which party do you support and
have voted for in the past
and going to in the future

my family have voted labour as long as i can remmeber
so i will be voting liberal

I'm 17 so i haven't voted yet but I'll be voting Conservative, all my family has voted Conservative for years and years.

and please nobody call me politically ignorant because I'm 17.

[Edited on 7-11-2004 by UK Wizard]

hey guys, can you explain why exactly you support certain parties? I mean what issues are important to you.

For me, healthcare, education, enviroment, social economy are important issues so I lean very much towards social democrats/green party and their views on these issues.

The Conservative Party's Policy's reflect my own political beliefs. They aren't perfectly inline with everything i believe but their pretty close.

issues that are important to me are:
Immigration/Asylum
Crime
Education
(in no order)

Well if i get the chance to vote this time round it will be for the labour [new labour] party. I would like to see them get rid of Blair and replace him with brown though. Personally i think the labour party have done very well since they come to office and i would like nothing more then to see them continue with the modernising of the UK.

I do have some concerns about the cabinet. Mainly blunkett. Im not racist against disabled people and i know they can do as good a job as any, but i feel to be in the world of politics and making decisions which will ultimately effect the lives of everyday people you should be able to see. [Btw that’s my opinion i don’t mean any insult to any disabled ats members].

I don’t see the conservatives ever being in power again i think it would be a major mistake for this country to vote them in. they will do nothing but destroy the good work that has already been done these last few years.

LETS NOT FORGET WHO BOUGHT US THE COUNCIL TAX/POLL TAX. And if you watch TV footage of the Thatcher years your see just how in richmans la la land that lot are.

I will like to learn more about your political process so can some of you explain to people like me the diferences in your political parties and what they stand for.?

scottish national party for me,till we get independence,then its over to the socialists.....but may be tempted over to the far right,if things dont change in the uk

lol thats the way to go man!
i will stay left, left is good for me.
marg6043 what do you want to know?

[edit on 7-11-2004 by devilwasp]

What the heck!!!

I can't tell you who you should vote for? You didn't seem to have any problem telling me!!!

But then again I understand I know nothing that really goes on in you country so I'll keep my mouth shut

what? please exsplain where this comes from?

Sorry, that made me laugh. I don't think the Internet comes in braille format yet so hopefully not too many blind people would have taken offence.
Anyway, as far as what's currently on offer between the parties, as much as I would like to see New Labour in again next time, there is just something about Blair now that seems suspect. First it was the WMD's on your doorstep in 45 minutes claim, and now the crocodile tears/shaky voice every time he's commenting on our soldiers deaths in Iraq. He is a terrible actor and it is obviously put on for the cameras.
If Gordon Brown were to take over from him, it'd be not a moment too soon.

Typical. The Tories brought in the council tax, but it's the Labour milking machine that has raised it to such exorbitant levels.

Richmans La-La land, where the Hinduja brothers, Bernie Ecclestone, Geoffrey Robinson and Monsanto live? Not forgetting 'man of the people' Tony and his new £3.6 million house. I'm not saying the Conservatives are necessarily any better but you should have some better arguments than 'look what Thatcher did'. That didn't even happen in this century, she hasn't been in power for 13 years. Let it go.

The Conservatives has some genuinely good ideas, yet most people can't get past 'look what Thatcher did'.

P.S. I'll be voting Conservative at the next election

Well ok my politics is a bit scratchy but what i do know is that New Labour isn’t quite the same as the labour party that’s why i would like to see Brown who is Old Labour in power. And Thatcher is still pretty much alive n kicking. Blair was Thatcher’s little pet back in the days. Turns out we might breed them here just like they do in the US of A.

As for milking the council tax i would agree im not saying that labour hasn’t got its faults but you let the conservatives back in and this country will fall. They lost all control when labour came in and have yet not even come close to resembling any kind of opposition. Unlike the liberals who are going from strength to strength.

Its funny you said that Irma cause that’s what i thought when i wrote it. But then Blunkett has got eyes there just not his own.

