General Election Tomorrow

[garinda]

I think if you asked the man or woman in the street what their main political concerns are their answer would be immigration, and the continued interference of Europe in British affairs.

Two issues both major parties seem afraid to tackle.

[Margaret Pilkington]

I think that also crime and punishment would come out as issues that need to addressed much more firmly.
None of the political parties seem to have the guts to tackle the welfare system either...they just tinker round the edges.
Maybe I am just in a disillusioned frame of mind.
I don't trust any of them, and I think this is at the root of the apathy that is currently affecting our political system.

[panther]

Always promising one thing and then doing the complete bloody opposite!!!
Also...
it makes me laugh that the teenagers on here seem to know more than us

hey well never mind

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Jaysay, that is where folk go wrong......following a party mindlessly despite the failings......and yes, I DO know that ALL paties have some failings.
I struggle to deal with duplicity........the fact that we can be as poor as church mice while the MP's live high on the hog at our expense(taxpayers, I mean)......and we are supposed to live clean lives while the MP's can slide around in all kinds of sleaze....and I do not single out any party as being worse than another. I also dspise the fact that the government want to meddle in our private lives. I despair of the whole caboodle.

I disagree with your first satement Margaret, if like in my case and I'm sure in Graham Joneses case, you decide to get involved in politics at an early Age (I started at 16, some 46 years ago) The fact is I am committed Conservative and would stick with them through thick and thin, although I may not always agree with the Party line, but thats democratic politics Margaret, and if you get involve your in it up to your neck I'm afraid. As for your other points, couldn't agree more, but we also have to remember that not all MPs are bad and sleazy, I may not like Greg Pope's politics, but I like him as a person and there is nothing that tells me he has done anything to be classed with some of his fellow MPs who are less than honest, and I mean from all parties. The point is though Margeret we are talking about the issues which can only be for the better

[Neil]

Originally Posted by garinda

Besides thinking Greg Pope will continue to be the best M.P. for Hyndburn, I've just remembered a few other reasons why I'm more likely to vote for him than anyone else.

1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s.

2. Low mortgage rates.

3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.

4. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.

5. Cut overall crime by 32 per cent.

6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.

7. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18.

8. Funding for every pupil in England has doubled.

9. Employment is at its highest level ever.

10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries.

11. 85,000 more nurses.

12. 32,000 more doctors.

13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards.

14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament.

15. Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.

16. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time.

17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice.

18. Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year.

19. Restored city-wide government to London.

20. Record number of students in higher education.

21. Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.

22. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.

23. Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

24. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.

25. On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

26. Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland.

27. Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.

28. All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday.

29. A million pensioners lifted out of poverty.

30. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.

31. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents.

32. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.

33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.

34. Inpatient waiting lists down by over half a million since 1997.

35. Banned fox hunting.

36. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution.

37. Free TV licences for over-75s.

38. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals.

39. Free breast cancer screening for all women aged between 50-70.

40. Free off peak local bus travel for over-60s.

41. New Deal - helped over 1.8 million people into work.

42. Over 3 million child trust funds have been started.

43. Free eye test for over 60s.

44. More than doubled the number of apprenticeships.

45. Free entry to national museums and galleries.

46. Overseas aid budget more than doubled.

47. Heart disease deaths down by 150,000 and cancer deaths down by 50,000.

48. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent.

49. Free nursery places for every three and four-year-olds.

50. Free fruit for most four to six-year-olds at school.

What Greg did that all on his own - he must wear his underpants outside his pants.

Those are ok if you think they are good for the Country, I don't believe all of them are. I also think a couple of them might be little white lies.

[cashman]

when a party seriously has the balls to tackle crime and immigration, i will return to the polling booth, until then they can all get stuffed. and before some bright spark says the BNP are doing, i am talking about politics, not " Rent A Thug"

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by cashman

when a party seriously has the balls to tackle crime and immigration, i will return to the polling booth, until then they can all get stuffed. and before some bright spark says the BNP are doing, i am talking about politics, not " Rent A Thug"

I don't believe in not voting, but fair play to you. As a matter of interest, if the Conservatives addressed those issues would you forget the past and vote for them?

[blazey]

Information about political parties is available to all age groups, it's not about knowing as much information as possible anyway.


And Garinda, are you suggesting I should vote for a party because they deserve appreciation from me for their past achievements rather than their current? I thought they claimed to be 'new' labour anyway? So surely they're not really the same party as back then?

I think Tony Blair was a brilliant PM, so I am not closed minded enough to just say I don't like Gordon Brown because they are Labour, but generally they are not proving their worth to me other than they want to shut the post offices and I'm all for that. Funnily enough the majority of current Labour supporters DONT want that, so what are people going to do, are they going to stick with Labour and accept that not every policy suits their needs, or are they going to vote for another party to keep that little luxury?

Watching the London election broadcasts it seems BNP want to keep open post offices AND lower council tax. They say it in a monotonous drone though so I would question how much of their heart was actually into it, but are we going to see a rise in BNP support for those reasons? They added a cute 'you may be aware... blah blah immigration policy' 'closing the door and keeping it closed', it was all almost comical.

I worry about the elections because I feel that both Labour and the Conservatives have switched positions and are badly representing the people they claim to represent. So who knows what we are to expect, but I'd rather not have another rise in the average student debt after undertaking a degree.

[blazey]

Originally Posted by Neil

What Greg did that all on his own - he must wear his underpants outside his pants.

Those are ok if you think they are good for the Country, I don't believe all of them are. I also think a couple of them might be little white lies.

Some of them most certainly are lies or complete manipulation of the truth.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Cyfr

I don't believe in not voting, but fair play to you. As a matter of interest, if the Conservatives addressed those issues would you forget the past and vote for them?

to be perfectly honest cyfr, i would give very serious thought to the matter, galling as it may be to me, i would probably say Yes.

[Yolanda25]

i never vote,never listen to politicians, my mum always said that if i dont vote i dont have the rite of speech later on if i want to complain

[blazey]

I guess it shouldn't be seen as a bad thing that some people do not vote, because the majority, myself included in this, often don't have any idea what we are voting for anyway, and what is worse, voting blindly or stepping down to just let those who do have an idea vote?

[Yolanda25]

Originally Posted by blazey

I guess it shouldn't be seen as a bad thing that some people do not vote, because the majority, myself included in this, often don't have any idea what we are voting for anyway, and what is worse, voting blindly or stepping down to just let those who do have an idea vote?

i totally agree with you, but dont get used to

[emzy]

I'll be honest, I do not have any Idea who I would vote for because I do not know what they all stand for. I wouldnt say that Im ignorant to it but never paid any attention so If I did vote then it would be for the wrong reasons really. Until I know what each party is for / against I will leave it to the ones who know. One day I will vote but Im not going to vote "blind" as this would be pointless and I would probably end up voting for the wrong party

[katex]

Originally Posted by Yolanda25

i never vote,never listen to politicians, my mum always said that if i dont vote i dont have the rite of speech later on if i want to complain

The good thing in the U.K. Yolanda is, even if you haven't voted, you do still have the right of free speech.