If there was a general election tomorrow...

[Awol]

Cool, cheers. How I got from outer Barca to Gib I don't know...

[Mark8691]

Well, Ryan Giggs seems to be winning everything at the moment..

[thetrees]

I want to vote but don't have a clue who to vote for. I'm not voting for the Tories, that would be akin to me supporting small heath. Maybe the televised debates will help me decide or maybe they'll be full of the usual waffle.

Such open-mindedness is exactly the reason why the voting age should be raised to at least 25, probably 30.

[Jon]

I want to vote but don't have a clue who to vote for. I'm not voting for the Tories, that would be akin to me supporting small heath. Maybe the televised debates will help me decide or maybe they'll be full of the usual waffle.

Such open-mindedness is exactly the reason why the voting age should be raised to at least 25, probably 30.

nah.

He's just cottoned on really early that the Tories really are the devil incarnate.

He's not far wrong with his analogy, IMO.

and i can see why the Tories, and Tory supporters, would be all for raising the voting age to 25 or 30 :nod:

"The young don't seem to vote for us much! I know, let's raise the voting age, so that the young can't vote".

[Rodders]

I want to vote but don't have a clue who to vote for. I'm not voting for the Tories, that would be akin to me supporting small heath. Maybe the televised debates will help me decide or maybe they'll be full of the usual waffle.

why not check out what your local MP is doing in your area and if you think they've been doing a good job - vote him/her back in regardless of stripe.

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/index.php

Go here to see how they've been doing and whether you agree with them or not.

After all to re-iterate a point made a couple of times in this thread you are voting directly for the local MP and not for Unser Fuhrer der Prime Minister. The party has already done this for you.

On the above you can see if the MP is particularly loyal or does rebel when they feel strongly enough about it without withdrawing to obeisance to the whip.

[drat01]

Ok, so assuming I am following your logic correctly (and to be fair you often lose me with that big old Mekon brain Wink ), if we accept that the General Election to the Westminster Parliament is a national rather than a regional one, then it is perfectly reasonable for ex-pats to vote in it.

But, if you take the view that the UK has ceeded sovereignty to the EU (whose leaders are unelected by the people of Europe) then the Westminster elections take on the mantle of regional elections and therefore ex-pats shouldn't vote in them.

I know which seems 'right' but post Lisbon I'm not sure from a technical perspective. If the ceeded sovereignty argument holds weight that proves that the UK has indeed been sold down the river without so much as a 'by your leave' (re-confirming my own decision to vote for those dastardly extremists in the UKIP).

So to Drat, should Britons living elsewhere in the EU get to vote in the Westminster elections, or does that fall under the 'obscene' category too?

So many holes in that it looks like a tramps sock :-)

In a General Election we vote in constituencies - i.e. you vote for a MP to represent your area. So therefore me living in the Peak District I do NOT vote for a MP in Walsall for example. Hence the stupidity of allowing none domiciles to have a vote

Next

The UK has NOT ceeded responsibility to the EU and that is just your UKIP bias speaking. Again if we had a PR system here in the UK then voting from "abroad" becomes a totally different argument. But we do NOT, we do NOT vote for a PM, we do NOT vote for a President, we vote for a candidate in your constituency and the criteria is typically you have to be registered for that area to vote in it - and the main criteria for that is where you live

Pretty easy really Jon but your anti-EU stance is seemingly the basis behind your objections - TBH you seem on one hand to be in favour of non residents voting and on the other hand object to it.

[thetrees]

I want to vote but don't have a clue who to vote for. I'm not voting for the Tories, that would be akin to me supporting small heath. Maybe the televised debates will help me decide or maybe they'll be full of the usual waffle.

Such open-mindedness is exactly the reason why the voting age should be raised to at least 25, probably 30.

nah.

He's just cottoned on really early that the Tories really are the devil incarnate.

He's not far wrong with his analogy, IMO.

and i can see why the Tories, and Tory supporters, would be all for raising the voting age to 25 or 30 :nod:

"The young don't seem to vote for us much! I know, let's raise the voting age, so that the young can't vote".

If you don't have a clue who to vote for and might use the televised debates to help you make your decision, then why would you dismiss one party before watching the debates?

I'm all for raising the age of majority, consent and that at which you are allowed to purchase alcohol. After all it is your* Labour government that has set that precedent by raising the age at which you can purchase cigarettes.

*I know, I know, but you called me a Tory, so we're quits :winkold:

[TrentVilla]

I'm all for raising the age of majority, consent and that at which you are allowed to purchase alcohol. After all it is your* Labour government that has set that precedent by raising the age at which you can purchase cigarettes.

