Re: UK Election Poll
 

I wonder how Cameron will deal with the new party leaders, especially Harriet Harman & Nicola Sturgeon? should be interesting year to come.

Now its how do the Conservatives find the £12 billion in cuts- will the NHS be the big one or the welfare budget?

Re: UK Election Poll
 

It's a mighty puzzle isn't it. Similar to when Thatcher kept getting back in. Maybe her legacy just lives on and there are enough of the "me first, sod the others" crowd.

Re: UK Election Poll
 

Well it is official now - an absolute majority! Fair play to those of you who called it, I was expecting a Labour minority Government propped up by SNP.

Re: UK Election Poll
 

now the work begins to choose a new leader of the labour party - who would be your choice from Andy Burnham, Chuka Umunna or Gloria De Piero?

Re: UK Election Poll
 

None of the above:

Alan Johnson

Re: UK Election Poll
 

It's not a puzzle. Milliband was unelectable. Clueless charmless incompetent back stabber. Labour had an excellent opportunity to replace him six months ago, and the party so incoherent, they didn't. Just desserts IMO.

Add to that the prospect of a nightmare SNP Labour coalition, and most sane voters in England took the safe option with the Conservatives.

Re: UK Election Poll
 

This :thumbup:

Re: UK Election Poll
 

I am intrigued by the vote in Scotland. This seems, from my armchair on the wrong side of the ocean, more like a resounding kick in the butt to Labour than anything else. The size of some of the swings - around 30% in some constituencies - seems unfeasibly large to be attributable to the SNP alone, although there's no doubt they ran a superb campaign north of the border.

The worry now, though, is that almost the whole of Scotland is represented by a party that has no say in government in Westminster. The SNP had gambled (and, indeed, campaigned) on being the junior partner in a coalition government: this was sold hard to the electorate as the way to make their voices heard in London. But that has failed - largely as an indirect result of Labour's collapse, it's true, but that doesn't give any comfort to effectively disenfranchised Scots.

Of course, Cameron would be an even bigger fool than we all suppose if he completely ignored the Scottish electorate for the duration of the next parliament. But he only needs to throw a bone or two, keep the Nats quiet, to keep Labour out in Scotland and maintain a high likelihood of remaining in government beyond this term. Strange times indeed.

Re: UK Election Poll
 

The Unions won't put her into the leadership position.

Re: UK Election Poll
 

The SNP thought they had a cunning plan to get Scottish Independence by the back door.

That relied on the English actually wanting a Labour government, which they evidently didn't.

The fact that the Scots are now effectively disenfranchised is 100% the fault of the people swallowed this delusion and voted for the SNP.

Re: UK Election Poll
 

I'm not even sure that would be majority opinion let alone a bigger factor than "more years of taking from the poor to give to the rich" though.

Re: UK Election Poll
 

Labour don't create jobs, except in the public sector which doesn't actually need more staff. It's just false job creation.

They just pay more Benefits.

It doesn't matter that a lot of the jobs created in the last 5 years are part time or zero hours contracts.

They are jobs. More people are employed. That's what the hard working population likes. More workers. Less spongers.

Less people are sponging off the State, something that most of the population hates and have realised is endemic when Labour are in Government.

It probably didn't help Labour's cause that they had a leader who was imposed on them by the Unions (who again most people don't like either) or that the shadow cabinet was almost exclusively populated by upper class millionaires!

Re: UK Election Poll
 

The tax allowance has doubled since the Tories have been in, is that not a huge difference to the lowest paid workers in the country? No one is taking anything from anyone, the rich were getting richer under Labour too, that's just how it is. Funnily enough the one person who had the fairest policies that didn't seem to want to take anything from anyone was Farage but I suppose that makes me fascist for saying that.

Labour started the NHS privatisation so not sure what your question refers to.

Re: UK Election Poll
 

now its down to business.

first on the agenda is a referendum on the EU...

I wonder what Merkel is thinking today?

Could the UK fit this model??

From the UK Gov website

The European Economic Area (EEA)

"The EEA includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It allows them to be part of the EU’s single market.

Switzerland is neither an EU or EEA member but is part of the single market - this means Swiss nationals have the same rights to live and work in the UK as other EEA nationals."

To also include that the UK becomes part of the 'Schengen Area'

Re: UK Election Poll
 

Not if job losses, reduced hours, other things and cuts wipe it out, no.
You really only have to see the massive use of food banks that just didn't even exist a few years ago as evidence that the gap between rich and poor has grown.

Privatising for its own sake began under Thatcher. It was inevitable that dogmatic approach would continue.