Who will you vote for?

[Leap]

This is a question for all of us who live in the UK and have the right to vote.

I've been thinking about this for a while now and as Gordon Brown will finally be getting off his bloated, Scottish backside to ask the Queen to disolve parliment and call a general election tomorrow (something that IMO he should have done as soon as Tony Blair stepped down) I decided that it was high time I put it to you, the internet-going public. You lucky people you.

To start things rolling I've decided to give you a quick analysis of the three biggest political parties here in the UK, (New) Labour, The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats.

The Labour Party

Traditionally the center-left party of the UK, Labour was started at the beginning of the 20th centuarry and had organized its self into a major political force in England, Scotland and Wales by 1920 (they took a bit longer in Northern Ireland) It has held Parliment 11 times since 1923, 8 time as the majority and 3 times as a minority government under a hung parliment.

Labour was pretty much born out of the trade union movements of the early 1900s and has maintained strong ties with them ever since. They were the party that started the NHS in 1948, one of the few things that make my take pride in my country and one of the few things that I don't mind paying taxes for. (Incedently, Americans, this iswhat REAL social healthcare is, one bill doesn't count).

With the advent of "New" Labour in 1997 (along with that oily git Tony Blair ) the party moved serverly to the right, so much so in fact that for a time it was almost impossible to tell them appart, other than by which self-obsessd gassbag was spouting the seemingly interchangable policies.

Chances

Uh, not that good, i think the best they can hope for is a hung parliment, though on a more positive note they may actually encourage people to vote, too keep them mout of power. I don't think the country could stand another 5 more years of Brown.

The Conservative Party

The toffs, the lords and ladies in their country estated and the Lord and Lady Mucks in their semi in the suburbs. Traditionally the country's center-right wing party (now moved slightly towards the left) the Conservitaves, or Tories as they are commanly knownhave been around in one form or another since 1678. They have also had 11 election wins since 1900 though these have all been outright wins .

Maggie Thacher, Britain's first woman Prime Ministerand all round bitch was a tory.

Chances

Fair - As the biggest oppasition party the Tories have a good chance of winning the election. The problems lie mainly with David Cammeron, he is percieved as wishy washy by many and of not actually standing FOR anything, this may be a fair assesment as so far in the run up to this election he has mainly been going after big headlines with seemingly very little concistancy as to the actual policies behind them.

The Liberal Democrats

The Lib Dems have been arround in in their currant form since 1988, They are currantly the only center to center-left party with any clout in the UK at the moment (I discount the greens for obvious reasons)

chances

Not great- Unlike the other two major parties the Lib Dems have never really gone with spin, this is a problem because peole are stupid, the sad fact that is that while Labour and the Tories have the cash and the will to dazzle the voters with bull and lies, the LDs have always set out their policies with actual thought behind them.

In conclusion , Does it actually matter who wins? Whoever does win will be stuck with a massive debt, a week econnomy and a huge deficet , Thanks Labour! Not to mention appathy and disillusionment among the voting populace.

I think I'd vote Lib Dem if it'd make any diffrence.

[Ledgey]

I've been thinking about this for far too long. At first I was Labour, then I shimmied to the Conservatives. Not I'm leaning towards Liberal Democrats. Because:

Firstly, Vince Cable is ace and he'd be a far better chancellor than both Darling Osborne.
Secondly, I approve of their immigration regional-based policy.
Thirdly, they'd focus far more on regional democracy and devolve the sovereignty of parliament further, which is far too powerful. Pretty much an elected dictatorship in some senses.

A biggy though is that they're the party to pull us out of Afganistan. Whilst I originally supported the war, we're far too unprepared for it now. The MoD and government funding has been shocking.

But what I don't agree with is their EU policy and their idea to change the voting system to proportional representation. I much prefer electing representatives rather than electing parties. It definetly needs to change though, Labour benefit far too much from the current system.

On the subject of local MP, mine is a complete bitch and I refuse to vote for her. I've met her twice and she's stuck up and barely knows anything about the local area. Unfortunate for Labour I suppose.

I'd have loved to vote Conservative after their crafty campaigning, not to mention Boris Johnson and William Hague. I think they would be the party to repair the NHS and the police force. Unfortunately, they never pull out any policies that are vote changing and seem more intent on attacking Labour than handing out policy.

