Poll: Who will you be voting for on May 5th?

[Tweek_1984]

Some thoughts on Michael Howard.

1) Michael Howard was the Minister in Charge of bringing in the Poll Tax in 1988

2) Chief Tory Financier Stuart Wheeler warned that people don't warm to Michael Howard and he should be kept in the background during the election. Michael Howard does not even appear on the cover of the Conservative Manifesto.

3)As Employment Secretary, Howard tried to stop EU attempts to give working women statutory maternity rights.

4) Howard was judged to have flouted the European Convention on Human Rights following unlawfully delaying the release of five long-serving IRA prisoners - the SEVENTH time he had been found to be acting illegally in just two years as Home Secretary

5) Howard said "I will never stand again for the leadership of the Conservative Party" in November 2002

6)According to an ICM poll in October 2003, 26% of people are LESS likely to vote Tory with Michael Howard as the leader

7) "He has obviously had, let's be frank, an image problem." (Fellow Conservative Michael Portillo)

8) "Clearly I do intend to hurt him politically and to wreck his chances of the Conservative party leadership." (Fellow Conservative Ann Widdecombe)

9) Following the Poll Tax riots Michael Howard is on record as saying it was "the correct policy".

10) "You have to admire a party that dumps John Major because of a lack of personality then elects Michael Howard. It's the political equivalent of dieting via cream cakes" - Anna Borstadt

 

[defolwsionist]

The Greens are not an 'issue' party, they have broad policy on all aspects which is probably more precise than any of the big parties.

If you want to see detail that goes beyond the manifesto look at http://policy.greenparty.org.uk

 

[Lil old me]

Some thoughts on Michael Howard.

1) Michael Howard was the Minister in Charge of bringing in the Poll Tax in 1988

2) Chief Tory Financier Stuart Wheeler warned that people don't warm to Michael Howard and he should be kept in the background during the election. Michael Howard does not even appear on the cover of the Conservative Manifesto.

3)As Employment Secretary, Howard tried to stop EU attempts to give working women statutory maternity rights.

4) Howard was judged to have flouted the European Convention on Human Rights following unlawfully delaying the release of five long-serving IRA prisoners - the SEVENTH time he had been found to be acting illegally in just two years as Home Secretary

5) Howard said "I will never stand again for the leadership of the Conservative Party" in November 2002

6)According to an ICM poll in October 2003, 26% of people are LESS likely to vote Tory with Michael Howard as the leader

7) "He has obviously had, let's be frank, an image problem." (Fellow Conservative Michael Portillo)

8) "Clearly I do intend to hurt him politically and to wreck his chances of the Conservative party leadership." (Fellow Conservative Ann Widdecombe)

9) Following the Poll Tax riots Michael Howard is on record as saying it was "the correct policy".

10) "You have to admire a party that dumps John Major because of a lack of personality then elects Michael Howard. It's the political equivalent of dieting via cream cakes" - Anna Borstadt

But there was no one else to do it! no one liked Hague or IDS so how can Howard be worse?

 

[Phoen1x]

Howard was judged to have flouted the European Convention on Human Rights following unlawfully delaying the release of five long-serving IRA prisoners - the SEVENTH time he had been found to be acting illegally in just two years as Home Secretary

Murdering scum have no human rights

I take your point on the rest though

 

[hola_adios]

Murdering scum have no human rights

I take your point on the rest though

Then don't be surprised when someone comes after you.
God happen so many times in history and people keep making the same mistakes!!!!
Anyway hope labour loses majority, but I wouldn't want Howard ruling the country anyway. Best conservative right now Portillo, he is the only real moderate in the tory benches, at least the only one with a bit of charisma.

 

[Constantine]

I'd love to see Charles Kennedy in #10, I've changed my political view point recently from Tory to Lib Dem. I don't think Labour or the Tories are doing the best campaigning, all they're saying is what the other party can't do. the Lib Dems are actually saying what THEY CAN do.

 

[Smiley Man]

cant vote yet but would be tory

 

[PeterEyres]

I'd love to see Charles Kennedy in #10, I've changed my political view point recently from Tory to Lib Dem. I don't think Labour or the Tories are doing the best campaigning, all they're saying is what the other party can't do. the Lib Dems are actually saying what THEY CAN do.

actually he's always saying the other parties CAN'T say what they CAN DO

 

[PeterEyres]

Then don't be surprised when someone comes after you.
God happen so many times in history and people keep making the same mistakes!!!!
Anyway hope labour loses majority, but I wouldn't want Howard ruling the country anyway. Best conservative right now Portillo, he is the only real moderate in the tory benches, at least the only one with a bit of charisma.

They need a mass switch to One nation conservatism imo. Get a charistmatic one nation leader and bingo, they will stand a chance (not IDS and not Hague, they are both ****). They've got to get rid of the image problem. The centre-right agenda is so misunderstood. And its been ruined by certain individuals. Thatcher had the right views but they just don't work, far too ambitious. And people generally don't like quick changes.

 

[HangTime]

I can't stand negative advertising like that.
When I get an advertising leaflet from a political party, I don't want to know what another party doesn't do I want to know what this party does do.

Pretty much how I feel; however I can understand the political necessity to fling mud back when you come underfire. Mud sticks as they say, and regardless of how you or I feel, some voters WILL be swayed away from voting for a particular party due to propagana used against them.

For example, lets say Howard tells us all what Labour has done wrong. What I want to know is:

a) What are you going to do about it?
b) How are you going to finance and implement anything suggested in a)

The problem is, that we very rarely get to hear about b). I've heard the Conservatives saying there they will pay for reduced taxes by 'cutting red tape' before, yes I'm sure that sounds great to the electorate, lower taxes, purely funded by getting rid of unneccesary beaurocracy. But how, exactly, do they plan to do away with the red tape? Set up a "Department for Beaurocratic Efficiency" in order to decide what precise steps must be taken?

At the moment, it's hard to see exactly where I should cast my vote because none of the parties match all of my political ideals. For example, I'm:

-opposed to university grants and the abolition of tuition fees
-reasonably comfortable with European integration, although favour a "wait and see" approach in terms of a single currency
-am largely rightwing in my economic outlook (anti minimum wage, national insurance etc)
-an exception being that i'm not inherently opposed to higher taxes in specific cases, e.g. fuel

 

[Lostkat]

Liberal Democrat, I figure if everyone stops thinking of it as a wasted vote and still voted for them they might actually get somewhere.

Ditto!

 

[Visage]

Pretty much how I feel; however I can understand the political necessity to fling mud back when you come underfire. Mud sticks as they say, and regardless of how you or I feel, some voters WILL be swayed away from voting for a particular party due to propagana used against them.

For example, lets say Howard tells us all what Labour has done wrong. What I want to know is:

a) What are you going to do about it?
b) How are you going to finance and implement anything suggested in a)

The problem is, that we very rarely get to hear about b). I've heard the Conservatives saying there they will pay for reduced taxes by 'cutting red tape' before, yes I'm sure that sounds great to the electorate, lower taxes, purely funded by getting rid of unneccesary beaurocracy. But how, exactly, do they plan to do away with the red tape? Set up a "Department for Beaurocratic Efficiency" in order to decide what precise steps must be taken?

At the moment, it's hard to see exactly where I should cast my vote because none of the parties match all of my political ideals. For example, I'm:

-opposed to university grants and the abolition of tuition fees
-reasonably comfortable with European integration, although favour a "wait and see" approach in terms of a single currency
-am largely rightwing in my economic outlook (anti minimum wage, national insurance etc)
-an exception being that i'm not inherently opposed to higher taxes in specific cases, e.g. fuel

Another example is the Tories 'talking tough' on immigration....and then proposing to cut the bill for the immigration department by 50%.

And they say they will work with the UNHCR to reduce asylum numbers....but the UNHCR say they will have nothing to do with such a policy, calling it 'inhumane'

Then they say they will get other countries to process Asylum seekerts before they get to britain...and yet they cant find another country o do this, understandably.

Meanwhile, when Labour came to power, it took 20 months to decide on an asylum case. Now it takes two. They inherited a backlog of 50,000 cases, Now the backlog is 9,000....

It consistently amazes me that the party that shouts loudest on immigration, but has no well thought out plans seems to be popular with those who are anti-immigration, but the party that doesnt shout about it, but just gets on and sorts the problems out, seems to be demonised....

 

[Phoen1x]

It consistently amazes me that the party that shouts loudest on (...) but has no well thought out plans seems to be popular (...) but the party that doesnt shout about it, but just gets on and sorts the problems out, seems to be demonised....

Welcome to politics....

 

[Pickers]

Which is exactly how it needs to work! While a government is doing good it should stay in power, but in reality no government can keep doing positive things for more than 2 terms. Constant change is definitely what keeps the country sharp and competitive. Having a party in power longer than they are doing good is actually quite dangerous! Labour and Consertive are really two different sides to the same coin, but they create the balance and cannot exist without the other. To have too much of one is dangerous and the balance needs to be maintained by playing one of the other. I believe this is the only way our party-based democracy can properly function. The roles of the lesser parties are not important, but add to the scenery, it is the two main parties that define our government.

Hmm interesting, but you seem to assume that as soon as the new government takes over, they can impliment their objectives. Not the case - it takes a while to undo the apparent "mess" of the last government, before you can get down to your own parties goals. Constantly swapping is just wrong imo. Its like, trying to organise a large stockroom for example. you have ideas, and work towards them until hometime. Then next shift takes over, and organises a different way, but has to leave work before jobs done. you take back over, and the stockroom is a mess, so you have to sort it our before re-organising it. The result? Stockroom never gets tidied to either shifts satisfaction - a permanent jumble of failed attempts.

Give Labour more of a chance - Its been a tough time for the whole world, and some hard decisions had to be made, to which there was no correct answer.

I was always brought up that the tories favour the middle and upper classes. I consider myself working class, and have always had to work damn hard for what I've got, when to other people things came easily. I grew up under tory rule - and in retrospect, my family seem to get now what they deserve for all their years of hard work. Now they live in a nice area, in a nice place - and are proud of working hard for every penny in the bank, and the recognition.
Before anyone slates or makes assumptions, they dont live off benefits, my dad was a fireman (a career in which u have to retire 5 years earlier). He now has another job with the NHS lecturing ungodly numbers of hours a week.

 

[Adnams Drinker]

Give Labour more of a chance - Its been a tough time for the whole world, and some hard decisions had to be made, to which there was no correct answer.

Eight years of increased direct & stealth taxation and give them more of a chance? Sorry, they take a bit more of my wage packet every damn year and I see **** all in return for it. Christ alone knows where another four years of this bunch of shysters will leave the country ...

 

[PinkPig]

Excuse my ignorance but how old do you have to be to vote ?

18 or above on election day. From 16 or 17 or something you should be put on the electoral register - a form gets sent to every household asking for a list of occupants once a year, or you can ask to be added at any time (though I imagine it takes a while, and if you managed to miss yourself I don't know if it's too late for this election)

 

[Visage]

Eight years of increased direct & stealth taxation and give them more of a chance? Sorry, they take a bit more of my wage packet every damn year and I see **** all in return for it. Christ alone knows where another four years of this bunch of shysters will leave the country ...

You do realise that you'll pay just as much tax under the tories, dont you?

 

[csmager]

You do realise that you'll pay just as much tax under the tories, dont you?

You do realise that you'll be paying even more after another labour term, don't you?

You do realise that the tories are going to reverse the 1% rise on National Insurance, don't you?

 

[Iraklis F.C.]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/polltracker/html/default.stm

labour still ahead of tories? gee thats frighteining

 

[JohnnyG]

I must mix with the wrong people. I know 1 person who will vote Labour, everyone else I socialise or work with will not. After 650+ votes in here Cons. have a big majority. Every poll I've seen on tv has Labour 3-10 points ahead. Where are all these Labour voters