Thursday , March 28 2024

Why I feel I will never vote Labour again

Coming from a working class background, my family, working hard just to make ends meet and  growing up around many more poorer than us, have always voted Labour believing Labour were a voice for the working class and the poorer section of society. Therefore, growing up I always felt the same way not really knowing much about them, believing what I have heard on TV or in the news, blindly believing and never doubting what they say. I did not need to, after all my whole family/friends praised them while I was growing up so I had no reason to question anything. However, as I got older I learned to question everything and that is when my mind opened to political hysteria. Now I am not saying all parties are prefect because as we all know that simply is not true, but as a now former Labour voted, I felt in this country’s current circumstances clarification needs to be ensured.

Let us look at how and when Labour came about. Labour representation committee was first formed in 1900. The Trades Union Congress set up the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) – with Ramsey MacDonald as secretary – to support working-class candidates in elections. After 1913, the Trade Unions were allowed to fund Labour candidates, and this allowed the LRC to finance election campaigns. In 1918 the Party reorganized itself, adopted a new constitution and published a manifesto, Labour and the New Social Order, which advocated nationalization of industry and the redistribution of wealth. The Representation of the People Act of 1918 gave the vote to more working-class people, who looked for a ‘worker’s party’ to represent them. In those days under a trade union people voted Labour no questions asked, and Labour fully came into power in 1923. Today’s Labour Party still has extensive links with the Trade Union Movement in Britain.

As we all are aware, times have changed over the years and so has politics. So not to waffle on and lose your interest, I am going to skip past the years where Tony Blair was PM (I think we can all remember the atrocity’s back then). Never mind Labour ministers who have gone to jail, Elliot Morley Former environment minister and Labour MP for Scunthorpe offence pleaded guilty to fraudulently claiming £32,000 of parliamentary expenses. David Chaytor, Former Labour MP for Bury North, pleaded guilty to three counts of false accounting relating to approximately £18,000 of parliamentary expenses that is to name but two out of many, I will now skip ahead to today’s Labour under Jeremy Corbyn.

Jeremy Corbyn swears he is still for the working class and poorer section of society, and Corbyn wants to borrow 500billion if elected on the 8th June. How are Labour going to finance this £500b splurge? They need the money first and then hope that their policies generate growth. Historically, the only successful Labour growth period has been the one deliberately created by Prudence Brown and that was an illusion based on unsustainable borrowing. He allowed house prices to rise far quicker than incomes, creating equity in property, and then encouraged us all to borrow against that equity. We saw how well that worked after 2008. Now we’ve had 7 years of unavoidable cut-backs (to reduce the massive deficit on Government spending inherited by the Coalition Government in 2010) and our young adults can’t afford to get a foot on the property ladder. Labour will revert to type and do a combination of the following – 1. Print lots of new money (triggering inflation), 2. Borrow lots of money (adding to the national debt), 3. Raise taxes (reducing incomes, investment and job creation) and 4. Be voted out for leading the country into yet another economic mess. The alternative is to keep them out of power and the polls suggest most people have realised this.

Most of us can remember what happened before May 2010 and don’t buy Labour’s pathetic pretence that all the problems in this country started after that date or that Labour played no role in creating/magnifying them. Like the Tories before them, Labour seriously underinvested in new social/affordable housing. Labour encouraged mass net immigration on an unprecedented scale but did little to provide the infrastructure needed to support this additional population. Labour deliberately pushed public spending through the roof before 2010 and left the country’s finances in a woeful state. The line that national debt has increased more under the Tories since 2010 than under any previous Government is factually correct but you need to ask why this is so. The simple answer is that this was inevitable when Brown left behind such a huge deficit that it would take years to bring it under control and back into balance, let alone creating a surplus so that the historic total could be reduced.

The financing cost of the debt itself is enormous and not helped by the rapidly growing cost of his pet PFI schemes – which are crippling the NHS. All those nice new hospitals that Labour boast about providing are now costing up to 5 times their original build cost thank to PFI and the bill is in the £billions – we need to consider that when complaining about lack of funds for patient services and NHS staff pay rises. Labour founded the NHS. However, if the NHS is at the forefront of Labours manifestos then why under the last government, the spending on NHS managers was less than £19million and by 2010 this had increased by 450% to over £1bn per year? Up to 50 thousand ‘excess’ deaths were recorded at hospitals under Blair. £660million has been cut from Labour run NHS Wales over the last three years according to the Welsh TUC. Labour wasted £11 billion of taxpayer’s money on a failed IT project, which was eventually scrapped by the NHS in 2013. 6% of NHS services have been outsourced to the private sector and the vast majority 4.4% of that was done by the last Labour government. Blair introduced ISTC’s, which gave £260 million of taxpayers’ money to private medical clients for operations that were never done. Labour lumbered the NHS with vast PFI repayments, £50 billion worth of loans, which are costing £300 billion in repayment. They also started privatisation of the NHS. Under the last Labour government 26k hospital beds were cut in their final years in office. Finally yet importantly, they introduced the NHS act in 2006 that gave competition into the NHS from the private sector, therefore extending operation-waiting times for NHS patients. Not all NHS staff are voting Labour. Labour have lost their way and are no longer for the working class nor for the poorest or the NHS, times have changed and so have they.

