should we have an election now?

[iceman05]

hi all

to my british NG friends, should we have an election now?

it seems like a decade since gordon brown became PM and i think we should be getting an election by now, even rebels are trying for one against new labour and its about time! :P
another speculation is that the british national party might get a look in at the general election, even the scum of the politics the BNP is being given rope, tbh if either the democrats or Brit nationals or BNP come to power, expect a riot before we get out of recession! :P

thx very much, steve

[SonicSheep]

At 5/26/09 12:42 PM, iceman05 wrote:

it seems like a decade since gordon brown became PM and i think we should be getting an election by now, even rebels are trying for one against new labour and its about time! :P

Gordon Browns only been in power for coming on two years now.

Though the Labour party has been in power for about 12 years.

another speculation is that the british national party might get a look in at the general election, even the scum of the politics the BNP is being given rope, tbh if either the democrats or Brit nationals or BNP come to power, expect a riot before we get out of recession! :P

The BNP is far too radical to ever get into power, however there is a growing possibility of them gaining seats in parliment. I don't think the BNP having 1 or 2 seats would cause a riot, perhaps a small stir but nothing too heavy.

But an election would be quite nice.

[Ledgey]

I don't think we should have an election, atleast for now.

Think about it, after all this scandal bollocks and whatnot that is happening in Parliament is sparking off a huge public distrust in politics. If you look at the last three elections, the voter turn out is reducing massively. If an election was held say, this year, I think that the turnout will be way too low (under 60%?). The last one was just over 61% I think. I don't call that democracy.

Secondly, it's not fair that the Conservative Party is profitting massively from this expenses thing. Cameron has basically promised so much shit that I don't think he'll be able to achieve anything. He's promised to allow anyone to run to become an MP. He's talking about weakening the position of Prime Minister (coming from a guy who idolises Thatcher). He's even said that he'll give free votes to all Conservative MPs. Now, these are all good and whatnot, but are impratical in modern British politics. Cameron is just exploiting the situation.

Now, I'm saying this because if we called an immediate election it is very possible of a Conservative win, or atleast a hung parliament. We are basically automatically giving them the right to rule with an unfair advantage. Not over Labour, if they want to dig their own grave then I say go ahead, but to just allow another large Conservative swing is... boring, predictable and unfair. Oh, and so you know, I hate Cameron just as much as I hate Brown. None of them should have power.

So, I don't think an election now would be... democratic. A low turnout is, I think, guarenteed, and alot of those who do vote are going to be for the Conservatives in a protest vote against Labour. This means that the fringe parties, who need to be involved in parliament if we want the Conservative's radical and farfetched ideas, have got to have a chance in the next election.

[Dogbert581]

Well, although Tony Blair called elections every 4 years, people often forget that we only have to have them every 5 years. And that has happened quite a lot (for instance 1987-92, 92-97) in recent times.

I personally think cincennial parliaments are too long and we should have 4 year elections (it works in US). I would have wanted an election this year even if there hadn't been all the problems such as expenses and sleaze row etc. Do I think Gordon Brown will call an election? No, he's not stupid as he knows if he calls one now he will lose heavily. I reckon he will wait until the last possible chance in the hope that he will be able to regain some popularity.

[Tancrisism]

At 5/26/09 02:21 PM, Dogbert581 wrote: Do I think Gordon Brown will call an election? No, he's not stupid as he knows if he calls one now he will lose heavily. I reckon he will wait until the last possible chance in the hope that he will be able to regain some popularity.

A vote of no confidence would do nicely. It might help the Labour party too: they could use Brown as a scapegoat! Those political sonsofbitches.

[ThePretenders]

I don't it is wise to hold an election now. The furore over the expenses scandal would mean that Gordon Brown is certain to lose his majority and lead to a hung parliament and not a Conservative majority because they are implicated just as much as Labour. He will hold it out till 2010 and see if the political climate swings in his favour.

He should have called an election in 2007 because he would have won it and that would have a few extra years to sort out the global economic crisis and resume growth after 2010.

[IETFB]

I have to agree that it is not the time for a general election.
The expenses scandal is just too hot of an issue - people will be voting out of protest rather than out of belief, and it'd cause terrible damage to parliament. We'd see the rise of radicals like the BNP, because people will be voting for them to spite the big 3, and a hung parliament would be a real possibility.

No, it's better to wait until the issue has died down. I'm fine on people campaigning on the issues that the expenses scandal has raised, but wait until there's less emotion involved. I think some time around September would be much better.

For now, there's always the council and Europe elections to have our say without the shake up that a general election would cause.