United Kingdom General Election 2015 Thread
 

Don't know how many people care about politics but it's shaping up to be a total mess. Doesn't like there's going to be an outright winner (again!).

Whose planning to vote?

I don't bother to watch the debates or even to read manifestos, because they're all full of crap - I just vote for the party which generally aligns most with my views, so it usually tends to be Lib Dems or I may even go Green this time.

What has really annoyed me the past couple of elections is the way that it's become so much about the personalities rather than the parties - we shouldn't be voting for a Prime Minister, but for a party!

I've never voted, and never will :)

I got pretty burned out campaigning in the run up to the referendum so I've largely taken a back seat on this. Not that it makes much a difference anyway - this time I'll be voting Labour purely as a protest vote against the nationalists.

You should actually be basing your vote on your local candidates not the party or party leader but it seldom works like that.

Speaking of local candidates, the SNP one for my constituency had google remove photos of her visiting a memorial to the IRA hunger strikers so I'll be disgusted if she's elected, I actually can't wait for someone to come canvassing for them so I can give them it big style.

Sadly our local area is the safest of safe Labour seats so its not gonna change anything. However, regardless of that everyone still should go out and vote. It takes a few minutes of your day and affects your whole life.

I just hope those Tory dirtbags and the spineless Lib Dems get thrown out.

Out of the big parties Labour are the only option I'd go for and they are pretty awful too with that joker Ed Milliband at the helm.

It's all rather hopeless..

So this is where I get confused - you campaigned against something that could have made a difference to the whole political spectrum in the UK, whether you personally agreed or wanted the outcome or not, yet now are agreeing that what you campaigned for means absolutely nothing because what you do doesn't make a difference.

Forgive me if I'm reading this wrong, and I'm honestly not trying to have a go at you, but is that something to be proud of? Everybody reserves their rights to do what they choose, but I've never heard of anybody who doesn't vote and is proud of it. Maybe that's something that differs in the culture over in the UK as opposed to the US.

The North Dakota election in 2014 was full of a bunch of bullshit pieces of legislature that I had no opinion one way or another on, but I still went out to vote on it so my voice was heard. I guess I'm in the camp that it's better to write in a candidate than not vote at all. At least your voice has been put out there that way.

Regardless of the nation, one should certainly not be able to complain about the elected officials if one did not vote.

I knew there had to be one Labour voter left in Scotland.

Turn out at the 2012 US Election was 58.2% - there are millions of American's who don't vote and I'd say plenty are proud about it.

I agree that it's nothing to be proud of, though.

Australia is one of only a handful of countries where it's compulsory... but people get around it by not being registered to vote.

There are so many people completely politically impotent that are forced to vote or they are fined. I used to be in favour of compulsory voting, but not so sure now.

http://news.stv.tv/scotland-decides/...eral-election/

Nae luck, Jim.

Oh I'm under no illusions that it won't make a difference if I vote for labour or use the ballot for the loo.

I dont think the polls will be quite as wide as that but I'm amazed at the level of support given how they've turned just about everything they've had their hands on to complete and utter shit since 2007 that they have that level of support.

Not that any of the other parties offer anything better. Blank slate we need, hang them all, instill me as lord protector and we'll take it from there I say.

That's not what I did at all.

I campaigned against independence because (and I still maintain it) that apart from being a half baked idea (the white paper was full of - we would expect to continue to use *insert some critical part of the economy or infrastructure that the UK government would have complete control over) it would have been a disaster for us and come 10 years down the line the UK isn't going to all of a sudden welcome us back with open arms because we ****ed up and we're skint.

As for this election, what have the SNP actually managed to deliver on since 2007 because the time frame of being able to blame it on the inheriting problems from the last government is well and truly past.

- Health - complete riot (which makes them banging on about the state of things down south and the evil tories coming to steal our beds and sell out grannies bones even more patronising)
- Education and training - I'd be here all day going on about this so I won't even start but I began my teaching training the same year that the SNP took over education and not only have they failed on just about every key policy area, they've actually made their key targets worse than under Labour and if nothing else, at east Labour built new schools.
- Local government - I dunno about you but I prefer my councillors in their offices or on the streets serving their constituents, not out the front carpark burning political literature.
- Law - Our justice system is a joke and is become ever more derided due to the decisions made in high government.
- Housing - They're knocking down a tonne of council flats and blocks round my way and building front and back doors. I'm not much of a town planner but I doubt that's the way to increase tenancy rates for lower income families.

Ergo they're as big a farce as the Tory Dem government and have managed to crest a wave of independence / anti-establishment / anti-English feeling here and got themselves into that position.

