I’m going to throw out an idea mainly for Labour supporters to discuss, though I know it won’t only be Labour commenter’s :-) Considering Labour’s been in power 13 years, we’ve had two disastrous and very expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ~10 years of economic success followed by 3 years of economic strife (not […]
Continue Reading Election 2010 Conservative Minority Government Good for Labour?
i can’t believe people are stupid enough to still be saying labour are good what planet have you been living on. We have the highest unemployment for decades, we were (until the Greece situation) the last developed nation to come out of the recession, we bailed out banks who then gave bonuses to employees rather then paying back the money and Gordon Brown is the laughing stock of most political leaders. I don’t know if people have forgotten but Mr Brown used to be the Chancellor and during that time managed to sell off our gold supplies when they were at their cheapest price and took us into this economic disaster. He may be trying to sell himself as the one that can rescue us from it but in reality he was the one that took us here. The spineless git even had to bring in Blair to try and boost his support.
As for economic recovery people need to accept that cuts have to made and taxes raised in order to pay off this debt. You may say that the Conservatives are selfish but the rich pay tax too, why should they be penalised any more just because they did well and worked hard. I ask any of you whpo have posted here when you get into financial difficulty as an individual what do you do??? You cut back on your spending in certain areas in order to pay back what you owe, why should it be any different for the UK as a nation.
And as for political reform you want to know why it works in places like America, its because they operate on a 2 party system the way it should be. Why waste a vote on an independent candidate who can do nothing in Parliament. People need to realise that the UK is realistically a 2 party system, if people hadn’t wasted their vote on pointless parties and individuals we wouldn’t be in this bloody mess. When will people pull their heads out their backsides and face realilty.
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Are you really that stupid!
Spain has 20% unemployment and is still technically a 2nd world country!
Iceland and greece are both in a worse position than Spain and we are the only country in Europe that doesnt HAVE to bail them out as we sensibly kept the pound.
10 years of success followed by the Americans causing a recession. Labour are the solution, not the cause.
In order to vote tory you must either be rich or stupid!
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Jess….re your “in reality” phrase. So let’s do reality. In reality the Conservatives took us along the road of “extortionately high house prices are the sign of a good economy”, path long before 1997. (I recall a short end of news item more than 20 years ago about a garage in London being sold for nearly 100,000K. THAT was what the Conservatives stood for.) Along with Loadsamoney, Yuppies and get to where you want to be and do not tolerate anyone who attempts to get in your way, the only person who matters is YOU claptrap. Oh yes, and that old chestnut, “There is no such thing as society.”
But back to house prices which continued to rise and rise. No more pendulums swinging back and forwards in favour of the seller or the buyer at various times. Nope, it was all about the seller for close on THIRTY years. And what did we get? We got insane mortgage producted tailored to meet the “needs” of those who didn’t have a hope in hell of meeting the going rate. We had people being allowed to “self cert”, meaning no need to get your salary details checked. We had products allowing people to borrow SIX AND SEVEN TIMES their annual salary. We had 135% mortgage products! But hey, house prices would always keep rising so there was no risk. And oh yes, we had sub-prime business here in the UK just like they had in the US. Bradford and Bingley and Northern Rock were up to their necks in sub-prime and 135% mortgages. (The Abbey sold 135% mortgages too.) And let’s hear it for the FSA the body Brown set up to REGULATE the Mortgage Industry. What did they do exactly while all these products flooded the market? In a word, nothing! So that when the bubble burst the consequences were the crash, the crunch, the recession, the end and the nightmare many of us predicted would visit all of us in one way or another. So, Jess, to blame Brown alone for all of this is to ignore what the Conservatives began. And right now have a listen to the idiots who still hope for a “recovery” in house prices. Some of us don’t want a recovery if it means a return to insane prices no one can afford. We want a realistic housing market. We don’t EVER want to see anyone selling a house and making a profit big enough to fund the budget of a very small country.
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Jess, thank god there’s people with sense still left…What you said is what ive been saying for years, I couldn’t have said it any better.
I was brought up in east London in a working class area and Labour has done nothing for me, I have good work ethic and worked very hard to get a good job and Labour penalises me with Tax after Tax.
My wifes mother is a teacher and all power has been stripped from her, and so much time is spent working towards endless targets that mean nothing its a joke!!!.
