(UK) General Election

Davey Gaga

Davey Gaga

Under you like a G.U.Y.
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Didn't see an existing thread for this so I'll stick it here. :dave:

For those of you old enough to vote, will you be voting? If so, for whom and why? If not, why not?

Even if you're not old enough but still have an opinion, feel free to fire it out there.
 
I'm just under the minimum voting age - which is rather irritating, though it's just a simple cross on a ballot paper - nothing that exciting.

Out of the mainstream parties, I am rather disappointed with each of them as a whole. Labour's shortcomings while in office have made me lost considerable faith in them. I do respect Gordon Brown though. He genuinely does want to make a fairer society in contrast to the Tories who seem to mainly favour the few, richer individuals. I know I may be hated for this, but I'm determined to continue placing my faith in Labour.

If I can vote, I wouldn't be keen on the Conservatives. I understand that people who are disillusioned by Labour want a change of government, hoping Cameron can fix things round. I always think that the Tories revolve around spin, not substance. Cameron and Osborne? Sorry, I don't think they are ready for office.

I'm not too keen on the Liberal Democrats either. Who else here thinks that there wasn't anything that spectacular about Clegg's performance in the debates? If it's simply image that determines popularity, I fear for the electorate. The Lib Dem's policies seem rather soft for me. I'm a central-leftish wing - the Lib Dems just seem too relaxed on areas like crime for my liking.
 
Though I live in the United States, I do have an opinion about the General Election.

The recession that has transpired since late 2008, as well as accusations of bullying (or some stuff like that) has led to a decline in popularity for the British Labour Party in general, and the current Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in particular.

Therefore the Election is up in the air between the Conservative Party led by David Cameron, and the Liberal Democratic Party, led by Nick Clegg, so I can not really say as to who would win.

Now while I don't know much about British Politics, I do know about some of their troubles, including a slowly recovering economy, further integration into European politics and various domestic issues.
 
I may decide to vote Conservative - I've yet to read any manifesto, and I'll make a point of reading all three before I decide - but the chances of me voting Labour are extremely slim. The thought of Gordon Brown in office for longer makes me want to throw myself in front of the next train. He's done a terrible job and he needs to be removed.

Its a choice between Liberal Democrat and Conservative for me and, whilst I am very impressed with Nick Clegg's overall appearance and conduct - he was certainly much better in the debate than Cameron or Brown were, although this is not saying much - I think that the Conservatives are probably the better choice for my views.
 
Lib Dem all the way for me. Although, I don't mind who as long as it isn't David Cameron. I've never heard him actually construct an argument for himself - only ones against his opponents. I read a quote somewhere that said "the devil you know > the devil you don't." (With the devil you know in this case being Gordon Brown.)

I've actually been quite impressed by Nick Clegg though. He's a little inconsistent with his policies, but on the whole they're solid and fair. The only one of his that I'm against is his European policy.
 
Spartan said:
Therefore the Election is up in the air between the Conservative Party led by David Cameron, and the Liberal Democratic Party, led by Nick Clegg, so I can not really say as to who would win.
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It's not though, it's between Labour and the Tories. The Lib Dems aim to finish third and get with enough votes so that they can form a government with either Labour or the Tories.

I don't things will change if at all. David Cameron isn't much different from Tony Blair.
 
Emma Pollock said:
It's not though, it's between Labour and the Tories. The Lib Dems aim to finish third and get with enough votes so that they can form a government with either Labour or the Tories.

I don't things will change if at all. David Cameron isn't much different from Tony Blair.
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You don't think so? Well, that's clearly no surprise, all politicians are the same after all.
 
Personally I dont really want to vote, but I'll probably vote Lib dem this year, afterall I dont trust any politician as they are all tarnished by the disgusting abuse of there positions via the expenses scandal that occured.

I wont ever vote for conserative, being that I live in Yorkshire, well known in the 70's and early 80's as a mining county, It was because of the conservatives that our home grown industry of steel and coal collapsed because of there double dealings with the very same oil barons that are now strangling every penny out of us.

