rel="Red_in_SE8">Waking up to the news that Tories are seriously talking about repealing the Fox Hunting ban has really lifted my spirits. People under 30 have no real idea what Fox Hunting is about. A lot of them who voted Tory on Thursday will be truly shocked and sickened to the stomach when they start seeing graphic images of foxes being savagely mutilated start popping up on their smartphones and Facebook pages. Together with images of toffs sitting on their horses on Boxing Day looking down on the plebs it is a guaranteed vote winner.
Except, as stated above, its a couple of months old news which has just been raised on here today for some reason.
So waking up to old news that an open vote is being suggested isnt quite the image that might be being given that it's the new government's first piece of legislation.
It is an open vote that is being suggested meaning each MP can vote as their constituents ask them to.
First of all I'd like to thank most of the posters on here for an excellent debate . I haven't read much in the last week because I found the personal abuse boring .
I genuinely found 80% of the contributions interesting and informative even when some posters had different opinions to myself .
Although a Labour member I had become ambivalent about the Party because of the way Ed took the leadership . As a GMB member at the time of the last leadership contest I received my ballot paper with an envelope extoling the virtues of Ed Miliband's campaign and extra leaflets promoting him and no other candidate apart from the booklet that the Party had circulated . That was undemocratic in my view . As was the fact that Labour members and MP's voted for the older brother and it was only the trade union section that didn't . The party has now paid a price for this because I suspect David might have achieved a hung parliament. Thankfully the next leadership vote will be OMOV.
Despite this I decided to canvass for the first time in 10 years because of the media onslaught against Miliband . I am pleased to say that the seat I helped in was Ilford North where the excellent Wes Streeting overturned a 6% swing and won against the odds with a 500 majority . It was one of the few successes for Labour on the night and was won by an impressive ground campaign as our activists outnumbered the Tories by about 10 to 1 . There is nothing like speaking to voters face to face in my view and it is a shame that more people do not do it . The electors appreciated it and it made a difference.
In the end I guess in other areas people voted for the status quo although Clegg and the Liberals were decimated . I had never really seen the last government as a coalition but essentially a Tory one .
In my view Lynton Crosby won the election for them despite my personal dislike of some of the techniques used . Anyone who wants to know about political campaigning and the psychology behind it should read the article and watch You Tube video attached.
Crosby speaks about the core vote and then reaching out to the marginals . What the Tories under his strategy have done is rebuild their core vote whilst decimating Labour's . It is also almost identical to what Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson did for New Labour back in the day . Indeed either of them could have made that presentation albeit from a different political perspective.
One of the ' under the radar' successes was the way the Tories took back a whole swave of Lib Dem seats in traditional Conservative heartlands including some strong constituency MP's like @PragueAddick 's friend Ed Davey . In my view it is a mark of Tony Blair's great success in 1997 is that it has taken 18 years for them to do this. Scotland is now possibly the equivalent for Labour . Will the next leader be able to regain ground there ? I just hope as a nation we can preserve the United Kingdom and Cameron needs now to heal some wounds . I am sure Crosby would have been delighted at the way that Labour's core vote north of the border imploded and the SNP surged . This divided the opposition to help them win but at what cost to the union ?
The Lib Dems will rue the day they entered the coalition because in my view they haven't really got a core vote and most of the electoral victories were based around Labour or Tory supporters voting tactically. The make up of their old Parliamentary Party had primarily benefited from Blair's win in 1997 and up until 2010 they tried to position themselves to the left of New Labour . Therefore going into coalition with the Tories was electoral suicide although I appreciated the sentiment behind @bingaddick 's articulate defence of their position in the early stages of the thread . I suspect apart from him most of the others on here who praised them almost certainly voted Tory in this election .
Something I got wrong was the death of FPTP as an electoral system . I now expect it to continue and for Cameron to reduce the size of Parliament to 500 and have more favourable boundaries at the next election when Scotland and other urban areas lose some seats . The Greens and Ukip picked up some second places so might start targeting seats more strategically next time . The Lib Dems are no longer the only popular protest party and their image amongst many of their potential voters will have suffered because of the last 5 years . I think in particular Ukip now poses as a bigger problem for Labour than the Tories because in many northern seats they are now in a strong second place .
