish, Welsh, N. Irish MPs should in turn not vote on English issues. I think that would actually strengthen the union.

Nobody has been able to demonstrate to me yet that people in the UK pay more tax than anyone else in Europe.

The OECD figures I linked to last night suggest that we don't, so I want to know where posters here and on other threads who make the claim that we are highly taxed in comparison to our neighbours get their information from.

DH and I nearly left the country under the Tories in the 80s it was so awful, we left our jobs and went travelling with the aim of never ever coming back. After a year we missed the british sense of humour and pubs. Absence definitely made the heart grow stronger for everything British, excluding Thatcher. We arrived back to the "cones hotline" and thought everyone had gone stark staring bonkers.

I have far more faith that Brown Darling and co will bring us out of this recession than Camerson Osborne and who?

Plus still think that Labour's achievements are too easily forgotten, minimum wage, sure start, huge increase in education and NHS spending, infant class sizes of 30, waiting times reduced for healthcare, tax credits for working families, massive increase in maternity benefits (shame I missed out on some of those, already had one of the kids in 97) and child benefit. There's loads more to do I know but I don't want to see this all destroyed. Sorry I'll get off me soapbox now

I thought we paid less than most other countries in Europe..?

... because I'm too busy playing Polo, getting my PFB ready for Eton and sipping champagne with my nom-dom buddies on a yacht off of St. Tropez.

ninjacat WTF? You seriously expect other people to pay for breeding en masse?

otter As you seem to be a dab hand at Google why don't you take a look for yourself? Or, perhaps you can explain to the class what duty, coucil-tax, income tax, etc. are?

LadyGoGo's "What is the IMF?" I think perhaps sums up the predicament very well.

I've just looked on the..

"Why I wont be voting tory" thread....

The main reasons seem to be because the tories will cut spending on SureStart...

Think they need to read this

daftpunk You can't just go around expecting mothers to spend time with their own children and teaching them skills themselves. What's the point of government?

I don't think I'll be voting Labour because...

There is evident disharmony within current government, I don't believe the Cabinet (and certainly not all the backbenchers) are 100% behind GB, and I don't really like them atm (expenses, bribes etc etc)

Won't be voting Tory either

Seriously considering LibDems

Maybe even Green (I like our local Green who will be standing for MP)

Skihorse..

how will parents cope if they haven't got centres to dump their kids help them educate their children..?

..Without SureStart parents will have to take on some of the responsibility for the children they chose to have..

...Can't see it catching on

a list of countries and there national debt hardly top of the list are we

BrockyG - they have spent far more on everything, yes, that's why we are in this mess, but on every single international (ie independent measure) of anything - education, productivity, happiness, research and development, competitiveness etc we have dropped down the rankings year on year since Labour came to power.

The slide down the education rankings in particular are terrifying, given the amount of money that has been put into education.

And after yesterday's budget, once again, a Labour government has to tax the rich to oblivion to get themselves out of the crater that they have dug in the nation's finances.

And I know that I'm going to get flamed for this, but I think that Ninjacat's attitude succinctly sums up what has happened under this Government - no-one seems to take any personal responsibility for anything because the benefits system means that those of us who work hard, pay (a LOT) of tax and who take responsibility for providing for our families are being penalised by having to support those who think that it is their "right" to have benefits/council houses/support ad infinitum from the government.

25% of the working age population are now economically inactive - a vast proportion of the rest are public sector workers who have been given jobs under this government and who are all demanding gold standard pensions that those of us in the private sector can only dream of - and we cannot afford to continue like this.

as for maggie being fashionable to hate - try talking to the miners from the 80's or the poll tax rioters.

1989 saw hugh rioting against the very unpopular poll tax introducation.

Or are these bits that are forgotten.

There was also high unemployments in the 80's - higher than the 70's or the 90's

You are completely right PM..(can I call you PM..?)

labour are no longer the party of the "working class"...they are the party for the underclass, the benefit class, the "I want it all for nothing" mentality..

The benefit system was designed as a safety net..there to help the vulnerable until they got back on their feet..it wasn't designed for people who never want to get off their arse for their entire life..!

ivykaty Phew beaten by zimbabwe! [snigger] Anyway, if you think those figures are remotely indicative of the truth then you are unbelievably sweet and naive. Labour don't/won't even admit themselves the true picture. This is a government whose once chancellor, now unelected-PM (who confessed he wasn't very good at maths) lied about an illegal war. Credibility?

You're also being incredibly naive about unemployment. What sort of situation do you think we're in now? Why do you think young people are being coerced in to university? Do you suppose it's a lack of jobs? As for lack of manufacturing jobs do you realise that this labour administration have reduced UK manufacturing by 22% compared to "under maggie's 13%"? Nope thought not.

Those things are forgotten - or perhaps just misundderstood.

Unemployment figures are being massaged by "disability", "carer's allowance", "education", CTC, WTC, et al.

Vicar - 'and no one has so much as knocked at my door or delivered a leaflet to tell me what that policy is, so think ill let them all get on with it.' No-one's bloody knocked on mine either - we are abroad with the Armed Forces, however, that hasn't stopped me keeping up with the news and looking at the various policies of the parties. Your inertia is what Labour is banking on. When it all goes to hell in a handcart, and I think we are getting there, and there is no police job for you, because there is no money, then again - don't moan. If you don't vote, then you can't moan about the consequences thereafter.

As for the tax issue - the basic rate may be 20%, but add everything else on and it rises. NI is a case in point - the government keep increasing it because the electorate don't think of it a a tax. It effectively adds 11% to your tax bill per annum.

Granny - what will happen to all the workers in Faslane if you scrap Trident and the knock on effect on the local economy there? If you want to move it and the submarines back to Devonport we need the work in the Southwest and would welcome it.

Of course you can call me PM,or your right honourable friend !!

Wow - I was expecting a barrage of hatred (sure it'll come) after posting that...

And I agree with Skihorse about the naivety of people regarding how badly these figures are being massaged. As far as I know the data excludes PFI finances which means that we're worse off than Italy and Greece......

Jaysus, I've never been to Haiti either but I've still got a fair idea of what goes on in that country. Does everything need to be spoon-fed?

panicmode i'll admit I haven't got a bloody clue what PFI is, but I do know the UK is in a big bag of shit. It's all well and good "attempting" to compare the UK figures to those of other countries - but fgs, house prices and buying plastic shit from a container shipped in from China is not an economy!