Bollitics: VT General Election Poll #3 - GE Week One

[Guest Ricardomeister]

Just been watching the Tories (and especially the clueless Theresa May) make fools of themselves again! Their 3 strikes crackdown on benefits cheats is truly laughable. The part saying 3rd time offenders will lose 3 years' benefits will save precisely nothing as nobody has ever had 3 convictions. The part saying 2nd time offenders will lose 6 months' benefits will save a grand total of £100,000 as only 69 people have had 2 convictions in the last year. This policy reeks of typical Tory policies....tough words but no substance.

[chrisp65]

in terms of voting numbers, the tories scored higher in england than the other parties yet that is never reflected in the votes. Same as the number of LD votes should translate to about another 30-40 more seats iirc.

Which is why the present government have removed democracy from our society.

Scots, Welsh and N.Irish vote for their own government, and then vote for ours as well.

Out of curiosity, was that a genuine thought or a little bit of provocation or an alchohol induced over reaction by me

?

I think you are confusing England with the UK. I've got no issue at all with England having an Assembly or a Regional Government or whatever if you/they want one. Fill yer boots. What can upset some people is the confusion between Britain and England that sometimes accidentally creeps into our daily lives.

It would surely be equally 'fair' for someone to ask why, if they vote for a Welsh Assembly member and an MEP that its the parliament in England that decides how much tax is paid and whether I should be compelled to carry i.d..

[leviramsey]

but the large city blocks already skew it in Labour's favour anyway?

in terms of voting numbers, the tories scored higher in england than the other parties yet that is never reflected in the votes. Same as the number of LD votes should translate to about another 30-40 more seats iirc.

I proposed this in another thread, but:

Have two polls in the general election. The first is a national preference poll: which party (of those standing candidates in a majority of constituencies (see below) would you most like to see form a government. These results are tabulated nationally and half of the seats in the Commons are allocated on a proportional basis from this. Of course, the MPs on the proportional list would be barred from claiming any expenses related to constituent relations (because their constituents are the party) and would have a wage one-half of the constituency MPs.

The second poll is to represent your constituency. Candidates standing for election would be required to have voted in the previous general election in that constituency (or if the boundaries had changed since the last election, have resided in an area that belonged in another constituency but is now in the constituency in question). Reducing the ability of party leadership to determine who stands in the constituencies would in turn reduce any tendency of these MPs to robotically obey the whip.

[thetrees]

in terms of voting numbers, the tories scored higher in england than the other parties yet that is never reflected in the votes. Same as the number of LD votes should translate to about another 30-40 more seats iirc.

Which is why the present government have removed democracy from our society.

Scots, Welsh and N.Irish vote for their own government, and then vote for ours as well.

Out of curiosity, was that a genuine thought or a little bit of provocation or an alchohol induced over reaction by me

?

I think you are confusing England with the UK. I've got no issue at all with England having an Assembly or a Regional Government or whatever if you/they want one. Fill yer boots. What can upset some people is the confusion between Britain and England that sometimes accidentally creeps into our daily lives.

It would surely be equally 'fair' for someone to ask why, if they vote for a Welsh Assembly member and an MEP that its the parliament in England that decides how much tax is paid and whether I should be compelled to carry i.d..

Probably a bit of both (I can't comment on the third!)

The point is that we are talking about waste and where money has been thrown away and these assemblies are the epitome of the wastefulness that has gone on, with shitloads of money being poured into 'compromise devolution' to appease a few small time politicians.

As far as I am concerned Parliament as we know it should be abolished, there should be an English assembly and, a little like Europe is being organised, the 4 states of the Union should have a higher assembly, with seats decided by proportional representation, where senior members of the 4 states manage foreign policy, defence, economy* etc

*The Scots should be excluded from economic matters as the past 13 years has shown clearly that they do not have a clue.