First of all I'd like to thank most of the posters on here for an excellent debate . I haven't read much in the last week because I found much of the personal abuse boring .
I genuinely found 80% of the thread interesting and informative even when some posters had different opinions .
Although a Labour member I had become ambivalent about the Party because of the way Ed took the leadership . As a GMB member at the time of the last leadership contest I received my ballot paper with an envelope extoling the virtues of Ed Miliband's campaign and extra leaflets promoting him and no other candidate apart from the booklet that the Party had circulated . That was undemocratic in my view . As was the fact that Labour members and MP's voted for the older brother and it was only the trade union section that didn't . The party has now paid a price for this because I suspect David might have achieved a hung parliament. I am pleased to say the next leadership vote will be OMOV.
Despite this I decided to canvass for Labour for the first time in 10 years because of the negativity of the media onslaught against Miliband . I am pleased to say that the seat I helped in was Ilford North where the excellent Wes Streeting overturned a 6% swing and won against the odds with a 500 majority . It was one of the few successes for Labour on the night and was won by an impressive ground campaign as our activists outnumbered the Tories by about 10 to 1 . There is nothing like speaking to voters face to face in my view and it is a shame that more people do not do it . The electors appreciated it and it made a difference.
In the end I guess in other areas people voted for the status quo although Clegg and the Liberals were decimated . I had never really seen the last government as a coalition but essentially a Tory one .
In my view Lynton Crosby won the election for them despite my personal dislike of some of the techniques used . Anyone who wants to know about political campaigning and the psychology behind it should read the article and watch You Tube video attached.
Crosby speaks about the core vote and then reaching out to the marginals . What the Tories under his strategy have done is rebuild their core vote whilst decimating Labour's . It is also almost identical to what Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson did for New Labour back in the day . Indeed either of them could have made that presentation albeit from a different political perspective.
One of the ' under the radar' successes was the way the Tories took a whole swave of Lib Dem seats including some strong constituency MP's like @PragueAddick 's friend Ed Davey . One of Tony Blair's great successes in 1997 is that it has taken 18 years for the Conservatives to do this. Scotland is now possibly the equivalent for Labour . Will the next leader be able to regain ground there ? I just hope as a nation we can preserve the United Kingdom and Cameron needs now to heal some wounds . I am sure Crosby would have been delighted at the way that Labour's core vote north of the border imploded and the SNP surged . This divided the opposition to help them win . The Tories won but at what cost to the union ?
The Lib Dems will rue the day they entered the coalition because in my view they haven't really got a core vote and most of the electoral victories were based around Labour or Tory supporters voting tactically. The make up of their old Parliamentary Party had primarily benefited from Blair's win in 1997 and up until 2010 they tried to position themselves to the left of Labour . Therefore going into coalition with the Tories was electoral suicide although I appreciated the sentiment behind @bingaddick 's articulate defence of their position in the early stages of the thread . I suspect apart from him most of the others on here who praised them almost certainly voted Tory in this election .
Something I got wrong was the death of FPTP as an electoral system . I now expect it to continue and for Cameron to reduce the size of Parliament to 500 and have more favourable boundaries at the next election when Scotland and other urban areas lose some seats . The Greens and Ukip picked up some second places so might start targeting seats more strategically next time . The Lib Dems are no longer the only popular protest party and their image amongst many of their potential voters will have suffered because of the last 5 years . I think in particular Ukip now poses as bigger problem for Labour than the Tories because in many northern seats where they are second .
Waking up to the news that Tories are seriously talking about repealing the Fox Hunting ban has really lifted my spirits. People under 30 have no real idea what Fox Hunting is about. A lot of them who voted Tory on Thursday will be truly shocked and sickened to the stomach when they start seeing graphic images of foxes being savagely mutilated start popping up on their smartphones and Facebook pages. Together with images of toffs sitting on their horses on Boxing Day looking down on the plebs it is a guaranteed vote winner.
