Tory Defeat Down to Economy Not Gay Marriage
The Tory Party’s heavy defeat in Thursday’s local elections was not the result of David Cameron’s plans for gay marriage but because of George Osborne and his disastrous handling of the economy.
- David Cameron, copyright No.10
There will be some within UKIP and the various religious communities who will be quick to point the finger of blame – for the loss of so many council seats – at the coalition government’s proposals to legalise gay marriage. It’s an easy target especially for religious leaders many of whom are outspokenly opposed to allow loving, gay couples the right to marry. While gay marriage may have put a few supporters off – the kind still stuck in the 1950s – the real reason why so many voters turned against the government is due to the economy.
How many budgets has George Osborne, the Chancellor, described as a “budget for growth”? Where is that growth? The UK is back in recession and the Chancellor has no idea how to get the country out of it. The coalition government’s poor handling of the economy, the country and public services are the real reason they lost hundreds of council seats on Thursday.
Osborne and his fellow cabinet members mistakenly believe the way out of a recession is to make hundreds and thousands of public sector employees unemployed! The coalition government believes for the economy to recover unemployment levels must rise and rise and rise – or least given its policies you would think that is what it believes. How can the Tories honestly expect the economy to grow when they are making thousands of people unemployed??
Mass unemployment coupled with public service cuts, pay freezes, benefit cuts, pension cuts and tax cuts for the rich and wealthy have left a bitter taste in the mouths of the working classes. Once again the poor suffer while the rich get richer and Cameron and his cronies have no idea just how much ordinary, hard working families are suffering. Cameron and Clegg are quick to pay lip-service to the ideas of rewarding hard work but the actions of the coalition government so far speaks volumes; it’s government for the rich, by the rich.
That doesn’t mean though that millions of voters are drifting back to the Labour party as Ed Miliband may hope and expect. Quite simply a lot of voters have been turned off politics completely as witnessed by the low turnout in many areas. Political apathy is common place and politicians are regarded with suspicion by the masses and who can blame them after the disgusting scandals of recent years?
It is apathy that may very well lead to Cameron and Clegg being re-elected despite the damage they have done to the country. If Labour can not unite the working classes behind it by the time of the next General Election then apathy amongst voters may reach such a height that the Tories get in by default – not a pretty prospect at all.
Ed Miliband has his work cut out but if Cameron and Clegg keep handing him ammunition, as they have been doing, then the Labour leader should have more than enough fire power to sink them both.
[Opinion piece written by Doug Lambert]
who said it was it was anyting to do with gay marriage
why is this website obsessed with being anti religion
There have been various news-reports and articles linking the Tory defeat to policies such as gay marriage.
Here’s a prime example which lists two articles in today’s papers alone: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/05/06/tory-mp-nadine-dorries-gay-marriage-is-for-metro-elites-and-should-be-binned/
As for being anti-religious, this site has actually gone out of its way in several articles to point out that not all religious groups are opposed to gay marriage. It has been balanced, fair and accurate in its coverage of gay marriage.
As Martha has pointed out there have many articles and news reports on radio/television which have attributed the heavy Tory defeat to policies such as gay marriage – just do a google search and you’re bound to come across such articles.
As for being anti-religious; that’s simply not true. On the whole we do not cover religion on this website and where we have done we stride to be balanced in our coverage but we also tell the truth; we state the facts as they are and that doesn’t always make comfortable reading.
Posh boys Cameron and Osbourne are seen as out of touch.
The economy is mired in a double dip recession yet the only idea these two seemingly have for solving the nation’s financial problems is to introduce a pasty tax. It’s also clear that their policies on the economy just are not working and that we should be trying to spend our way out of recession. That’s the real reason why people didn’t turn out to vote for the Tories on Thursday.
However, I do think that there is also growing resentment from a Tory hardcore on the Coalition’s policies and direction on Europe. This has resulted in them heamorrhaging votes to UKIP and its emergence as the possible 3rd party following a collapse in support for the Libdems.
The only Tory who did well last week was Boris Johnson who was contesting the London Mayoral elections and that’s probably because he is one of few Tory politicians to have publicly distanced himself from offical Coalition policy in recent times.
As for voter apathy and low electoral turnout, the reason for this probably lies in the fact that in the last 15 years there has been an overcrowding on the centre ground of British politics with all three major political parties essentially espousing the SAME centre right policies. Anyone remember Premiers Blair and Brown during which time the rich also continued to get even richer during 15 years of New Labour rule? Little wonder then that working class voters are not exactly falling over themselves in record numbers to vote for Her Majesty’s official ‘opposition’ party.
So, if you don’t like posh boys Cameron, Osoburne and Clegg remember the only other choice is posh boy, Miliband.