A lot of the comments here refer to the endless list of lies, mismanagement and waste perpetuated by this government. I can sum it up in two words, there is NO TRUST anymore. People have no faith in this regime. It doesn't matter how much listening and leaning GB does, they're finished.

Brian Roberts , Plymouth, Devon

If Jack Straw is so convinced the public are punishing the Government over tax alone, call a General Election then! Straw and his ilk will then realize the public have had more than enough of this Government. Two more years of Labour in power and the country will be in a hole it cannot escape from!

R.B., Leicester,

I can not see how a man like Gordon Brown can think he can cripple the POOR, with Tax on food, Tax on petrol, tax to live in a house tax on wages, tax on electricity, tax on water tax to drive to work, tax on your tax, and punish the people and expect people to support these new fines to tax more.

Daphne Kenward, Cambridge, UK

ZaNuLaber borrowed from the future to buy present votes and created a Corporatist State as the creditors demand control [Goldman Sachs owning the Treasury?]. Benito Mussolini did exactly the same in Italy in the decade from the mid 1920s to the mid 1930s. We too now have a fascist state.

Alexander Davidson, Crawley, UK

If Jack Straw thinks the only reason they got their face rubbed in it is because of the 10p income tax he is living with his head up his backside. People are fed up paying more and more tax for less and less.

A Seymour, Peterborough, UK

Isn't that a surprise - that the less than wealthy don't like money being taken from their mouths, and vote accordingly?

richard, louth, UK

Jack Straw should get a proper job! He is so far out of touch with public opinion that he has no moral right to speak on the subject.

Terence Hope, Southampton, England (once)

Straw still doesn't get the message. He still has his head in the sand. "We'll listen and Learn Lessons" they say. We have heard that cliche every week for the last two years, once said, they just carry on as usual. Clearly they need another kicking - two years will soon pass.

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

Mark of Stoke on Trent, there's nothing wrong with democracy when the BNP wins seats, there's something right with democracy instead.

Paul, Nottingham,

TAX is ALWAYS labours downfall- the idea that anyone with a job and a bit of savings should be made to hand it over is simply not acceptable ( the lisbon treaty is a TAX hike as it actually adds up to more TAX to pay for a bigger political class anyway).

john G, london, uk

yes unremitting arrogance and sleaze, greed along with the ongoing and unfolding disaster known as immigration

but wait will there be any change

tony, manchester, uk

The farce over immigration is what did it for me.

Mike Stott, Manchester, UK

Labour members have an eviction notice, two years to feather a new nest somewhere out of parliament.

Labour's sole intent in power has been evil, Police Statism exemplified by the ID card system. But it is their arrogance that is now their downfall. The poor sacrificed for a tax cut headline.

JamesStGeorge, Bishops Stortford, England

Labour have dug their own grave treating their core voters with the greatest disrespect (10%) . Let the poor pay and then employ even more family members for the revenue. Currently also Zimbabwe has a leader not elected by the people. Brown I believe, is the only European one. Records are good!!

Ron, Sussex, UK

It's far too easy to fall for the latest stupidity/error with the 10p tax issue. How about the horror of living in Britain today in a country that's hardly recognisable? We are forced to tolerate crime and anti-social behaviour & have had an economy mismanaged for a decade.

R Davies, South East Wales,

Brown shouldn't have messed around with the Non-Dom rules as it shows complete economic incompetence. Governments for years have claimed to want to mess about with these non-dom rues and then retreated as they knew it would be bad for us.

Another example is all the chancellor's Budget retreats.

Nigel, London, England

You should have listened to the people Mr Brown, and reversed your crazy immigration policy. Although it's not being widely commented on, this is one of the main reasons why many people are deserting the Labour Party. Enough is enough. Unless you and your comrades get the message and take meaningful actions to stem and reverse the flow, then you are due for a 'right' drubbing at the forthcoming General Election.

Melanie Duxbury.

melanie duxbury, blackburn, england

Having read the complaints above, there is little extra to add. One thing is the Green taxes. IPCC researchers have a NEW MODEL that shows we are in for GLOBAL COOLING for at least a decade. Mother Nature beats CO2. BUT NOTHING IN THE MEDIA!
When news is BAD, lose it would appears to be the game

M. Cawdery, Portadown, Co. UK, EU.

The 10p tax rate issue is just the tip of the iceberg for the Titanic that is NuLabour. People have realised at last that what they are getting, bit by bit, is a Stalinist state, and that is not what they want.