Except, as stated above, its a couple of months old news which has just been raised on here today for some reason.
So waking up to old news that an open vote is being suggested isnt quite the image that might be being given that it's the new government's first piece of legislation.
It is an open vote that is being suggested meaning each MP can vote as their constituents ask them to.
You are right, I only looked at the headlines initially and thought great! They are only proposing a free vote on it and it is not a piece of legislation. I really hope it gets passed. Maybe Labour should arrange for a block of 50 or so of their MPs to go into the wrong lobby by 'mistake'.
I think Fiiish's comment about "declawing" UKIP with regard to Cameron offering an in / out referendum is absolutely correct.
When was the offer made ? 18 months, 2 years ago ? It was a knee jerk reaction to the rise of UKIP and the Tory realisation that in all probability that they (the Tories) were more likely to lose votes to Farage than Labour.
I bet he regrets that decision now. It's going to hang like a cloud over this parliament and is a real problem for business confidence and therefore the growth of the economy.
I need to look it up but I'm fairly certain that the terms of the referendum were promised as in or out. That's very dangerous for the country and the government.
Can you imagine how big business will react to an out vote facilitated by a conservative government.
My best guess is that Cameron will drag out the negotiations with the complicity of Merkel and Hollande to make it impossible to hold a referendum on his watch. He'll be happy to pass the baton on.
The whole mess is of his own making and now he's between a rock and a hard place.
I've not read this thread for some time so I could be repeating however I'd like to add that his (Cameron) declaration not to stand for a third term may have more of an impact to this Government than the EU referendum which maybe as others have suggested, limited in scope.
Why is it that people are so scared of a referendum on Europe? We have had major changes to our constitution over the course of three decades which have all been negotiated in smoke filled rooms in some dark forgotten corner of Europe and imposed on us without a second thought for our wishes. Why is it that some people feel a democratic society should not be asked about such drastic changes?
Some of you really need to get some pills for your paranoia.
Oh come on, I'm sure all Labour supporters would be just as critical of the voting system if they'd managed to squeeze past the post yesterday, and still be crying out for PR voting reform today! We didn't hear too many cries about the unfairness of the voting system when the polls were neck and neck did we? Now all of a sudden we have an undemocratic Government that will lead to a split country! What does that mean, demonstrations on the streets, a refusal to recognise the elected government? I don't recall too many Tory demonstrations when we had to endure Blair/Brown for so many years. Governments come and governments go, some people benefit, some people suffer, that's the way of the world, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't, as a people, be united behind the Government of the day and endeavor to work with them rather than against them. I dread to think what would happen now if war were to break out. Who would fight to protect their nation and who would refuse to on account that they didn't vote for the government! Thank God our Great Grand Fathers didn't think the same way or we'd all be speaking German today.
Some of you really need to get some pills for your paranoia.
Oh come on, I'm sure all Labour supporters would be just as critical of the voting system if they'd managed to squeeze past the post yesterday, and still be crying out for PR voting reform today! We didn't hear too many cries about the unfairness of the voting system when the polls were neck and neck did we? Now all of a sudden we have an undemocratic Government that will lead to a split country! What does that mean, demonstrations on the streets, a refusal to recognise the elected government? I don't recall too many Tory demonstrations when we had to endure Blair/Brown for so many years. Governments come and governments go, some people benefit, some people suffer, that's the way of the world, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't, as a people, be united behind the Government of the day and endeavor to work with them rather than against them. I dread to think what would happen now if war were to break out. Who would fight to protect their nation and who would refuse to on account that they didn't vote for the government! Thank God our Great Grand Fathers didn't think the same way or we'd all be speaking German today.
I think you missed my point, I agree with you.
It was the others going on about the world about to be destroyed by a Tory government that I was talking about.
Some of you really need to get some pills for your paranoia.
