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Voting quandry

(809 Posts)
marbles Mon 24-Apr-17 12:42:44

I'm a life-long Labour voter but cannot bear to suppprt Corbyn in the forthcoming election. The party will remain a shambles until it is under proper leadership and he seems to have totally lost the plot. I will not vote Conservative for many reasons and I feel betrayed by Theresa May's u-turn on Brexit, u-turn on not calling an election...there is no trust.

I will not abstain - the vote is a privilege. But for the first time I am seriously at a loss. There is no credible opposition. Locally there are no viable candidates that I feel I can endorse in order to make a point. I need to put my X in the box and it's the first time ever I've thought they are all as bad as each other.

durhamjen Sun 30-Apr-17 14:36:02

"George Osborne’s latest tax cuts for the wealthy will leave him with a Herculean task of reducing borrowing by £32bn to meet his budget surplus rule in 2019-20, according to the Resolution Foundation.

A string of giveaways in the next couple of years will increase government borrowing above his previous forecasts and force him to find £32bn of tax rises and spending cuts in the last year of the parliament.

The thinktank said the decision to offer tax cuts to wealthier groups in the form of higher tax thresholds and lower capital gains tax was “misguided” when official forecasts showed there was a £56bn gap in the government’s finances.
Budget 2016: Osborne's policies help the rich and hurt the poor, says thinktank - Politics live
Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including George Osborne’s morning interviews and the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ briefing on the budget
Read more

“By increasing spending through expensive and poorly targeted tax cuts, the chancellor has created a Herculean task of reducing borrowing by £32bn in a pre-election year. It is hard to see a government seeking to build a pre-election feelgood factor delivering a consolidation comparable to that seen during the chancellor’s first two years in office.

“We think it is misguided to be giving away money on increases in higher thresholds for the personal allowance and 40p rate, which we estimate will cost around £2bn,” said the Resolution Foundation chief economist, Matthew Whittaker."

Less than a year ago.

Ana Sun 30-Apr-17 14:38:40

Athough he's not actually in the government now...

durhamjen Sun 30-Apr-17 14:49:59

No, but his giveaways to the wealthy are still going through.

Fitzy54 Sun 30-Apr-17 15:38:15

Annie I've read he intends to borrow 100bn but I've also read he might relieve the wealthiest 10% of the population of 20% of everything they own. We'll just have to wait for the manifesto, but none of these ideas would be practical.

Anniebach Sun 30-Apr-17 15:50:06

Fitzy, they are not practical

Fitzy54 Sun 30-Apr-17 15:55:46

DJ I'm not sure I understand that article. I thought CGT had increased for wealthier people since the last Labour govt? As for income tax, there have been increases on the wealthy by way of cutting back on reliefs like pension contributions. I'm not saying the rich have been clobbered with huge taxes but I doubt they feel they are paying less. In any event the gap between rich and poor, in terms of net earnings at least, has been narrowing. Again, net earnings isn't the be all and end all of the (in)equality debate, but it's an important point and particularly relevant to the discussion in hand.
In any event, my point was simply that we have not seen the wholesale giveaways to the rich that some posters seem to imagine have occurred since Labour lost power.

durhamjen Sun 30-Apr-17 16:01:13

By 2020 there will be no inheritance tax to be paid for any couple with a home less than a million. That's a big tax perk for the rich.

Anniebach Sun 30-Apr-17 16:01:17

I have the problem of supporting Welsh Labour but no wish to support Corbyn , Wales is in danger of having a Tory majority for the first time

durhamjen Sun 30-Apr-17 16:02:19

Get out and do something about it, then, Annie.

durhamjen Sun 30-Apr-17 16:04:58

Here's a quandary.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/30/labour-election-losses-could-strengthen-corbyn-support-policy-network

Fitzy54 Sun 30-Apr-17 16:17:19

DJ I do agree that the new IHT rules for property are daft. I don't see that as a huge gain for the rich though, at least not in London where very ordinary families live in very ordinary houses valued at 500k or more.
I also read an article on the same subject as your guardian piece. I have to admit to a quiet chuckle.smile

Anniebach Sun 30-Apr-17 16:35:36

Jen, you wouldn't understand, I cannot lie so if questioned on Corbyn I will explain why he is untrustworthy . One good thing is Welsh labour is concentrating on the leadership of Carwyn not Corbyn so I can say in honesty what an good leader Welsh Labour has

durhamjen Sun 30-Apr-17 16:41:46

Yes, Fitzy, that is quite a problem for those who don't want Corbyn at any cost so will not vote Labour. I don't have that quandary.

