Poll: General election voting poll round 3

[scorza]

Pretty disgusting to find on the day Labour's much awiated manifesto is released, the main news on BBC Breakfast was about a potential Democratic candidate for next year's presidential election? Why is the British media still so obsessed with American politics? Who is chancellor of Germany matters much more to us now imo.

 

[eatcustard]

UKip for the win

 

[atpbx]

ED Balls and labours laughable manifesto launch today should be enough to condem them to another 5 years in opposition all things being equal.

The minute a Labour Party chancellor starts talking about financial responsibily and controlled spending you know it's a lie.

 

[Mr Jack]

The minute a Labour Party chancellor starts talking about financial responsibily and controlled spending you know it's a lie.

Osborne has five years of economic failure and failure to meet his own targets behind him and is going into the election with an £8bn NHS promise he can't say how he'll fund and £8bn in unfunded tax cuts but it's Labour that lack economic credibility?

 

[Danthus]

Osborne has five years of economic failure and failure to meet his own targets behind him and is going into the election with an £8bn NHS promise he can't say how he'll fund and £8bn in unfunded tax cuts but it's Labour that lack economic credibility?

They are both as bad as each other.

They can't tell the truth because it would be political suicide.

 

[Freakbro]

They are both as bad as each other.

They can't tell the truth because it would be political suicide.

They are as bad as each other, but public perception is quite the polar opposite, as Labour are seen as profligate and the Conservatives as .....conservative (little c)

Even though reality hardly bears out that opinion

 

[Admiral Huddy]

Pains me to vote for either of the big two, but i' rather vote Tory than to see a labour government burden us with more national debt. It's one thing seeing all the faults of a current government and making promises but it has to be paid for and each time they do, the country needs digging out.

 

[thebennyboy]

Can't stand the tories. All they do is blame Labour for everything. MPs give themselves a 13% pay rise meanwhile the rest of the country has to face austerity. "We're all in this together", lol. YEAH RIGHT.

David Cameron has no integrity as PM imho. Chasing those who have no money on benefits whilst companies are getting away with dodging £billions of tax, not closing the loopholes. Tuition Fees up to £9,000, pitiful amount of maintenance loan through the SLC.

My vote is probably going to go to labour.

Can we make the next poll a public poll? I want to see who's voting Plaid Cymru

I would be voting for them, don't agree with some of their policies though. Labour here have a really good MP.

 

[Trifid]

Hang on a sec. Osborne is saying an extra £8bn a year for the NHS and using the fact that he's found an extra £7bn for the NHS in this parliament (aka an "extra" £1.4bn a year) as a basis?

I think he is saying there is no choice but to fund the extra £8 billion and with the lack of targeted funding they will have to hope the economy grows strong enough therefore bringing in sufficient tax revenue to fund the increase.



One of the few things I agree with UKIP on is that sooner or later we as a country are going to have to have a grown up discussion featuring all parties and the public on the remit of healthcare provided by the NHS and how it will be funded.

 

[Guerrilla]

Going to stick with the Lib Dems, currently have Lib Dems in where I live and they have been alright, generally agree with their policies... Had considered voting Greens but whilst I think some of their policies are really good, some are very much not.

 

[ubersonic]

Well considering this will our country's last chance to actually get a referendum then I can only vote one way.

Thats some nice UKIP propaganda you have there, however here in reality it would have 0 effect an a UK referendum on EU membership as the EU would be no more able to block it than it can now (it can't). The 2017 transition to the QMV simply means that if Ukraine (for example) were to to apply for membership then it would only need the weighted majority of states (weighted by their importance in the EU) to vote for it in order to get in, whereas if it applied today then France would veto.

*EDIT*

In case you don't believe me, the House of Commons was so concerned by this hoax it actually published a response on it's blog:

An in-out EU referendum in 2017

A UK referendum vote on EU membership will not be ‘illegal’ and the UK will not be prevented from leaving the EU in the event of a negative vote in 2017.

Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for a Member State to leave the EU if it wishes, without needing the permission of the other Member States. QMV would be used by the other Member States to agree the terms of exit for the withdrawing State. Article 50 TEU states:

1. Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.

2. A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention. In the light of the guidelines provided by the European Council, the Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union. That agreement shall be negotiated in accordance with Article 218(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It shall be concluded on behalf of the Union by the Council, acting by a qualified majority, after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament.

3. The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification referred to in paragraph 2, unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period.​

 

[Freakbro]

Yea, every European Member state has the right to withdraw it's membership. Enshrined in Article 50 I think?

Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for a Member State to leave the EU if it wishes, without needing the permission of the other Member States. QMV would be used by the other Member States to agree the terms of exit for the withdrawing State. Article 50 TEU states:

To make out that you need the agreement of the rest of the countries through the new QMV voting is laughable

Anyway, QMW sounds a sensible change for the EU imo.

 

[ubersonic]

Yea, every European Member state has the right to withdraw it's membership. Enshrined in Article 50 I think?

You're correct, I added that to my post including the HoC blog response to this hoax.

 

[Hatter The Mad]

It will be interesting to see the extent to which people end up voting for personalities and tribal reasons.

https://data.voteforpolicies.org.uk/constituencies/leading-parties

Current "Vote for Policies" results (350,000 results):

 

[Judgeneo]

That map shows what a low opinion the country holds of ed and ed as people

 

[ubersonic]

Current "Vote for Policies" results (350,000 results):

So basically, when asked to vote blindly for policies almost all of England and most most of Wales ended up voting for the "give us free stuff and make others pay for it" party, half of Scotland voted for the "Freeeeeeeeeedom!" party and a bunch of counties voted for the "save the trees, live in a tent" party

 

[joeyjojo]

Osborne has five years of economic failure and failure to meet his own targets behind him and is going into the election with an £8bn NHS promise he can't say how he'll fund and £8bn in unfunded tax cuts but it's Labour that lack economic credibility?

Thank you. I wish people would actually engage brain when writing "Labour got us into this mess". The recession resulted from the global economy, not the UK's, and the austerity of this parliament probably wasn't needed, certainly not to the extent we've had.

The Tories have dressed up an ideological abhorrence for public services as "sensible money saving" when in fact the conditions have been perfect for borrowing and investment in the future. If an individual is up to their eyeballs in debt and the bank says "here have some free money, use it to invest in your future get a better job so you can be in a position to pay off your debts later" that's the obvious thing to do! Look at Germany, Ireland, and Spain:

Spain Government Beats Italy to Borrow at Below-Zero Rate
Germany Sells Five-Year Debt at Negative Yield for First Time on Record

It's such a good time to borrow in the EU that their governments are getting paid to borrow money (in nominal terms). This is what the UK should have been doing IMO - investing in education and infrastructure this parliament on record-cheap borrowing rather than cutting everything to skeleton services and drawing the recovery out for many more years than necessary.

[P.S. a source for your first claim for others: UK government borrowing virtually unchanged on last year (Jan 2015)]

One of the few things I agree with UKIP on is that sooner or later we as a country are going to have to have a grown up discussion featuring all parties and the public on the remit of healthcare provided by the NHS and how it will be funded.

I disagree, in spite of the barrage of "news" reports on failing hospitals/trusts. Structurally the NHS was the most efficient system in the world, it was just chronically underfunded, even compared to other universal systems.

 

[Cosimo]

I think we should be voting on the performances given here:

Yes, I'm already getting bored with the endless coverage and with the Beeb who have turned the news into election special. Funny how there now seems very little actual news to report.

I'm waiting on one of the parties to pledge that they will withdraw the license funding for them. Would get my vote for that and yes, it is Monday morning

 

[Schlong&Stable]

Can't stand the tories. All they do is blame Labour for everything.

Labour ran the country for 13 years, so they were to blame for a fair bit.

MPs give themselves a 13% pay rise meanwhile the rest of the country has to face austerity. "We're all in this together", lol. YEAH RIGHT.

The government had no part in this and Cameron objected to it. The increase was decided by an independent group. Incidentally, the increase will make politics far more accessible to someone from a working class background than it would matter to someone like Cameron.

Chasing those who have no money on benefits whilst companies are getting away with dodging £billions of tax, not closing the loopholes.

Companies employ people though, so there is always going to be a balancing act between squeezing them for more tax and chasing them away. Labour did no better in this regard in 13 years.

Tuition Fees up to £9,000, pitiful amount of maintenance loan through the SLC.

The current student loan arrangement is very good, its pretty much just a graduate tax. Yes £9000 is a lot of money, but this does ensure Universities are fully funded.

 

[scorza]

Labour ran the country for 13 years, so they were to blame for a fair bit.

Prior to which the Conservatives ran the country into the ground for 18 years, so while I won't claim Labour were perfect, they did do a lot of good fixing the damage caused by the Tories.

...The current student loan arrangement is very good, its pretty much just a graduate tax. Yes £9000 is a lot of money, but this does ensure Universities are fully funded.

The current student loan arrangement is too good to be true - it's unsustainable and will add considerably to the national debt unless changes are made to make it less favourable to students.