Why shouldn't I vote for the Conservative party?

Why not to vote Conservative? It's a question that is so obvious to me that I constantly fail to grasp why others cannot fail to see the answers. It's easy to point to their history, and fling the nasty party accusations around. Despite my own belief that they are essentially the same party they always were, it's far easier to look at what they are doing and saying now, to understand why you shouldn't vote for them.

First, you can look at what might have been different if they had been in power for the last 13 years. All of the most unpopular decisions made are ones that were supported by the Conservatives, or would have been taken by them anyway. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? Check. The continuation of said wars for a decade? Check. A failure to predict or heed warnings of an inevitable global economic crisis? Check. The continued privatisation of public services? Check. And then look at what actually has been done that we wouldn't have if there had been a conservative government. The minimum wage, the hunting ban, gay rights legislation, removal of hereditary peers.

You can object to that as speculation. Fine. Look at what they've actually done since David Cameron has been in charge. They've marginalised themselves in Europe, whilst at the same time allying with racists and homophobes. If they get in to power and remain in the ECR grouping of countries, then Britain will find itself ignored in the most important political grouping in the world, at a time when it desperately needs to be at the forefront of EU policymaking. All because of the idiocy of the Conservative leadership. The reason for this is obvious as well. The Conservative party harbours people with covert nationalistic and xenophobic tendencies. David Cameron has had to pander to those who hold these opinions (assuming he doesn't hold them himself), and in doing so, has shown us the hypocritical nature of the modern Conservative party.

Then there's the proposed tax breaks for the married. The concept of that itself is so ridiculous that I can't believe he was allowed to announce it. Nevermind the fact that it's a slap in the face to every person in the country who wishes to lead an alternative lifestyle to what is considered the norm, here is a man who actually thinks that he can impose his own social morality on an entire country.

There's 'Broken Britain'. A claim so ludicrous and polarising that I cannot wait to see the back of it. The way the Conservative party has twisted and spun a myriad of crime figures and statistics is disgusting. In an attempt to frighten the populace in to voting for a tougher stance on crime, the stance that the tories themselves just so happen to promote, they are willing to outright lie to the electorate, and then not correct themselves when their mistakes are pointed out.

The Conservative party itself has been beholden to one of the richest men in the world to support them, and then not only failed to question him over his unconfirmed tax status, but given him intimate access to foreign leaders, allowing him to further his business interests. On top of this, they have announced that no peer in the HoL should be non-domiciled, and, despite the revelations over Lord Ashcroft's tax status, have done nothing to correct it, or even confront him over it. One of the most influential men in the Conservative party, and indeed, in the country as a whole, is still non-domiciled. I don't want the next Prime Minister of this country to be another man who says one thing, and does another.

The recent debacle over gay rights has shown up Cameron's propensity to ignore the homophobia that exists within the Conservative party, and which he struggles to hide. He gives an interview to Gay Times saying he thinks gay people should have equal rights, then in the very same interview says that he would give a free vote on the issue. Then his Shadow Home Secretary comes out and actually says that there are situations in which somebody can be refused service based on their sexual orientation.

Then there's the inheritance tax. The Conservative party has actually announced a change to inheritance tax that will give £1.2 billion of tax back to the top 2% of earners in the entire country. They want to give tax breaks on pensions that will give £3.5 billion to the top 2% of earners. If they reverse the 50p tax rate, that's another £2.4 billion to the top 2%. If you add up all of the tax breaks they want to give (and these are not all of them), then in total they want to give almost £12billion to the top 2% of earners in this country, in their first year of office. They have not announced any way in which they will regain this amount of money, despite the fact we are in a recession, and they have said they will have to make massive cuts to the public sector. People should be frothing at the mouth about this, but instead they're seriously considering voting Conservative.

Finally you have David Cameron himself. A man whose election campaign consists of saying the word change so much that I'm beginning to suspect he might have tourettes, and whose whole campaign can be boiled down to the phrase 'Vote for me, I'm not Gordon Brown.' A man who, in an effort to appear environmentally conscious, rode to work on a bike, whilst a car with his briefcase and suit was driven to work behind him. A man who will support any cause that allows him to say he wouldn't have done something unpopular that the Labour party has done, as long as it means he doesn't have to say what he would have done otherwise. His smug posturing when Labour was defeated over the Ghurka was proof of this. That man didn't care about the rights of the Ghurka, he just cared about being on the side of something popular. He just wants to be in power so that he can have power, and a man like that should never be let near it.

I must stress here, that I'm not saying vote Labour, Lib Dem or anything else. I say one thing. Don't vote Conservative. If that's not enough to convince you not to, then the next 5 years will be worse than the last.

And I haven't even mentioned George Osborne.