Oh come on, I'm sure all Labour supporters would be just as critical of the voting system if they'd managed to squeeze past the post yesterday, and still be crying out for PR voting reform today! We didn't hear too many cries about the unfairness of the voting system when the polls were neck and neck did we? Now all of a sudden we have an undemocratic Government that will lead to a split country! What does that mean, demonstrations on the streets, a refusal to recognise the elected government? I don't recall too many Tory demonstrations when we had to endure Blair/Brown for so many years. Governments come and governments go, some people benefit, some people suffer, that's the way of the world, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't, as a people, be united behind the Government of the day and endeavor to work with them rather than against them. I dread to think what would happen now if war were to break out. Who would fight to protect their nation and who would refuse to on account that they didn't vote for the government! Thank God our Great Grand Fathers didn't think the same way or we'd all be speaking German today.
I think you missed my point, I agree with you.
It was the others going on about the world about to be destroyed by a Tory government that I was talking about.
No one has said the world is going to be destroyed, no one in the left is bleating on about FPTP (the biggest whingers about that are UKIP).
I'm far from paranoid but if you think you can expect to cut, already much, much smaller budgets by another 20, 30, 40 or more percent and NOT see a difference in our public services then you're living in cloud cuckoo land I'm afraid. There's a massive change coming and a massive need to address the public's expectations as a result of this election.
Some of you really need to get some pills for your paranoia.
Oh come on, I'm sure all Labour supporters would be just as critical of the voting system if they'd managed to squeeze past the post yesterday, and still be crying out for PR voting reform today! We didn't hear too many cries about the unfairness of the voting system when the polls were neck and neck did we? Now all of a sudden we have an undemocratic Government that will lead to a split country! What does that mean, demonstrations on the streets, a refusal to recognise the elected government? I don't recall too many Tory demonstrations when we had to endure Blair/Brown for so many years. Governments come and governments go, some people benefit, some people suffer, that's the way of the world, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't, as a people, be united behind the Government of the day and endeavor to work with them rather than against them. I dread to think what would happen now if war were to break out. Who would fight to protect their nation and who would refuse to on account that they didn't vote for the government! Thank God our Great Grand Fathers didn't think the same way or we'd all be speaking German today.
I think you missed my point, I agree with you.
It was the others going on about the world about to be destroyed by a Tory government that I was talking about.
No, no, I got your point. I was criticising the poor hard done by Labour supporters, not you. Sorry if it came across otherwise.
Could this be the next conservative and labour leaders for the 2020 election?
It would be a seismic change in our country.
Get your point Thaid but even more seismic if we had more political leaders who had completed a weeks work outside politics and weren't motivated by self-agrandisement.
On boundary changes. Yes I know that demographics count, I know that cities often vote differently to the shires, that regions have tendencies, that Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have their own particular impetus, but I tend to agree with making the boundary changes even if I don't like the result.
For me it is technical, even mathematical, with a bit of Geography, History, and County and Borough fiefdoms thrown in. There is even likely to be an issue with the shifting number of registered voters to be considered. However if you have one constituency with 39,000 potential voters, and a neighbouring one with 70,000 then some kind of balancing needs to be figured out.
The argument about traditional political heartlands is not relevant. I say that, because it is up to those politically motivated to actually get out and win arguments, persuade voters, communicate with them, listen and influence. I don't like parties being able to take the safety of seats for granted even if they can, by-elections demonstrate that when their is an intensity of focus, discussion and engagement so called safe seats can be changed.
Boundaries will never be an exact science, the essential thing I suppose is that boundary commissioners are neutral referees, and can be pressed on decisions they propose.
There is a bigger break up happening in Britain right now that needs examination, even if boundary changes seem to work in favour of the Conservatives. If Mr Cameron is going to be the overseer of the break up of the Union, then his legacy in strengthened shire constituencies may well be badly damaged.
Anyway, what with Europe, Scotland, regionalisation, nationalism and so on I am beginning to wonder if there is any chance of Freedom for Lee
Some of you really need to get some pills for your paranoia.
