General Election - Who do we vote for

he'd be appointed by the eu! technocracy! rule by the experts, for the people

 

I am liberal. No party actually stands for what I believe in, which I would say is what the majority of young people think, which is that the Government should intervene as little as it can in the economy and in social/ ethical matters. But I guess the Conservatives actually know what they are doing with the economy, and in these fragile times, to vote for anybody else would end up making everybody worse off.

I know the EU is a scary prospect right now, but pulling out of it all together is not the answer. Countries are, and always will be stronger together. All the main parties know it, but they can hardly say, an ever increasingly skilled labour force will improve the country, but this probably means that jobs will probably be lost, especially for those who do not pay attention in school. And yes, it looks bad that we can't get rid of a hooked maniac, but as we do not condone torture or the death penalty, we cannot easily send away these loonies to countries which do not. Yes the Euro is shiite right now, but when the economy has recovered, it will bring everybody up, even us.

The key is to cut out the silly red tape, and ride it out. Like a family with strong personalities, there will always be differences of opinion. Cameron knows that the referendum is to buy him time for the Euro to strengthen, he knows the danger of trusting the people with a vote, when they are largely swayed by current views and scaremongering. People are innately programmed to withdraw and turn on/ blame the strangers during threatening times. Soon the Poles will be joining us to complain about the Ukrainians etc. Life goes on.

Anyway, for those who do not know where they stand on certain issues, here is a little party test. Make sure you plot where you stand on the chart, as for me, that's the most interesting part.

http://uk.isidewith.com/political-quiz

 

Someone would propose a motion and a vote would be taken, majority wins, or maybe a two thirds majority would be needed to pass the proposed legislation?

Simples!!!

 

Libertarian, thought they loaned out books.

 

We could hire people that are actually qualified to do the different jobs, notice how people get moved around different departments in cabinet reshuffles. Would be quite easy to set up a commitee of say 25 of these independent MP's to give interviews, granted this would take some time but it makes more sense to have qualified people in positions rather than someone chosen just because they have been brown nosing an Eton old boy for a few years.

 

It's not looking good for 'Bed head' Milliband. Labour need to steal some of UKIP's thunder and win back their core electorate. It's hard to do as they can't and shouldn't offer the mindless 'dole scum' 'immigrant scum' rhetoric which a small but noisy section of the public seem to need like light and water.

They need a positive campaign that unites progressive people in the country and promises to protect and improve the lot of the less well off.

 

If Labour said they were going to legalise euthanasia/assisted suicide or other big moral topics where the country has a majority to change it they'd do well. Things like gender selection abortions and female circumcision.

 

Taking that 2014 quiz, I end up between UKIP and Conservatives.

 

I just became a paid member of the green party. Its a shame that my vote (in my heavily heavily heavily Tory constituency) is essentially completely valueless. Hooray for the British political system.

 

There needs to be a reinvention of the Left. Until that happens we won't progress, and the world will become a scarier place.

 

The left reinvent themselves every 10 years or so. Left Unity is the latest movement I think. Unfortunately they aren't attractive to the electorate in any of their guises so it's a bit of a non runner. You need votes to have influence, and even then you might not even end up with an MP under our current system. Greens seem the way to go if you want a genuinely left leaning party.

 

You won't get that from Miliband and his focus groups and advisors. They have a strategy just to creep over the line with core support and disenfranchised lib dems voters. With their in built boundary advantage it may be enough, but this kind of strategy won't be setting any fireworks off. As you say, his problem is some of his core vote are actually switching to UKIP now. It's not just a Tory problem any more.

 

If Milliband remains the leader of the Labour Party they will lose the General Election in 2015!

The Tories and their buddies in the media have done a great hatchet job on the man, he has been portrayed as a weak and ineffectual leader, and hence unelectable; whether this is right or wrong the public persona of the man is just that!

General Elections have become more and more like Presidential Elections these days, so the popularity of the party leader is very important, and although Cameron is not exactly Mr Charisma, he is probably the best of a bad bunch.

Therefore if Labour wants to win the election in 2015 they must ditch Milliband, and if the Lib Dems do not want to be totally annihilated, they likewise should ditch Clegg.

 

Milliband needs to punch some fat bumpkin in the face. It would instantly raise his approval level.

 

What are you on about with your "hatchet job" comment. For a start, he is a "weak and ineffectual leader" so do you really expect the Conservatives ad the press to lie about him and portray him as a brilliant leader.

Even Labours buddies at The Mirror say he is liability.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kevin-maguire-ed-miliband-labour-3437554

The fact is, the Labour party elected a leader who was useless in a useless Labour government and is continually useless, no policies and just moans. You can't blame the press for that!

