How hard has government policy affected you since 2008?

[dbgtz]

I made a thread like this a fair while ago now and I'm curious to see how things have changed.

Many people seem to complain against the Conservatives policies since being in government, with those on benefits arguably being targeted in cuts but most people have probably felt the effect in some way. So how has it affected you? Does the bus service you get run worse? Do you run on a tighter budget (though I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case for most people since inflation has outpaced wage growth for most of the past 7 years)? Or are you simply to young to have noticed the difference?

Also, as a follow up, do you think any other party would have been able to have done a better job solely from a financial point of view since that is what the cuts ultimately boil down to?

[Empired]

Not sure who this is down to but my family claims disability allowance and every time we have to reapply it becomes harder and harder to claim what we need. We now only get about 85% of the coverage for my dad's nursing home with no extras. When he needed a new chair (very special chair because he had extremely specific needs for it) my grandma had to fork out the £1925 for it because my dad's Continuing Care benefits (which should cover the costs - that was agreed when we applied for it) refused.

I can see the government wants to crack down on people loafing about at home pretending to need disability benefits but we genuinely do need them but cannot get them.

That's the only thing I've really noticed tbh.

[abc]

I went to A&E under labour. Spent almost 4 hours. Under Tories (who I voted for) went to A&E two weeks ago and I was in and out in 1 hour and 15 minutes with excellent service - both times it was the same hospital. Now I know it had nothing to do with the tories but just saying.

I can totally see how government policies affects people negatively, however this benefit system is not sustainable in the long run. I was a long time supporter of labour and the benefits system, but when you see how badly it is managed, crack downs are needed. And sadly due to how badly it was managed by Labour, Tories have to make harsh cuts. At least this country provides benefits, most of the world would not give you a penny.

Go to America, every night in San Diego, LA, San Fran - you see the streets filled with homeless people because USA has no benefits scheme.

[Kardan]

I had to pay an extra £5,700 for my 4th year at University under the coalition. Solely from a financial point of view I would've done better under a purely Lib Dem government, heh.

[abc]

I had to pay an extra £5,700 for my 4th year at University under the coalition. Solely from a financial point of view I would've done better under a purely Lib Dem government, heh.

So glad they almost got wiped out. What a shame Nick Clegg didn't lose his seat.