There are three main political parties

Conservative (right center)
New Labour (left center) 'supposedly'
Liberal Democrats (center)

We have a bicameral parliament, that is two houses one elected, (commons) and one nominated (Lords) though the second chamber is being reformed. The Queen is head of state but the Prime Minister holds actual power, though in theory everything is done in the Queens name. The Goverment is elected in General Election. Every one votes for their MP in their constituency. The party who reaches so many votes first (not sure of numbers) gains an overall majority in the house. (not unlike electoral college system)

Tony Blair is the New Labour primeminister, he has moved on from left wing labour to place them more in the centre. He is popular but this has diminished since the Iraq War.

The Conservative (or Tory) Leader is Michael Howard. They held power for nearly twenty years till 1997 when Labour won a desicive victory. The party disintergrated and although second largest is thought unable to wrestle parliament from Labour.

The Lib Dem leader is Charles Kennedy. The Lib Dems are the third smallest party, although are challenging the tories for second place.



These are the main political parties but we do have significant others,
Uk Independence party (withdraw from Europe)
British National Party (Far Right Extremists)
Green Party (Environmentalists)
There are many others yet they concern local issues more.

This is the UK parliament, England and Northen Ireland have no seperate parliament, but Scotland does, Wales has a national assembly. Regional assemblys for England are under debate. I hope this has been helpful.
Any questions?

The Lib Dems are left wing not centre,

before people start mocking the Conservative party please look at their policy , New Labour has failed us and the Lib Dems will fail us

Conservatives

I'm only 16 so i cant vote but i think the liberals policy on defense is good, i have not checked the conservitive policy but the lib one looks gd.

I'll be voting Conservative as I always have, though with a slightly heavier heart than I have previously. I do NOT think that Michael Howard is the man to lead the Tories, but he is all we have at the moment.

My main reasons for voting Conservative are as follows, and in order of merit from my stand-point:

1) Asylum. Sort it out now before the rot set's in.
2) Foreign Policy.
2) Taxes. A full resorting of our outdated personal and corporate tax is required.
3) Education.
4) Restructuring of our public sector remuneration and management.
5) Health

I'm a (new) Labour supporter, based on their current record and what I saw and experienced under the previous tory gov (Thatcher and Major).

I can think of a huge raft of beneficial and progressive policies they have brought in and established......

The minimum wage (who remembers cleaners etc - not to mention that huge number of people in the black-market 'off the books' and not contributing/paying their taxes - exercising their 'freedom' under the tory gov, long after Thatcher, getting £1.50/hr? .....or are we all nice middle class types, or far too young, who wouldn't know jack about how so many actually had to live, year in year out?)

The minumum family income guarantee (anyone actually remember/know how crap F.I.S. was? Family Income Supplement. Or it's replacement Family Credit?)

The Child Bond (Not a gimmick, now a reality. A truely excellent idea, IMHO, and you'd have had to wait for that snow-flake in hell surviving to get it under the tory lot.)

The Pensioner's Winter fuel allowance. (Now at £300 every Christmas to every pensioner, IMO the least the 4th or 5th richest nation in the world could be doing for all its' old folks......compared to the tory Christmas £10 it's a little better, eh?)

Home repossessions down to a fraction of what they were under the tories.....and if you don't think this one is important you obviously didn't live the Thatcher squeeze or the later Major bust with it's negative equity and repossession insanity - so many people in the UK will never vote tory again just on this issue alone, talk about a 'national memory' for a large slice of the public!

Child benefit significantly up.....and given the birth-rate in the UK every incentive going is needed to encourage people. We simply aren't replacing ourselves. This record in stark contrast to the derisory tory rate of increase.

Unemployment a fraction of the tory record, a world away from the under-counted 3 million + it was - twice!, once under Thatcher & once under Major for sustained periods - under the tories. Again for some comfortable or young types this won't mean anything much but for what were the ruined 'black-spots' around the UK it is of massive importance. See what generations unemployed does to a place and say it doesn't matter.

