UK General Election 2010

[Thomas.]

The next general election is less than 6 months away. Who do you support?

[Bear]

I'm going for the Conservatives as we pretty much only have two choice of who will get in. So I would much rather Conservatives got in, so Labour will be booted out.

[Chris]

Probably the Tories, but to be honest it's only because it will be a change. I'm not actively taking an interest at the moment, perhaps I will nearer the time. Either way it seems like it's, as usual, between Labour and the Conservatives again - voting for anyone else won't do much good, yes it will help them, but you know it won't give you your Prime Minister.

In the area where I live Labour aren't actually that popular and in the past it's always been roughly a 50/50 split between the Tories and Lib Dems, so I'll probably end up voting for one of them.

I may vote for one of the really small parties though if I consider everyone else's policies to be shit.

All I can say is fuck the BNP, and also UKIP to some degree, that latter opinion of mine get me some criticism here but oh well. Anyone here actually considering voting for UKIP just out of interest? Seems like they're gaining some ground, I know people who will be voting for them.

[Bear]

I know many people voting for both of those parties. Lord knows why as I think they are both awful. People really annoy me when they say they don't vote as there is no point Espically when people lost their lives for democracy and for people to have a say.

[Thomas.]

I won't be able to vote, a lot of people say that they'd prefer the Tories or the Lib Dems to having the Labour Party in power. If I could vote, it would be for either the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives. The UKIP and BNP will never get my vote.

[Chris]

Yeah that seems to be such a popular opinion now that I will be very surprised if Labour manage to stay in.

Is there seriously no one here who supports UKIP? While I don't personally agree with their policies, they're a lot more understandable than the BNP's, so I can see why people feel they should vote for them. It would be nice if we could have a good debate here, at the moment we're all agreeing on the same thing.

[Bear]

We need someone to storm in saying they love the BNP. That would cause a good deabte.

[Thomas.]

Yeah, but even in the other topics about Politics and the BNP, there wasn't a lot, if any who supported them.

My area has been dominated by Labour for the past 10 years and I doubt that is going to change because they had 50% of the vote in 2005 (according to Wikipedia). Next was SNP at 20% and the Lib Dems with 16%. Nobody likes the Tories where I live, but I think Labour has a firm grip on my town, unfortunately.

Anyone heard of Eric Joyce? He claimed over £180,000 in 2008 from tax payer money and £174,000 in 2006. He's Falkirk's MP.

[Scott.]

The Tories. I like the stuff Cameron is saying about "fixing our broken society". He is indeed very true about this. I think we need to get rid of this new benefit culture under the Labour Government. Why should a hard working tax payer have to pay for lazy people to slouch around on their arse all day? Fair enough, people cannot get jobs because of the current economic climate, but I know people who have been on benefits for years, and haven't even tried looking for a job. What do you all think about the National Citizen Service that Cameron is planning? Where school leavers do community work like helping elderly people. He stated today it will initially be voluntary, but could become compulsory if the Tories get into power. I think David Cameron is spot on with his broken society theory, and his desire to help young people out of the gang culture. It's just a matter of can he walk the walk as well as talk the talk?

Obviously, the dimwits who stay on benefits all their lives will vote for Labour, as Cameron plans on reducing benefits. So if they are intelligent enough to vote, Labour could just squeeze it, which will be a miracle, but not impossible.

The BNP will never get into power in the slightest. Ever, as long as there is a hole in my arse. If the BNP get into power, I will personally walk down to Parliament and start a riot. UKIP, I see as a milder version of the BNP. Do we want the European Laws to over rule our own? Do we still want to pay billions into the EU every year?

Although I am not old enough to vote, I will still be keeping a keen eye on the Election campaigns as it is a personal interest. It sure will be interesting too see if anything changes if there were to be a new Government, and we can finally get out of the recession.

If I could vote, I would be voting Conservative.

[Gerard]

Horrible photo of me and David Cameron:

[Scott.]

The size of Cameron's forehead amazes me.

[The Bossman]

I don't like many of them at all, they're all the same to me. The only one I'd be interested in is UKIP, Labour keep fucking up and the Conservatives will probably do the same. I don't agree with their stance on games either. Anyone but Labour basically.

[Mpilk901]

Without a proportional representation voting system it makes it so that pretty much only Labour and Tories get in which is why I'm supporting the Tories. If the Lib Dems had any chance of getting voted in then I would support them but a vote for the Lib Dems is pretty much a vote for Labour and I'm pretty sick of Labour to be honest. I also disagree with most of the Conservatives policies but I'd rather have them in government than Labour.

Basically UK politics is fucked with first-past-the-post.

[Gerard]

"First past the post" isn't necessarily the problem - that just means the candidate with the most votes wins the whole seat. Almost any election has that.

People think that means the first party to get 326 seats wins, but that's not the case. If a party gets more MPs than all the other parties put together, then they can control the government even if the other parties all disagree. There's no way to avoid that, except having an elected upper-house.

The problem is tactical voting. Even if you support the Green Party, you know they won't win so your vote would be wasted. To have a say in how the government runs, you need to abandon your chosen candidate and vote strategically for someone who can win. Of course if everyone switched to the Green Party then it would be fine, but that isn't going to happen unless people believe they can win.