I won't vote for Labour after the Digital Economy Bill. What a piece of shit that is. Once again, the Liberal Democrats are the only ones to oppose it. Furthermore, the University situation has been completely ballsed up. They've pushed for thousands more students to attend and now they can't fund the places.

Anyway, we should just completely scrap parties and go straight to Direct Democracy.

[Korriken]

the queen can dissolve parliament and call for an election? we need something like that here in America! I wonder if I could get that job. Every time congress makes a bonehead move I can kick them all out and tell the people to vote on some new guys.

Congress: we're gonna pass this measure! we have an obligation to the--

Me: Dissolved! form a new congress!

Congress: Thats the 5th time you've done this to us!

Me: then stop making bonehead moves.

[Ledgey]

At 4/6/10 07:20 PM, Korriken wrote: the queen can dissolve parliament and call for an election? we need something like that here in America! I wonder if I could get that job. Every time congress makes a bonehead move I can kick them all out and tell the people to vote on some new guys.

Well not really. She only dissolves Parliament on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. She can't just call for an election because she feels like it.

[aviewaskewed]

At 4/6/10 07:20 PM, Korriken wrote: the queen can dissolve parliament and call for an election? we need something like that here in America! I wonder if I could get that job. Every time congress makes a bonehead move I can kick them all out and tell the people to vote on some new guys.

Congress: we're gonna pass this measure! we have an obligation to the--

Me: Dissolved! form a new congress!

Congress: Thats the 5th time you've done this to us!

Me: then stop making bonehead moves.

Yeah...I really wouldn't want something like that in this country since how could I really trust that your definition of a "bonehead move" is really, in all actuality, a bonehead move?

[Decky]

To be truthful, nobody.
Almost every MP has spent the past couple of years since the last election raping the wallets of the tax payers. ALMOST every MP, I admit there are exceptions. But it has made me lose what little faith I had in the British political system. But if I had to vote for one of the big three it would probibly be Liberal Democrats. Because the Conservatives are all abit toffee nosed and I have no respect for Labour.

[Jon-86]

Even though I'm a republican I will vote SNP as every other party in Britain is a unionist party except the SSP, the Greens and Solidarity. But they dont have much of a chance of winning because of all the in-fighting etc etc. It's as simple as that for me.

Heres hoping they become the majority this year and they have earned it in my opinion.

[Ledgey]

It unsurprisngly pegged me as a conservative voter, but rather worryingly BNP was number 2 on the list.

Also, there are probably many others like this out there...

Pegged me as Labour first, then Liberal Democrat. I was 30-something percent BNP lol.

Anyway, Conservative have had a boost with the latest Yougov polls: CON 40%(+3), LAB 31%(-1), LDEM 18%(-1). The day before they had a 3% drop so idk if it was a blip or if it's genuine.

[Korriken]

At 4/6/10 08:38 PM, aviewaskewed wrote:

Yeah...I really wouldn't want something like that in this country since how could I really trust that your definition of a "bonehead move" is really, in all actuality, a bonehead move?

given that there were people who supported Hitler, you'll just have to trust me.

[CharltonChinchilla]

Its true Gordon Brown is a sack of shit leader but the fucking thought of that TWAT call me dave hug a fucking hoodie cameron as a "leader" makes me sick as you said he doesn't stand for anything and is so fucking desperate to be PM he would sell his mum to the illegal sex trades in eastern europe. Seriously he tries to act working class your not mate your a toff wanker, shit like sending his kids to state school just to appear "normal" just pisses me off i hate gordon but i hate dave even more so im half tempted to vote BNP "i'll be 18 in time for the election" just to say your all shit

[Jon-86]

At 4/8/10 05:31 PM, CharltonChinchilla wrote: Its true Gordon Brown is a sack of shit leader

Canny be any worse than Blair now. Just like Obama has to deal with what Bush left, as dose Brown with Blair. The recession would have no where near have effected us as much as it did. If we didn't waste so much money fighting in Iraq and that had nothing to do with the USA never mind us.

But what do I know. I was just surprised that back in 2003 Westminster was ignoring folk in England just as much as they ignored us. When we said we were against it lol

[Centurion-Ryan]

At 4/7/10 12:15 PM, simple-but-sandy wrote: Linky

Here, what the fuck is with the northern Ireland option?