[bickster]

Bickster: Your missing the point, if i don't want to buy the product then that's my choice, any network that is influenced by government and financed as a tax on people is not democracy in any form, the BBC are completely objecting to there so called money developing anything else, in fact when they where told by the government they couldn't put the licence fee up as much as they wanted the first thing they did was make people redundent, the next day they gave bonuses to there leaders way higher than anyone else in the industry, The Independent networks have been making huge losses in the recession, have been making far less cut backs than the BBC, tell me why should they get something for nothing when the rest of us have to pay.

Clearly you still don't understand democracy, democracy isn't the freedom to what you want to do, that is not democracy, the only thing that can be is anarchy.

You do have a choice, don't buy a television, you aren't buying the BBC as a service, you are paying to use a TV. The fact that the majority of the licence fee goes to fund the BBC isn't relevant.

You also appear to be under the impression that the BBC is some sort of state propaganda machine, really? is it? its about as impartial as state tv gets in any country in the world. In fact it is enshrined in its charter to be impartial.

I'll bet you use the BBC far more than you'd care to admit

[Awol]

UK Independence Party: 67%

British National Party: 67%

Conservative Party: 53%

Liberal Democrats: 38%

Green Party: 22%

Labour Party: 21%

Obviously wouldn't vote BNP but was planning to vote UKIP anyway. May blink at the last minute and vote Tory just to try and stop Brown but would do so without any enthusiasm.

[paddy]

Has anyone changed how they'd vote based on anything said in the election campaign so far? I've seen nothing from anyone that would make me change my mind so far.

[Chindie]

It would take a **** miracle for my mind to change.

[Condimentalist]

Still going Lib Dem, no doubt. That they were the only party to oppose the draconian digital economy legislation only reinforces my position.

[Rodders]

^ that certainly helps.

I was reviewing the local MP's record and it wasn't as brilliant as I thought, but still reasonably in line with where I am, though I was a little narked, however little difference it would have made she didn't vote in the digital economy bill.

[R.I.C.O.]

Not sure who exactly is standing in Warley yet, but I'm sure as hell not voting for John Spellar, who is a "Friend of Israel" and government hack. The local labour councillors around here are alright I guess but I couldn't vote for someone who supported an apartheid regime.

So I'll probably vote green or one of the smaller left wing parties.

[R.I.C.O.]

Just been watching the Tories (and especially the clueless Theresa May) make fools of themselves again! Their 3 strikes crackdown on benefits cheats is truly laughable. The part saying 3rd time offenders will lose 3 years' benefits will save precisely nothing as nobody has ever had 3 convictions. The part saying 2nd time offenders will lose 6 months' benefits will save a grand total of £100,000 as only 69 people have had 2 convictions in the last year. This policy reeks of typical Tory policies....tough words but no substance.

They are just appealing to their core voters, everyone knows that Call Me Dave's airbrushed face wouldn't get them into power alone. They are and always will be the Nasty Party.

[leviramsey]

I quite like The Economist's cover:

EDIT: I think I've found my new avatar...

[bickster]

Has anyone changed how they'd vote based on anything said in the election campaign so far? I've seen nothing from anyone that would make me change my mind so far.

Yep, I have, the Greens want to re-privatise the Railways. Thats making me possibly vote for them instead of spoiling, though I'll probably still spoil tbh as they are still "a party"

[Mantis]

Just been watching the Tories (and especially the clueless Theresa May) make fools of themselves again! Their 3 strikes crackdown on benefits cheats is truly laughable. The part saying 3rd time offenders will lose 3 years' benefits will save precisely nothing as nobody has ever had 3 convictions. The part saying 2nd time offenders will lose 6 months' benefits will save a grand total of £100,000 as only 69 people have had 2 convictions in the last year. This policy reeks of typical Tory policies....tough words but no substance.

They are just appealing to their core voters, everyone knows that Call Me Dave's airbrushed face wouldn't get them into power alone. They are and always will be the Nasty Party.

And Labour aren't? This whole "nasty party" thing just doesn't make sense to me. Since when is being tough "nasty"? I'm sorry but spending "nice" just doesn't get the country anywhere except in a huge pile of debt.

[Chindie]

Any party who's defining character uttered the infamous words 'theres no such thing as society' can go swing.

