You had a mortgaged home when you were a kid? lucky you. How were the Tories to blame for your Mum being short of cash?

Fair points Original Salford City Red
all I was pointing out was what Cameron has said or done and somebody in his party has stated the opposite, and the Dannat thing was just so funny because the chap from the BBC let Grayling go on and on about the negatives of the appointment before they pointed out who had done what.
I am sure somebody will come on and could do the same for Labour or the Lib Dems.

I totally agree the banks should be regulated and a limit set on Bonuses, I remember when to get a mortgage you had to walk over glass and had to show proof of earnings and letters from your employer stating job was safe. Unfortunately we copied the Yanks and allowed people to self declare their earnings to get the house of their dreams without thinking how to pay it back, if lending is more regulated then the bonuses would not be as big.

Can't get hold of my mum for specific details but the key points here are;

Due to ill health, mum had to retire just 2 years before dad left. Being a retired single parent of three children, with a mortgage wasn't a great start under any governement. Certainly worse pre '97.

1990, interest rates reach 15% (Her mortgage, as many were in the era, was a flexible-rate endowment mortgage.) Ouch. Repayments went through the roof.

Inflation peaked at over 10% effecting those with the least wealth the most as the cost of living, in relation to little income became tougher than ever.

Post '97.
Interest rates have averaged at 5%, the lowest since the boom times of the 1960's saving my mum around £900 a year. Meaning my mum could afford the mortgage as well as weekly food shopping for her kids.

Inflation has been reduced to the lowest in the EU up until 2008 meaning it doesn't cost the earth for day to day essentials in relation to her income. Meaning my mum could afford the mortgage as well as weekly food shopping for her kids.

My mums incapacity benefit increased under Labour. Meaning my mum could afford the mortgage as well as weekly food shopping for her kids.

My mum was in receipt of the Labour concept of child tax credit. Meaning my mum could afford the mortgage as well as weekly food shopping for her kids.

My mum received discounts on her council tax under labour. Meaning my mum could afford the mortgage as well as weekly food shopping for her kids. (And even, on special occasions, a trip to the supermarket cafe! Oh yes, the good time rolled!!! )

She's now all but paid up on the mortgage so has arguably become a beneficiary of the increased degree of social-mobility in society that Labour was keen to implement.
Hell, she even gets free travel on public transport under Labour. (There's probably more I could write but like I say, can't get hold of her at the moment. She's probably doing her voluntary work. Yet another Labour initiative!)

Mate, it could be a hell of a lot better, but my word, it WAS and would surely again be MUCH worse under the Conservatives.

Scanners. I feel you may have questioned my mum's integrity within your reply. I sincerely hope not. With-this-in-mind, this debate could easily descend to a nasty, accuasatory level. Please leave the dirty stuff to the politicians if you will.

Fact 1. My mum is probably the most honest person I know. She would never lie, fib or mislead anyone so far as I'm aware. (And even if she was, she did a pretty smart job in hiding the supposed wealth she had under the tories.)

Fact 2. I remember what life was like for our family from 1990'ish when I was just 5 to 1997 when I was 12. It was tough. Really tough. I also noticed the drastic change in our quality of life from '97 until now. It is significantly better.

Now, considering my mum's integrity, why is this? And why do I hear the same from countless other families in the same boat?

You strike me as a decent person who is passionate about their politics. I'd love to hear your opinion.



However, I don't believe either party has the answers to the current economic plight of the country. Such is the unsustainable nature of monetarism per se. (Different debate.)

Labour are hardly soley to blame for the current economic plight, especially as it's one that has gripped the entire globe. Things like David X. Li's forumla going slightly wrong and the liquidity shortfall in the US triggered a global financial meltdown. Methinks that would've happened regardless of who was in charge of this country.

As it is, the Tories have left a wondrous legacy which has meant chasing profits without giving a poop about your average Joe seems to be the order of the day. Take, for instance, the privatisation of British Rail. Services cut throughout the country and now we're faced with poop trains, overcrowding, late runnings, a poop service compared to the rest of the world but with constantly increasing ticket prices and profits for the rail companies. Wonderful.

Also, take a trip to somewhere like Goole or South Elmsall. Places where people had their jobs taken from them by Maggie with no real alternative provided. Places where society has broken down and where no one has much of a chance of getting out and making something of themselves - they're trapped in a vicious circle. Try telling them that the Tories left this country in a much better state than when they left. Yes, changes were needed, but not at the expense of the working classes.

I'm no fan of New Labour, who have drifted nearer to Tory policy of the years anyway and who, seemingly, have forgotten where they've come from and what they're about. But they're still far preferable than the Tories. There's nothing in their manifesto that I've seen that fills me with confidence that they'll make a better future for us.

What the Tories did for us
Sold off:-
Gas
Electric
Water
Introduced the Poll tax (My rates went from £550 to £1000 overnight)
British Rail
British Airways
British Petrolium
TSB
Used North Sea Oil to Fund Unemployment in the 80's to batter the unions
Closed the mines with 300 years of stocks left underground
Highest Unemployment in History (created own recession) nearly 4m
Inflation at 22%
Interest rates at 15% (mortgage up an extra £100 a month)
never won a World Cup
Shut down the ship yards by ordering battleships from abroad
Closed down the national Apprentice scheme creating a Skills Shortage
Cut the married mans tax allowance (party of the Family?)
Deregulated the Buses, now I have a private company in a monopoly in North West Manchester charging me twice as much as travellers in other parts of Manchester.
Introduced unregulated expenses scheme into Parliament
Part privatised the NHS
Took away free school milk
cut the Council housing stock with the right to buy scheme
Introduced Housing Benefit direct to landlords so that they got their money whoever they put in their houses result massive degeneration across many cities in England such as Salford House price collapse.
How much as it cost nationwide now to ensure landlords got their rent about £40b



Now should I vote Tory?

Not to mention dragging is into the European Union!

P.S. still waiting for an answer regarding Steffan Ratchford.

no Steffan is staying he is the future

I thought Garlic Bread was?