Ergo, I'd rather vote for a party that even has a modicum of a chance of stopping their complete riot of a local candidate than waste my vote or not turn up on the day.

It's tactical voting pure and simple.

I find who to vote for confusing, Locally Conservatives always win my area, they do a good job locally. However I don't always agree with conservatives policies in general for UK.

I think it's important to vote as people died for the right to vote. people r confused more than ever before so I reckon it will be a coalition

dawn

I'm with you there!

I think we'll end up with a Tory majority down South, an SNP whitewash up here (though not as big as they're predicting) and it'll be down to Labour to decide what happens.

I hope Miliband shows a bit of backbone and stands by his claims that he' won't deal with the SNP.

On an aside, through bits and bobs of cross party campaigning for this and the referendum I've been asked by a couple Labour, Lib and Green folk if I'd ever consider getting into party politics for them. I must be a bigger James Blunt than I thought :D

From what I heard miliband is talking of now cuddling up with snp. might be a wise decision as miliband is coming across quite weak and snp can give that kick.

I agree with your overall prediction.

I hope the students drum up enough support to boot Clegg out on his arse. It looks to be a close one but they're saying Tory tactical votes will save him. A total embarrassment if the people of Hallam let him back in given some of the things he's allowed the government to do!

I have just one thing to say... For the love of God, don't vote for UKIP!

Funny to see folk gloating on fb about the doing labour are taking up here by the nats. Bravo you're slowly but surely moving us towards 5 more years of the tories and it's not going to be on my conscience.

Well, that's us screwed for another 5yrs. :roll:

Just like in this country - most voters fail to see the larger picture :(

Jesus even I didn't see it being quite as clear cut when I posted that ^

Again, not on my conscience :)

Maybe not on your conscience but you will have to live with it :( I deal with that issue every day in this country.

Is it basically a two-party system where no one else has a shot like in the USA? I think that's what's destroyed the USA. At least locally, most people are pretty middle of the road. The only problem locally is that in the primaries you have to either vote as a Democrat or as a Republican so it's hard to vote for all the candidates you want to because half might be running on one ticket and half on the other. I wish we would have open primaries.

But nationally, the two main parties are on extremes. Unfortunately, no one who runs as an Independent or a Libertarian or anything other than a Democrat or a Republican is going to have a shot in hell of winning a national election. I swear if one side said water was wet, the other would say it was dry just to disagree.

Meh just another reason not to have kids.

I've still not managed to land a permanent teaching jobIsomething the SNP are responsible for but I've got a nice house, car, couple of holidays a year and have a rubbish hot tub ready to go in - I bet most folk chiming against the Tories and austerity probably aren't doing so bad either.

I hear you about the kids. Mine are all doing well but they are all around your age (25 - 35). They seem to be adamant about NOT having kids also - sometimes for the same reasons. It's too bad but I get it :( I'm just sorry that they will miss the relationship with their kids that I have with mine. I wouldn't have missed that part for the world.

Is anyone in their right mind saying "Oh, I won't have kids because Cameron won a clear majority"? Anyone in their right mind thinking Miliband would have been Jesus Christ the Saviour (yes, he's Jewish) - come on folks. Stop dreaming. A solid majority that has a 5 year term focussed on growing the economy and forging the country together (Cameron said it in his speech and it's also the only normal thing that a party in this position would do) is surely a positive outcome.

But nooooo - the attitude in the press and the blogs makes me think the UKIP won. Yes - the SNP has a lot of votes. It's bad that the LibDem are gone. But hell - given all circumstances, I can't see a better outcome for the UK. Surely Miliband and the current Labour had some nearly socialist views that simply CAN NOT work in the context of economic stagnation and current account deficits that Britain has. Now bring on the whole Brexit poll ASAP to get it out of the way, and focus fully on what matters.

And to draw the line, the Conservatives have better people. I mean - Ed Balls as chancellor - are you freakin' kiddin me? Miliband as PM? How can anyone in their right mind even think that could have gone down well....

http://benjaminstudebaker.com/2015/0...david-cameron/

Says it all really.

Nah! This says it all:

Funny, no? how a short paragraph explains more than a million wrongly used charts. That's all it boils down to.

Its probably an unpopular view but sadly Labour haven't won an election without Tony Blair since 1974; 41 years. Blair was on the money when he said that 2015 could turn into an election ""in which a traditional left-wing party competes with a traditional right-wing party, with the traditional result"".

Labour were at their best building the broad coalition they had in the nineties and early 2000s. I hope they party don't fall back into this misguided view that attempting to appeal to middle class people in the south of england it somehow against the principles of the labour party. Without the support of voters across the entire country they'll be out of power for a generation and as Teflon Tony once said "Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile".