General Election 2017

[lawros left foot]

Masterstroke? He had said for ages that he wouldn't attend, then at lunchtime he changes his mind, as he presumably saw some grubby advantage, and has the nerve to say on the news that if the TV organise something like this, then it is only decent to attend!

But he did turn up, and did participate, unlike strong and stable Mrs May, who bottled it.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I'll vote Conservative because the policies make sense, the sums add up

What sums!!??

By all means say you support their policies etc. but saying their sums add up...when their aren't any is blatantly ridiculous.

 

[midnight_rendezvous]

What sums!!??

By all means say you support their policies etc. but saying their sums add up...when their aren't any is blatantly ridiculous.

In fact the only sum they had ended up not adding up...

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I don't much like Farron but it has to be said, he did a spectacular job of holding Theresa may to account for her cowardice tonight. Thought Rudd was really poor but then again I didn't think JC was exactly brilliant

Just like a football match. We all see different games despite being in the same stadium

 

[Guinness Boy]

Nuttall had a predictable mare, Lucas was excellent, JC was just about passable and Farron got in a few digs but nowhere near enough to be the next Nick Clegg. No prizes for guessing the big loser of the night though. Calling an election and then not debating the issues is like me writing a controversial blog post, pasting it all over Twitter and then getting my mates to deal with the inevitable banter and retorts.

 

[lawros left foot]

Theresa Mays decision to bottle out of the debate, seems to be a mahoosive mistake.

 

[Soulman]

I would have loved to have seen Nigel up there, he would have got royally ganged up on but hey, he would have held his own.

 

[lawros left foot]

Strong economy + low unemployment + controlled immigration + rising minimum wage and high personal allowance + realistic spending on defence, health, education etc = healthy country with foodbanks putting food on the table. That's what it comes down to for me. Why take a gamble on reckless spending and pissing off major employers just so we can throw an extra few billion at the NHS?

Corrected for you

 

[TSB]

Strong economy + low unemployment + controlled immigration + rising minimum wage and high personal allowance + realistic spending on defence, health, education etc = healthy country with people putting food on the table. That's what it comes down to for me. Why take a gamble on reckless spending and pissing off major employers just so we can throw an extra few billion at the NHS?

Oh come on! Controlled? Just the 75,000 extra non-EU people than was promised last year!

 

[The Rivet]

Theresa Mays decision to bottle out of the debate, seems to be a mahoosive mistake.

Nope I don't think so.

 

[Bold Seagull]

The next 2 days will be very interesting for May having ducked this one. She is going to regret it I feel. She stood down from the debate when her polling was still strong and she thought she was going to walk through this campaign, and now with the trends narrowing, and the gap closing with each passing day, she probably needed to be on that debate more than anyone to reinforce her authority and arrest those trends. Corbyn might not come out any better off, but not being on there looked worse than May could have imagined. If there was no winner tonight, there certainly was a loser. There will be those marginal lib/con seats that previous lib voters might well be flocking back after an assured performance by Fallon.

 

[clippedgull]

Theresa Mays decision to bottle out of the debate, seems to be a mahoosive mistake.

Even more so since she sent a grieving colleague (Amber Rudds dad passed away on Monday - revealed after the debate tonight). I know Rudd could have backed out but at least she didn't bottle out. I'm no Tory lover either!

 

[Steve.S]

As someone who is still undecided, I thought they were all poor tonight. Spent much of the time talking over each other, interrupting. May didn't turn up, however, like strong and stable sound bite, the constant reminder by the panel became rather tedious. Personally I don't think these leader debates work, far to many on the panel and the message gets diluted.

 

[lawros left foot]

Even more so since she sent a grieving colleague (Amber Rudds dad passed away on Monday - revealed after the debate tonight). I know Rudd could have backed out but at least she didn't bottle out. I'm no Tory lover either!

I didn't realise that, so, respect to Amber Rudd, she shouldn't have been put in that position.

 

[midnight_rendezvous]

Strong economy + low unemployment + controlled immigration + rising minimum wage and high personal allowance + realistic spending on defence, health, education etc = healthy country with people putting food on the table. That's what it comes down to for me. Why take a gamble on reckless spending and pissing off major employers just so we can throw an extra few billion at the NHS?

Except it's not all rosey is it?

Low unemployment - rising poverty. 55% of those in poverty are in work.

Rise in living wage - The longest decline in wage growth since the Napoleonic wars

Education spending may be at an all time high due to inflation but per-pupil spending is way down meaning schools are having to make massive cuts. My own school is having to cut £200,000 from its budget.

Rising number of people who can't make ends meet are having to use food banks.

Strong economy - the Tories have spectacularly missed every economic target they have set. They have accumulated more debt than every Labour government in history... combined.

Your life may be secure but the reality for a lot of people is far from the picture you portray.

 

[Eeyore]

I didn't realise that, so, respect to Amber Rudd, she shouldn't have been put in that position.

She shouldn't. And it raises further questions over May's ability to face the music. What's good for a grieving cabinet minister should be good for her.

 

[Bold Seagull]

As someone who is still undecided, I thought they were all poor tonight. Spent much of the time talking over each other, interrupting. May didn't turn up, however, like strong and stable sound bite, the constant reminder by the panel became rather tedious. Personally I don't think these leader debates work, far to many on the panel and the message gets diluted.

These debates should be like the Champions League with a set criteria for being invited. I would say 3 - 5 seats min in the commons in the current Parliament is the criteria for attending a debate so that we get a focussed dialogue of those actually wielding the power in our house of commons.

 

[vegster]

Corbyn has surprised me, he looks to be a very decent politician, very different to how he's appeared in PMQs.

It was a masterstroke from him to decide this morning to appear in the debate, they probably planned for it for a while longer.

This was another symbolic victory for Corbyn, by announcing his attendance late like this he wins either way. May looks like a coward for not attending and if she had attended she would not have had enough time to be coached on her answers to the probable questions. Once again she swerves a debate with "The ordinary voters " because she can't think on her feet, only being able remember to repeat the usual mantras over and over again.