 

This is what I've always argued would be a bigger step towards true democracy. Ban political parties and every MP represents the interests of their constituents in the national government. As it stands, we vote for someone, but apart from the odd party rebel, they toe a line dictated by a small group of policy makers at the top of their party who have no connection with my constituency

 

On the subject of Miliband who can forget this classic, ensuring that he got the party line out. I thought this was a fake when I first saw it but apparently not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRHZOL9O0UQ

 

I wouldn't and perhaps you'd like to extend this to those UKIP cry babies who endlessly complain that the media is mean to poor (mildly racist) Nigel.

 

The problem with that is nimbyism.

We'd not get any new trainlines or powerstations as the local MPS would all vote against because it would be a blight on their constituency.

 

For heavens sake TVOR, it isn't simple and it wouldn't work - for hundreds of reasons. This is demonstrated that no major democratic nations have such a system . A few small ones have though, Tuvalu or Nauru are examples. Which of those would you like to model the UK on?

Unfortunately, it is just idealistic nonsense.

 

WTF can we not adopt the German political system ... it's fair and it works a damned sight better than ours.

 

I think how parties are funded needs to be looked into. The largest donars can essentially have huge power over a government/party, that can't be right surely?

 

But they would be isolated MPs, outnumbered by the hundreds of others from everywhere else.

 

Until they clubbed together with an agreement to only vote for things affecting people not in the club.

It's an unofficial party system.

 

Large donations need to be declared and politicians have to also declare a business or other interests. There's the odd transgression which is eventually found out but our system is about the least corrupt country government.

There's no difference from large businessmen doners to trade unions to other interested parties. They are all in it to get something back. The alternative is taxpayer funded campaigns and I;m sure no one wants that.

 

On this basis Luton will be rich in years to come. No one could be worried about blighting it further.

 

If you lived in Birmingham and a proposed rail link to London was blocked, despite the fact that it would deliver economic benefits to the region, because your MP had made a deal with some MPs from Bucks, then you'd vote him out.

 

My head says Conservative, basically because I think we are better financially and economically under them, but my heart is saying UKIP, the open borders immigration issue is a worry. The place I work at, 75% are immigrants from Europe who drive in from outside our area to work there, taking jobs from our own people.

All brilliant workers though and polite and generally nice people.

Also Farage is the only major political leader who has knocked on my door, and I live in the "Speaker of the House of Commons" constituency

 

Are you going to similarly condemn UKIP for their endless whining about getting a rough time from the media? You can't turn a page without some nationalist or other bemoaning their treatment. Boot, foot and all that.

No? Thought not.

 

What a strange post.

I was responding to TVOR's snipe at the press, that is why I quoted him. What has that got to do with UKip, the greens or anyone else?

 

Back to the poll, I'm quite surprised UKIP have now drawn level with leaders in our admittedly small sample. Thought most people wouldn't consider them for the general election, whilst wanting to irritate Cameron/Miliband/EU/the lefties in the Euro elections.

Guess our sample is too small to show much, but interesting nonetheless.

 

The European often are brilliant workers - in my eyes, the only problem with immigration that we have is that Europeans taking jobs hasn't led to a skill increase or productivity rise from Britons. If it had, they would be less likely to find themselves out of work and complaining about 'all these foreigners taking our jobs'.

If you were a company, would you employ a European migrant who will work his arse off, or a British national who will work at perhaps 3/4 the pace and thus produce 3/4 the amount. I firmly believe that work ethic is the main driver for employment at the level we're discussing and that's not something the government can implement through policy. Until unemployed British citizens are willing to work as hard and produce as much as Europeans, British trade and growth needs the people who will push themselves to reach their own potential and the country's potential. If they happen to be European, so be it.

For what it's worth, I got 84% Conservative, 70% Lib Dem. It didn't surprise me at all that the areas I sided with the Conservatives on are the economy, immigration and foreign policy.

 

I don't have any issues with imigrants working. What I do have issues with are with our population ever increasing. We are over populated as a country with pressure on roads, schools, hospitals etc, allowing an open door policy only makes things worse.

 

Will you condemn UKIP for their constant complaints of rough treatment by the press? You dismissed the notion that Ed Milliband had suffered at the press, will you do so for UKIP?

Come on, answer the question!

 

First of all, your question had a false premise as I didn't dismiss the suffering Milliband gets from the press. He does get a hard time, but he more than deserves it, because he is useless. Get your facts right.

Secondly, I'm not going to condemn UKIP for moaning about the press. Every Party moans at the press...

...it's as commonplace as you saying that I am lying when I say something you didn't expect.