The great TP election thread

Red Ed has gone. And I'm way behind with the news!

This has been the wierdest election I've ever known - what a bloodbath ...........
 
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The various parties and people are now going to have to work very hard, after all, with Farage, Milliband and Galloway gone, who are we going to point and laugh at? :thinking: :exit:

More seriously, given the number of votes for certain parties and the imbalance on who actually won seats, one thing I do agree about is it is time for voting change. I am not totally keen on full blown PR, history suggests it often leads to multi-coalitions and unstable governments [not always I know], but more balance on the headcount of constituencies might be the route this country should be looking at. Certainly FPTP has never been perfect, but it feels like is getting even more imperfect as elections pass. No one system is going to be absolutely right, proven by the plethora of democratic election varieties we see around the world, but I would like all the partied to have a close look at it. They won't of course...
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
In this country we are very unsophisticated when it come to coalitions. The senior party in a coalition has to give ground on some of its electoral promises. the Junior parties rather more. This is how coalitions actually work.
Most countries that normally have coalitions, like Germany and Israel, understand this very well. Minor party supporters are thankful for such moderation and policy gains that they do achieve.

The Lib Dems Protected the electorate from the full blown effects of a Tory Government. For this we should be thankful not blame them for not achieving all their pre election aims.
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I understand how they work. But if you campaign on a policy and get votes on that policy, then go back on it. Regardless of whether or not you then go on to temper some other policies. You can bet that the people who voted for you based on what you said you would do, will absolutely judge you if you go back on that word and therefore not vote for you again.

If Clegg had had the balls to let the last govt be a minority govt, then the lib dems would have had real power as they could have swayed things policy by policy. Rather than signing away all of their promises in the coalition agreement.

I'll probably personally be better off under a Tory govt. But, I despair at the state they'll leave the welfare state in and how much the poor will continue to be demonised.
 
ST4 said:
The thing is @Yv whilst I agree, the electorate was given the choice of FPTP or PR very recently, so I suppose that decision needs to be respected before its put to the electorate to test it again.
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AshleyC said:
They were given the choice of FPTP or AV, a very different thing to PR
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exactly, I think AV is even worse that PR in some ways, I'd take FPTP over either of them, but it can be done in a more balanced way. As I say, I certainly don't expect it to be an issue raised in this term, I am just expressing my opinion on it.
 
On a lighter note: What are they putting in the water up in Paisley and Renfrewshire that would result in them electing a 20 year old student?! :runaway::runaway:
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
All the national statistics show a widening gulf between the rich and poor. It has accelerated in the past ten or so years, under both parties.
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A statistic I read last week: 0.7% of the population are millionaires... 78% of the government are millionaires (probably more now).


Steve.
 
Steve Smith said:
A statistic I read last week: 0.7% of the population are millionaires... 78% of the government are millionaires (probably more now).


Steve.
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And what percentage of those are self made millionaires, representing the model that they claim we can all become if we work hard enough?
 
viv1969 said:
On a lighter note: What are they putting in the water up in Paisley and Renfrewshire that would result in them electing a 20 year old student?! :runaway::runaway:
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kind of begs the question what were the SNP smoking to make her their candidate too?
 
viv1969 said:
On a lighter note: What are they putting in the water up in Paisley and Renfrewshire that would result in them electing a 20 year old student?! :runaway::runaway:
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Bernadette Devlin was 21, and the youngest woman to be elected to Westminster until yesterday. She was a student at Queens until the year before, and pretty controversial.
 
Steve Smith said:
A statistic I read last week: 0.7% of the population are millionaires... 78% of the government are millionaires (probably more now).


Steve.
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A millionaire doesn't mean a lot these days. In the South East there are lots of millionaires due to rises in house prices. They haven't earned a million, they have simply purchased a good house at the right time.

I would be interested in how many have over 10 million.
 
Just in case anyone isn't clear on who won what seats.















286F5C4D00000578-0-image-m-146_1431065211300.jpg
 
Dale_tem said:
A millionaire doesn't mean a lot these days.
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That's the second time i've read that in recent weeks in this forum. I really do think i'm in the wrong virtual community.
 
Steve Smith said:
Having a house which you could sell for £1,000,000 doesn't make you a millionaire.


Steve.
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it does however make you a sight better off than average
 
Yv said:
The various parties and people are now going to have to work very hard, after all, with Farage, Milliband and Galloway gone, who are we going to point and laugh at? :thinking: :exit:
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I started laughing a Cameron when he pulled his hug a hoodie stunt, I only stopped when I started crying
 
jakeblu said:
I started laughing a Cameron when he pulled his hug a hoodie stunt, I only stopped when I started crying
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not to mention when he couldnt recall which football team he supports
 
I live in south London, not far from Brixton (so far from fancy) - a 4-bed terrace house round the corner from me was on the market for £1.3m. Even a 3-bed flat is £600k+.

So no, a £1m house doesn't necessarily make you wealthy... but you're not exactly poor either.