Oh come on, I'm sure all Labour supporters would be just as critical of the voting system if they'd managed to squeeze past the post yesterday, and still be crying out for PR voting reform today! We didn't hear too many cries about the unfairness of the voting system when the polls were neck and neck did we? Now all of a sudden we have an undemocratic Government that will lead to a split country! What does that mean, demonstrations on the streets, a refusal to recognise the elected government? I don't recall too many Tory demonstrations when we had to endure Blair/Brown for so many years. Governments come and governments go, some people benefit, some people suffer, that's the way of the world, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't, as a people, be united behind the Government of the day and endeavor to work with them rather than against them. I dread to think what would happen now if war were to break out. Who would fight to protect their nation and who would refuse to on account that they didn't vote for the government! Thank God our Great Grand Fathers didn't think the same way or we'd all be speaking German today.
Can I just make it perfectly clear please. I have supported a form of PR for most of my voting life as a Labour supporter (even though both main parties Labour and Tories have not wanted it). I am far from a UKIP supporter, however I think it is wrong that a political party (UKIP) polled nearly 4 million votes and got 1 seat against SNP who polled nearly 1.5 million votes and got 56 seats. We complain about our politicians (myself included) who do not represent the majority and have the 'vested' interests of either Unions or The City at their core, yet if we had a form of PR, we would get a greater representation of the political views of the many not the few. So Yes I did support the Blair years but not all that they did and perhaps if we had had a more representative government of the majority certain things would not have been allowed to happen. Under PR this time round the parliament would have looked something like this-: Con 249, Lab 200, UKIP 83, Lib 50, SNP 25, Greens 20, Others 15 (figures are not exact). I also looked to see how many votes to elect an MP dependent on votes cast and numbers of MP's, here's 3 of the parties-: Con - 35k per MP, Lab 40k per MP, UKIP 3.8 million per MP. Please don't bring serving in the armed forces into this....I did and am proud to have done so, and wanting PR doesn't mean I'm soft either, I would always fight to protect this nation and I did, in Northen Ireland.
Red, my comments were not aimed at you specifically, but rather the general tone of Labour supporters on here, who, having lost, are now questioning the rules of the game. PR is also not a perfect system and has produced a rogue Senate here that until recently was blocking much of the legislation put forward by a lower house that was elected in a landslide! It has virtually hamstrung the Government and been very detrimental to the country IMO. My comment concerning the military was simply that the country needs to pull together and be united no matter who is running the country. Thank you for your service.
IMO. Some of those who voted Conservative and don't think there is a significant restructuring of public institutions and the public realm with very severe cuts coming have not been paying attention (maybe you have and thats what you want). The Conservatives are extremely ideological and do not believe in public provision of any kind. The state is going to shrink to pre 30s levels. All public provision will be outsourced and privatised. This is not likely to bring better services. There will be further rationing. Going forward you will need health insurance for anything then less than critical health care or if using the NHS will have to wait a long time for the procedure.
With further austerity, there will be massive hardship. Those of you with sufficient funds to manage that's great. The country is radically changing and it is threatening to be a far different, more brutal, and crueller place to live.
Those of you who voted Conservative without a lot of money or health insurance. I hope that you and your families remain well and don't come up against hardship. I fear that if you do, it will be too late to realise how little support there will be available for you whatever you have paid in.
Here are a few political anagrams to, hopefully, lighten things up a bit:
Alex Salmond A sex-doll man Caroline Lucas Cull a car noise Dave Cameron Came, raved on. Dennis Skinner Inner kindness? Ed Milliband Am I blinded? Election results Lies: let's recount Houses of Parliament Shameful operations Margaret Thatcher That great charmer Michael Heseltine Elect him, he's alien Milliband Sturgeon Building a monster Nicola Sturgeon One Scot a 'rulin Nicola Sturgeon A cool insurgent Nigel Farage Free gin gala Nigel Farage Ale, fag reign! Nigel Farage A fag, leering Tony Blair PM I'm Tory plan B
and finaly
The Houses of Parliament Loonies far up the Thames
Comments
As for the attempted insult please little boy!
Is the suit and tie Labour property and does it come in different sizes?
Except, as stated above, its a couple of months old news which has just been raised on here today for some reason.
So waking up to old news that an open vote is being suggested isnt quite the image that might be being given that it's the new government's first piece of legislation.
It is an open vote that is being suggested meaning each MP can vote as their constituents ask them to.
