...who would you vote for?
The reason I ask is because I really haven't got a clue myself.
So I was thinking it would be interesting to hear what other people would do, who (mostly) live in my area.
To stop this from descending into petty arguing and being sunk, here are a few rules...
1: Keep your reason concise, no more than 20 words
2: ONLY POST ONCE, no replying to other people's posts in an attempt to prove your intelligence/wit/moral superiority.
3: If you disagree with this thread, or someone else's opinion JUST IGNORE IT, simple as that.
Surely we as group of (mostly) adults can manage one thread where people thoughtfully put across they're view without others feeling the need to argue with them?!
Or am I kidding myself?!
I'll start...
Party: Undecided.
Reason: Lack of knowledge/general distrust of all politicians.
0
Comments
As for election, no real interest, unlikely to vote. Can't stand any of them.
75% of rules coming decided by other EU nations. This affects trade, fuel taxes, immigration, farming, policing, foreign policy etc... People of this country should have the politians in the House of Commons who they vote for make all the rules.
The UK can be free to trade across the globe.
Costs £873 per person per year to be in the EU.
Flat tax over 10k per year.
Scrapping of Inheritance Tax (though I must admit Im against scrapping this).
No tax on the minium wage.
Train and place fully qualified UK nurses and doctors before 'outsourcing' from abroad through agencies.
Freeze permanent immigration for 5 years.
Instant deportation of immigrants who commit crimes.
Work permits only for UK economic needs.
Let the people call for referenda on key issues. like Switzerland does.
A grammer school in every town. Grammer school heads to take over failing comprehensive/high schools.
I could go on time for a change from the two major parties who in my opinion have let this country down and sold the people down the river to Brussels. This includes the Conservatives who are suppose to be anti EU but their European Members of Parliment vote for issues that would lead us into a Fedral State of Europe.
If I voted for any of the horrifficly similar parties I'd feel like they were pissing in my face and laughing at me.
Apologies for the analogy!
Gordon Brown is not responsible for the world money crisis, the USA is responsible, if we close are curtains for abit and get this country up and running i will be happy. He is trying his hardest to get us out of the hole we are in. there is so much going on that does not get press Great Britian will be fine..
LOL
As for the potential prime ministers/leaders
I quite like Cameron as he is media savvy but most of the rest of them I wouldn't give you tuppence for, especially that oily kid George Osbourne who is about as effective as a cat flap in an elephant house.
As for Labour, I liked Blair, despite some of the spin. I find Brown miserable with little charisma. His speeches are more like the old Russian Politburo announcements of another 5 year plan. I think he's probably got the right approach to the current economic problems and it's clearly his field. I don't think he can wriggle out of the stuff that came before though, especially the "end to boom and bust" bullshit. As for the rest of their team, well Darling comes over as a bit of a muppet, Milliband is just out of short trousers and the rest are pretty boring non-entities.
Nick Clegg for the Lib Dems is OK but inexperienced and can easily be mistaken for a Tory, hence is often referred to as Diet Cameron or Cameron-lite. Of the rest of their team, Vince Cable stands out for me. He is clearly a bright bloke who knows his economic apples and has single handedly brought the LD's credibility in the economic field which they always lacked hitherto.
As for policies
Well we're in an economic crisis and therefore the run up to the next election is going to be dominated by economics.
The economy is in danger of depression and deflation leading to stagnation. (Look at what happened to Japan throughout the 1990's). It seems to me that the case for a fiscal stimulus is pretty overwhelming as a monetary stimulus alone (via cutting of interest rates) is not going to turn things around quickly enough. I think targetted tax cuts especially aimed at those on lower incomes is the order of the day because there is a need to get spending going again the the economy. Provided that this action is co-ordinated across markets (which appears to be what's happening) then as economic activity picks up, so will tax revenues and that in the relative short-term will help to fund the extra borrowing. There are lots of other issues here but that is the main one. Unemployment is going to rise and that in itself will need funding so the quicker we turn things around and get jobs being created again, the better.