*I know, I know, but you called me a Tory, so we're quits :winkold:

Although to be fair TT I'm yet to see any convincing evidence that voting is bad for your health, other than if Drat catches you voting Tory.

[thetrees]

I'm all for raising the age of majority, consent and that at which you are allowed to purchase alcohol. After all it is your* Labour government that has set that precedent by raising the age at which you can purchase cigarettes.

*I know, I know, but you called me a Tory, so we're quits :winkold:

Although to be fair TT I'm yet to see any convincing evidence that voting is bad for your health, other than if Drat catches you voting Tory.

Yes, but I'm sure that I heard Nick Griffin say once that there was no evidence to suggest that smoking was bad for your health :winkold:

[wiganvillain]

I'm all for raising the age of majority, consent and that at which you are allowed to purchase alcohol. After all it is your* Labour government that has set that precedent by raising the age at which you can purchase cigarettes.

*I know, I know, but you called me a Tory, so we're quits :winkold:

Although to be fair TT I'm yet to see any convincing evidence that voting is bad for your health, other than if Drat catches you voting Tory or Tony catches you voting Labour.

Edited for balance

[Jon]

I'm all for raising the age of majority, consent and that at which you are allowed to purchase alcohol. After all it is your* Labour government that has set that precedent by raising the age at which you can purchase cigarettes.

*I know, I know, but you called me a Tory, so we're quits :winkold:

Although to be fair TT I'm yet to see any convincing evidence that voting is bad for your health, other than if Drat catches you voting Tory or Tony catches you voting Labour.

Edited for balance

Good save, Mr Dimbleby

[TrentVilla]

I'm all for raising the age of majority, consent and that at which you are allowed to purchase alcohol. After all it is your* Labour government that has set that precedent by raising the age at which you can purchase cigarettes.

*I know, I know, but you called me a Tory, so we're quits :winkold:

Although to be fair TT I'm yet to see any convincing evidence that voting is bad for your health, other than if Drat catches you voting Tory or Tony catches you voting Labour.

Edited for balance

Good save, Mr Dimbleby

Ha ha, do you know i nearly put that but the thing is deep down I know Tony is Labour at heart.

[tonyh29]

"The young don't seem to vote for us much! I know, let's raise the voting age, so that the young can't vote".

Actually in relation to the 2005 election Labour had a larger majority over voters aged 35 - 54 over the Tories than they did over ages 18 - 34 ... amongst the age group 18 -24 it was fairly close

Age 55 - 64+ the Tories did increase their majority over labour .. interesting considering labour are supposed to have taken care of the poor pensioners

[Jez]

None of them are any good.

Labour have had their chance for some time now, someone else's turn.

[tonyh29]

Ha ha, do you know i nearly put that but the thing is deep down I know Tony is Labour at heart.

.. you saw through me

think I've mentioned it before but I've only voted about once in my life , politics doesn't interest me , but annoying Drat does :-)

[drat01]

"The young don't seem to vote for us much! I know, let's raise the voting age, so that the young can't vote".

Actually in relation to the 2005 election Labour had a larger majority over voters aged 35 - 54 over the Tories than they did over ages 18 - 34 ... amongst the age group 18 -24 it was fairly close

Age 55 - 64 the Tories did increase their majority over labour .. interesting considering labour are supposed to have taken care of the poor pensioners

Tony pensioners start at 65! :-)

You see people under a certain age group will never have suffered a Tory gvmt. Those of us who just about managed to survive the Thatcher and Major years know what Dave and Gideon would bring and frankly it's scary - especially if you live outside of the 50 mile radius of London.

Maybe it is time for a change - a change from Lab and Con and go for LibDems :-) - or PR ..........

[drat01]

Ha ha, do you know i nearly put that but the thing is deep down I know Tony is Labour at heart.

.. you saw through me

think I've mentioned it before but I've only voted about once in my life , politics doesn't interest me , but annoying Drat does :-)

You don't annoy me Tony.

"When I am right, I get angry. Tony gets angry when he is wrong. We are angry at each other much of the time"

:-) - stolen from a Famous French man to annoy Tony that bit more ....

[tonyh29]

Tony pensioners start at 65!

they do now thanks to labour screwing up the pensions :winkold:

down here everyone retires at 55 -60

[Jez]

Didn't Labour screw up the finances before and the Tories came in and sorted it out?

Could be happening again?

[drat01]

Didn't Labour screw up the finances before and the Tories came in and sorted it out?

Could be happening again?

Urban Myth Jez