General Election on May 6th 2010 confirmed.

reply to post by Freeborn

Not voting is a vote for the continuance of the status quo.
Proportional Representation as advocated by the Liberal Democrats may offer some compromise but could result in weakand ineffectual leadership.

Well, I take your point, but what has "strong" leadership given us except a pendulum swing between flawed ideologies? The majority of parliamentary democracies in the world employ some form of coalition. Other countries do get by, eh?
Its worth thinking also about what other choice do we have? I think we agree that the party system doesn't deliver representation to anyone except those that can afford to influence the parties. What other choice do we have other than non-party, independent MPs &, necessarily if we want them to have any power, some form of coalition model of government?

reply to post by woodwardjnr

If there's someone i feel would represent my interests best then maybe i will vote.

Yeah, but if a candidate belongs to a major party, chances are that, even if they are sincerely "on your side", the whip system will dictate their votes in parliament & stifle their private member's bills.
If they are not a party member, its very unlikely that they will get elected.
What we need is to increase the number of MPs from small parties & independents in parliament so that their, constituency driven, agendas must be taken into account by the larger parties in a trade off to get govt business through in exchange for small gains by coalitions of independents etc.
We cannot get anywhere towards this idea without parliamentary reform 1st. Who else but the LibDems could possibly deliver this change?

Originally posted by Retseh
I doubt it will make any difference.

Rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic and all that.

yep.

good analogy that.

reply to post by mr-lizard


As I am sure you are aware my friend, no major party is against this infringement on our liberties and the granting of more draconian powers for the government.

Some individual groups are actively opposing this move and some individual MP's from several political parties actually protested against it.

Alas, the vast majority of the electorate are unaware of this Bill which will go through Parliament undebated and uncontested or it's implications.

Originally posted by Bunken Drum

What other choice do we have other than non-party, independent MPs &, necessarily if we want them to have any power, some form of coalition model of government?

Hell, that sounds a damn sight better than the outdated, corrupt and unrepresentative system which we have now.

Maybe with increased use of referendums as well using modern technology.

[edit on 6/4/10 by Freeborn]

LOL @ the suggestion of lib dem!

why would i vote for someone's party who kicks off his every shot of prime ministers questions with a rememberence message for some soldier in the iraq/afganistan war ... which is simple pulling peoples heart strings try ing to win their hearts... its a completly plastic gesture and plays on peoples war hate.

they need to concentrate on this country!

their almost as bad as SNP (and im scottish!)

The problem as i see it is this

EVERY candidate of EVERY party in EVERY constituency campaigns on issues that will get them votes in THEIR constituency while at the same time is trying to tell constituents how NATIONAL policies will affect them (for good or bad). Then when they get elected they immediately forget the local issues and that at least HALF of the voters did not vote for them but that as the elected MP they still represent these people, and their constituency, in Parliament.

What we need is a total reform of not just the electoral system but the mindset of politicians - that they actually are the peoples representative not just a member of a party.

What we actually need are more independant candidates who are strong enough to take on the main parties and challenge the "political classes" to make the changes that this country needs.

reply to post by Freeborn

Maybe with increased use of referendums as well using modern technology.

Yeah mate, I'm in favour of direct democracy. My only fear is that the UK electorate has shown a distressing tendency to be lead around by the nose by MSM, especially The Sun. Still, we deserve the laws we support, so perhaps a few public driven disasters would prompt more of us to get some education about politics.
The question is, which party would be prepared to go in that direction? Only the LibDems have decentralisation as a core policy.

reply to post by boaby_phet

LOL @ the suggestion of lib dem!

Thing is, are there any independents who could exercise any power in Westminster? Do any of the major parties that could exercise power represent your views? So what is the choice, other than to vote for the only party that promise a real change to the entire voting system?

reply to post by Bunken Drum


It is pretty simple really; prohibit party allegiance of any kind.
MP's vote on issues inaccordance with their own personal conviction and with the cares and concerns of their constituents as their primary driver.

Party allegiance was never intended to be a part of the parliamentary process.

I personally would also advocate increased devolution for ALL the countries with the UK, including England, but with shared foreign and defence policies.

