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Election 2015


Gardian
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I think that the most insidious thing about politics in Britain at the moment is the dominance of the professional politician. Cameron, Osborne , Milliband, Balls and Clegg have all emerged from roles as "special advisors" (Cameron did leave politics to work as head spin doctor for Carlton for a few years). They are all a similar age. Apart from their party labels they come from the same identikit box.

Cameron's sole qualification for being leader of the Conservative Party is that his name is not Clarke.

Following the Scottish referendum, Cameron could have called a constitutional convention. The British constitution is over 200 years old, is not codified and is clearly in need of overhaul. The referendum managed to stimulate all kind of discussion about  constitutional affairs in Scotland, England, the English regions, Wales, Westminster and the Union. Cameron has, in effect, ignored all of these and has concentrated on party management. Heaven knows what his political legacy will be. I suppose he is most concerned about the Tory rump who despise him.

So.

We are coming up to a general election. At present it looks as though it may result in a minority government - and this from a "first past the post" electoral system. (The British electorate did have the opportunity to have a proportional representational system four years ago. They gave scarcely more attention than they did police commissioners!)  It is possible that the significant minor party will be the SNP. If I have any hope it is that UKIP is humiliated.

Yours, depressed.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Why should we have to use a proxy? What's the point of letting you register if you can't vote? I have a letter dated 2 April saying I will be registered for one year from May 1st. They will send a further application form three months before the year is up!
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Mine was received almost 2 weeks ago and returned the same day ... likewise a friend locally ... so don;t know why yours should take so long ... maybe something to do with the originating council, who might have been late sending out the forms.

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Well, here we go.

A lack lustre campaign by both the Conseratives & Labour.

Lib Dems - probable electoral oblivion (as in a dozen or so seats vs their current 30-ish & they'll see that as a victory).

UKIP - just can't figure out the effect that they'll have and I'm not sure that they know either nor what to do with it.

SNP - potentially a very big impact.

Forget the others.

The two most worrying things for me were the people interviewed who didn't know who the PM is + one woman (in Kent) who wanted to vote SNP !!!

I just have a sneaking feeling that Cameron will be able to form a Government .............. but as Mrs G points out daily, I have been known to be wrong on the odd occasion.
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Deeply depressing state of affairs Gardian.

Three identikit blokes, born within three years of each other, none of whom have ever had what I would call a proper job, claim to know how to run my country.

And yet not one of them has dared to get out and actually meet some ordinary voters. I know that security is a bigger consideration these days, but everything has been so stage managed that it's often seemed farcical to me.

Too late for me to moan though; I've already voted.

Hoddy
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[quote user="Mrs Trellis"]Why should we have to use a proxy? What's the point of letting you register if you can't vote? I have a letter dated 2 April saying I will be registered for one year from May 1st. They will send a further application form three months before the year is up![/quote]

Why should you use a proxy? Well that is entirely up to you, but our postal service in France was lousy. It would take 10 days regularly from the local city in the next dept along to our house, all of 18odd kms, a snail could have delivered our post faster. And that was not crossing proper borders. Apparently it is even worse at the moment.

So you decide. Am I going to trust the capricious postale system or get someone to vote for me?

As for all those years we wanted to make sure that our vote counted, we always used a proxy vote.

We all have to confirm that  we are to be registered to vote every year, not just those abroad and by individual now, not by household.

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Wow, they were busy!

We've just got back from the polling station with our postal votes; there was a steady stream there. We live in John Redwood's constituency, one of those areas my FIL always said just needed a pair of scales to weigh the votes. He was from Sheffield and always said they could put a donkey up with a red rosette and it would win.

Interesting that we had some of the smaller parties standing for the first time such as the Greens, UKIP and Labour for the first time I can remember.

In the past we used to have a candidate for the e Monster Raving Loony Party; he was our next door neighbour at the time and went around doffing his top hat around election time, as he was called Top Cat.
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Well, Clegg, Farage and Miliband have all fallen on their swords, although Farage gave the impression that this was only a temporary state and that in the immortal words of Arnie's Terminator character "I'll be back".

Clegg was always on the back foot because he essentially lost the LibDem vote about 2 weeks after joining the coalition, when it became apparent that he had shredded his party's manifesto and binned it.

With regards to Scotland, I reckoned that nearly all of those who voted Yes in the referendum will have voted for the SNP, whereas the No vote would have been split, so without tactical voting the SNP was always going to have a landslide. There doesn't seem to have been much evidence of tactical voting and so the landslide happened.

There are now 50 or so SNP MPs who will be spending the next few years in Westminster in opposition with no power and no influence.