I genuinely found 80% of the contributions interesting and informative even when some posters had different opinions to myself .
Although a Labour member I had become ambivalent about the Party because of the way Ed took the leadership . As a GMB member at the time of the last leadership contest I received my ballot paper with an envelope extoling the virtues of Ed Miliband's campaign and extra leaflets promoting him and no other candidate apart from the booklet that the Party had circulated . That was undemocratic in my view . As was the fact that Labour members and MP's voted for the older brother and it was only the trade union section that didn't . The party has now paid a price for this because I suspect David might have achieved a hung parliament. Thankfully the next leadership vote will be OMOV.
Despite this I decided to canvass for the first time in 10 years because of the media onslaught against Miliband . I am pleased to say that the seat I helped in was Ilford North where the excellent Wes Streeting overturned a 6% swing and won against the odds with a 500 majority . It was one of the few successes for Labour on the night and was won by an impressive ground campaign as our activists outnumbered the Tories by about 10 to 1 . There is nothing like speaking to voters face to face in my view and it is a shame that more people do not do it . The electors appreciated it and it made a difference.
In the end I guess in other areas people voted for the status quo although Clegg and the Liberals were decimated . I had never really seen the last government as a coalition but essentially a Tory one .
In my view Lynton Crosby won the election for them despite my personal dislike of some of the techniques used . Anyone who wants to know about political campaigning and the psychology behind it should read the article and watch You Tube video attached.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/08/lynton-crosby-wedge-politics-general-election-tories
Crosby speaks about the core vote and then reaching out to the marginals . What the Tories under his strategy have done is rebuild their core vote whilst decimating Labour's . It is also almost identical to what Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson did for New Labour back in the day . Indeed either of them could have made that presentation albeit from a different political perspective.
One of the ' under the radar' successes was the way the Tories took back a whole swave of Lib Dem seats in traditional Conservative heartlands including some strong constituency MP's like @PragueAddick 's friend Ed Davey . In my view it is a mark of Tony Blair's great success in 1997 is that it has taken 18 years for them to do this. Scotland is now possibly the equivalent for Labour . Will the next leader be able to regain ground there ? I just hope as a nation we can preserve the United Kingdom and Cameron needs now to heal some wounds . I am sure Crosby would have been delighted at the way that Labour's core vote north of the border imploded and the SNP surged . This divided the opposition to help them win but at what cost to the union ?
The Lib Dems will rue the day they entered the coalition because in my view they haven't really got a core vote and most of the electoral victories were based around Labour or Tory supporters voting tactically. The make up of their old Parliamentary Party had primarily benefited from Blair's win in 1997 and up until 2010 they tried to position themselves to the left of New Labour . Therefore going into coalition with the Tories was electoral suicide although I appreciated the sentiment behind @bingaddick 's articulate defence of their position in the early stages of the thread . I suspect apart from him most of the others on here who praised them almost certainly voted Tory in this election .
Something I got wrong was the death of FPTP as an electoral system . I now expect it to continue and for Cameron to reduce the size of Parliament to 500 and have more favourable boundaries at the next election when Scotland and other urban areas lose some seats . The Greens and Ukip picked up some second places so might start targeting seats more strategically next time . The Lib Dems are no longer the only popular protest party and their image amongst many of their potential voters will have suffered because of the last 5 years . I think in particular Ukip now poses as a bigger problem for Labour than the Tories because in many northern seats they are now in a strong second place .
So waking up to old news that an open vote is being suggested isnt quite the image that might be being given that it's the new government's first piece of legislation.
It is an open vote that is being suggested meaning each MP can vote as their constituents ask them to.
You are right, I only looked at the headlines initially and thought great! They are only proposing a free vote on it and it is not a piece of legislation. I really hope it gets passed. Maybe Labour should arrange for a block of 50 or so of their MPs to go into the wrong lobby by 'mistake'.
Why is it that people are so scared of a referendum on Europe? We have had major changes to our constitution over the course of three decades which have all been negotiated in smoke filled rooms in some dark forgotten corner of Europe and imposed on us without a second thought for our wishes. Why is it that some people feel a democratic society should not be asked about such drastic changes?
when we had to endure Blair/Brown for so many years.
