Who are you voting for in the next election?

[Strokes]

Why do you vote red?

He said in his second sentance.

[Rincewind]

Politics isn't my thing at all and I could easily abstain and it not have any bearing on me, or the final outcome. But then I'd lose my right to have a moan about the government whenever the opportunity arises.

They're all lieing toe-rags who say the right things at the right time but very rarely deliver.

My brother and his young family have been screwed over by the Tories with their bedroom tax etc amongst other things, which could have a bearing on things as I don't like seeing them in the situation that they are.

Bert has he appealed? There has been a high court ruling that because the spare room subsidy stipulated that it must be a bedroom and it is not being used as a bedroom- a study for instance- then they cannot reduce your CT. Councils have been taking the word of landlords where the spare room is concerned and before implementing the reduction they have to inspect the property which would involve sending imspecters to every house involved at a cost of thousands.

There is a template letter on the net that can be used. The group that composed it is in my Facebook contacts. the council wont tell you.

There are a lot of people in the same situation. Not that anyone would know or care.

[Charl91]

Which constituency will you be voting in, Charl91? That's important, because in most places your vote won't matter, due to our ridiculous first-past-the-post voting system. It is clear which party will win in most seats, so you might as well express yourself. In a minority of constituencies, 2 or more parties might win and your vote really does count....these are mainly medium-sized towns or suburbs of major cities. With a few exceptions, votes in larger cities or rural areas don't really matter.

 

In Leicestershire, unless Cameron or Milliband is caught paying Romanian benefits fraudsters for sexual access to goats, then Labour will win the 3 Leicester seats and the Tories will win the rest (Blaby, Harborough, Melton, Hinckley/Bosworth etc.) with the exception of Loughborough, which could go either way....and an outside chance on NW Leicestershire (Coalville/Ashby), but that will vote Tory, too, unless the Tories are doing much worse than looks likely just now. The Lib Dems will not win any seats in Leicestershire. Happy to take bets on those results! 

 

 

Most likely, it will be Loughborough (presuming I'm still living here next year). It's nice to know that it's not a foregone conclusion at least - it's hard to make the effort to vote when you know what the outcome will already be.

[Bert]

Bert has he appealed? There has been a high court ruling that because the spare room subsidy stipulated that it must be a bedroom and it is not being used as a bedroom- a study for instance- then they cannot reduce your CT. Councils have been taking the word of landlords where the spare room is concerned and before implementing the reduction they have to inspect the property which would involve sending imspecters to every house involved at a cost of thousands.

There is a template letter on the net that can be used. The group that composed it is in my Facebook contacts. the council wont tell you.

There are a lot of people in the same situation. Not that anyone would know or care.

They've been through loads of stuff mate all pretty much to no avail.

[Mack]

I will be voting NONE OF THE ABOVE.

For me they are all a bunch of corrupt self centred twits who only deserve a population that rejects them and their failed policies and system en masse.

If enough people stuck two fingers up at them all (which will never happen) they might actually start to work for the people they are supposed to (us)  and listen to what is really wanted / needed.

[Alf Bentley]

Most likely, it will be Loughborough (presuming I'm still living here next year). It's nice to know that it's not a foregone conclusion at least - it's hard to make the effort to vote when you know what the outcome will already be.

 

Here's the 2010 Loughborough election result: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/c70.stm

 

Unless something very unexpected happens between now and 2015, it will be a 2-way Tory/Labour marginal. It was Labour before 2010, but the Tories won it then. It's the sort of seat that Labour need win to form a government.

 

At this stage, you'd probably expect the Tory vote to fall slightly from 41%, the Lab vote to rise slightly from 34%. Lib Dems are likely to fall from 18%, BNP to fall from 4% and UKIP to rise from 2%, but very unlikely that any of them will be in contention (no Green candidate last time, it seems)

[Guest MattP]

Some blogs go under a group name. I contribute to a facebook page and do not add my name but if I get the story from somewhere else via a link I acknowledge the source. If there is a writer to be credited it will be mentioned otherwise it will be plagiarism.

Also if there is a story we check the source so as not to be in danger of libel suite.

Let's be honest Ken its irrelevant who you intend to vote for anyway.

Never in a million years will you keep a polling card, navigate your way to the correct location, get a slip, tick a box, put it in the correct box and leave without some major fcuk up occurring.

Much more likely is a weary postman opens a sack of envelopes after polling day and finds a betting slip inside with "labor" scrawled on it.

[Guest MattP]

I know we live in an age where blaming someone or something else for your own failures is considered acceptable by a lot of people, but I still dont really understand what anyone can have against the tories at present. All meaningful indicators and personal experience suggest the country is booming and amazing opportunities are available for any normal person with a normal level of ambition.

So a serious question to anyone not voting tory:

- what exactly have they done wrong, or what haven't they done that you think they should have done?

To be fair I can understand public sector workers voting labour, they look after them.

Anyway apart from them or those reliant on the state though I find baffling, has to be a parental or deep seeded hatred from something years ago.