We have a country that rewards a poor work ethic and a Government that is more than happy to hand out millions to people that don’t deserve it. My wife was a nurse in the NHS for 4 years, but she got so fed up with the incompetence of numerus members of staff that she ended up leaving and remember the NHS is not a health service for the rest of the world.
Why is it also that theres a 10 day wait to see my doctor????…
Why do i pay the highest prices in europe for owning a car?? Fuel prices have gone up they say, well i’m working at the moment in a so called third world country, fuel cost me 15p a litre. When I do come back to the UK I couldn’t tell you what country is the third world one, the UK or the one i’m living in at the moment…
I understand tax will rise in the near future and it’s due to the massive overspending that has taken place in the last 13 years. Mr Brown had control of the purse strings and yes people had a great time, now the honey moon is over we are paying the price…
Just my 2 cents but I say it how it is.
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Everything that’s wrong with the economy is the Labour governments fault hey!
So there was no banking crisis that started in the US banks, note USA, the United States of America, NOT home grown.
Prior to the banking crisis we were running at a level of debt similar to what the Tories had the country at while they were in power. The difference between Labour and the Tories is Labour managed to keep the debt level at the same level as the Tories AND actually invested in public services.
The country was doing so well economically under Labour that had they not spent so much on public sector services (like a massive investment in the NHS) they could have probably got the country in the black and had some money available when the crap hit the fan (banking crisis). I’m not an economist so I don’t understand why we run with debt as a matter of course, but many major economies run with a level of debt, for example Germany had and still has a higher level of debt than we have, we can both afford it.
The banking crisis >> credit crunch >> recession led to the Labour government along with all other major economies having similar problems with the WORLD RECESSION creating an economic stimulus package to keep people like you who apparently don’t have a clue what’s happened in the world in work.
This put us in unsustainable debt, not mismanagement of the economy per se and it will have to be dealt with and all major political parties understand this.
Now people like you want to have the Tories pull the rug from under you and you’ll wonder why you and your neighbours are unemployed a few years from now and interest rates have shot up along with the go to Tory tax that is VAT.
Looks like you got your wish as I expect David Cameron will be PM this time next week. Look out for the age of austerity he promised.
I’m just glad I make loads of money (Tories in power is good for me) and most of it comes from the USA where their President understands it’s not time to stop supporting their economy.
I pity poor and middle class British people who aren’t insulated from the economic problems like I am (I’m making more money than I ever have).
David
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Well said! It is the normal man on the street that Labour clearly has no interest in now! Another point – I notice they kept Harriet Harman at arms length from the campaign…do you think that this is because if you are white, middle class/working class and male, she really doesn’t like you or what you stand for!!!
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The people of Britain have democratically voted for a hung parliament. The only reason I can imagine that the Tories did not win by a landslide given the political and economic backdrop is that there is just not enough trust in a Conservative government. Labour (regardless of what you may think) fought a good election (I would call it a very successful disaster limitation exercise) and I do sincerely hope that there is a lib-lab coalition! My reason is this…Labour have made an absolutely horrendous mess of the economy/public finances and have no doubt left hidden booby traps for the incoming government to deal with. If I was Cameron, this would certainly be the election to lose. Let Labour retain power (just) and either (a) implement the tough austerity measures that are needed and/or (b) bottle it, leaving the country and its finances in a horrible mess. Labour should be forced to clear up what they have created. Things are only going to get worse…a lot worse! Fortunately, I am emigrating to the far east as this is where the work seems to be shifting. 50% tax rate! No thanks!
As for the large number of Labour supporters, remember this…it will not be the ‘high earners’ who pay for the Labour governments economic illiteracy…it will be the lower middle income earners. ‘High Earners’ are leaving the UK hand over fist! Wave good bye to the wealth creators and say hello to a decade of austerity!
Best of luck!
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Hi John, I think the English just don’t trust Cameron enough. Witness today’s events as the Tory Party begins to turn on him. They are saying he should never have done the “debates” on TV. Debates? Please! In terms of substance what was there to mull over? Zilch.
Hi Jo, I agree with you completely. I do, however, believe the time is right for a change in government. Fresh ideas and a fresh start. Labour seem to be hell bent on hanging on to power.