The Ulster Banner? Has the fecker who thought this up ever seen a Union Jack?

And it's "unavailable" because they're "waiting for responses from all main political parties"? I'm 15 and I can predict accurately what everyone's policies will be.

DUP - We still hate Catholics, but not as much as we did.
PUP - We're liberals, but we still hate Catholics.
UUP - We don't hate Catholics that much.
TUV - We're going to shoot all Catholics if we're ever elected. Seriously.
SDLP - We'll lick some English boots and see if it'll get us anywhere.
SF - What's that, Loyalists? No united Ireland? Nah, it's cool. We stopped caring years ago. No water charges, though. We hate fucking water charges.
FF - We're the only conservative party that doesn't hate Catholics. Go us!
AP - What the fuck are we even doing? We don't know anything about Irish politics.
GP - See above.

[Jon-86]

At 4/10/10 01:13 PM, Centurion-Ryan wrote: GP - See above.

You forgot eirigi - we hate provo puppets more than the unionists.

[Centurion-Ryan]

At 4/10/10 01:49 PM, Jon-86 wrote:

At 4/10/10 01:13 PM, Centurion-Ryan wrote: GP - See above.

You forgot eirigi - we hate provo puppets more than the unionists.

Do we? I must have missed the memo.

Who don't we hate, nowadays?

We hate Loyalists because as Republicans, our political ideologies are on opposite ends of the spectrum, we hate mainstream Nationalists because they're pandering to the British state, we hate Alliance because they're wishy-washy optimists, and now we hate the socialist republicans?

Who does that leave?

[Jon-86]

At 4/10/10 02:38 PM, Centurion-Ryan wrote: Who does that leave?

Have they done any self hating recently? I just remember seeing the "provo puppets still administering british rule" spray-panted using a stencil on a few walls when I was over for Easter.

Have to assume it was them since their were a few of their flags up on the lamp-posts around the place I was staying. Not sure if it was SF who put the tri-colours everywhere else but that's what I was told.

[Ledgey]

And it's "unavailable" because they're "waiting for responses from all main political parties"? I'm 15 and I can predict accurately what everyone's policies will be.

Welcome to party politics.

Canny be any worse than Blair now. Just like Obama has to deal with what Bush left, as dose Brown with Blair. The recession would have no where near have effected us as much as it did. If we didn't waste so much money fighting in Iraq and that had nothing to do with the USA never mind us

I'd agree if he had a good term as Chancellor. But no, he adopted a booming British economy which he encouraged to bubble, sold plenty of assets including 60% of our gold reserves at the cheapest possible price and stealth taxed the hell out of us.

I actually preferred Blair, and might have liked him if not for the wars.

[zero-gravity]

We all know that when Scotland breaks free from the UK that since the Scottish National party and the Scottish liberals would be pulling out of the UK government that it would leave the UK government incredibly conservative causing all of the northern British pissed off causing huge civil unrest and political clash in the country, much like what we are seeing in the US at the moment. As for the UK elections? I hope the liberal party, for the sake of the political climate of the UK when this does happen.

[Ledgey]

At 4/10/10 08:45 PM, zero-gravity wrote: We all know that when Scotland breaks free from the UK that since the Scottish National party and the Scottish liberals would be pulling out of the UK government that it would leave the UK government incredibly conservative causing all of the northern British pissed off causing huge civil unrest and political clash in the country, much like what we are seeing in the US at the moment. As for the UK elections? I hope the liberal party, for the sake of the political climate of the UK when this does happen.

Well based on recent polls, that won't be happening anytime soon. They're only hitting 24% in Westminster and 28% in Holyrood (Link).

[Leap]

I think I'll be voting for the Lib Dems, as they seem to be the ONLY mainstreem party that actually give a fuck about the people they're puporting to represent. They're not perfect , but then who is?

Strangly that seems to be the opinion of most of the people on here, even though they're only something like 20% in the polls.

Time will tell

[Decky]

At 4/6/10 09:16 PM, Decky1991 wrote: To be truthful, nobody.
Almost every MP has spent the past couple of years since the last election raping the wallets of the tax payers. ALMOST every MP, I admit there are exceptions. But it has made me lose what little faith I had in the British political system. But if I had to vote for one of the big three it would probibly be Liberal Democrats. Because the Conservatives are all abit toffee nosed and I have no respect for Labour.