It is time we concentrated on not just that which gives us a seperate identity but also that which unites.

reply to post by Freeborn That sounds like a good plan to me. What I'm trying to say is that, regardless of what we want, pragmatically, we must accept that our system as it is, is inherently conservative "with a small C" & so we can only get tiny changes at a time. To get change, we must 1st get the conditions in which change is possible.
Yeah, we must accept plenty of the usual bollocks in the meantime, but what else can we do? If we dont try for this change, we'll get the same old bollocks anyway.

i love the british parliment unlike our congress they dont pull any punches and say whats really on their minds.

unlike our congressonial shrubs who talk out of their azzes.

i like that guy daniel hannan and i wish america had congressmen like him


i dont see parliment being dissolved

reply to post by neo96


Daniel Hannan is Member Of The European Parliament, not a member of The House Of Commons of The UK Parliament.

As such he will not be affected by the upcoming General Election.

All though he is a far too conservative for me on certain subjects he is a eurosceptic and I admire his stance on electoral reform especially his supportfor increased use of local and national referendum's and the power of recall.

reply to post by Bunken Drum


having thought about it for a day, I am coming round to your way of thinking.

A quick scan of the candidates being fielded by the major parties is not encouraging though........

For Labour we have the head of the NUM
IAN LAVERY - a convicted football hooligan and best friend of Arthur Scargill

For the Conservatives we have
CAMPBELL STOREY - an Oxford yahoo who, though a local boy, lives in London and works for the Tory party

and the Lib-Dems have
SIMON REED - a former soldier and now a primary school teacher.

Out of the three the Lib-Dem candidate seems to be a good choice, coupled with their policy objectives and being the only party pushing for real electoral reform.






[edit on 7/4/2010 by supersaint]

Originally posted by SearchLightsInc


British politics just got alot more interesting. Will any of you be voting?
Just a little side note for those that cant be botherd to read links given, this will be the first election where live TV debates will take place - Thats something i wanna see. And if its live there is a better change they'll mess things up and make themselves look like prats, which is always fun.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Sorry I'll assume that because your on here that your more informed than all the other British sheeple and know that we don't have any control within the current political theater. I hope that tongue is planted firmly to your cheek? You know If they thought voting would change things then they’d not allow it, type thing.

But, yes it is times like this that the true ignorance of the truly ignorant British people comes to the in surface like a mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed on #!)

reply to post by supersaint Glad to hear it !
Especially now that the Constitutional Reform bill was gutted in the Lords yesterday by Tory peers threatening to table blocking amendments & flush the whole bill. So now we are not going to get a referendum on a change to the voting system. Its more important than ever that we get a strong showing from the LibDems in Westminster.
Have you heard the arse that the Tories are coming out with regarding reform? A petition will trigger a debate! Er... yeah. Not trigger a proposed change in law, like Switzerland, just a debate. Oh, we believe that'll make them listen to people, right? We also believe that the Tory dinosaurs in the Lords will let that through without ensuring that it is completely useless, dont we?
We need an elected 2nd chamber.

reply to post by Freeborn

this Bill which will go through Parliament undebated and uncontested or it's implications.

Well, you got that bang on! Passed through on a nod in the washup, without even any provision for further consultation. What a farce!

reply to post by Bunken Drum


Exactly.

This was not part of any parties manifesto yet get's passed unopposed as it serves to help maintain the status quo which all the main parties have bought into.

Democracy?

What would be interesting is to see the reaction of the PTB, if no one actually voted in the General Election, to show the populations disgust at the corruption that is British Politics. Can you imagine if that happened. One know it will not.

I will be voting, since the MP For my area is stepping down, good riddance one has to say. I would rather the whole parliament steps down including those in the house of lords. Fresh new faces not the MP's looking for re-election back to parliament.

For those who state they will not be voting. Once the General elections passes. I would not be surprised if One sees you moaning and whining about a certain policies the new government implements.

reply to post by Laurauk


I think it acceptable to moan about the policies of a government you never voted for than to moan about the policies of a government that you voted for - because you find that they never intended to follow through with their pre election promises in the first place.

I am of the opinion that voters are just numbered pawns with no real say in government but in the political sense I am as cynical as they come so I have bias.

I will probably not vote but if I do then probably SNP and only then a slim maybe.