Martin, Newmarket, Suffolk

Brown wanted to beat the Tories to getting the basic rate down to 20%. He did it by increasing National Insurance and abolishing the 10p rate. Labour has destroyed it's reputation with it's core voters and middle classes alike. The idea of a comfortable retirement has disappeared. Brown is toast

Nigel, swindon, UK

it's sad to think labour are fooling themselves this one measure turned everyone against them. we are totally fed up for a large number of reasons. this wilful deafness to what people are actually saying is just one of them.

jem, london, uk

You know there is something fundamentally wrong with democracy when the likes of the BNP win seats perhaps if we restricted voting to people without criminal records and included a simple competency test, like what day it is commonsense might prevail.

Mark, Stoke on Trent, UK

£30 per week worse off per family, & Record Profits
for Petrol, Utility & Supermarket companies, plus Banks. refusing to lower interest rates. Labour will not be forgiven for ignoring the plight of Millions of hard pressed families. Rip off Britain has been allowed to flourish.

David Swinbank, Gillingham, England

Puished over the 10p tax
No he was punished because of the way he has treated public sector workers. These folk would probably be Labour voters in the main
Police Officers, prison wardens, coastguard, teachers,nurses
Cost of living going up and public sector wages not going up at same rate.

Tony Walker, Newtongrange, Midlothian

I blame the press for an efficient hatchet job on vehicle taxation two days before the vote. It was a non-story, so why was it dragged up just before the election?

Ken's £25 congestion charge for big cars might have been the final straw, though.

Roger, Swindon, UK

I've got new for Mary,Bath.We've got 20p tax AND an army of dictators.

Iain, Glasgow, UK

I voted against Labour because the dire state of housing. No excuses,the government is supposed to manage housing. Fobbed off with some spin about it being a side effect of the economic miracle.
The Labour party should be renamed the Landlords and Bankers Party.Why any one else would vote for them?

A Hariis, Ketteing, UK

They still don't understand do they? It wasn't just the doubling of the lowest tax rate, it was a whole string of lies and deceit. The EU referendum promise - broken. Crime rate is down whilst prisons have never been so full. Inflation rate of 2.8% when we all know it is more like 10 to 12%. Wake up

Peter, Brixham, Devon

The Labour Party,have,to quote Talleyrand on the Bourbons,"Learned nothing and forgotten nothing"

Peter, Manchester, England

Yes, it was the 10p tax that was at fault, you carry on thinking that.

FMD, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

The Labour Party are in denial over the election defeat. It isn't down to the present state of the economy or the 10p tax; it's about arrogance, sleaze, immigration, taxation, waste, political correctness and the EU constitution, etc etc. It's about not listening to the people for ten years!

Andrew brown, derby, UK

"They wanted to punish us in respect of the 10p tax rate" Dream on, Jack. If you believe that is the full extent of your problems, then you will believe anything. You 'lost' these elections by CONTINUALLY making mistakes over a long period of time. This one was just the last 'straw' .

Alan, Honiton, UK

What are the odds for Labour calling an early election before the economy get worse?

It might be worth betting on an early election!

Delroy, Watford,

Typically he's taken the most obvious answer, but tackling this won't bring about a change. Like others I feel that at every turn in life nowadays, somebody, whether it's government or company, is out to take my money by some underhand means.

Paul Scofield, Milton Keynes,

Well what a surprise, this government have been about banning everything and taxing everything else. Wait until the new car tax starts to hit the ordinary wotking person and even Newcastle and Middlesborough will return Tories and Lib Dems.

C Darken, Nantwich, UK

If you listen closely, you can hear the chickens coming home to roost.

FINALLY!

John F, London,

I defy anyone not to get thgis question right: What has the labour party and the Titanic got in common?

Bob, Warrington, Cheshire

For 63 years one has mostly voted Liberal. Occasionally, the 'X' has been planted on a moderate Labour person. This election one's second vote went for the first time to a Tory. Why? Sheer incompetence, hidden taxing, endless spin, and out-of-touch bragging of the present incumbents.

