Who do you expect to vote for in the next General Election?

[Captain...]

He couldnt really do anything else, the other choice was propping up Gordon Brown and that would have left him with about as much credibility as Jimmy Savile has left.

Suppose he could have let the Tories rule with a minority but was that really what was needed at the time? I think Clegg did the right thing and I think history may be kinder to him than people think at the moment.

But if there was a minority government then the lib dems could basically pick and choose which labour or Tory policy to support, assuming the big 2 wouldn't support each other.

Giving the power to tailor policies to suit their needs to get their support.

Is that not democracy? Each member of the commons votes to represent their constituency and if the majority don't agree it doesn't get passed.

Rather than lib dems pushing through conservative policies without any consideration of what their constituents want.

Edit I don't think a labour coalition was really possible with the number of seats labour won.

[BunkMoreland]

As I said it is not so much what they did or didn't do but how they went about it.

Starting with agreeing to a coalition in the first place, they wanted electoral reform, why not push it through by exposing the flaws in the current system by forcing a re-election, or a lame duck government.

I think it's plainly obvious that the lib dems campaigned on fantasyland policies on the assumption that they would never get in power and would therefore never need to follow through. Unfortunately they did get into power and have been ruthlessly exposed for what they are.

Why people cant see that this is precisely what would happen to the greens if they got into power I don't. Their policies are completely and utterly ridiculous and would ruin the country. They know that, so if they did get into power, they would do exactly as the lib dems have and backtrack on absolutely everything.

[keithweller]

green party!

[definitely not finners]

Leicester West hasn't changed hands in decades, my vote is worthless. I'd vote tactically to keep the Tories out if it was relevant but it isn't.

Only way I'd ever, ever vote blue was if it was the only other option in a very tight race with the BNP.

I'll probably vote SLP again or spoil by ballot.

[Manwell Pablo]

The Lib Dems had 57 seats to the Tories 306, people speak about it like Clegg could march in and demand whatever he wanted.

He did make one of his main policies part of the deal of forming the coalitoin though didn't he (Tuition fees) and it was one he eventually went back on.

[purpleronnie]

I find it odd that some wouldn't vote for certain parties just because they don't think they'll win.

[ousefox]

Agree with virtually everything Sir Alf Bentley has said.

I get to vote in either York or Newcastle so both pretty safe Labour seats. Would vote Green if they had a chance in either constituency but it is impossible to get rid of this 2 party system while we still have the current electoral system. May just vote Green anyway but we'll see.

[absolutelegend]

There should be an option for "anyone but labour". if so tick tick tick tick tick.

[keithweller]

in all seriousness, why all the love for the green party?

I've had a look through their manifesto and a lot of it is really pis in the sky stuff.

The key point being, how would they pay for it all? The suggestions they offer appear to be at the expense of some of the most politically active groups in the country. turkeys dont vote for christmas, hence they will remain far from power for at least a generation.

pie in the sky obviously, not pis is the sky.

[Captain...]

I think it's plainly obvious that the lib dems campaigned on fantasyland policies on the assumption that they would never get in power and would therefore never need to follow through. Unfortunately they did get into power and have been ruthlessly exposed for what they are.

Why people cant see that this is precisely what would happen to the greens if they got into power I don't. Their policies are completely and utterly ridiculous and would ruin the country. They know that, so if they did get into power, they would do exactly as the lib dems have and backtrack on absolutely everything.

It is possible that they did create their manifesto on the assumption they wouldn't get into power, but even so their manifesto had clear policies and how they would pay for it, which red and blue didn't.

You can't judge what they said they would do if they got into power, with what they did inside this miserable little compromise.

But I do agree they haven't done enough and this coalition has been a massive failure so far and they have to take part of the blame for joining it and not doing enough within it.

As for the greens I will assess their credibility as candidates when the manifesto comes out if it is all wishy washy hippy crap they will not get my vote.

[z-layrex]

Anyone to get rid of the greens down here for me.

They're ruining Brighton I know that.

[Carl the Llama]

They're ruining Brighton I know that.

I would feel smug that I used my vote in B&H for a different party when I was studying there, but that party was the lib dems so...

[Rincewind]

The thing is with the Lib Dems and the Coalition, if they voted against the Tories in a few of the debates the Coalition may collapse then the Lib Dems would have no power at all. The may have kept some support but their chance of being in Government would have gone As far as I can see Clegg has done nothing but agree with Cameron like a nodding dog. 'Oh Yes'

[Jon the Hat]

The thing is with the Lib Dems and the Coalition, if they voted against the Tories in a few of the debates the Coalition may collapse then the Lib Dems would have no power at all. The may have kept some support but their chance of being in Government would have gone As far as I can see Clegg has done nothing but agree with Cameron like a nodding dog. 'Oh Yes'

I dont know what anybody expected? Their influence will have been behind the scenes, and if you talk to those who spend more time thinking about Tory policy they are convinced the LibDems have stopped a lot of good policies. Personally I think the Lib Dems have been a shield for Cameron against the right of the party, and enabled him to do what he wanted to do.

[Saxondale]

Going to stand as an independent, get elected, rinse my expenses, get caught in a Whitehall office snorting coke off a prostitute's tits, get shamed in the 'papers, stand down and spend the rest of my life making minor TV appearances.

[Harry - LCFC]

The turnouts tonight sum up how apathetic the nation has become with politics, 25% in Rotherham, 18% in Middlesboro.

Yes, but turnout in the general election was 65% which isn't too bad. Shows that people do care about politics when it really matters.

18% is disappointing of course but I must say I'm far more concerned about who governs the nation rather than my constituency so I do understand why people are less bothered about the by-elections. Even so, these by-elections aren't unimportant so I do agree with you when you say people should get up and vote.

