Poll: Which party will get your vote in the General Election?

[2StepSteve]

Go back to the 1950s then... Or the Thatcher years...

Basically, Tories suck as much as Labour. Let someone else mess it up for a change!

Yep they all mess up down the road.. much my point in my other post.

A change is often needed sooner or later.

My main thoughts are I do not want Labour in power after the next election.

 

[Naffa]

I do believe the main members of the Tory party have changed since then.

Yeah, but that's not necessarily a good thing. The funniest thing I've heard David Cameron talk about is how his party is the 'progressive party of the future'.

That's right, we have the choice of NuLabour or the Progressive Conservative party! You couldn't make something so ridiculous up in your wildest dreams.

 

[Angilion]

Not Labour.

Same here. I will probably vote Conservative primarily because they aren't Labour and they can realistically win enough seats to win overall. Although if they do use sexist shortlists I'll vote for someone else. Sexism really gets on my **** and denying people of the "wrong" sex even the opportunity to attempt to compete to be a candidate for election is gross sexism in an area of particular importance.

 

[Angilion]

This party will win: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=liblabcon

They always do.

The election is a farce really, there isn't any real choice so it's pointless voting. BNP if you want to make a protest although under this rigged electoral system they won't get a single MP, even if they get millions of votes nationwide.

Voting facist is not a protest vote, though nice try at inflating the number of votes through deceit - you'd make an excellent BNP candidate.

Did you get a tinfoil hat with your vote-rigging information pack?

 

[Angilion]

Yeah, but that's not necessarily a good thing. The funniest thing I've heard David Cameron talk about is how his party is the 'progressive party of the future'.

That's right, we have the choice of NuLabour or the Progressive Conservative party! You couldn't make something so ridiculous up in your wildest dreams.

Is anyone else reminded of the political party scene from Life of Brian, when Brian joins the resistance?

 

[Chimerical]

Same here. I will probably vote Conservative primarily because they aren't Labour and they can realistically win enough seats to win overall. Although if they do use sexist shortlists I'll vote for someone else. Sexism really gets on my **** and denying people of the "wrong" sex even the opportunity to attempt to compete to be a candidate for election is gross sexism in an area of particular importance.

I assume you're talking about the women only shortlists. In which case its pretty obvious that men hardly ever have problems getting 'opportunities' because of their gender so I don't see how the lists are sexist.

Women have lost out on far more positions in politics because they are women than men ever have.

 

[Andrew_McP]

If you seriously want to change this country, vote Lib Dem, get proportional representation at the next election, and guarantee Labour and Conservative never get such overwhelming majorities (which distort politics hugely) ever again.

I'm no fan of the lib dems these days (they voted for that muppet Clegg to lead them after all!), but I always vote for them because I want a political system where everyone -- even people I despise -- get a voice in parliament.

Andrew McP

 

[drunkenmaster]

If you seriously want to change this country, vote Lib Dem, get proportional representation at the next election, and guarantee Labour and Conservative never get such overwhelming majorities (which distort politics hugely) ever again.

I'm no fan of the lib dems these days (they voted for that muppet Clegg to lead them after all!), but I always vote for them because I want a political system where everyone -- even people I despise -- get a voice in parliament.

Andrew McP

The problem with that is if everyone who used to vote labour and made the difference all go over to Lib Dem's because they assume Conservatives will get enough anyway so they want their vote to "mean something" , theres a chance Labour might stay in power which is a risk we simply can't take.

I can't say for sure what happened the last time the Tories were in power, I wasn't that young but I wasn't at the age where taxes and healthcare mattered to me in the slightest.

Just because they were voted out doesn't mean they were bad. Lots of unpopular things ARE good for the country, lots of popular things are bad for the country, and vice versa. One group could raise taxes by 20% making everyone hate them, but they used that 20% extra in taxes fantastically well, efficiently and used it to make a service what it should be, pay off debt, generate new REAL jobs. Likewise you can raise taxes a huge amount like Labour have this time, and have nothing to show for it.

Generally speaking past voting and past regimes mean nothing, what the Tories did 3 years ago, let alone 18 or 50 years ago doesn't really have any bearing at all on whose in charge now and what they plan to do. Likewise if Brown and Harman and some other senior cronies are ushered far far away from the party after a hopefully massive beating in the next election, Labour might have some good idea's in the future.

Theres only one thing I know for sure, Labour are doing EVERYTHING wrong, raising taxes to waste that money on basically nothing, making every single public service worse, harming the economy immeasurably and have been doing so for years and years now. Their idea's for the future will simply turn a once decent country into a bit of a dump. Tories might do things badly, they might not, but I know Brown is the single worst option to take this country forward, essentially every single thing he's done while in charge, and in positions of power over the past 20 years, has been the wrong thing.

He's completely incapable of doing the job he is doing right now. Every single thing Labour does right now is about short term gain with not a seconds thought for the long term future of the things they implement.

We've already got a very worrying percentage of people working in the public sector, with no signs that Labour has any intention of slowing down this generation of new jobs to mask the loss of real jobs. Its quite literally unsustainable, even more so as they do their best to scare off any profitable business from the UK and make it economically , well, stupid for rich people to stay here paying taxes when they can move elsewhere, with their companies who also want to go and pay their huge taxes elsewhere just at a lower rate.

 

[Jambo]

Can someone please tell me the basic pros and cons of Conservative Vs Labour?

Also does anyone really think whoever is in parliament will really make that big a difference to your life?

 

[Naffa]

Can someone please tell me the basic pros and cons of Conservative Vs Labour?

Also does anyone really think whoever is in parliament will really make that big a difference to your life?

It won't really make a difference, no. The only major difference, as far as I'm concerned, between the two major parties is that you know where you're standing with Labour, you don't with the Tories.

 

[bam0]

I will be voting Lib Dem as I generally am impressed by my local MP (Chris Huhne) and the Conservative candidate is a bit of nob, I could never bring myself to vote for Labour though, no matter who they put up.

I also broadly agree with Lib Dem policies (although definitely not all of them), my ideal outcome would be a coalition government Lib-Con, I dislike strong single party governments in general as they seem to treat the win as a mandate for everything they propose ignoring the large numbers that will have voted for something else.

 

[platypus]

It's a difficult one to call. I would like to abstain, but given the laziness of the British voting populace, abstention isn't a valid route.

I'll be considering Liberal Democrats in the hope we can get a hung parliament that forces a coalition, but depending on the cuts they publicise I might vote Conservative.

 

[britboy4321]

I just do not understand how we have 54 people here voting Labour. They're either copying their parents (who have now out-of-date concerns about Thatcherite politics and economics) or are misinformed

I don't understand how we have hundreds voting conservative.

I honestly believe the reason must be because they can't remember last time the conservatives were in power.

Hint -- They were a LOT worse than current labour -- believe it or not!

 

[Barks]

Can someone please tell me the basic pros and cons of Conservative Vs Labour?

Also does anyone really think whoever is in parliament will really make that big a difference to your life?

They are frighteningly similar. The difference is Labour indulge far too heavily in class politics which means their policies are designed to satisfy their core vote (apparently the working man even though the rich/poor gap has expanded since they came into power) as opposed to do what is right for the economy.

Prime examples include the 50% rate of income tax to 'bash the rich' which Economists are now saying could produce little and/or even negative government tax revenue. Today, for example, Brown wants to "invest" £130 million giving the "poor" laptops and broadband. It is a colossal waste of money to gain support for the forthcoming election and could have far more efficiently been used to subsidise gas/electricity bills, for example.

On that basis alone the Conservatives are the lesser of the two evils and they are far more likely to do what is best for the economy/country than Labour who make decisions based on political fallacy. They are far more likely to help the working man without sacrificing the conditions which make our country a great place to do business and attract foreign investment, I'm sure Spie could comment on this.
Furthermore Labour DO NOT LISTEN to the public, although I cannot say for sure any other party in power would be different.

I also cannot believe how many people will not be voting, excluding the fact that some of those are under 18, that's ridiculous. No matter who you are, the outcome of the next election will influence you so I'd encourage you to get involved and vote for the party whose policies suit you.

I don't understand how we have hundreds voting conservative.

I honestly believe the reason must be because they can't remember last time the conservatives were in power.

Hint -- They were a LOT worse than current labour -- believe it or not!

Both Conservative and Labour have changed on the political spectrum and moved more to the centre. Don't live in the past because both parties have changed and the modern Conservative policies especially are completely and utterly different to those when they were last in power.

 

[bigredshark]

Today, for example, Brown wants to "invest" £130 million giving the "poor" laptops and broadband. It is a colossal waste of money to gain support for the forthcoming election and could have far more efficiently been used to subsidise gas/electricity bills, for example.

That's a pretty bad example, the concern here is real and very valid even if the action taken isn't brilliant. Society is increasingly technology dependent and if universal access to the internet isn't enabled soon you risk creating a permanent underclass. There is a real risk of splitting society between a well educated elite and a poor underclass, which will make today's social problems worse, acknowledging that is important. I'm not sure handing out laptops is the answer but ignoring the problem certainly isn't it.

And subsidising gas/electricity bills is about the worst use of the money I can think of.

 

[Barks]

And subsidising gas/electricity bills is about the worst use of the money I can think of.

I distinctly remember several episodes of Wake Up To Money on BBC Radio 5 Live where people were phoning in saying they couldn't afford central heating and beginning the Government to help subsidise their bills or increase regulation in the market. There was quite a big fuss about it.

 

[Hatter The Mad]

I don't understand how we have hundreds voting conservative.

I honestly believe the reason must be because they can't remember last time the conservatives were in power.

Hint -- They were a LOT worse than current labour -- believe it or not!

LibLabCon are all essentially Centrists (they don't want you to think that, though), and the Cons are not Labour. That's good enough.

This is not 1980, britboy4321.

 

[bigredshark]

I distinctly remember several episodes of Wake Up To Money on BBC Radio 5 Live where people were phoning in saying they couldn't afford central heating and beginning the Government to help subsidise their bills or increase regulation in the market. There was quite a big fuss about it.

Doesn't make it a good idea. Plenty of examples from round the world show what happens when you subsidize things like fuel, none of them end in a pretty way and that aside it completely distorts the market. It's expensive for a reason, it's in high demand and short supply!

 

[sammo62]

45 People voted BNP!

Shocking.

 

[The Dread Pirate]

Green... If not Tory