The Lib Dems are playing a great bit of politics by making people THINK they can win, so people will stop tactically voting for Tory/Labour and actually vote Lib Dem, which GIVES them the chance to win.

The way to solve that would be an Alternative Vote system, where you rank candidates in order of preference. They count the first-preference votes, and eliminate the candidate with the fewest. So if you put Greens first, then Conservatives, then if the Greens get kicked out your vote changes to a Conservative vote. This lets you vote for who you want to win AND tactically vote for the actual winner. I run this system in our SU elections and it's great when you have several candidates.

There are two other problems though. People don't vote for who they want to represent them, they vote for the party they want to win (and for the leader of that party to be PM). The only way to solve that would be to either get rid of parties (and let MPs have an open vote on who is PM), or let the people of the country vote for President (instead of a Monarchy). Neither of those is going to happen any time soon.

There is also a bit of confusion between councils and Westminster. You elect an MP to represent your views about the whole country's policy to parliament, not to get your local Council to fix your town's roads. This needs to be clearer.

[Red_91]

I'll probably be voting Lib Dem purely tactical though, as conservatives dont have a chance of winning where I live,

@Gerrard

I like you alternative voting method but how many parties are there? You couldn't possible name them all but I sitll like it.

Anyway good picture with David Cameron, you get about a bit.

[Bulletproofboy]

I won't be able to vote too Thomas, but if i could it'd be Labour.

My family are gonna vote labour this year..

Also, F the BNP.

[MrLlamaLlama]

Yeah, screw labour. Let this country just go to shit really. They're on a about a fresh start... there shouldn't be need to have a fresh bloody start if they hadn't been busy giving drug addicts benefits, and spending my money on moat cleaning. Yes, the people involved are being persecuted, but I'm still paying for that.

Anywhoo, i just don't think the Libs will get the seats to ever make anything get into action. Might just have to go conservative in case we go to a hung parliament and labour get back in.

[Bear]

I will most likely vote Lib Dems because looking at the Polls they have a decent chance of getting in also some of their policies I do agree with. Cameron reminds me of Obama, all style no substance and I'm sick to death of Labour. But deciding who to vote for is like deciding if I want to be hanged, put in the electric chair or lethal injection, all different methods but the same outcome.

[Chris]

I'm definitely voting for Lib Dems. I agree with pretty much all their policies, they're doing great in the polls, and they are almost certain to win where I live, so I'm happy with that

[Gerard]

I like you alternative voting method but how many parties are there? You couldn't possible name them all but I sitll like it.

Anyway good picture with David Cameron, you get about a bit.

In an AV vote, you just put a number 1 next to your first preference, a 2 next to your second, etc etc until you don't want to vote for anyone else.

I won't be able to vote too Thomas, but if i could it'd be Labour. My family are gonna vote labour this year..

Any reason for that? Or is it just "we've always voted labour" or "we'd NEVER vote tory"?

Cameron reminds me of Obama, all style no substance.

Actually, I'd say the opposite. He seems smarmy and useless, but having spoken to him I know he has a lot of substance and he knows his policies really well, and I agree with most. You can see the question I asked him on TV if you like. In contrast, Obama got in because of his charisma and "change" slogan - most people wouldn't know his policies (except healthcare).

It's like the Green party who go around saying they'd be friendly to the environment and be awesome, but nobody is going to want to pay for that. Shall we ditch the NHS or double uni fees or not bother having an army anymore? Yes there is a lot of waste in government, and I only trust the Conservatives to be able to find and eradicate that (without breaking everything). Labour have flat-out failed, and the Lib Dems are not experienced enough. Maybe next time the Libs would be better (especially if they get a couple of cabinet seats in a hung parliament).

I'm sick to death of Labour. But deciding who to vote for is like deciding if I want to be hanged, put in the electric chair or lethal injection, all different methods but the same outcome.

If voting is so useless, we could always adopt an African democracy system, where the vote is rigged and anyone who votes against the President gets shot? That takes the effort out of it. Alternatively just not bother with costly elections? Point being we have a choice, we should use it. Whether that means picking the winner, or voting Lib Dem just to prove you can. If Lib Dems narrowly lose this time, then they're gonna have a really good chance next time.

[Bear]

Voting is never useless but Politics is so stupidly corrupt that its hard to vote for someone you truly believe in. People should always vote, as far as I'm concerned if you choose not to vote then you have no right to complain. Also its an insult to all the soldiers that have died over the last hundred years for the name of democracy and having a choice. Espically women as the Suffragetes risked everything just so women could have that priveledge that so many countries and people don't have.

I object to £7000 university fees, espically when Scotland gets them for free and Wales only pays half that if they attend a Welsh university.

[Chris]

Worrying amount of Tories on this forum :|

So I hope you lot all voted today, who did you end up voting for?

Lib Dems here

[Thomas.]

Hung Parliament lol.

I can't vote. I would've voted for the lib dems but it wouldn't have made a difference to be honest.

[Bulletproofboy]

haha, hung parliament.

[The Bossman]

I was brought up in a Convervative voting family so that's what I did. Anyone but Labour basically. The Lib Dems are always the guys in last place IMO and wouldn't make much change if elected, but could work well in tandem with another party as previously mentioned.