General Election 2015

[Amethyst]

Re: General Election 2015

This is quite useful for a vague overview of the differences between parties. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2...rty=!nation=uk

Bit difficult for Plaid or SNP to win a majority vote. Their only hope is to go into a coalition and try to influence government.

Fair point.

On the coalition front, that programme the other night was interesting, seemed to be saying that the minor party - in that case Lib Dems - basically got to choose who would govern the country - I really don't understand how that works. Was it because the joining of Lib Dems with either Cons or Labs would make a majority ? So if it really is as close as suggested between Cons and Labs then a small party like Plaid could tip either over the edge if they agree a coalition ?

[Tools]

Re: General Election 2015

There's 650 individual constituencies and therefore 650 seats in Parliament. In order to win a majority, one single party must get 326 seats (half the 650+1).

In 2010 the conservatives were 20 seats short giving them 306 seats, Labour had 258 and Lib Dems 57.

Together the Con-Dem coalition gave a total of 363 seats (a majority). if the Lib Dems had gone with Labour they would have had 315 seats together, still leaving them 11 seats short meaning that other minority parties would have also had to join them.

[Amethyst]

Re: General Election 2015

Thanks Jules, that's basically what I thought. Didn't realise that other parties would have been needed had Nick chosen Labour ( though if that documentary was anything to go by there was seriously no contest there) - what other parties would have gone in with them ?

[stevemLS]

Re: General Election 2015

I was sick to death of Miliband saying "Let's not look at the past, let's look to the future" as his stock answer for avoiding questions relating to the mess Blair/Brown left us in.

And, for what it's worth, Blair and Brown will still blaming Thatcher for problems after they had been in office 13 years!

[des8]

Re: General Election 2015

Des you live in a very welsh part of wales where you would expect to have Nationalist MP you had one once now who do you have?

I Meet the last Plaid MP and found him a rather dimwit showing no passion at the business seminar we were at seemed totally uninterested in it all.

Last two general Elections went Lib Dem. I actually rather admire him as he doesn't toe the party line if he disagrees with it, and works for local individuals
The only opposition he has comes from Plaid as the Cons and Labour are nowhere

[Lowry1234]

Re: General Election 2015

Where the hell is Jermey Kyle when you need him! Show Time

[enaid]

Re: General Election 2015

Nigel Farage was rounded on by other party leaders on ITV’s Thursday night debate after he complained about foreigners with HIV costing the health service up to £25,000 per year per patient.
The Ukip leader steered the debate on to the topic of health tourism when he was given the opportunity to talk about the NHS.
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood tackled him on the subject during the seven-way discussion, saying it was scaremongering and that he should be ashamed of himself.
Farage prefaced his comments with a prediction that he was sure the other leaders would be “mortified that I dare to even talk about it”. He went on to claim that 60% of the 7,000 people diagnosed with HIV every year in the UK were born abroad.
He said: “You can come to Britain from anywhere in the world and get diagnosed with HIV and get the retroviral drugs that cost up to £25,000 per year per patient. I know there are some horrible things happening in many parts of the world, but what we need to is put the National Health Service there for British people and families who in many cases have paid into this system for decades.”
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon responded saying: “One of the things we’ve learned is there’s nothing Farage wouldn’t blame on foreigners.”
Having not intervened during the debate, Labour leader Ed Miliband tweeted afterwards that Farage’s comments were “disgusting”, adding: “He should be ashamed. The fact he isn’t says so much.”
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg also took to Twitter to condemn the remarks, saying: “Farage’s comments about foreign people with HIV were simply vile and desperate. Politics of the lowest form.”


Maybe unkind and many will be upset and disgusted about his statement, no more though than I am upset and disgusted when I see parents, family and friends having to beg and fund raise for money to take their nearest and dearest abroad for life saving treatment.

[MissFM]

Re: General Election 2015

Right - here's a bit of fun for y'all!

http://election2015.votematch.org/

If you're anything like me, you'll get the shock of your life :faint2:

[leclerc]

Re: General Election 2015

Amethyst, any chance we could have a none of the above option rather than not voting?

[MissFM]

Re: General Election 2015

Amethyst, any chance we could have a none of the above option rather than not voting?

Wouldn't that be the same as "other" Leclerc? :tinysmile_twink_t2:

[leclerc]

Re: General Election 2015

If Ed Miliband was not leader of the Labour Party then I think I could be persuaded to vote for them but he is and I think in a general election, we vote for a party leader as a leader of the country and not just necessarily a party in particular. If I want to protest at a government then I have local elections to do that in.

I watched the second hour of the debate and will probably recap on the first hour. I watched the spin doctors talk afterwards and saw that the polls seemed to indicate everyone but Nick Clegg, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party had won/partially won or otherwise.

I am convinced of a hung Parliament but I am starting to believe more and more that there is a possibility of more of than a simple 2 party coalition. LibDems are more looking at consolidating their own seats because they could be wiped out completely. In Scotland, I think Labour and the one Conservative might be in trouble with SNP fairing a lot better(and this could have a bearing on the coalition).
The conservatives may well not do well in areas where their policies have hit hard but will do so in areas where they are strong.
I think UKIP will win seats because I think the one issue where Nigel Farage is 100% correct is that we cannot in anyway control immigration from the EU because of Freedom of Movement enshrined within the European Union charter. We can cut access to benefits(and the European courts will actually abide by that) but that does not allow us to stop someone from Romania or Lithuania from coming to the UK and setting up home and sending money home to their native country.

The idea of stopping any child benefit from being sent overseas is absurd since one it has hit the bank account the money can be spent in whatever way that the person receiving it chooses.

Come the results, I will be shocked if a party has an overall majority to rule. There just is not enough difference between the parties to mean that one party is better than the next one and we've had enough of their rhetorical nonsense....time will tell.

[Amethyst]

Re: General Election 2015

Wouldn't that be the same as "other" Leclerc? :tinysmile_twink_t2:

I reckon so, it'd be either other or not voting really wouldn't it?

[Amethyst]

Re: General Election 2015

The idea of stopping any child benefit from being sent overseas is absurd since one it has hit the bank account the money can be spent in whatever way that the person receiving it chooses.

I think ( THINK ) the plan is not to award child benefit for children who are not domiciled in the UK.

Campaigners calculate that UK child benefits worth £36.6million a year go to 40,000 children living overseas including non-EU Iceland and Norway, together with £18.6million of child tax credits.

Two thirds of all child benefit sent abroad goes to Poland. The payout is £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 for others where neither parent earns more than £50,000 a year.

ahhh yes it is

Main Pledges - No out of work benefits for migrants or child benefit for dependents living outside UK

actually in that same article from Jan 2014 this is quite topical too

Mr Cameron also strongly defended plans to charge foreigners for accident and emergency treatment.

He said: “The NHS is a national treasure. We can all be incredibly proud of it and it’s right that we all pay in to it and everyone here has access to it for free. But people who come to our country, who don’t have the right to use it, should be charged for it and we’re putting that in place.”

So we are:

Introducing a fee in the Immigration Bill to cover the costs of people not eligible for free NHS treatment - raising £200 million
Establishing a cost recovery unit
Introducing a simpler registration process to help identify foreign visitors who should be charged for using the NHS

[Kati]

Re: General Election 2015

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/manifesto-guide - We're studying this at the minute with the boys ... it's a good way of seeing each party and their views

[des8]

Re: General Election 2015

............but perhaps not how they will act if they get power