General Election 2010

Pretty much this^

apart from the 'ineffectual' gaffe...

Labour = the workforce = the people.... let's cut minimum wage in a weakened economy..?

I think I see your point.

I'll be voting Lib Dem. There's no other real opposition to the incumbent Tory and he is a very old school Tory and really needs to be ousted.

i've seen a conservative government .. it didn't end well
i've seen a labour government .. it didn't end well

it might be time to try a different idea
i am giving the libs my vote this time
even a hung parliament would be a good idea as it might get some lib dem thinking into policies and politics

I want to vote Lib Dem, but my fear is that it will just reduce Labour's majority and put the Conservatives in. Which is what happened in Hammersmith & Fulham in 2005. Now that Hammersmith and Fulham has been split in to two for the upcoming general election, so its hard to gauge how things will go right now.

Lib dem. If I can be bothered. I live abroad and my proxy vote gets counted in Westminster -- which has a 12k+ tory majority, from memory. I have very little left in the UK, so to be perfectly honest, taxes and things won't affect me very much at all. But I still love the place, and want to see it doing well. A hung parliament is my best guess. Hopefully see some democratic reform, even if it is a Parthian / parting shot by those useless wankers.

From a professional (criminal law) point of view, Labour were a total disaster, and vastly more illiberal than people give them credit for. More uses of the Parliament Act in the first few years of Tony than since its conception.

Oh FFS; this thread is laughably premature. At the earliest the election will be the beginning of May. What's the point of this discussion now; no one even knows that the Tory's policies are yet, for example. It's just a fucking stupid thread to have in the last week of February. And people complain that General Election campaigns drag on...

Don't forget to ask the "boss" if it's ok before you make a thread . . .

Oh and I'll be voting Labour.

Oh FFS; this thread is laughably premature. At the earliest the election will be the beginning of May. What's the point of this discussion now; no one even knows that the Tory's policies are yet, for example. It's just a fucking stupid thread to have in the last week of February. And people complain that General Election campaigns drag on...

So we take one survey now, and one survey a week before the election, when the parties have unveiled their plans, pledges and manifestos. Then we really see if people actually vote based on sound policies and reasoning, or whether they make up their minds well in advance based on what the party did 27/25/20/7/4 years ago.

As for me, well, damned if I want a PR man as PM...

I'll probably vote for anyone who categorically promises on record to bring in proportional representation. If more than one candidate says this, then the one most likely to win my local seat will get the vote.

I'm willing to live 5 years of whoever that is doing whatever they want if what I get at the end of it is a democratic process and system I can have some faith in.

If this single issue isn't dealt with by any candidate, I'll probably spoil my paper.

I want more representation than 30 seconds every 5 years and to be lumbered by someone from a party who doesn't represent my views. My local MP has been shown to consistently vote whatever way the whip tells her to, it's very hard to believe she's representing anything other than her self interest.

Spoiling your paper is a waste of time. Politicians and the electoral process really don't concern themselves with spoilt papers except for occasional statistical exercises. Of course it would be nice if there were a None of the Above option on a ballot paper and I would often be tempted to check this option.

If none of the options that you would like are available then it would be better to bolster support for an opposition party or a greater tripartite state. That way the party in power will have a far harder time pushing though actions at the further end of they spectrum and have to focus more on centralised (not centrist) issues, bearing in mind that governance is about more than just representation and some of the core functions of the government need a lot of attention. If you'r going to go to the effort of putting a mark on a piece of paper, at least do so with intelligence, if you're going to waste it, you may as well at least take it home and put it in the recycling bin.

I vote Jedward.

I live in a ward that is a safe Labour seat, and that trailing that are the Tories, no-one else is in with a chance of achieving more than 5% of the vote in the ward. My vote will not go to either Labour or Tories, and unless I'm voting for them the current system means my vote is wasted under the winner-takes-all system.

