who would i vote for

[pauld]

yes he will drop royal mail straight away.

On Oxfordshire

[Talk Talk]

The whole Pro/Anti Euro argument is pretty laughable.

How does being in, or out, of Europe personally affect most people?

Answer - Not A Fucking Bit.

Only that being in means our government is impotent/window dressing and we are ruled by unelected cunts in Brussels.

Answer - A Fucking Lot.

[Simon Pieman]

Tories 32%
Lib Dems 22%
Labour 24%
Green 22%

[jonny72]

Only that being in means our government is impotent/window dressing and we are ruled by unelected cunts in Brussels.

Some would argue that until a couple of weeks ago we had an unelected cunt ruling from Westminster.

I have a far bigger problem with MP's in Scotland being able to vote on laws that only affect England, on at least one occasion previously such laws have been passed only with the support of Scottish MP's. That is fucked up.

[Doore]

Some would argue that until a couple of weeks ago we had an unelected cunt ruling from Westminster.

Common mistake that always annoys me.  As a voter you vote in your local constituency to elect your local MP.  The party who gains a majority forms a government.  That party elects a leader who becomes PM.  Unless you lived in Sedgefield, you didn't elect Tony Blair either. 

[Crozzer]

Based on how the government runs the economy and controls spending my result was:

Con: 34%

Lib Dem: 42%

Green: 39%

Lab: 22%

[jonny72]

Common mistake that always annoys me.  As a voter you vote in your local constituency to elect your local MP.  The party who gains a majority forms a government.  That party elects a leader who becomes PM.  Unless you lived in Sedgefield, you didn't elect Tony Blair either. 

I didn't say I thought it, just that some people did.

Technically it's not the party who gains a majority that forms a government - it's the person the reigning monarch selects to ask to form a government. Whilst it is normally the leader of the party with a majority of seats or the most seats it doesn't have to be, as may happen in a few weeks time. Though none of that can happen until the current PM resigns, hence why Thatcher was only asked to form a government once.

Though we are moving more and more towards a presidential style election, you've only got to look at the debates to see how much we moved towards electing the PM rather than an MP. Which I find a worry, no one seems to give a fuck about their candidate and whether they're the best person to represent them or not. It's the one thing stopping me from voting Lib Dem at the moment - I really don't like the look of the candidate in Swindon South, prefer someone who is local.

[Doore]

I didn't say I thought it, just that some people did.

Technically it's not the party who gains a majority that forms a government - it's the person the reigning monarch selects to ask to form a government. Whilst it is normally the party with a majority of seats or the most seats it doesn't have to be, as may happen in a few weeks time. Though none of that can happen until the current PM resigns, hence why Thatcher was only asked to form a government once.

Though we are moving more and more towards a presidential style election, you've only got to look at the debates to see how much we moved towards electing the PM rather than an MP. Which I find a worry, no one seems to give a fuck about their candidate and whether they're the best person to represent them or not. It's the one thing stopping me from voting Lib Dem at the moment - I really don't like the look of the candidate in Swindon South, prefer someone who is local.

Fair enough.  The move towards presidential syle politics is pretty much unstoppable now - it just seems to me (and I might be wrong, I've been wrong before) that most people ignore the local element of the system.

[herthab]

Only that being in means our government is impotent/window dressing and we are ruled by unelected cunts in Brussels.

Answer - A Fucking Lot.

As someone who feels that 'our' government doesn't represent the views, or wishes, of the majority of people in this country and instead lies to get elected and then backtracks on everything they said they would do before they got into power, I still feel that for most of us whether Britain is in, or out, of Europe makes fuck all difference.

[Ralphy]

Common mistake that always annoys me.  As a voter you vote in your local constituency to elect your local MP.  The party who gains a majority forms a government.  That party elects a leader who becomes PM.  Unless you lived in Sedgefield, you didn't elect Tony Blair either. 

So you're saying after the winning party is announced, we vote on who should be PM?

[leefer]

Watched the English Democrats broadcast last night...on St Georges Day.
Now they have some crazy/stupid ideas but i did find myself agreeing that the 32 billion pounds we in England spend just so the Scots get free prescriptions could be used in a fairer more democratic way....like maybe it being free for the English as well.
Absolute joke that the Scots and Welsh get free prescriptions and the English dont.
Maybe a small issue in the bigger picture but it isnt if you are a working man/woman and have to pay the £7 odd everytime you need medication.

[pauld]

That would be a very good point, leefer, if it were actually true. But it's not. What actually happens is the UK government provides money to the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales (and Northern Ireland in the periods when Stormont hasn't collapsed) for them to spend as they see fit. In exactly the same way as central government dishes out money to local councils etc. It so happens that the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales have voted to spend some of that money on abolishing prescription charges, whereas the national government has not. In much the same way that some councils provide services that others don't. If you want free prescriptions, vote for a party that will abolish charges (or join a campaign to pressure the next government to do so), you don't need to completely dismember the constitution to do it.

[jonny72]

Absolute joke that the Scots and Welsh get free prescriptions and the English dont.

That's not the biggest joke, that is reserved for university tuition fees in Scotland.

If you're a resident of Scotland or another EU country outside of the UK then there are no tuition fees. The only people that do pay in Scotland are residents of other UK countries (ie England, Northern Ireland, Wales). How fucked up is that?

[normy]

Well pauld I have read that the UK government pays over a higher proportion of income to Scotland compared with England's share, which enables them partly to fund free tuition, free prescriptions, free nursing care.
Perhaps you know if this is true, or is it Daily Mail propaganda?
I was opposed anyway to the devolved assemblies, we should have stayed with the same rules for all the UK, so who do I vote for then? soapy tit wank

[chalkies_shorts]

I'd happily vote for any party that gave total independence to Wales, Scotland and gave N Ireland back to Ireland. If they could chip Liverpool off the rest of England and drag it next to the Isle of Man to use as a prison, even better. All the locals would obviuosly have to stay put whilst it was towed into the Irish sea.