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Why should SNP have power and influence - I voted in the UK (United Kingdom) election not the Scottish election.

Such a shame it was not a 'YES' vote. They could now be having fun working out how to cope with low oil prices.
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So did the voters in Scotland. Are you really saying that voters in Scotland are worth less than voters in other parts of the UK. Surely all MPs should have some influence or what is the point of electing and paying them regardless of where they represent.
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Just my view of course but.....

I get the impression that the vast majority of Scottish voters wanted to vote for separation at the referendum but in the end a large number chickened out of actually taking the plunge and standing on their own.

Now, at this General Election, they can vote with their hearts and go the SNP route with no danger of having to expose themselves to the possible dangers of independence and going it alone.

From an English perspective I wish they'd just clear off if they really don't want to be linked to us.

I should add... I'd prefer that they actually wanted to continue being part of the UK but this constant moaning is beyond a joke. Put up or shut up.

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No Rabbie those voting SNP were only interested in Scotland, not the UK.

Earlier in the run up the SNP were crowing that they would turn Millibean in to a puppet and the money paid in Mansion Tax where the majority would be raised in London would go to Scotland.

All Sturgeon went on about was Millibean giving all the goodies to Scotland, no mention of the rest of the Union.
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Pault, I am sure you are right about some of the SNP, but even at this election only half of those voting supported them so don't condemn all Scots. I have friends from Southern England who have moved to Scotland and really enjoy living there (apart from the weather). They say it is like living in England 30 years ago.

I still believe that we are better together.
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On french news tonight, this was said. That IF the britanniques vote to pull out of the EU after a referendum, then they supposed that Scotland would want a further referendum to see if they still wanted to be part of the United Kingdom and if not, would become independent and remain in the EU.

What a statement!

Now, as this election has disappointed and suprised me (apart from one MP who lost, and that has delighted me), I would doubt that if we all get to vote in a referendum my compatriots would go for exiting the EU.  Still, I'm not a gambling person, and am often wrong, and I could well  be about this.

Interesting and strange times ahead.

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[quote user="Rabbie"]So did the voters in Scotland. Are you really saying that voters in Scotland are worth less than voters in other parts of the UK.[/quote]

Nope, but opposition party MPs per se have less influence on what policies are enacted than MPs who are in government. Those voters that ended up represented by opposition party MPs, wherever in the UK thay are, are being represented by MPs who have less influence.

[quote user="Rabbie"]Surely all MPs should have some influence or what is the point of electing and paying them regardless of where they represent.[/quote]

I gained the impression from the outpourings of various SNP politicians and supporters that they were bargaining on getting what I would consider to be an undue and excessive influence as part of a coalition. Compared with that situation, the SNP at Westminster is now just another opposition party with little influence. Much like Labour.

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[quote user="Pickles"][quote user="Rabbie"]So did the voters in Scotland. Are you really saying that voters in Scotland are worth less than voters in other parts of the UK.[/quote]
Nope, but opposition party MPs per se have less influence on what policies are enacted than MPs who are in government. Those voters that ended up represented by opposition party MPs, wherever in the UK thay are, are being represented by MPs who have less influence.
[quote user="Rabbie"]Surely all MPs should have some influence or what is the point of electing and paying them regardless of where they represent.[/quote]
I gained the impression from the outpourings of various SNP politicians and supporters that they were bargaining on getting what I would consider to be an undue and excessive influence as part of a coalition. Compared with that situation, the SNP at Westminster is now just another opposition party with little influence. Much like Labour.
[/quote]It rather makes a nonsense of  democracy that the representatives of approx 36% of the voters should have more influence than the representatives of the remaining 64%. It is also a nonsense that UKIP with 12% only have one MP while the SNP get 56 MPs with only 5% of the votes.  And no I am not a UKIP or SNP supporter but it does highlight the need for a fairer electoral system but of course the larger parties are always going to block meaningful reform.
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IDUN Wrote:

On french news tonight, this was said. That IF the britanniques vote to pull out of the EU after a referendum, then they supposed that Scotland would want a further referendum to see if they still wanted to be part of the United Kingdom and if not, would become independent and remain in the EU.

What a statement

................

Unquote

Idun,

I am surprised by your surprise. The SNP has always been pro the EU, and IF les britanniques were to vote as a whole to withdraw, I think that might well create the catalyst for a demand for a new referendum in Scotland.

Based on current support for the SNP I could well imagine that a repeat referendum could have a very different result in those circumstances.

What will be interesting over the next few years is to see how the Scots react to having a single party state.
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