PaulNorthYorks
New member
Are you thinking of voting for Labour because it is "better the devil you know"?
Despite things that have gone wrong under labour, and mistakes they have made, there is a case for voting for them as it is "better the devil you know". If it were a horrendous government like that of Mugabe's in Zimbabwe, I would definitely say "Get rid". However, despite their mistakes, they have done some things right - I think giving the Bank of England independence for setting interest rates was a the right thing to do, and inflation has been kept under control in this Labour government. Yes we have record levels of debt in this country, but the banking disaster was hard to predict without the advantage of hindsight, and the government has been trying hard to avoid a prolonged recession as happened under the Tories in the '80s.
The main alternatives to Labour are:
1. The Lib-dems - who have been quite impressive but there could be long-term implications to weakening Britain's nuclear deterrent. Joining the Euro could also prove to be a mistake.
2. The Tories. Arguably these too are the "Devil you know", but having been out of power for over a decade, there would be mainly a new set of people running the show, who are relatively inexperienced. I know the Tories are promising enabling things like the ability to run your own school, but to be honest, I would not lose any sleep if a government was elected that didn't give me that power.
Given past history, there will likely be mistakes whatever party is in power, so maybe it would be best to stick with the "devil you know" on the grounds that they are relatively experienced compared with the other parties, are making efforts to change (cutting waste in Whitehall etc), and doing things to keep the economy on an even keel, and prevent the "double dip recession" that Gordon Brown maintains could happen under the Tories.
What do you guys think?
Despite things that have gone wrong under labour, and mistakes they have made, there is a case for voting for them as it is "better the devil you know". If it were a horrendous government like that of Mugabe's in Zimbabwe, I would definitely say "Get rid". However, despite their mistakes, they have done some things right - I think giving the Bank of England independence for setting interest rates was a the right thing to do, and inflation has been kept under control in this Labour government. Yes we have record levels of debt in this country, but the banking disaster was hard to predict without the advantage of hindsight, and the government has been trying hard to avoid a prolonged recession as happened under the Tories in the '80s.
The main alternatives to Labour are:
1. The Lib-dems - who have been quite impressive but there could be long-term implications to weakening Britain's nuclear deterrent. Joining the Euro could also prove to be a mistake.
2. The Tories. Arguably these too are the "Devil you know", but having been out of power for over a decade, there would be mainly a new set of people running the show, who are relatively inexperienced. I know the Tories are promising enabling things like the ability to run your own school, but to be honest, I would not lose any sleep if a government was elected that didn't give me that power.
Given past history, there will likely be mistakes whatever party is in power, so maybe it would be best to stick with the "devil you know" on the grounds that they are relatively experienced compared with the other parties, are making efforts to change (cutting waste in Whitehall etc), and doing things to keep the economy on an even keel, and prevent the "double dip recession" that Gordon Brown maintains could happen under the Tories.
What do you guys think?