[Vacamion]

Lib Dem.

It's a local Scottish thing.

I can't abide by the SNP and their wish for a tartan covered ginger McSentimentalist's paradise (which would go bankrupt after about 5 minutes).

The Labour party run Glasgow like the Mafia - I doubt the way in which they manage the awarding of building contracts (espesh the commonwealth games stuff) would stand up to any kind of rigorous scrutiny. They are also the party which gave us an illegal war, a massive debt and a nation on the sick.

As for the Tories, they might as well change their name to "the Illinois Nazi Party" for all the popularity / chances of getting elected they have up here.

I like the Lib Dems leader in Scotland, Willie Rennie. Strikes me as a man of intelligence.

Lib Dems it is then...

[foxesfan1989]

Green. Only party for me at the moment. I tend to take a pretty left wing view to most things. They do not always run in my area though.

[ousefox]

As a sidenote, politics really does need to start being taught as a subject from an early age. The amount of people who don't have a clue about politics is beyond me- in one of my sixth form classes last year, at least half the class didn't know the difference between left and right wing. That was at one of the best state sixth forms in the country too.

[flowwolf]

I fully expect all those silly people who voted Liberal to come to their senses and now get behind the only real alternative to good government and vote Conservative. How could anyone even think of voting for Miliband ? he's got about as much hope as Kinnock or Michael Foot, in short he is unelectable. In this economic climate we need strength from our leaders does miliband look like he has that in him ? No a historic landslide for the Conservatives is on the cards and no mistake.

[flowwolf]

Lib Dem.

It's a local Scottish thing.

I can't abide by the SNP and their wish for a tartan covered ginger McSentimentalist's paradise (which would go bankrupt after about 5 minutes).

The Labour party run Glasgow like the Mafia - I doubt the way in which they manage the awarding of building contracts (espesh the commonwealth games stuff) would stand up to any kind of rigorous scrutiny. They are also the party which gave us an illegal war, a massive debt and a nation on the sick.

As for the Tories, they might as well change their name to "the Illinois Nazi Party" for all the popularity / chances of getting elected they have up here.

I like the Lib Dems leader in Scotland, Willie Rennie. Strikes me as a man of intelligence.

Lib Dems it is then...

Assuming you haven't voted to becoming independent by then ? In which case it's Salmond for tea.

[Harry - LCFC]

As a sidenote, politics really does need to start being taught as a subject from an early age. The amount of people who don't have a clue about politics is beyond me- in one of my sixth form classes last year, at least half the class didn't know the difference between left and right wing. That was at one of the best state sixth forms in the country too.

Politics isn't really considered important in the world of work though. I imagine that's why it's not a compulsory subject at any point in our education system, far less applicable to any job you might get in future.

We did get "taught" citizenship at my secondary school which was a total waste of an hour to be frank, that did touch (very briefly) on politics but nowhere near enough to give pupils a good impression of the topic. No-one, including myself, really listened either because citizenship had already been tagged as a bullsh*t lesson where effort wasn't required.

[Vacamion]

Assuming you haven't voted to becoming independent by then ? In which case it's Salmond for tea.

Mr Wolf, I will NEVER vote for independence. It is doubtful that Scotland will vote for it.

I posted about why I wouldn't, previously in another thread. If you will excuse the repetition:

Why will I vote "No" to Independence?

Because I object to the SNP's plans to turn Scotland into a la-la land of tartan shortbread and ginger McSentimentality, at a time when we should perhaps be concentrating on jobs, growth and social problems. No plausible explanation has been offered about which currency an Independent Scotland would have, what would happen to the tens of thousands of employees in the defence industry that would need to be laid off if the UK breaks up or what Scotand's relationship to the rest of the UK would be. To venture blindly into this seems to me to be madness.

Because I think the UK is stronger with Scotland and the Scottish in it and I think Scotland is stronger within the UK.

Because, as an Englishman living in Scotland, married to a Scot, when we English form ScotIand's largest and fastest growing "ethnic minority", I would like us all to come from the same country. There is and always has been a lot of mixing of our nations to a greater extent than with truly "foreign" countries.

Because, for all our differences, which should be celebrated, I think the English have a hell of a lot more in common with the Scots, Welsh and Irish than they do the French, Germans and Dutch (I've lived in Europe, they are, for the most part, well, weird). Many a Scot is just like their fellow UKers, who loves Coronation Street, can't live without brown sauce and slags off anyone who gets too big for their boots.

Because the promise of a rich, independent Scotland, funded by oil revenues, in an "Arc of Prosperity" is a pipe dream which should have been recognised as a fallacy when fossil fuelled global warming hoved into consciousness and which should have been killed stone dead when the UK government bailed out RBS and smaller countries like Iceland and Ireland went tits up.

Because I am pissed off that the Scots government is funding and promoting the Gaelic language when it has fewer speakers in Scotland than Urdu or Polish and that signs are being put up in Gaelic in areas which, historically, never spoke the language. I am all for apppreciating the rich history of a culturally valuable linguistic treasure. I am not reallly in favour of spending millions of our taxpayers' £s on it.

Most personally, though, I will vote "No" because some aspects of SNP-led nationalism have struck me as a kind of "if you're not with us, you are a traitor" fascism, of which I have witnessed first hand the ugly, anti English manifestation.

Yeah, that 's pretty much why...

Sorry for the threadjack...

[Rincewind]

After seeing several Governments in office the difference between left and right gets narrower and I have become a lot more skeptical about politics and politicians in general. They wear you down over years.

[BunkMoreland]

After seeing several Governments in office the difference between left and right gets narrower and I have become a lot more skeptical about politics and politicians in general. They wear you down over years.

I think it's probably the whole blaming them for all your problems thing that wears you down to be honest.