Thats to me what underpins why they're the nasty party - they don't give a shit about people. Which is fine if you've got money and have no concept of empathy.

[snowychap]

Still going Lib Dem, no doubt. That they were the only party to oppose the draconian digital economy legislation only reinforces my position.

Yet only 18 of them bothered to actually vote against it (more Labour MPs voted against it and even 5 Tories did).

Some of the 45 who didn't turn up may well have been paired but, still, hardly a resounding 'vote against'.

See how/if your MP voted.

[TrentVilla]

Any party who's defining character uttered the infamous words 'theres no such thing as society' can go swing.

Thats to me what underpins why they're the nasty party - they don't give a shit about people. Which is fine if you've got money and have no concept of empathy.

I agree Chindie.

I personally would probably be better off as an individual under a Tory government but I want to see society (which I do believe still exists or should) better off even if it comes at some personal cost. That is why I will vote for Labour because for all their faults I think they best represent the best interests of the many rather than the few.

[tonyh29]

they don't give a shit about people. Which is fine if you've got money and have no concept of empathy.

because for all their faults I think they best represent the best interests of the many rather than the few

sorry but what a load of Bollocks (no malice intended guys )

Fine if you throw that accusations at all parties but to single it out on the Tory party is so outdated as to make me wonder if you aren't both living in 1927 or something

Labour represent the interests of many ..don't make me laugh .. it's conveniently forgotten that labour courted business , bankers the media and sold their souls to the highest bidder to gain power .. but suddenly now that they've lost all that backing they are trying to make out that these people are bad and cronies of the Tories ...

Was chatting to a mate of mine on Sat , he's actually one of the few people I've met who is what you would call a floating voter ..he was a Tory but switched to voting Labour and Lib dem the past couple of elections ..He doesn't know how he will vote in May but he was saying in any real sense the public should be doing what they can to get rid of Labour .. and yet here we are where have the possibility , sown by Labour in to the public's mind , to vote tactically to stop the Tories from winning :shock: ..

seriously at the election they should have a stock pile of straight jackets and the second you put an X in the Labour box you should be put in one and be taken away ..

but anyway for Trent and Chindie :winkold: ,in today's other news .... Charles Lindbergh has just made the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris.....Babe Ruth has become the first baseball player to hit 60 home-runs in a season and Mae West has been sentenced to 10 days in prison for obscenity

[kidlewis]

they don't give a shit about people. Which is fine if you've got money and have no concept of empathy.

because for all their faults I think they best represent the best interests of the many rather than the few

sorry but what a load of Bollocks (no malice intended guys )

Fine if you throw that accusations at all parties but to single it out on the Tory party is so outdated as to make me wonder if you aren't both living in 1927 or something

Labour represent the interests of many ..don't make me laugh .. it's conveniently forgotten that labour courted business , bankers the media and sold their souls to the highest bidder to gain power .. but suddenly now that they've lost all that backing they are trying to make out that these people are bad and cronies of the Tories ...

Was chatting to a mate of mine on Sat , he's actually one of the few people I've met who is what you would call a floating voter ..he was a Tory but switched to voting Labour and Lib dem the past couple of elections ..He doesn't know how he will vote in May but he was saying in any real sense the public should be doing what they can to get rid of Labour .. and yet here we are where have the possibility , sown by Labour in to the public's mind , to vote tactically to stop the Tories from winning :shock: ..

seriously at the election they should have a stock pile of straight jackets and the second you put an X in the Labour box you should be put in one and be taken away ..

but anyway for Trent and Chindie :winkold: ,in today's other news .... Charles Lindbergh has just made the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris.....Babe Ruth has become the first baseball player to hit 60 home-runs in a season and Mae West has been sentenced to 10 days in prison for obscenity

Labour have never courted big business and the media. They did it all through hard work and appealing to core voters like steel workers and car workers and NHS staff and admin assistants...oh wait no they didn't.

The latest spin headlines is that Labour are targeting cancer patients in order to get votes.

Not only dark and twisted if true, also an abuse of power and a serious misuse of data.