who would you vote for in a general election tomorrow

[jonny72]

The administration & costs with collecting this money must be horendous.

The obvious solution would be a flat rate tax system which is being used with success in quite a few countries, especially eastern European where corruption and tax avoidance has been rife previously. It comes up in the news every so often and I seem to recall some senior Tories being supporters, possibly the same with Lib Dem.

Can't see it being on the agenda in the near future though.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

For anyone who is thinking of voting UKIP at the Euro elections but is also pissed off with Scottish MPs voting on English issues when we don't get a say up there vote for the English Democrats. They hold the same views on Europe as UKIP but also want an English Parliment. I shall be voting for them at the Euros.

[Phil_S]

For anyone who is thinking of voting UKIP at the Euro elections but is also pissed off with Scottish MPs voting on English issues when we don't get a say up there vote for the English Democrats. They hold the same views on Europe as UKIP but also want an English Parliment. I shall be voting for them at the Euros.

Never heard of them ?

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Never heard of them ?

Neither had I until I looked at the voting slip. Google them.

[Phil_S]

That's an extremely one-sided, meaningless way of looking at it and only looking at the costs without even considering the benefits is a waste of time. So, no, that's not "£65,000,0000,000 reasons", (whatever the fuck that means) it's not even one reason.

What are the benefits of the EU then ?? (to the average guy in the street not the politico's). If you think £65 billion is meaningless you must be mad

[Phil_S]

Neither had I until I looked at the voting slip. Google them.

Just did. Agree with the four policies I found on the website... food for thought

[Ben Wah Balls]

What are the benefits of the EU then ?? (to the average guy in the street not the politico's). If you think £65 billion is meaningless you must be mad

Well it's you who should be telling me the benefits and not just the costs if you want to convince me it's not worth being a member. I just think that arguing that it costs a lot so it's bad is simplistic. I'm not interested in how much it costs, I only care whether it provides an overall benefit to the country and the continent and telling me how much it costs doesn't tell me that.

[Nemo]

The key reason is that the trading agreement is almost certainly profitable for the country, whatever the poltical shennanigans.

I appreciate UKIP et al want out of the EU but in for the economic sections, like Switzerland are, but I'm not sure that would be quite as easy to negotiate as they make out. I may be wrong though.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Well it's you who should be telling me the benefits and not just the costs if you want to convince me it's not worth being a member. I just think that arguing that it costs a lot so it's bad is simplistic. I'm not interested in how much it costs, I only care whether it provides an overall benefit to the country and the continent and telling me how much it costs doesn't tell me that.

We can still benefit from free trade by joining the EFTA (European Free Trade Association) and we won't be ruled or governed in any way by Brusells. Europe can do what it likes with a consitution or whatever but i'd much rather be able to vote knowing that my vote will not be outruled by MEPs. The only issues I see from pulling out of the EU are relations with the rest of Europe but over time they can be healed.

[Nemo]

But is it as simple as us just saying "Out of EU, into EFTA"? Surely we need some sort of permission and leaving the EU would probably burn a few bridges.

[Simon Pieman]

Did anyone watch the party political broadcast on the Beeb for the BNP?

They likened immigrants to Hitler's invasion, saying we're going to feel like foreigners in our own country. The war heroes would be turning in their graves over the current 'invasion'. Thank you for speaking on their behalf Mr Griffin.

Griffin went on to say that they did not blame the immigrants, but the greedy MPs who 'opened the floodgates'. The icing on the cake was that they think the 50s and 60s immigrants who came to work are ok. Thank fuck for that.

It was the most laughable, contradictory bollocks I've watched in a while but it's not racist, it's common sense!

[Rich Pullen]

The idea of David Cameron as PM frightens me... but it's going to happen.

[Bogus Dave]

We can still benefit from free trade by joining the EFTA (European Free Trade Association) and we won't be ruled or governed in any way by Brusells. Europe can do what it likes with a consitution or whatever but i'd much rather be able to vote knowing that my vote will not be outruled by MEPs. The only issues I see from pulling out of the EU are relations with the rest of Europe but over time they can be healed.

We were in efta before (may even have set it up if iirc). We ditched it pretty sharpish though when we realised we were in with the no-marks and all the big players where in the EC. Now every man and his dog is in the EU, would efta actually be any good at all?

[Arriba]

i put ukip, but in hindsight would vote labour in a general election.it's a 2 horse race and i hate the tory party.
so to try to keep them out i would vote labour.

[RobertT]

The European debate if often a clouded one, with nationalistic views constantly making the negatives seem like the only outcome and equally people in favour forgetting to argue the real benefits to the man on the street (minimum wage, maximum hours etc all being arranged by virtue of our involvement).

One thing worth doing is reading some of the headline detail of the original Treaty of Rome.  The wording undeniably means that the end goal is a single european government, so by signing-up we were accepting this (rightly or wrongly).  It's born from some very noble desires, namely to avoid future divisions within Europe like those seen for hunderds of years before, while promoting greater social and economic cohesion across the countries.

Europes biggest problem is the same as at all levels of politics it seems, and that's the fact that people rarely act in an altruistic manner - see the current expenses problem with our own government and opposition parties.  Are we any better than Brussels?

Having had a big long look at it all I generally find myself pro the concept, but ultimately dissapointed at what we have got.  Personally I'd do away with party politics and vote locally for a person to best represent my views, accepting that my views may not be those of the majority and the person was intelligent enough to handle the responsibility.  On top of that we vote for one person to represent the country with structures in place to support them - they can get some level of authority, not sure what though.