Fitzy54 Sun 30-Apr-17 17:00:20

I'll give you that one DJ?!

GracesGranMK2 Mon 01-May-17 08:33:23

If you cannot lie Annie all you have to do is preface what you say with "in my opinion" then you would be telling the truth as little of what you say is fact and much rather strong, if misguided, opinion.

Fitzy54 Mon 01-May-17 10:29:13

In your opinion GG?smile

James2451 Mon 01-May-17 11:09:09

I am in a quandary, for I find it hard to forgive myself for the way I voted at the referendum. I had a complete aberration at the time by believing the propaganda of Boris and leading Brexits. Today, when I consider the damage I have helped to create for future generations I curse my own stupidity. I voted Conservative at the last election because I liked David Cameron and trusted him. I am not sure about Teresa May, I am not happy that she seems to take Older People votes for granted, her nasty arrogance at the despatch box has got to me. I don't like Corbyn or his extreme politics, though I do like David Miliband but he is not Labours leader. Therefore, I think I shall vote for the Greens or Lib Dems which ever stands in my part of Somerset. One thing I do know I will not allow myself to be hoodwinked by false propaganda again.

varian Mon 01-May-17 11:26:48

James I wonder how many other Leave voters now feel like you. I get the feeling it is a growing number but they are not all willing to admit they were mistaken.

Before the disastrous 2015 GE, the Lib Dems held four of the five seats in Somerset -Yeovil, Somerton and Frome, Wells and Taunton and so I hope that you will vote LibDem to help defeat the Tories in your seat.

durhamjen Mon 01-May-17 13:31:11

Don't forget that much of the South West is being investigated as part of the Tory election fraud. It would be good to see the Libdems take control of that part of the country again, assuming that Labour are not able to.

ellenoo Mon 01-May-17 16:26:48

I really do not understand why some people who say they would normally vote Labour are so anti Corbyn other than must be believing what the right wing media as been spreading....

ellenoo Mon 01-May-17 16:27:46

...my last post on the matter - everyone cheers no doubt...
If the Tories get in again this country is doomed...

Anniebach Mon 01-May-17 16:45:07

James, we all make mistakes, I believed Corbyn was a decent man and voted for him as leader, found I was wrong but nothing I can do to change that vote .

Somerset is so Tory but the Libs came second in all but one seat there in 2015 , I hope they regain seats this time

yggdrasil Mon 01-May-17 18:11:54

Anniebach, please would you spell out what it is you found out about Corbyn that makes you so against him.
These hints are not helpful

Eloethan Mon 01-May-17 18:16:06

Jamers2451 What exactly do you find "extreme" in Corbyn's policies?

I have great admiration for the Greens and would probably vote for them if I thought they stood a cat in hell's chance of being elected under this antiquated electoral system, but I think, if anything, their policies are more to the left than Labour's.

Anniebach Mon 01-May-17 18:29:38

Yggdrasil, I have said many times and am sure everyone is so bored , nothing I hsve said against him is a lie,

1983 Labour suffered the most awful defeat which took fourteen years to get back from. The reason for the loss was labour had gone fsr left, the unions too powerful, strikes in the late 1970's caused rubbish piled in streets, dead couldn't be buried in some parts of the country, I suggest you look up the winter of discontent 1979. Following the defeat labour expelled Militants who had stirred up the strikes, Corbyn ran a campaign from his home to get these militants backbinbthe party,

Shortly after the Brighton bombing he invited sin fenn leaders to Westminster, regardless of the fact there were members of the house grieving

He lied on national tv about not being able to find a seat on the train

He claims to be a pacifist but supported the IRA and Hamas .

He wanted out of the EU so when we had the referendum he did little to fight with hus own party and he was leader

He voted hundreds of times against his party but sacked Hilary Benn for disagreeing with him , and complained labour MP's were not supporting him