[Guest MattP]

Here's the 2010 Loughborough election result: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/c70.stm

Unless something very unexpected happens between now and 2015, it will be a 2-way Tory/Labour marginal. It was Labour before 2010, but the Tories won it then. It's the sort of seat that Labour need win to form a government.

At this stage, you'd probably expect the Tory vote to fall slightly from 41%, the Lab vote to rise slightly from 34%. Lib Dems are likely to fall from 18%, BNP to fall from 4% and UKIP to rise from 2%, but very unlikely that any of them will be in contention (no Green candidate last time, it seems)

Key seat.

If labour take that we're probably looking at Miliband in office.

[leicsmac]

Key seat.

If labour take that we're probably looking at Miliband in office.

 

Honestly don't think that Milibland has anywhere near the charisma to win outright. That said, there's too many people who despise Cameron/Gove et al for the Tories to make it in either, I think.

 

But I've said this before. Hung parliament, medium-term deadlock, with electoral reform as a result. Please.

[Guest MattP]

Honestly don't think that Milibland has anywhere near the charisma to win outright. That said, there's too many people who despise Cameron/Gove et al for the Tories to make it in either, I think.

But I've said this before. Hung parliament, medium-term deadlock, with electoral reform as a result. Please.

Hung parliament certainly has to be favourite.

Electoral reform would be lovely but I think the AV vote screwed that for our lifetimes at least.

[leicsmac]

Hung parliament certainly has to be favourite.

Electoral reform would be lovely but I think the AV vote screwed that for our lifetimes at least.

I think given the right circumstances (e.g. deadlocked government and zero compromise) then it could be implemented. Agree it would have to be pretty extreme for it to happen, but after months of bickering/ minority government/electoral turmoil I think many people would agree to a voting system that would ensure it wouldn't happen again.

Something I could see happening next year.

[Oasisedup]

If I was a betting man, I'd say 2015 will see a Limp-Lab coalition in office.

 

Miliclegg.  Hideous.

 

I will vote Tory. At least they have made some inroads into sorting out our public finances.

 

Electoral reform will surely introduce more coalition Government.

 

One of the supposed benefits (untlil 2010) of First-Past-The-Post was that it introduced Governments with clear majorities. Although that seems to have gone by the wayside now, AV, STV or any of the other alternatives will only increase the likelihood of coalition.

 

To paraphrase Maggie, coalition is:

 

"The process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values, and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects; the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner: ‘I stand for coaltiion'?â€

 

[Captain...]

Honestly don't think that Milibland has anywhere near the charisma to win outright. That said, there's too many people who despise Cameron/Gove et al for the Tories to make it in either, I think.

 

But I've said this before. Hung parliament, medium-term deadlock, with electoral reform as a result. Please.

 

You never know, people might ignore personality and entrenched political beliefs and vote on policy... yeah... I know.

 

I'd vote for Hung parliament and electoral reform.

[leicsmac]

If I was a betting man, I'd say 2015 will see a Limp-Lab coalition in office.

Miliclegg. Hideous.

I will vote Tory. At least they have made some inroads into sorting out our public finances.

Electoral reform will surely introduce more coalition Government.

One of the supposed benefits (untlil 2010) of First-Past-The-Post was that it introduced Governments with clear majorities. Although that seems to have gone by the wayside now, AV, STV or any of the other alternatives will only increase the likelihood of coalition.

To paraphrase Maggie, coalition is:

"The process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values, and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects; the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner: ‘I stand for coaltiion'?â€

Quite possibly the darkest time in our history was fought with a coalition. With a charismatic man in charge, mind you.

I rather like the idea of coalition because it actually forces people to work together rather than just pursuing one ideological agenda.

Maggie liked the idea of strong authoritarian leadership. Many people think differently.

[Oasisedup]

Quite possibly the darkest time in our history was fought with a coalition. With a charismatic man in charge, mind you.

I rather like the idea of coalition because it actually forces people to work together rather than just pursuing one ideological agenda.

Maggie liked the idea of strong authoritarian leadership. Many people think differently.

 

I don't think Maggie was speaking from a desire for authoritarian leadership, more for a Government to have a defined system of values and principles by which they govern.

 

I agree that the consensus aspect of a coalition is appealing. But, the National Government of the 1930s and 40s came about in the face of crisis. Once the final crisis was over, the National Government broke up and normal service was resumed.

 

In circumstances other than great peril, coalitions seem to not serve much greater purpose than offering an easy excuse for the governing parties when they fail to stick to their manifesto pledges, leaving voters even more apathetic than they would be otherwise.

[Alf Bentley]

Key seat.

If labour take that we're probably looking at Miliband in office.

 

I've just checked and Loughborough is 50th on Labour's target list, but they'd need to take 68 seats to form a majority government. If they took 50 seats, it'd probably be a Lab-Lib coalition or a minority govt.

 

Hadn't realised that Labour needed to take quite so many seats to win outright. Hung parliament of some description looks likely again, I'd say. If the economic "recovery" proves to be real and not the unsustainable bubble I suspect, and Lab run a poor campaign or the media shred Miliband or UKIP implode, then a Tory absolute majority could still happen....

 

I think given the right circumstances (e.g. deadlocked government and zero compromise) then it could be implemented. Agree it would have to be pretty extreme for it to happen, but after months of bickering/ minority government/electoral turmoil I think many people would agree to a voting system that would ensure it wouldn't happen again.

Something I could see happening next year.

 

Only under such extreme circumstances of extended deadlock could electoral reform come back into play, and maybe not even then. The electorate decisively rejected electoral reform in the AV referendum, so any party wanting to bring it back onto the agenda soon would have to be very sure that the public mood had turned round completely...

 

Also, you have to remember that a significant minority of Labour people oppose electoral reform, though Miliband & co support it, and some of its leading opponents (Brown, Straw, Blunkett) are now gone.

 

While months of political instability wouldn't be good, politics could be completely opened up by electoral reform (preferably STV in multi-member seats as per Euro elections, with more power devolved to local level). Tories would have to care about the urban North/Scotland/Wales; Labour would have to care about rural/small town Britain; votes for Greens & UKIP would matter....could really liven things up and stop the public drift into cynicism/alienation. Voter registration among young people is at an all-time low, apparently...

[leicsmac]

I don't think Maggie was speaking from a desire for authoritarian leadership, more for a Government to have a defined system of values and principles by which they govern.

 

I agree that the consensus aspect of a coalition is appealing. But, the National Government of the 1930s and 40s came about in the face of crisis. Once the final crisis was over, the National Government broke up and normal service was resumed.

 

In circumstances other than great peril, coalitions seem to not serve much greater purpose than offering an easy excuse for the governing parties when they fail to stick to their manifesto pledges, leaving voters even more apathetic than they would be otherwise.

 

I think most Governments tend not to stick to their manifesto pledges, coalition or not.

 

I'm leery about individual parties having values and principles by which they govern when they are in Government, because most of the time it means a significant portion of the population get left out in the cold.

 

I've just checked and Loughborough is 50th on Labour's target list, but they'd need to take 68 seats to form a majority government. If they took 50 seats, it'd probably be a Lab-Lib coalition or a minority govt.

 

Hadn't realised that Labour needed to take quite so many seats to win outright. Hung parliament of some description looks likely again, I'd say. If the economic "recovery" proves to be real and not the unsustainable bubble I suspect, and Lab run a poor campaign or the media shred Miliband or UKIP implode, then a Tory absolute majority could still happen....

 

 

Only under such extreme circumstances of extended deadlock could electoral reform come back into play, and maybe not even then. The electorate decisively rejected electoral reform in the AV referendum, so any party wanting to bring it back onto the agenda soon would have to be very sure that the public mood had turned round completely...

 

Also, you have to remember that a significant minority of Labour people oppose electoral reform, though Miliband & co support it, and some of its leading opponents (Brown, Straw, Blunkett) are now gone.

 

While months of political instability wouldn't be good, politics could be completely opened up by electoral reform (preferably STV in multi-member seats as per Euro elections, with more power devolved to local level). Tories would have to care about the urban North/Scotland/Wales; Labour would have to care about rural/small town Britain; votes for Greens & UKIP would matter....could really liven things up and stop the public drift into cynicism/alienation. Voter registration among young people is at an all-time low, apparently...

 

This is pretty much the whole reason I want reform. But as you say, it would have to be an extreme situation for it to come back to the debate table.

[Voll Blau]

Hung parliament certainly has to be favourite.

Electoral reform would be lovely but I think the AV vote screwed that for our lifetimes at least.

 

The problem with that was the Lib Dems were compromised down to backing a system Labour and the Tories knew no-one would go for. I think the public would probably have voted in favour of proportional representation.

[absolutelegend]

Labour are currently absolutely unvotable (if that's a word).

[Guest MattP]

The problem with that was the Lib Dems were compromised down to backing a system Labour and the Tories knew no-one would go for. I think the public would probably have voted in favour of proportional representation.

 

Certainly, I've often said I think PR is fairer (and thats from a Tory) but AV was and is shit. When the argument of the 'yes campaign' had came to "Well vote for this and you are closer to PR" you knew they had lost the argument.

 

Labour are currently absolutely unvotable (if that's a word).

 

If it isn't, it should be.

[Manwell Pablo]

Not voting, every policy I've ever voted for a party off the back of has been gone back on totally. So I struggle to see the point. 

[FoxyPV]

STV is the way forward.  We have it in NI and if our politicians weren't such arseholes it would be great.

[Chilwell_Fox]

Milliband is a dweeb, no confidence at all in him to go into a meeting with someone like Merkel, Putin or Obama and come out with anything for Britain.

 

Tories have done a decent job under difficult circumstances so I will give em another go

[Strokes]

Hmmm I live near Loughborough now, i never realised it was a marginal seat. I will definately vote Tory in that instance, if my area is that seat.

The only reason i don't like the conservatives is because i don't trust Cameron and his bullshit on the EU