Why I’ll Never Vote Conservative at a General Election

To traditional Labour voters and those that care about workers rights and the NHS who have voted Labour in the past and are planning to vote Conservative at the general election.

I don’t think Labour’s done a particularly good job in many areas of government, but they do have their successes as well like the NHS and national minimum wage. I accept they could and should have done a much better job.

However, what’s the alternative, an uncaring Tory government! Imagine we’d have never removed the last Tory government and the Conservatives were still in power:

What would the NHS look like today under the Tories after another decade plus of under investment?

Would we have anything like a national minimum wage or would we still be aiming for sweatshop Britain trying to compete on price not quality?

Would barbaric blood sports like fox hunting be banned?

Would we have any House of Lords reform?

Would the MPs expenses ever have been brought to the light of day (Labour passed the legislation to open the books so to speak)?

Would we have something like Sure Start and so many Sure Start Children’s Centres?

Would we have guaranteed job/training place for 18-24 year olds unemployed for 6+ months under a Tory government or would we be loosing another generation to long term unemployment like we had in the 1990s?

Would we have winter fuel payments of £400 for pensioners over 80 and £250 to the over 60s?

Would we have increased child tax credit, would we even have something like child and working tax credits under the Conservatives?

Would we have been the first country to adopt legally binding long term targets for reducing our greenhouse emissions, do you really see the Conservatives as a green party?

Would we have offshore wind farms that provide the electricity for 2 million homes?

Would the Conservatives have helped insulate over 5 million British homes through a Warm Front like scheme?

Would we have legal civil partnerships (same sex marriage) giving same sex couples the same legal rights as married men/women?

Would the Conservatives have signed the Social Chapter resulting in worker rights like a right to four weeks paid holiday, a right to parental leave, extended maternity leave, a right to request flexible working hours and the same protection for part-time workers as full-time workers?

Would the Conservatives worked with the rest of the world to provide a coordinated response to the economic downturn to help families and businesses through difficult times? Remember the Tories were against the economic stimulus package, they wanted to let the recession run it’s course (mass unemployment and massive public sector service cuts).

Would our rivers, beaches and water be the cleanest they have ever been (part due to EU laws)?

Would NHS waiting lists be half a million lower than in 1997?

Would the Conservatives have guaranteed an under 18 week wait for hospital treatment?

Would the Tories guarantee that if your GP suspects you may have cancer, you will see a specialist within two weeks?

Would the Conservatives aim for a wait in A&E to be no longer than 4 hours? Remember the stories of ill people on waiting room trolleys for over 12 hours because the NHS was so under funded under the Tories.

Would the Conservatives increased NHS doctors by 44,000 and over 89,000 more NHS nurses since 1997?

Would the Tories investment in the NHS be nearly three times what it was in 1997?

Would the Conservatives have brought in a smoking ban in public places?

Would the Tories have given free off peak travel on local buses anywhere in England for the over-60s and eligible disabled people?

I can not understand how anyone who would consider themselves a Labour voter would seriously consider risking the country to the Conservatives for 5 years!

David