Although I think this obsession with MPs' wealth is as pointless as the obsession about their educational background. What matters is their policies.
 
Yv said:
exactly, I think AV is even worse that PR in some ways, I'd take FPTP over either of them, but it can be done in a more balanced way. As I say, I certainly don't expect it to be an issue raised in this term, I am just expressing my opinion on it.
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If you believe that a party with around 25% of the electorate can rule with full authority then I cannot agree with you. Even when the party, any party, gains only 37% of the votes cast then in what way do they represent the country as a whole?

Lets not forget, the most progressive society and most successful economy in europe is one that has a PR electoral system.
 
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Llamaman said:
Although I think this obsession with MPs' wealth is as pointless as the obsession about their educational background. What matters is their policies.
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true , but being a wealthy a******e born with a silver spoon in your arse doesnt help you formulate policies that actually benefit the average man in the street
 
Great result. So now there are no excuses, not blaming anyone else etc. They set out to deliver this:

•No rise in any rates of Income Tax, NIC or VAT
•Increasing the threshold for payment of the 40% Income Tax rate to £50,000
•Increasing Personal Allowance to £12,500 and in future increasing it in line with increases in the National Minimum Wage
•Introducing an extra IHT allowance of £175,000 per person available only against the family home, so bringing a couple’s IHT nil rate band up to £1m
•Increasing the "Remittance Basis User Charge" for people domiciled outside the UK
•Reducing tax relief for pension contributions for taxpayers with income over £150,000
•Maintaining the "most competitive business tax regime in the G20"
•Giving employees of "large employers" and the public sector a right to three days per year paid leave for voluntary work
•200,000 Starter Homes by 2020 (to be available to under 40s, at 20% off market value).

Lets hold them to it and support them getting the job done.
 
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big soft moose said:
true , but being a wealthy a******e born with a silver spoon in your arse doesnt help you formulate policies that actually benefit the average man in the street
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Agreed, but being born poor doesn't guarantee that you'll devote your energies to helping the 'average man in the street' either.
 
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Llamaman said:
I live in south London, not far from Brixton (so far from fancy) - a 4-bed terrace house round the corner from me was on the market for £1.3m. Even a 3-bed flat is £600k+.

So no, a £1m house doesn't necessarily make you wealthy... but you're not exactly poor either.

Although I think this obsession with MPs' wealth is as pointless as the obsession about their educational background. What matters is their policies.
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I think some folks obsession with other peoples wealth in general is pretty odd.
 
big soft moose said:
true , but being a wealthy a******e born with a silver spoon in your arse doesnt help you formulate policies that actually benefit the average man in the street
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Being born of "working class" stock and wearing it on your chest like a war medal doesn't make you any better at it either.
 
So, seeing as some have suggested the voting system is unfair, how would things be if we had PR? Have listed current seats on left, PR on right:

331 - Conservative - 240
232 - Labour - 198
56 - SNP - 30
8 - Lib Dem -51
3 - PC - 4
1 - UKIP - 82
1 - Green - 24

Basic maths and left out the Irish lot! But shows that the UKIP would be big winners as well as Greens and Lib Dem. Would that work? I would assume that UKIP would support the Tories most of the time (and DUP generally do so that would just give a majority).
 
I like that and it makes more sense to me. But hey those aren't the rules.
 
cambsno said:
So, seeing as some have suggested the voting system is unfair, how would things be if we had PR? Have listed current seats on left, PR on right:

331 - Conservative - 240
232 - Labour - 198
56 - SNP - 30
8 - Lib Dem -51
3 - PC - 4
1 - UKIP - 82
1 - Green - 24

Basic maths and left out the Irish lot! But shows that the UKIP would be big winners as well as Greens and Lib Dem. Would that work? I would assume that UKIP would support the Tories most of the time (and DUP generally do so that would just give a majority).
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Interesting!

I wonder how many left-of-centre voters would prefer a Con/UKIP/DUP coalition to a straightforward Conservative government?
 
dejongj said:
Great result. So now there are no excuses, not blaming anyone else etc. They set out to deliver this:

<snip>

Lets hold them to it and support them getting the job done.
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That lot seems pretty solid and mostly uncontroversial. As you say, no excuses.
 
Just as a matter of interest (I'm in Edinburgh), and by no means a significant poll, from talking to friends, relations and others some people have voted for SNP to keep Labour out.
I have found that many SNP voters are not left wing, but come from many different parties. SNP were traditionally left wing. Sturgeon does come across well for a politician.
 
dejongj said:
Great result. So now there are no excuses, not blaming anyone else etc. They set out to deliver this:
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Plenty of ideals there, and I hope they stick to it, but where is the short fall in the revenue coming from now?
Fuel duty? (I'm sure that was never mentioned as being held)
the ever popular "bedroom tax" ?
Sell off the NHS?
And what ever other stealth taxes they can think up.


dejongj said:
Giving employees of "large employers" and the public sector a right to three days per year paid leave for voluntary work
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I'll volunteer to take 3 days off but what about the smaller employers?
 
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