Re: The General Election Thread : Tue Apr 28, 2015 12:11 pm  

DaveO wrote:

No party has a mandate for changing the voting system as in 2011 we had a referendum and it was rejected. Pretty high turnout of 41% of which 62% voted to keep FPTP. A pity but even the Lib Dems won't got for it in the next parliament.

The LimpDems got suckered into that referendum, that's why they refused to back boundary changes.

Instead of offering AV asd the only alternative to FPTP, the question should have been: "Do you want to see an aternative to to FPTP?". If the answer had then been "yes", an electoral college should have been set up to debate the various alternatives of PR and a short-list offered to the public in a 2nd referendum.

Far from being dead, I think it is very much on the agenda again and given we've had recent experience of coalition government, I doubt it would be too difficult a sell this time around

[DaveO]

Re: The General Election Thread : Tue Apr 28, 2015 12:31 pm  

cod'ead wrote:

Far from being dead, I think it is very much on the agenda again and given we've had recent experience of coalition government, I doubt it would be too difficult a sell this time around

It depends if people see PR as a system that always leads to a coalition government as I get the impression the vast majority don't think much of the coalition experience, even the Tories who benefited the most.

I think it would be a harder sell than ever to most of the electorate. The ones who would favour it would be those who would like to vote for the smaller parties without it being a wasted vote but they themselves are in a minority.

Re: The General Election Thread : Tue Apr 28, 2015 1:50 pm  

DaveO wrote:

It depends if people see PR as a system that always leads to a coalition government as I get the impression the vast majority don't think much of the coalition experience, even the Tories who benefited the most.

I think it would be a harder sell than ever to most of the electorate. The ones who would favour it would be those who would like to vote for the smaller parties without it being a wasted vote but they themselves are in a minority.

Apart from a major disaster (war etc), can you envisage a time in the future when one party will gain a workable majority?

Concensus government works in most European countries, there's no reason it couldn't be effectively sold to the UK electorate

Re: The General Election Thread : Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:24 pm  

cod'ead wrote:

Concensus government works in most European countries, there's no reason it couldn't be effectively sold to the UK electorate

As long as there is no written constitution, it will never happen. An executive only responsible to itself will ensure that as will the unelected, unaccountable power mongers of the aristocracy and big business.

Until parliament is answerable to the electorate and an independent body then the current situation will just continue to the detriment of all but to the huge benefit of the few.

Re: The General Election Thread : Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:42 pm  

Leaguefan wrote:

As long as there is no written constitution, it will never happen. An executive only responsible to itself will ensure that as will the unelected, unaccountable power mongers of the aristocracy and big business.

Until parliament is answerable to the electorate and an independent body then the current situation will just continue to the detriment of all but to the huge benefit of the few.

The government is responsible to and answerable to parliament. We have a written constitution. It's called the law.

Re: The General Election Thread : Thu Apr 30, 2015 12:08 pm  

DaveO wrote:

Cameron's reaction? It is a risk to let Labour in to run the economy! On those figures !!!!

Labour are allowing the Tories to get away with their BS about how well the economy is doing. As my stockbroker wrote (these guys are not noted for their left-wing credentials!):
- People don't feel better off because they are not. GDP growth is on the back of a rapidly increasing immigrant population and GDP per capita is down
- they promised to extinguish the deficit in 5 years but have only halved it
- our deficit exceeds the criteria for EU membership
- we apparently now have the dubious honour of being the lowest wage economy in Europe outside Greece and Portugal.

If that's an economic miracle and long-term plan I'd hate to see what their idea of incompetent mismanagement is.

Re: The General Election Thread : Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:16 pm  

Dally wrote:

Labour are allowing the Tories to get away with their BS about how well the economy is doing. As my stockbroker wrote (these guys are not noted for their left-wing credentials!):
- we apparently now have the dubious honour of being the lowest wage economy in Europe outside Greece and Portugal.

If that's an economic miracle and long-term plan I'd hate to see what their idea of incompetent mismanagement is.

I would be more inclined to think we have the largest "wage " disparity in the EU and probably could the USA a run for it's money on this one.

The fact that people vote to be ripped off is something truly bizarre yet come the election they will vote with their idiot heads on.

We live in interesting times.

Re: The General Election Thread : Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:15 pm  

DaveO wrote:

No party has a mandate for changing the voting system as in 2011 we had a referendum and it was rejected. Pretty high turnout of 41% of which 62% voted to keep FPTP. A pity but even the Lib Dems won't got for it in the next parliament.

In other news the economy grew less than expected in the 1st 1/4 of this year continuing a trend:

Q1 2014 0.9%
Q2 2014 0.8%
Q3 2014 0.7%
Q4 2014 0.6%
Q1 2015 0.3%

Cameron's reaction? It is a risk to let Labour in to run the economy! On those figures !!!!

Thank you for posting the figures that proved your ridiculous statement that 'the economy is not going to grow before the next election' a couple of years ago absolutely miles out. Clueless.

Re: The General Election Thread : Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:29 pm  

Starting to look like a Tory majority. Cameron outperformed Miliband on QT tonight and they had already taken a 5% poll lead. They are also concentrating their efforts just on the marginal they need. Can also see some major allegation / scandal; being leaked against Labour in the day(s) just before polling day.

Re: The General Election Thread : Thu Apr 30, 2015 11:06 pm  

Dally wrote:

Starting to look like a Tory majority. Cameron outperformed Miliband on QT tonight and they had already taken a 5% poll lead. They are also concentrating their efforts just on the marginal they need. Can also see some major allegation / scandal; being leaked against Labour in the day(s) just before polling day.

Relatively speaking, Miliband got torn a new one tonight. I had expected Cameron to get the hardest time but he was pretty impressive. By far the best performer of the three, his answers were concise and as good as any politician has given in this campaign. Lots of straight answers avoided despite the best efforts of the audience - as is par for the course for any politician - but he did better than the others.

Miliband simply couldn't defend Labour's track record or their plans to borrow, and to deny they overspent up to 2010 was simply astounding. The audience was surprisingly hostile, he struggled to cope and it was only in his last 10 minutes he recovered a little ground. The phrase 'all mouth and no trousers' sprang to mind several times - a far cry from earlier debates when he largely basked in the knowledge the minor parties around him will need to come begging.

Clegg was his usual affable but slightly desperate self. I'm starting to wonder if he knows something we don't - that a Tory or Labour majority would see him back in a coalition, with all sides apparently ruling out an SNP deal. Could we even end up with another Tory-Lib Dem coalition?