One thing I am sure of is that a hung parliament is a huge mistake given the current economic situation. Any person who believes it is a good thing is seriously misguided. I will be fixing my mortgage rate, that’s for sure! The pound will collapse (I wonder who is shorting it this time), interest rates will shoot up, we will struggle to make the interest payments on our huge debt, public services/spending will need to be slashed, firms will go bust and there will be mass redundancies in the public sector (Greece?!). All of this is Labours making. I struggle to see why an ‘economic genius’ such as Brown failed to save for a rainy day and was so sure that he had ended boom and bust! History dictates that markets are cyclical. Fair play to the guy, I think he did a good job with the banks and I agreed (to some extent) with his fiscal policy during the recession. However, I struggle to understand why he spent all of OUR money and more when there should have been a surplus. I agree with a lot of the principles of a socialist government (wealth redistribution etc.) but I refuse to pay for the monumental cock ups made by the Chief Executive and ex Fianance Director of UK Plc. The UK went in to melt down on his watch…he demanded Fred Goodwin left his post…so why did no one demand Gordon left his post. Another thing to consider…the one thing underpinning the strong growth of the UK economy over the 10 years pre 2007 was the £1trillion of consumer debt! Phenomonal! How can you underpin an economy on this level of debt! When the credit ratin of UK plc is downgraded, the sell off of gilts starts, yields and interest rates rocket and the pound falls over, how do you think the population of the UK will cope with £1 trillion of consumer debt? Answer – they won’t! Mass household reposessions and a property crash like no other! This is effectively what the UK electorate has voted for. We need a strong and stable government, whoever that may be!
Wake up people of Britain! We are not immune from ending up like Greece, to think we are is just arrogant!!!
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I was so shocked that so many people voted Conservative! Do they not remember the 80s? What the Torys didn’t sell off to their mates they screwed up.
The majority of the time that Labour have been in power, have been ok. Low unempoloyment, low inflation,low interest rates and strong growth.
You couldn’t say the same for Thatchers 80’s, mass unemployment over 4 million when I left college, the highest interest rates every seen, schools in a mess, hospitals in a mess, I could go on and on..
I do agree though, let a weak Conservative government run things for a while. Then that should then be the end of them for good.
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This piece exposes everything that is wrong with Labour and why they deserve decades – not just a convenient couple of years while the going is tough – out of power.
How extraordinary that Labour apologists continue to see everything in terms of what is “good for Labour”. What Cameron and Clegg are currently trying to do – and I hope they succeed – is to find what can be salvaged as good for Britain out of the massive mess they have inherited friom Labour.
Labour aren’t going to be part of it, so just go away and nurse your fantasies in private.
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Labour are the most authoritarian government since Stalin
They should go, and GO NOW
The SHEEP mentality shown by posters above of always voting for a party NO MATTER WHAT must come to an end
It was especially funny to read about how Tories hate the poor while Labour love the poor, even though Labour chose to bail out the bankers and let the poor lose their jobs/homes and constantly increase taxes on cigarettes/alcohol (used mostly by poor people)
Yesterday was the 65th anniversary of VE Day. Those who fought did not do so in order to have a government that:
(a) surrendered our sovereignty to a undemocratic superstate
(b) tried to introduce ID cards and a database that the Gestapo would be envious of
(c) waged war against smoking/drinking/fast food
(d) tried to turn the House of Lords from its function as a check on the House of Commons to a rubberstamp for Labour under the guise of removing hereditary peers
(e) abused anyone who disagreed (as shown by Brown’s “bigot” comment among many other examples)
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I must have missed the British General Election where Stalin won, when was that then?
To compare the current Labour government to communist Russia under Stalin is akin to comparing a Thatcher government to Nazi Germany under Hitler!
David
I remember the Thatcher years all too well. 3 million unemployed, riots on streets, London, Liverpool and Bristol in 1982. Again in London with the Poll Tax riots in 1989. Interest rates at 15%. Inflation at 18% in 1981.Regressvie taxation. VAT rise, tax reductions for the rich. Ho yes, lets all forget about the run down of the public services like the NHS and State education. Don’t worry we were told, because the wealth producing sector of the economy would step in and fill the hole. Yes they have alright, and fleeced the country for hundreds of billions of pounds. That is the great thing about the private sector, they privatise the profits and national their losses. I can’t wait to see Cameron and his Eton cronies cock it up again.
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Yes Tom, I too remember those days, not that long ago. However the British Electorate are so fickle that they only semm to remember what happened in the last few weeks. The probability is that the Lib Dems will concede what they really want, electoral reform, for a chance to be a part of governing this country. The Conservatives will in the next few months do whatever they can to decimate this country. So stand by, for it will be a rough ride again. Of course the rich will get richer and the poor will have to eat cake.
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