I don't want to do the "tactically vote blah to prevent blah blah" rubbish, I want to vote for something I believe in, but yet I know that a wasted vote is truly wasted. I feel extremely disillusioned by the whole thing and I realise that as my stance is utterly pointless that I can either opt to not vote, and thereby face the "you didn't partake so you don't get a say" argument, or to register this feeling as best I can and hope that some statistical analysis at least raises the question "why are these people spoiling their papers?". Unfortunately the way things are going not voting actually seems wiser as electoral reform seems to be happening to reverse the decline in participation... so as I've said, I may very well not participate at all, this is just in conflict with what I desperately want to do which is to be heard and included in the political process... hence, spoiling the paper.

The whole thing just makes me miserable. All I want is to live in the belief that voting actually matters. But if you're in a safe seat for someone, and if the only other contender (by a major swing) still isn't your choice... then frankly you might as well just go to work and enjoy the day.

register this feeling as best I can and hope that some statistical analysis at least raises the question "why are these people spoiling their papers?". ...

what I desperately want to do which is to be heard and included in the political process...

Simply not enough people spoil their ballot papers to merit investigation and even if it did, the diversity of responses would mean that no single one would merit action.

If you really want to be heard and included in the political process, then voting is not the way forward. You need to either become a politician, a campaigner, a concillor or a lobbyist. People like Jenny Jones and Richard Thomas in Southwark became councillors for just this reason.

The trouble with democracy is that it has never been about individual voices and opinion, but about volume. If you have an issue that you think is important, there's no point in asking for it from elected officials, ask for it from your peers first. At the end of the day most people want to be led on most subjects and politics is basically all about this.

At the end of the day most people want to be led on most subjects and politics is basically all about this.

Well that's one bit I disagree with right there.

No, I feel quite out of the process. I think I'll just make tea instead.

If voting could change anything, they'd make it illegal.

If voting could change anything, they'd make it illegal.

A typically niave veiw. Voting can change a lot of things. It's how you go about organising a vote that is important.

Well that's one bit I disagree with right there.

Which bit do you disagree about, people wanting to be led or that being what politics is about?

Which bit do you disagree about, people wanting to be led or that being what politics is about?

Both parts.

I also don't think politicians are qualified to lead, so even were I to accept after a lengthy debate that most want to be led and that is what politics is about, I still wouldn't accept that the best people to do it are people who want to do it.

*Politics will not change in this country until proportional representation gets introduced, the sooner this changes the better and perhaps people would start to take an interest in politics again.

I live in a safe labour seat, so will be voting green, as per usual. I'd rather have type 2 diabetes then even conceive voting tory.

YouTube- Blair and Cameron - changes !!

so basically everyone's going to protest vote against labour.

Pub John sayings #1:

It doesn't matter who you vote for the Government always gets in anyway....

I also don't think politicians are qualified to lead

here here!

or should that be, hear hear!

I never can remember.

I live in a ward that is a safe Labour seat, and that trailing that are the Tories, no-one else is in with a chance of achieving more than 5% of the vote in the ward. My vote will not go to either Labour or Tories, and unless I'm voting for them the current system means my vote is wasted under the winner-takes-all system.

I don't want to do the "tactically vote blah to prevent blah blah" rubbish, I want to vote for something I believe in, but yet I know that a wasted vote is truly wasted. I feel extremely disillusioned by the whole thing and I realise that as my stance is utterly pointless that I can either opt to not vote, and thereby face the "you didn't partake so you don't get a say" argument, or to register this feeling as best I can and hope that some statistical analysis at least raises the question "why are these people spoiling their papers?". Unfortunately the way things are going not voting actually seems wiser as electoral reform seems to be happening to reverse the decline in participation... so as I've said, I may very well not participate at all, this is just in conflict with what I desperately want to do which is to be heard and included in the political process... hence, spoiling the paper.

The whole thing just makes me miserable. All I want is to live in the belief that voting actually matters. But if you're in a safe seat for someone, and if the only other contender (by a major swing) still isn't your choice... then frankly you might as well just go to work and enjoy the day.

"I want to vote for something I believe in."

Good luck with that.