On that basis I ask myself which of the three main parties can deliver this especially as the period of recession could drag on through into the next Parliament.
The Tories have made a big blunder and, to my mind, have painted themselves into a corner, by not appearing to support tax cuts funded by extra borrowing. As the government are going to do this anyway, they should have come out in reluctant support. If it is a mistaken policy, the government will be blamed anyway not them, and if it's the correct one, they can still run the argument that Brown/Labour got us into the mess in the first place. They also run the risk of ordinary people who's jobs/houses are under threat of seeming not to care enough to support them. It's the old "Unemployment is a price worth paying" echo from the past. They are now talking about cutting growth in spending when nobody knows what the spending needs are going to be in two or three years time but again it sounds like a echo of the past. I've not much confidence in the Tories to make the right decisions both economically and tactically.
Labour/Brown does seem to be making the right moves economically. I just worry about some of their other failings. So many tricks are being missed and I find difficulty giving them too much credit. I don't like their undermining of civil liberties for popularity sake, I don't like their toadiness to big business, especially the big supermarkets. I don't like the destruction of the rural Post Office networks, I hate the way that they (and the Tories before them) have failed to support the case for living rights for the Gurkhas.
The Lib Dems, for the first time in my lifetime, have a credibility in the area of the economy. They announced plans for tax cuts for those on lower incomes before the economic crisis hit. The original plan was fiscally neutral. This needs to change in the light of the threat of a world depression - I've no reason to believe that it wont. I am more aligned with them on other issues that either Labour and Conservative. I don't see myself re-joining the party but I'll probably lend them my vote.
As for the others well I am fundamentally opposed to pretty much everything that UKIP stands for and as for the BNP, well enough said.
Very funny or extremely disturbing.
Personally i'll be voting for Cameron and the Tories. It will be the first time i've voted (i'm 31) in the past, i had little interest in politics generally. While Brown and Labour have gone up in my estimations in trying to sort out the finacial problems in recent months they still have far too many negatives against them for them to get my vote.
In principle and ideologically I would rather poke my eyes out than vote for the BNP however I do think a good performance by the BNP might change the contempt in which ordinary decent people are held by the three main parties particularly if a few "names" lose their seats as a result. I am therefore giving serious consideration to a tactical vote for the BNP. The media would not ignore the BNP in the way that they ignore UKIP.
Read the link Len
This rule is testing my self-restraint!
Tories paint themselves to be pragmatic, but underneath they revert to type and represent the interests of the better off. The lack of compassion shown by them in the Thatcher years put me off for life.
Liberals, never really sure what they stand for and they aren't radical enough to be a protest vote
Green, I tend to vote for this mob more as a protest than anything else. However I agree with a lot of their policies.
The rest are loons.
Boy, that concise 20 word reason really seemed to drag on.
Yeah but it's a great way of wheedling out the people who just really can't help themselves and HAVE to start disagreeing with others.
If i was admin I'd have set up a "only one post per person rule" and then imagine certain people at home exploding with frustration in front of they're computers!
Gordon Brown is not responsible for the world money crisis, the USA is responsible, if we close are curtains for abit and get this country up and running i will be happy. He is trying his hardest to get us out of the hole we are in. there is so much going on that does not get press Great Britian will be fine..[/quote]
Agree. Labour for me. Conservatives are just a bunch of public school chinless out of touch chancers
Like a politician, I only read what I wanted to read.....:o)
The executive summary.
Don't mind Cameron and Clegg, don't like Brown. Don't like Tory economics, think Labour got them right, Vote Lib Dem.
Exactly 20 words - am I forgiven now?
Also Labour have earned a big reputation for waste, I'm therefore puzzled as to why the Tories ever agreed to continue their spending plans; However coming out with it now (that they no longer are) is a political miscalculation in my view as they will come across as uncaring for those who become unemployed.
Yep.
New Zealand seem to have the right system - 50% of the seats are for designated MP's, 50% of the seats are then split proportionally between all the parties with any party gaining more than 5% of that vote guaranteed a seat.