Cameron is nothing but a Thatcher of the modern era, he's a pompus twit that will only abuse the system further and bring the country further to its knees, Listen to when he speaks, he doesnt every say "we" he always says "I", thats a good reference to the fact that hes so up his own ass, he could form a complete circle.

I dont like Gordon Brown either, the man is very out of touch with the rest of us, and his lax policies on immigration is what has caused so many problems with the UK getting out of recession, the most normal seeming of the Bunch seems to be Mr Clegg, but even then, I still have my doubts!
 
I'm old enough to vote but i choose not too, mainly because i think this country could be run better by monkeys, forgive but i dont watch the news very often but whenever i flick it on io tend to see stuff on about our government and its never about doing something to good its always something bad, such as the expenses scandal. I know that it was a while a go now but how on earth can we trust a group of people who do something as stupid as this. (i dont know the full story of this or where the hell they got the money from but i do know it wasnt earned fairly).i mean these guys are meant to run our coutry i cant think of one good thing our government has done in the last decade or so. Besides replacing Blair by and even bigger idiot who i cannot understand. anyway thats my opinion which i'm entitled to. you may shout and curse me all you like....
 
This is what I think of Nick Clegg:

Yes, he actually seemed like a genuine, straight-talking politician after what we have seen from the televised debate. Yes, he talked well - he kept out of Brown & Cameron's gladiatorial squabbling. But that's...probably it. Clegg had nothing to really lose. He started off low-profile, and the only thing he needed to do was to open his mouth and remind viewers that he exists in order to raise his profile.

I don't want to be cynical to those impressed by the Lib Dems, but I just want to say that this new Clegg-revolved popularity is purely down to his image - not on what people thought of their policies. People are sick of Labour and disillusioned by the Conservatives. Clegg seems like Blair all over again - fresh-faced and young. It's purely image. Image that is highly focused on by the media. Heck - the whole debate thing is just a Presidential thing. We vote for the party, not the leader!

I find the Lib Dems too woolly on the major issues. Economy and health? They're fine. Crime and immigration? Too soft in my opinion. Clegg basically wants criminals to do community duties while sincerely apologising to victims. He also wants to launch a rather impractical migrant system where skilled immigrants are sent to a particular part of the country that needs them. It sounds good, but really - how realistic would that work?

None of the 3 parties really look that good for me. Labour's appalling history in the last 13 years has severely drained my hope in them. I still want to believe in Labour - they seriously need to rethink on various policy areas first. As for Cameron - all I hear seem to be empty words. Is this what the country really wants from the Tories?
 
I'm looking at voting Lib Dem too, but I was before the debate anyway.

Though I have my issues with their EU policies, Nick Clegg wants the Euro as our currency... I feel that some of what the Lib Dems have to say is not too bad.

Admittedly since the debate a LOT of people have said they would be interested in voting for him in the upcoming general election, but I'm not a 'band wagon jumper'. Also, since this he has been under a lot of scrutiny from the press, as beforehand nobody was interested, as they honestly believed he stood no chance at winning. This means that for a few weeks every detail of his political career will be looked over and inquired into, and this could give us the insight into the leader of this party that we need before finally deciding our vote.

As for their immigration scheme, it's quite similar to what is being run in Australia, with only skilled workers being allowed in, and surely if you are skilled, you'd look for a job where you were needed anyway? As this would probably result in a higher wage.

Basically, I think Labour need to not be in power any more, they've had their time. With Gordon Brown as chancellor, we had 10 years of straight economic growth, when Alastair Darling came in, we managed maybe a year before a recession and perhaps this shows that we do in fact need change.

As for the Conservatives, I'm not sure I would like someone like Cameron running the country. As someone said above, he has never really shown the country anything good about himself, more just shown us what the other parties can't do, and this is not what I feel our political system needs.
 
I believe that what the country needs is a small Conservative majority government with the Liberal Democrats becoming the official opposition.

The voting system is heavily biased in Labour's favour, I heard today they could come third in the election, and still have the most seats in the House Of Commons.

While I don't particularly trust, or like, David Cameron, out of the three main parties, it was the Conservatives who's manifesto appealed to me the most. While the Lib Dems did have some impressive policies, I cannot agree with their nuclear disarmament policy, or their European policy. Therefore, I believe that the Lib Dems need to be the Official Opposition after this election, so they can win the next election; sorting out or removing unpopular policies in the meantime.