Now let us take for instance Labour’s food bank claim. More propaganda. Labour say food banks use has gone up during the Tories, when in fact ‘The claim that over a million people are using Trussell Trust food banks’ is inaccurate. It comes from confusing the number of different people using Trussell Trust food banks in a year with the number of times they use the food banks. The Trussell Trust collect their data from the vouchers used by people referred to their food banks. If one voucher feeds a family of 4 people, that’s 4 instances. If the same family visit again next week, that is another 4 instances. The Trussell Trust say that on average people needed two food bank vouchers annually, so the number of people using food banks is likely to be around half of the 1.1 million figure.’ not good I agree but still Labour are factually wrong. Moreover, people used food banks under them also but that never seems to be mentioned. I understand many people that use food banks are not to blame but for the other majority it is my belief that is people’s inability to manage and distribute their incomes appropriately rather than the blame landing on the government’s actions.

This week Diane Abbott did an agonising interview over police policy cost during Nick Ferrari’s Breakfast show on LBC. She could not get the figures correct or explain where the money is coming from. Bear in mind, this person is Shadow Home Secretary wanting to be in charge of the police. It seems Labour still can’t be trusted with the economy and she even flip-flops on the issue of Stop & Search. In 2015 John McDonnell, Labour’s shadow chancellor, called for MI5 and the UK’s armed police force to be scrapped in a controversial campaign letter. A picture emerged showing Mr McDonnell holding the letter earlier this year- it demands that special police squads – like those that hunt terror suspects – be disbanded, leaving our great country at risk. I have not gone into the Labour scandals over the years, nor the fact that they will say anything simply to get the votes

So to sum up, after everything I have learned about Labour (a lot more then I have gone into here) I will never vote Labour again. They are Jam today, jam tomorrow, jam forever. Just do not ask where the fruit will come from, how they’ll pay for the sugar nor how it’ll be heated. Even if somehow that magically appeared, Mr. Benn like, none of the present Labour front bench would have a clue what to do next. You would end up with the fruit going rotten, the sugar and water boiled away and the heat source being deemed environmentally unfriendly. Labour are not for the people anymore and truly need to get their act together. Can that be done? Well I personally have no clue but right now I can never see it happening.

About Michelle Robson

Michelle Robson is a 41-year-old married woman living in the north of England. Attended a UK comprehensive school and has a great interest in owning a wide selection of reptiles and Exotics, which she cares for dearly, (cuddly besties who just need love) this passion developed from work at a reptile rescue charity. Recently married but has been with her husband for 19 years and has 3 children, she is also really passionate in the Gothic period including current pieces of art and decor. Has recently become both knowledgeable and passionate in politics, especially over the EU referendum and continues to help people understand politician’s agendas and other political theories for those who care to learn. She has very strong political views that can easily be swayed with reliable information.

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5 comments

  1. Ian Pye

    Superb Michelle and welcome to the writing team

  2. D.R.Bickenson

    Yes indeed! Didn’t the rot set in when Tony B.Liar was elected or, as I prefer to call him, Tony Tory-Light?

    Let’s not beat about the bush here – all politicians are in it for the money, for the opportuities with which they are presented to make even more money than their adequate, not enormous I grant you, salaries.

    All of them execute expediency with terriffic aplomb – witness Corblimy’s rapid about turn on Brexit when someone reminded him that a majority of the population voted for it!

    Sigh, I despair. The country needs two parties at least and ’tis a shame that most of the voters are incapable of changing the habits of a lifetime or UKIP, who are more in tune with people’s feelings these days, might stand a chance of, at least, becoming the main opposition party.

    I was a lifelong Liberal until it became obvious that Labour were intent on branding me a criminal because I enjoyed target shooting and I thought that the Torys would not be so bloody stupid. As it happened John Major was so stupid. Hey ho!

  3. Isaac Anderson

    Welcome Michelle,

    Nice article, and it seems much of the population has followed your advice!

    Isaac

  4. Nick Clegg

    As someone who loves Corbyn’s policies – I will admit I am not unbiased. However, this article shows a clear lack of research into Labour’s policies and how they will do things and is written before the manifesto is released in full. It promotes voting for parties and not politicians. I won’t go into it because it’ll be really long – but this is a REALLY ignorant piece of writing. Not because I disagree – I can see other party’s/people’s opinions. I’m open to all parties (except Tories – never heard a good explanation for voting Tory). Because it’s simply wrong. It’s not necessarily the statement that is wrong, although I do disagree – that is personal opinion. But the specifics are very wrong. It’s not my opinion, it’s the truth. Comparing Blair and Corbyn is so wrong and that is why people should stop voting for parties and start voting for politicians and policies. If you disagree with Corbyn’s policies, FINE! But, make sure you know what those policies are and how they will be achieved and why you disagree. As someone who knows what Corbyn’s policies are and how he will achieve them (with what we know before the manifesto) – I can tell you this article is simply wrong.

    You can have your opinions on Corbyn and Labour (as long as you accept that 20 years changes a party and different leaders means different policies). I will accept that. I will not accept lies spread about him, however. This is simply wrong and so incredibly ignorant.

  5. I can relate to much of what you have written as I was born and bred in a Labourite home in Lancashire. I too would never vote for the Liebour Party.