Changed my mind. I will be voting.
I thought to myself that it seems unfair to all the people who fought for my right to vote if I just say "no, fuck that. I'm not voting."

[Ledgey]

Anyone looking forward to the debate tonight? I hope it doesn't spiral off into drawn-out Nixon style speechs. 8 questions in 90 minutes does seem a tad few.

Either way, I hope one of them crumbles, preferably Cameron.

[Ytaker]

Eh. I'll go for conservatives. While economically left wing, at least they don't believe in mass immigration of muslims to increase their vote share.

[Sentio]

I'll be voting Lib Dem (interestingly the link further up had me as a Lib Dem supporter as well, with UKIP second). For me they are the most honest of the big three, and have the best policies in the two areas I care about the most- education and health care. That alone is enough to gain my support, but it helps that I can't stand Gordon Brown or David Cameron- they both come across as sales men who have no real intention of following through with what they are saying, and are more interested in looking good to the public and taking chunks out of each other. If that is what it takes to lead a country then the UK is in a very sorry state.

[Centurion-Ryan]

Cameron really did a lot of damage to my "not all conservatives are retarded" thesis.

I really like Clegg. He seems like the only honest man in a time where the standard politician is a greedy slimeball. I don't get why he was putting so much emphasis on nukes, though. And Brown did the best he possibly could have, given the circumstances.

Why do conservatives have such a hard-on for anti-immigration policies? Just come out and say it, Cameron. You don't like Muslims. You and the rest of your WASP country club that you eat your lobster and scones with wouldn't be here if it wasn't for immigration.

[Earfetish]

Liberal Democrats:
66%
UK Independence Party:
65%
British National Party:
59%
Green Party:
52%
Conservative Party:
44%
Labour Party:
41%

I'm pro-immigration really but I'm anti-Europe

also I'm pro-Capitalism and anti-Government

UKIP came up first but then when I answered the other 5 it was Lib Dem

voted UKIP before, like I said I don't give a shit about immigrants but I tend to agree with their other policies, might vote Lib Dem maybe because they might have a chance maybe but I tend to not trust the major parties (or UKIP really but at least they'd shake shit up a lot)

[Decky]

I have a question.
I am a first time voter, I sent off my registration form about 3 days ago. How will I know if i'm registered?

[Jon-86]

At 4/15/10 07:46 PM, Decky1991 wrote: I have a question.
I am a first time voter, I sent off my registration form about 3 days ago. How will I know if i'm registered?

Check the electoral register. Also more info can be found online: http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/am_i_alread y_registered_to_vot.aspx

[smallCommando]

Speech by David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party in the UK. I'm not from the UK and I haven't looked at the other candidates yet, but Cameron seems like he really understands the future of politics and what it will take to move the UK forward. I highly recommend the video to anyone who's interested the future of political philosophy.
David Cameron: The next age of government

[xKore]

At 4/16/10 09:47 AM, smallCommando wrote: Speech by David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party in the UK. I'm not from the UK and I haven't looked at the other candidates yet, but Cameron seems like he really understands the future of politics and what it will take to move the UK forward. I highly recommend the video to anyone who's interested the future of political philosophy.
David Cameron: The next age of government

He states some good things in that speech, but what is the point of a good poilitical philosophy if your policies are still shit? Truth is, his arbitrary cap proposal in immigration reform is flawed, he and his party are blocking direly needed political reform, and conservatives have a 6 billion hole in their budget proposal.

I think that the transparency and accountability he talks about in that speech are innevitable under any new government other than labour, not just conservative. It isn't really a reason to vote conservative.

But still, I think conservatives will get in, purely for the fact that they arethe other party, and no one wants Labour. Any one who isn't really into politics won't know about Lib Dem policies and therefore conservative is the only one left by elimination. Sadly.

[Ledgey]

Hahahaha, ComRes asked for voting intentions alongside their "who won the debate" polling, and Lib Dems are in second with 35%. Though that's just amongst the people who watched the debate. With those who didn't watch the debate, it stands at around 21%.

So, who won the debate? For me, Clegg on both style and substance. Cameron took a while to get going and when he did, it was just him and Brown bickering. Brown performed better than expected, though his attempt at humour was a bit bland and he tried to sucker up to the Liberal Democrats too much.