Governments come and governments go, some people benefit, some people suffer, that's the way of the world, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't, as a people, be united behind the Government of the day and endeavor to work with them rather than against them. I dread to think what would happen now if war were to break out. Who would fight to protect their nation and who would refuse to on account that they didn't vote for the government! Thank God our Great Grand Fathers didn't think the same way or we'd all be speaking German today.
It was the others going on about the world about to be destroyed by a Tory government that I was talking about.
It would be a seismic change in our country.
I'm far from paranoid but if you think you can expect to cut, already much, much smaller budgets by another 20, 30, 40 or more percent and NOT see a difference in our public services then you're living in cloud cuckoo land I'm afraid. There's a massive change coming and a massive need to address the public's expectations as a result of this election.
Show business for ugly people.
Yes I know that demographics count, I know that cities often vote differently to the shires, that regions have tendencies, that Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have their own particular impetus, but I tend to agree with making the boundary changes even if I don't like the result.
For me it is technical, even mathematical, with a bit of Geography, History, and County and Borough fiefdoms thrown in. There is even likely to be an issue with the shifting number of registered voters to be considered.
However if you have one constituency with 39,000 potential voters, and a neighbouring one with 70,000 then some kind of balancing needs to be figured out.
The argument about traditional political heartlands is not relevant. I say that, because it is up to those politically motivated to actually get out and win arguments, persuade voters, communicate with them, listen and influence. I don't like parties being able to take the safety of seats for granted even if they can, by-elections demonstrate that when their is an intensity of focus, discussion and engagement so called safe seats can be changed.
Boundaries will never be an exact science, the essential thing I suppose is that boundary commissioners are neutral referees, and can be pressed on decisions they propose.
There is a bigger break up happening in Britain right now that needs examination, even if boundary changes seem to work in favour of the Conservatives. If Mr Cameron is going to be the overseer of the break up of the Union, then his legacy in strengthened shire constituencies may well be badly damaged.
Anyway, what with Europe, Scotland, regionalisation, nationalism and so on I am beginning to wonder if there is any chance of Freedom for Lee
Under PR this time round the parliament would have looked something like this-: Con 249, Lab 200, UKIP 83, Lib 50, SNP 25, Greens 20, Others 15 (figures are not exact).
I also looked to see how many votes to elect an MP dependent on votes cast and numbers of MP's, here's 3 of the parties-:
Con - 35k per MP, Lab 40k per MP, UKIP 3.8 million per MP.
Please don't bring serving in the armed forces into this....I did and am proud to have done so, and wanting PR doesn't mean I'm soft either, I would always fight to protect this nation and I did, in Northen Ireland.
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/uk_electoral_reform_locb/?timSnab
My comment concerning the military was simply that the country needs to pull together and be united no matter who is running the country.
Thank you for your service.
Considerably less in my view - it's easy to make a form of protest vote if you live in a safe Tory or Labour seat.
With further austerity, there will be massive hardship. Those of you with sufficient funds to manage that's great. The country is radically changing and it is threatening to be a far different, more brutal, and crueller place to live.
Those of you who voted Conservative without a lot of money or health insurance. I hope that you and your families remain well and don't come up against hardship. I fear that if you do, it will be too late to realise how little support there will be available for you whatever you have paid in.
Alex Salmond A sex-doll man
Caroline Lucas Cull a car noise
Dave Cameron Came, raved on.
Dennis Skinner Inner kindness?
Ed Milliband Am I blinded?
Election results Lies: let's recount
Houses of Parliament Shameful operations
Margaret Thatcher That great charmer
Michael Heseltine Elect him, he's alien
Milliband Sturgeon Building a monster
Nicola Sturgeon One Scot a 'rulin
Nicola Sturgeon A cool insurgent
Nigel Farage Free gin gala
Nigel Farage Ale, fag reign!
Nigel Farage A fag, leering
Tony Blair PM I'm Tory plan B
and finaly
The Houses of Parliament Loonies far up the Thames