The NHS being rebuilt. I defy anyone to actually go to a few hospitals nowadays and not see the improvements. I have been to 3 hospitals within car driving distance of me and every one has major new wings and my experience and that of my family is that waiting lists are down, noticeably.

School investment. Again I defy anyone with kids to say there has been no improvement in the schools they attend. It is simply not true.

The economy. Nearly eight straight years of growth now. A much reduced public debt saving billions £ per year in interest payments we no longer have to meet.

Not one recession, never mind the record of the tory two worst - deepest and most protracted - post-war recessions.

The Labour record is not a perfect record by any means but I cannot honestly believe anyone camparing Labour's time in office with the previous tory period can - with any justice whatsoever - conclude that the theirs is not the superior record; by miles.

Even a few of those reasons would be good enough, especially considering how crap things were overall under the tories......unless you were in the top third income bracket.

Then there are the reasons for not voting tory.

They attempt to fighten people over asylum claiming they'd do better.....but fail to mention that it was their 'cutting public services' (a policy they, of course, wish to return to, with a vengence) in the first place that led to the reduction in staff that brought much of this 'problem' about.....and they keep quite about the improvements now uinder Labour.

And they only tell part of the story. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the people who come to the UK during their 'emergencies' but a total silence when people go home. Not a peep about the Albanians and Kosovans who subsequently went home, huh? Nasty.

Same with their perrenial favourite 'law and order'. Anyone catch Howard getting flayed on Dimbleby on Sunday for his idiotic (and wrong) comments about the lack of Police in Brixton?

He'd never be one to tell you the crime figures (except for a few areas) have gone down. Especially as they love to use that fear to appeal to us all. Nasty.

The there is Europe and the tory parties' collective insanity over it.

Taxes. The tory party instinct is whenever possible to always cut taxes for the already very wealthy, everyone else gets crumbs if we're lucky.
Similarly with UK corporate taxes, already very low under this Labour gov.

In fact that whole thing with tax is absurd.

Tax is currently waaaaaay below the level they were during most of Thatchers time....yet some idiots claim this Labour gov is a high-taxing 'socialist nightmare'......what the hell does that make Thatcher then, a marxist?

As for the so-called level of sleeze?

I'll take the Labour record of no actual law-breaking compared to those tories actually sent to prison and people resigning without having to be levered out of office as it was under the tories any day of the week.

Fortunately the majority of the UK public won't fall for such stupidity but will (you could bet the house on it) return a Labour gov with a sizeable majority come spring/summer 05.

Michael Vlad 'Mr Poll tax himself' Howard will not be PM here, you can be sure of that.




[edit on 8-11-2004 by sminkeypinkey]

arh my arch nemisis sminkeypinkey



The Tory's couldn't get rid of the minimum wage, it doesn't matter if one or two members oppose the minimum wage the majority support it.



The energy bill has risen at a rate in which the allowance means less and less each year. Your also forgetting that money doesn't equal exactly the same as it did then.



So we want to increase our population...bad idea for a Island of this size.
By incuraging the population we're only going to end up where we are now but worse off.



Labour is dealing with unemployment by increasing those in 'service careers' while those in 'Industry' are disappearing by 102,000 in the last quarter of the year.



MRSA, it causes the deaths of 5,000 people each year, due to pointless targets and privatised cleaning staff. The NHS needs re-structuring not just a mass amount of money pumping into it.



I'm still at (one more year to go) school, yes there is finanicial investment, but what about discipline, top up fee's, over examining etc



What about the £1 trillion in debt the people of Britain are in!!!



Recessions are often due to international or industrial restructuring.



Evidence for the cutting of tax for the very wealthy????



tell that to all the old grannies who don't have enough to pay their council tax. And lets not forget the 66 stealth tax rises.



Poll tax a bad idea then and a bad idea now, but it wouldn't be introduced now.



[edit on 8-11-2004 by UK Wizard]

- Who else, eh?



- They hate it in principle.

