General Election 2015

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Fair point on substance and i agree its more important than personaility. For me David has more substance but agree he is less Left than Ed and perhaps that is not what Labour voters want now. i think the floating voters may prefer less Left though.

I hadn't commented on subs and donations though. I am in the camp parties should be funded centrally but that a different area. In meantime, Labour should be in part funded by Unions

Totally agree with parties being funded centrally, however the old party networks have no desire to change the current system as both government and opposition are funded centrally already to cover their costs, so any minor parties are already at a disadvantage.

Cameron like all the others who get to the top, has enabled colleagues and mates to make out of the system for example just one of the signatories of the 103 so called business leaders that support the tories;

Mark Esiri, founder of the private equity firm Venrex. Esiri was involved in the sale of the stationery company Smythson, which employs Samantha Cameron.

Smythson was sold to a group of investors – including several Conservative donors. Samantha Cameron received a windfall of £430,000. Esiri is a long-term friend of the Cameron family.

However Cameron is fairly centerist and actually supports the EU and same sex couples - unlike the majority of his party, if he can actually win an election he will be replaced by a far right winger like Johnson or May pretty quickly.

I am sure the unions would love to be giving their money to better causes than just trying to keep basic workers rights from being further eroded. However I can't see either party voting for change while they have access to the keys of number 10.

 

[ferring seagull]

Hang on now ! (copied from another thread)

National Debt is something that we shouldn't necessarily be proud of but ,

Like many other countries in the upper echalon, we need to keep 'our's' within reasonable limits.

The debt which the UK was left following the last election was not clever given the the policies of the prevous administration and their spend (to the last day proudly stating ' there is nothing left in the coffers because we have spent it all') .

The Co-alition, whatever anyone may say, has done ( to the best of it's ability) tried and successfully managed the situation given the universal situation ( Economic Meltdown ) with the need to bail out banks etc. ( which either administration would have been required to do ). This has had a profound effect on the situation.

Anyone with even half a brain must realise that money doesn't just grow on trees and that 'printing' more money just adds to the the National Debt by creating devaluation of the pound (which TBF has been substantially avoided)

So whatever policies are promoted by either of the two parties most likely to form a government after the coming General Election, just remember that we have had to reign in expenditure to keep the UK's finances in a stable position. That of course has come at a price because National Government has required local government to shrink their budgets which has had an effect on just about everything BUT the UK economy is doing well ( would you rather be living in Greece ) and with economic growth we will EARN improvements in the NHS, Social Services, and Education etc.

Never forget this has been a GLOBAL scenario !

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Under Osbourne and coalition public debt will have risen by 50% in just five years, I believe this means that he would have increased it more than every previous Labour government combined.

Not only has George Osborne completely failed to eradicate the budget deficit as he claimed he would, and borrowed hundreds of billions more than he claimed he would, the economy is way smaller than he claimed it was going to be back in 2010. Osborne's 2010 projections claimed that by the end of the 2010-15 parliament the nominal GDP of the UK economy would be £1,916 billion, however this has now been revised downwards to £1,788 billion. It turns out that George Osborne has borrowed £207 billion more than he said he would in order to make the economy £128 billion smaller than he claimed it was going to be, and the government has lost its AAA grading.

I never get how so many people believe they are better at building economies when in fact they specialise on cutting public services and cutting taxes for big businesses that support them and not small businesses.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Then sold his soul to the EU. I'm pretty sure he was very anti until he realised what a gravy train it's is for him and his entire family.

He was also very anti the House of Lords until he was offered a life peerage and the title of Baron with the gravy train as an added bonus.

 

[melias shoes]

He was also very anti the House of Lords until he was offered a life peerage and the title of Baron with the gravy train as an added bonus.

Tut tut. Feathering his own nest. Clegg puts me in mind of this. He looks terrified at the mere mention of leaving the EU.

 

[nicko31]

Under Osbourne and coalition public debt will have risen by 50% in just five years, I believe this means that he would have increased it more than every previous Labour government combined.

Not only has George Osborne completely failed to eradicate the budget deficit as he claimed he would, and borrowed hundreds of billions more than he claimed he would, the economy is way smaller than he claimed it was going to be back in 2010. Osborne's 2010 projections claimed that by the end of the 2010-15 parliament the nominal GDP of the UK economy would be £1,916 billion, however this has now been revised downwards to £1,788 billion. It turns out that George Osborne has borrowed £207 billion more than he said he would in order to make the economy £128 billion smaller than he claimed it was going to be, and the government has lost its AAA grading.

I never get how so many people believe they are better at building economies when in fact they specialise on cutting public services and cutting taxes for big businesses that support them and not small businesses.

Osbourne has been on a spending binge, I just feel for my kids and at some time will have to explain how the UK got pushed into incredible debt without a world war.

Crazy tax giveaways on personal allowance, decisions on property stamp duty leaving a an immediate black hole of £1 billion a year, triple locks on pensions to buy the grey vote, making the government a huge mortgage broker heating up an already overvalued property market, letting corporates off multi-billion pound tax bills, the list goes on....

Labour were pretty bad but this lot have been little better...

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Osbourne has been on a spending binge, I just feel for my kids and at some time will have to explain how the UK got pushed into incredible debt without a world war.

Crazy tax giveaways on personal allowance, decisions on property stamp duty leaving a an immediate black hole of £1 billion a year, triple locks on pensions to buy the grey vote, making the government a huge mortgage broker heating up an already overvalued property market, letting corporates off multi-billion pound tax bills, the list goes on....

Well put. I've removed the last sentence though, as it doesn't fit my agenda

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Tut tut. Feathering his own nest. Clegg puts me in mind of this. He looks terrified at the mere mention of leaving the EU.

You should see how I look.

 

[crookie]

Osbourne has been on a spending binge, I just feel for my kids and at some time will have to explain how the UK got pushed into incredible debt without a world war.

Crazy tax giveaways on personal allowance, decisions on property stamp duty leaving a an immediate black hole of £1 billion a year, triple locks on pensions to buy the grey vote, making the government a huge mortgage broker heating up an already overvalued property market, letting corporates off multi-billion pound tax bills, the list goes on....

Labour were pretty bad but this lot have been little better...

Just wonder whether you are attacking Osborne from the left or the right. From the right you could argue that he hasn't cut enough, we would have needed a serious culling of Govt departments and local council services to reduce the deficit sooner, not the trimming at the edges which we have done.From the left, they have howled about every minor cut made in Govt expenditure, claiming that it was choking off the recovery. Arguable either way, and unproveable. Certainly Govt borrowing would have been greater, initially anyway under Labour, would the deficit have decreased quicker in later years, possible, but quite plausible that with an increasing deficit, lenders would have taken fright and interest rates on Govt bonds would have shot through the roof, a la PIGS countries, and we would be in a worse mess

Sorry, rereading, you are either tongue in cheek, or attacking from the right !!

 

[Bry Nylon]

You should see how I look.

Hungry and disappointed, if the 1901 food threads are anything to go by.

 

[Soulman]

 

[Flex Your Head]

http://reasonstovoteukip.com/

 

[Flex Your Head]

 

[Westdene Seagull]

View attachment 64385

Go on then - here's a link - http://www.ukip.org/policies_for_people - please highlight the correlation ?

 

[Soulman]

View attachment 64385

Can you point out where you got this information and figures please.

 

[daveinprague]

UKIP

 

[W.C.]

Pretty low tactic that if you ask me, whatever side of the political fence you sit.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

UKIP

I don't think either the Labour party or Conservative party are laughing at UKIP right now. Perhaps they will after the election, but much like celebrating crystal palace's relegation prematurely last year, it may be wise to see what happens first.

 

[Soulman]

Pretty low tactic that if you ask me, whatever side of the political fence you sit.

Might i suggest the " low tactic" was the Labour councils that ignored and were in some cases involved in the cover ups.

 

[daveinprague]

I don't think either the Labour party or Conservative party are laughing at UKIP right now. Perhaps they will after the election, but much like celebrating crystal palace's relegation prematurely last year, it may be wise to see what happens first.

I have faith in the British public. I dont think they are as stupid as UKIP and its followers believe.
They can flap their gums all day...in fact its better as they will say something stupid eventually, again, and again, so more talk from UKIP for me.
Plus of course, they will probably facilitate a Labour victory over the Tories in a close election. I think they are great albeit funny.