Monday 19 December 2011

How can women vote Tory?

In the spring of this year a 'You Gov' poll found that only 13% of the public felt that Cameron's Conservatives was closest to women whilst 79% felt they were closest to the rich. More recently the equality campaign group, The Fawcett Society, published a report 'A life raft for women's equality' which identified a 23 yr high in female unemployment. Just to kick them harder there have been cuts to child benefit; maternity grant for low income families; reduced housing benefit and so on. It is estimated that £11bn of the £16bn sliced from the welfare budget affects women and about 3million are worse off. Never mind. The Tories want more women in Boardrooms.That will make a hell of a difference. Theresa May has responded by setting up a scheme to recruit mentors to help women start businesses. Where are these female entrepreneurs going to get start up funds from? One of my daughters has identified an employment opportunity. Divorced mother, one child (age 10) still at home. The training costs over £2000. Supposing she didn't have a dad with a few quid. No chance. Still Cameron does have his heart in the right place with respect to women. The rules of Royal succession are to be changed to allow the eldest child male or female to succeed to the throne. Wow.
The sad thing is that the LibDems will get tainted by this. There is a limit to what 57MPs compared to over 300 can do to restrain the Tories. Compassionate Conservatism, Big Society - sure. The Government has allocated about £500m to help community groups whilst charities are expecting to lose £4.5bn as a result of spending cuts. If we could bottle & sell hypocrisy we wouldn't have a debt crisis. Happy Christmas.

No comments: