Let's hope enough people do their maths and realise who do they want in government before the voting opens. Anything other than a majority will be a complete disaster!
UK General Election 2015 | Conservatives win with an overall majority
- Thread starter langster
- Start date
I was going to vote Labour but filling in the ballot paper seemed like too much hard work.
*ho ho*
*ho ho*
He's going to have to work with the SNP in some sort of vote by vote basis, we'll be ungovernable otherwise. Whether doing that more privately than admitting to a supply and confidence deal gives them more leeway with the right wing press and slightly more support in England I don't know, seems like that's the thinking.
I don't see what's wrong with making the argument for a deal that rules out any independence referendum in the next five years, especially considering how successful Sturgeon was in the debates. People liked the SNP's policies - take independence off the table and they're 'just' another left wing party, and not even a very radical one.
I don't see what's wrong with making the argument for a deal that rules out any independence referendum in the next five years, especially considering how successful Sturgeon was in the debates. People liked the SNP's policies - take independence off the table and they're 'just' another left wing party, and not even a very radical one.
Definitely. Their policies and beliefs, bar independence, align to Labour much more than the Tories, or at least they should. Miliband not even co-operating with them basically disregards the entirety of Scotland, only 8 months after they were telling us how important we were to the union.
I'd have agreed that they would work together, but Miliband basically said last night he'd rather not be in government than work with them, in essence admitting he'd rather see the Tories in power than the SNP influencing a government. To go back on that could be seen as extremely dishonest now.
I'd agree, and once they have their feet squarly under the table it could prove too comfortable to risk.
Granted they said as much shortly after the 2010 election, but i wonder if this might not be a good election to lose. In England at least, large sections of the public remain sceptical about effectiveness of coalitions, one more hotchpotch of a Parliament and they may well throw their weight behind whoever can carry a majority.
He carefully worded it to say 'do a deal' or 'be in government' with them. Be in government means a coalition, which had already been ruled out so wasn't new information. But doing a formal deal is more vague, and working with them on a vote by vote basis isn't really that. The language was a bit strong, but I think he was just trying to make it absolutely 1000% clear that a coalition with the SNP isn't going to happen.
The reality is if Lab+SNP+Green+PC+Sinn Fein have more than 326 seats, or if the Lib Dems won't work with the Tories then this has to happen. One or both of those are looking pretty likely.
As long as it's not a coalition with Liverpool's transfer committee, I'm fine with it.
So, how much effort will people need to put in to vote next week? I just timed mine and it'll take a 20 second walk to get there. I'd need a pretty spectacular reason to not at least spoil my vote.
Same here, well actually less, the village hall is literally across the narrowest street in the country from my house/pub.
Community Centre 3/4 mins walk away. With no parking. 
37 minute walk or 31 minutes on the bus for me 
#dedication
#dedication1 min walk, right around the corner from where I live.
What? You don't vote in Leytonstone?37 minute walk or 31 minutes on the bus for me
http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/how-do-i-vote/voting-in-person
According to this I have to go to Walthamstow Town Hall
Strikes me as a little bit of wanting your cake and eating it. If Scotland votes SNP then they don't have a say in what Labour does or doesn't do. Get used to it because both the main parties will be practically Scott free following the election. Good luck with that.
When is the election?
Fecking hell, that's a joke. Unlucky geez!http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/how-do-i-vote/voting-in-person
According to this I have to go to Walthamstow Town Hall
Thursday.
Should have applied for a postal vote in hindsight!
Of course they don't. But if Labour don't have a majority and need the support of the SNP, it logically makes sense to co-operate with them, even if not officially, since the two parties have partly similar ideologies despite some obviously major differences.
Good point. It was how strong that language was that surprised me: he's often kinda been dancing around the edge of the question.
Labour know full well that, should they be running a minority government, the SNP would have to actively collaborate with the Tories in order to bring them down. In that sense, Miliband can happily say "no deal with the SNP" and be honest in doing so, as the SNP have made it so emphatically clear they hate the Tories and want to "lock them out" that if they did an about turn and brought Labour down it would reflect on them fairly badly. So really, they don't have much in the way of power over Labour's future plans. It'll still be a fairly unstable situation though given it'll likely also be reliant on Lib Dems and/or the other not-Tories in parliament, as well as the wings of Labour not rebelling at any point.
Well my mind's made up. No doubt I've said it before, but it's about crime for me. I lived through decades of politicians, particularly the Tory self-styled 'party of law and order' tub-thumping about 'bringing back bobbies on the beat' and then doing feck-all about it. Until Blair came and put four in my area, two PCs and two PCSOs. And a huge difference they made too, really turning the place around. Then Cameron came and reduced them from four to two, or rather less than two as they keep pinching the ones that are left to work elsewhere. And the graffiti and the anti-social stuff is coming back, no surprise there. As far as I can see Milliband is promising no more police cuts, and Cameron looks likely to cut them even further, so the answer's easy. And it gets easier every time Cameron comes on telly and says they've cut police costs but not the numbers on the streets, the lying bastard, not for us mate, not for us. Our local PC on his bike nabbed a burglar yesterday, seriously, on a day trip from Lancaster. Local policing works, and we need it.
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The SNP vote in Scotland runs the danger not just to former Scottish Labour seats which are mostly gone now whatever happens, but also to Labour target seats in England. So you burn Scottish votes to gain English ones. The same will happen if Labour are in Govt. Miliband will have to be harder on Scotland because he is vulnerable to the accusation of giving them a better deal than the English to try to buy votes and with the EVEL issue to tackle either main party is going to be losing MP's in the following election if they are seen to be anything other than firm.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics...we-are-a-confused-electorate-video?CMP=twt_gu
I thought this video was pretty good.
I thought this video was pretty good.
Possibly. But the long-term issue for unionist parties is that Scotland are going to be completely dominated seat wise by the SNP. Miliband's not going to be able to get away with being harder on Scotland since that's only going to further destroy his own support and stir up nationalist sentiment even further.
Also, Cameron's "career-defining election?" What is up with him at the moment.
What is up with him at the moment.Well I'm having to travel to parent's constituency to vote, but apart from that the polling station has moved from my old primary school (a 3 minute walk) to an Evangelical Church, also 3 minutes away.
Pretty bad Freudian slip from Cameron today.
This is yet another element of politics that pisses me off. How about instead of basing voting decisions on which party you hate the most (in the context of the SNP hating the tories, I mean) - you vote in the way that aligns itself the best with your parties policies?
I realise that the SNP policies will more closely align with Labour's anyway, but if they start just deliberately voting 'anti-tory' because they hate the tories, then the situation is a joke.
How much do you guys know about the Fixed Parliaments Act? It was introduced by Tory/Lib Dem coalition in fear of a clash between the parties which could have les to a dissolution.
I've been reading about it and it seems to me that it ensures continuation of the parliament and government even if monirty support is lost. This means that whoever forms a government will have 5 years no matter what...
I've been reading about it and it seems to me that it ensures continuation of the parliament and government even if monirty support is lost. This means that whoever forms a government will have 5 years no matter what...
Or they could just change it.
You can still dissolve parliament early, you just have a higher threshold to pass in the Commons I believe.
It's a load of bollocks. A vote of no confidence still means an immediate election the same way it always does. If a government wants an early election they merely state their excuse (they always have one) and vote for one.
Given how wrong the economic forecast(oil revenue) made by the SNP was, prior to the independence vote, I see this as a bigger problem for Scotland.
I suppose we will have to wait and see what happens but which support is Labour losing by being harder on Scotland I think it wins more MP's in England than it could then lose in Scotland? I think those Scottish voters are lost for good and I can't see another vote on separation for 10/15 years. We just had one after all and I don't see the demand for another in Scotland even mentioning it gets the SNP booed.
If the polls are correct Scotland will give up real influence in one of the parties who can form a government. For loud shouting from the sidelines in a minority party. Given the constitutional issues that have to be sorted out on EVEL I can't see the sense of it. If the expectation is that because the election is tight the SNP will be able to get what it wants then as you are seeing in the election that is a simplistic view of a very complicated situation. At best it will last for one probably short Parliament.
The future at Westminster will be Scottish MP's having little influence and probably no vote on 85% of matters dealt with there (thats approx 90% of the Scottish economy built on trade with rUK over which you get no say at all).That will be the price for devolving powers to Scotland away from rUK.
I don't know how all this works out but if you had to game this I would have thought holding a referendum and voting to stay in the union and then universally voting SNP in the following Westminster election would probably be the worst hand to play. It might be the hung parliament helps but eventually one or another party gets a majority without needing the SNP no matter how many MP's it gets from Scotland. I still think/fear the Conservatives are going to win this one.
Caroline Lucas has been receiving some strong criticism on Twitter following her interview with new BFF, Russell Brand; the disapproval is very much warranted.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...roline-lucas-of-the-green-party-10216475.html
She later agreed to talk with them, although given her stance on the rights of SWs (as well as the removal of legalisation from the Greens' manifesto) it is mostly PR.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...roline-lucas-of-the-green-party-10216475.html
She later agreed to talk with them, although given her stance on the rights of SWs (as well as the removal of legalisation from the Greens' manifesto) it is mostly PR.
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It's a bit odd but the LibDems have a prize draw if you donate to the party today and the winner gets, er, dinner with Hugh Grant.
Yeah I saw that, they had John Cleese as well, which actually sounds fun.
It was John Cleese and Paddy Ashdown though which may be somewhat less fun.
I bet paddy ashdown has some interesting stories to tell.