With a small majority, the Conservatives can't be too right wing, as they'll need to rely heavily on either the whip system, or support from the other parties to push their policies through.

I wouldn't vote for Labour though. They've had 13 years in office, and the government is tired and stale. Like all governments that have been in office for too long, they've run out of steam and need to be replaced. I think Labour need at least a decade out of power, so they can reinvent themselves.

So, while I'm not a huge fan of David Cameron, and I would rather Vince Cable be the Chancellor of the Exchequer than Osbourne, I'll be voting Conservative in the next election, particularly as in my constituency, it's a two horse race between Labour and the Tories, and I wouldn't vote Labour.

I do think though that we're going to have a hung parliament and politics is going to be very messy for the next year or so, unless they have another election 6 months down the line, like they did in 74.
 
To be honest I hope David Cameron doesn't get in I can see him doing alot of damage to the UK in a small amount of time.

You gotta admit though Cameron is nothing like Blair lets face facts here Blair actually did alot for the UK with regards to healthcare and education. At least Blair kept some of his promises Cameron just outright lies.

I personally dunno yet who to vote for yet. But at the same time I dunno if a hung parliment would benfit the UK eaither.
 
eye of the divine said:
I personally dunno yet who to vote for yet. But at the same time I dunno if a hung parliment would benfit the UK eaither.
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From my understanding, a hung parliament wouldn't be a nice prospect for a country that is still very economically fragile and crying out for a lot of amendments and reforms. There will either be a minority government or a coalition government.

In a government with a strong majority, it tends to be fine. The government commands a strong enough majority in the Commons to pass legislation through and try and commit to what they have promised in their election manifesto.

But in a minority government, they won't be able to do that as easily if the majority in the Commons reject their proposed bills. That means theoretically hardly anything would be done without a strong consensus. In a coalition, there would just be behind-the-scene deals and such. It then becomes unclear who is responsible for what and whether certain bills would be passed.

Phew. I kind of needed that for revision. :monster:
 
For me even though i can't vote yet defently conservative. I would never even consider voting labour and from the TV debates Clegg just comes across annoying and his policies don't interest me. Either way its looking towards hung parliment due to the of popularity for the lib dems from the debates which i think is bad news.
 
I don't know if I'll vote. None of the three main parties fully represent what I want done. Although each of them offer good policies, each of them hold something that I strongly disagree with. I do find myself drifting towards the Lib Dems though and despite what Fleur said, I was impressed by his policies. On the most part that is...

I may have to look into smaller parties or independent candidates who fully represent me. Some may say it's a wasted vote but it's not wasted if I'm being true to myself.
 
Fleur said:
From my understanding, a hung parliament wouldn't be a nice prospect for a country that is still very economically fragile and crying out for a lot of amendments and reforms. There will either be a minority government or a coalition government.
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Its strange you meantion that I'm originally from wales and was old enough to vote when wales gained the right for their own parliment and when the results first came through we had a hung parliment with a majority of plaid cymru and labour seats and it worked quite well at the time.

However because of the conflict of the parties in england I dunno if it would be beneficial because they just can't come to a consensus and Cameron and Brown just bicker over everything and all Clegg has to say is ohhh yeah by the way I'm here as well to get noticed.
 
I'm not yet old enough to vote, but if I could it would definitely be for the Conservatives.
I really don't like Gordon Brown because of the damage he did to our economy and I don't agree with a lot of the policies of the Lib Dems. To be honest, my preferred party would probably be UKIP but out of the main three runners it's definitely the Conservatives.
I hope we don't have a hung parliament, I think we need stability more than anything and a coalition wouldn't offer that much stability in my opinion.
 
eye of the divine said:
Wasn't alot of the damage already done by Blair though? I mean all the money we've borrowed was done whilst he was still in office?
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Yes, a lot of the economic damage was done whilst Blair was in office - also when Brown was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and himself had a lot of influence over the economy. For instance, our gold reserves were all sold off (when their value was incredibly low) when Blair was in charge, but they were sold by Brown - making him at least partially responsible for it.
 
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