I'd lay a stack of £ on it never go up under them (as they'll whine on and on and on about how it would cost jobs). They'll just try to let it wither away and then kill it off......as they did with the old 'wage councils' (you see, you young whippersnappers know nothing , we've been here before and been through it before)



- What? £10 in 1996 was worth so much more then than £300 today? Sorry Wizard but this is so far off of the mark.

This gov's heating allowance is a major help to many of the elderly and so far in excess of anything the tory party ever did it is just no comparison.



- A halt to the impending population decline would be a start never mind increase thing.



- Nonsense. This 'island' has plenty of room......just not down in the SE of England.



- Labour inherited a situation where Thatcher had destroyed 20% of the UK's manufacturing capacity and then 10yrs later Major did much the same.

One can hardly blame Labour for the new reality of the UK's reliance on service sector jobs. Equally the UK public want an effective civil service and public services.

That is the nature of democracy, responding responsibly to the public wants.



- Er, who is responsible for the loss of the in-house (public sector) cleaning staff and the privatisation of those services? I think you'll fid it was your tory mates.



- No. The NHS does not need privatisation by another name. It is incontestable that it is improving and on it's current course that improvment will continue.

Jayzuss one would thought the tories hadn't tried and gotten the thing to the shambles it was in not very long ago!

MRSA (bad as it is) is not sufficient 'reason' to destroy the NHS, it's thanks to this governments' stats we even know what it is and where as your tory pals refused to collate the stats in their time.



- Again. I have never said things are perfect but the quibbles you cite are not sufficient to ignore the enormous improvement or investment going on.



- Hmm, there's a first. So the gov (but only now and only this gov) is responsible for people's private borrowing?! That's a good one.

I suppose by the same token you'll now give the gov credit for the peoples' record level of assets?



- No. That's far from the full story Wizard.....our gov can see them coming and accelerate them and deepen them with their own actions and this is exactly what Thatcher & Major deliberately did. The recessions in the UK in the early 1980's and 1990's were longer and deeper than anyone else had them in the comparable developed world.

Gov's can deliberately engineer them (in Thatchers case) mainly by grossly over-valueing the £ and holding it there against all advice and (in Majors case) mainly by raising interest rates to record highs and keeping them there (12% for over a year and a peak of 15%... central bank rate not customer rates, they were much higher).



- You have got to be kidding me.

Go look at any compendium of the effects of UK gov tax policy over the years. Under the tories taxes were cut with the greatest effect going to the already wealthy and corporations.



- You looking for a perfect world again? You could try asking some of the grannies threatened with prison for not paying their poll tax about local authority charges.

It's a problem area for Labour and tory govs. People want to stay in the same house all their lives, not unnaturally. This tends to mean people growing older in houses not suited to one or two elderly people. If they were prepared to move to somewhere cheaper and more manageable it might be a different story. But they tend not to. It is a problem we have yet to solve.



- Yeah but that only works when you cop every indirect tax rise going. I don't smoke, I don't drink much and I don't drive much.

I actually expect this 'stealth' nonsense and support it.

I fully recognise the sad truth of the childish instincts of many of our tax-payers who refuse to just pay their income taxes at a proper rate necessary for the decent public services they say they want.

Stealth tax has ensured that at least if you don't do some of these things you don't pay them.

.....and you still have the fact that taxes are now lower than they were for almost all (except some of the top third) under Thatcher.....was she a high-taxing 'socialist'?



- Naa, probably won't be but it's nevertheless an excellent guide to their instincts.....

.... and their attitude of how they actually respond when the people, no matter how many, actually say no to their idiot schemes.

Imagine if it had been a Labour gov threatening tens if not hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people with prison terms for refusing to pay something like and so unpopular as the poll tax, we'd never have heard the end of it, 'Stalinist socialists this', 'gulag reds' that and 'commie bootboys' the other.

Funny how it's ok really and just silly harking back when it's the tory crowd though eh?





[edit on 8-11-2004 by sminkeypinkey]