Kenneth, London N2, UK

My experience says it was abandoned £50m computer systems, being taxed within an inch of our life, state schools not fit for children, collaboration with the USA in torturing people, billions wasted on Trident, and generally TOTAL disregard for the voters. The 10p tax was just one more example.

iain carstairs, bedford, uk

They just don't get it, do they?

Read the blogs Jack. Talk to ORDINARY PEOPLE, and by that I don't just mean ones that don't have titles, I mean people, on the bus, on the train, in the supermarket, in the pub, at the match.

If you think it's ONLY the 10 p tax, then you are doomed.

tris, Dundee, Scotland

Smoking bans are based on institutionalised fraud: that passive smoke is harmful. Disinterested clinicians refute this completely.

Smokers resent being 'de-normalised', labelled pariahs, or branded as addicts to suit a pharmaceutical agenda.

I trust Britain's 10m+ smokers expressed their disgust.

Harry Davies, Galway, Ireland

It's very sad that Labour have made such a mess that they are forcing voters into the arms of the BNP, a very frightening thought when you read their ridiculous manifesto.
Do think those comparing us to South Africa need to get a grip. I'd rather have 20p tax than a dictator, perspective people!

Mary, Bath,

That's right Jack, it was the 10p tax that did it, not 11 years of spin, lies, incompetence and TAX.
But then again I have to take anything that comes out of Mr Straws mouth with a pinch of salt after his failed attempt to sell Gibraltar's sovereignty to Spain for collusion in the war in Iraq.

Dave, Gibraltar,

It's not just tax issues, it's the election that never was, it's the lack of an EU treaty referendum, the less than prudent economics, it's the endless nannying, it's the subprime minister, it's the never ending motoring taxes,'do as I say, not as I do' attitude

Oh dear I'm running out of space...

Expat Dave , Paphos , Cyprus

To see on the news this morning pictures of Leavingsoon (leavingnow!) arriving at city hall to clear his desk has to be one of the happiest times of my life. I and millions like me now eagerly await the day when Brown and his Labour colleagues will be doing the same.

Simon, Nottingham, England

That photo - It's Homer - Doh !

Alex, Winchester , UK

The Tax, incompetence, pocket lining, untruthfulness, surveillance (bins etc), referendum, need I really go on ...

wills, Winchester , UK

New Labour have to find an excuse so they parade the 10p tax issue. There are many reasons for voting Labour out of office:-
- Cost of living
- Cost and availability of housing
- Mismanagement of the economy
- Expensive and low quality public services
- Failed foreign policy
- etc, etc ...

Costas, Cyprus,

Horse, stable door, shut, bolted. Re-arrange if you can Jack Straw, Gordon Brown and the rest. Only fools would have carried this policy forward in the face of public opinion, but New Liebor never listen
Try having the promised european referendum and stop kicking the motorist in the teeth

John , Durham,

The voters are punishing Brown not for the tax, but aarogance and not listening to those who elected Nu Labour.

Hamad Lone, London, England

Straw is wrong to blame New Labour's drubbing on the abolition of the 10p tax rate alone. The Party hierarchy is so remote from the real world that it has abandonned all pretense of democratic process. The Mugabe-like tactics to ramrod the Lisbon Treaty through Parliament are absolutely shameful.

C Evans, Balzan, Malta

Congratulations to Richard Barnbrook, the first nationalist ever to hold high elected office in England. Although the BNP's advance is completely obscured by the massive Tory landslide, it is significant and has been sure and steady now for the past six years .

jrb, slough,, England

Could we please have Blair back ? I don't think all those who wanted him gone realised how much of the popularity of Labour was due to his leadership. If Blair is too much to hope for, could we please have some sort of a vote who should be head of Labour? Does it have to be Brown?

P Forsberg, London,

who elected Gordon Brown as "our (national) leader"...when did this occur?

his statement to "listern and lead" is nothing more than self dictatorship on a scale equal to Magabee's

eric, southport, uk

The comments by the likes of Jack Straw & the Labour hierarchy are ostrich like. The doubling of the 10p tax rate to 20p was the final straw and showed the electorate how out of touch Brown etc are with the electorate. There is Referendum, NHS, over taxation, erosion of liberties, plus, plus, plus

M. Butcher, W-s-M, England