The Hub's General Election Opinion Poll

[grahamthomson]

You can vote anonymously if you want, or you can discuss your choice and the reasons for it in this thread.

Political affiliation, like religion and skin colour are all matters of deeply personal choice, so please respect each other's opinions and comments.

[Nigel]

You've missed out the independent candidates. Otherwise, an impressive list. I haven't even heard of some of those.

[andrewbcalculating]

What I hate about the parties leading up to an election is that they spend more time slagging off other parties instead of bigging up their own policies. I'm not voting for a party because of how much they hate the opposition, I'm voting for them because I agree with their policies and that is becoming harder to know about these days.

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[Grand Moff Muffin]

Lib Dems - fairer voting system, strongest environmental policies of the big three, anti-Iraq war, pro-Europe, anti-Trident, and surprisingly, also now looking good in relation to the economy (Vince Cable).

If we had proportional representation, I would be interested in looking more closely at the Green Party. But we don't, and the more Lib Dem MPs, the better chances of a hung Parliament and moves on electoral reform.

Martin

[Bogatan]

I'm leaning toward Lib dems, because a conservative vote n this area is generally a waste of time and even if it wasn't the lure of a hung parliament does appeal to me. I haven't voted yet, gonna spend some time looking in to the candidates first.

Andy

[The Doctor]

I've yet to properly look at what the parties are saying though so far I have ruled out the SNP (a silly self-serving bunch), the Conservatives (I remember the Poll Tax) and Labour (don't seem terribly Socialist these days). So, um, yeah.

-Ralph

[Nigel]

I generally prefer to vote based on my opinions of the local candidates. For example, one year I thought the Lib Dems as a party had the best policies but I didn't vote for them because their candidate was from nowhere near my area.

This year, however, my decision will likely be swayed more than usual by the parties and wider issues.

[Deleted]

I'm from a staunch Labour family and I'm a supporter of Old Labour. Unfortunately, that party no longer exists and its replacement is more closer to the Tories in its policies than what Old Labour was. My vote this year will likely go to the Lib Dems for a variety of reasons:

Labour and the Tories are both slagging each other off instead of getting down with political issues while the Lib Dems are standing well back keeping their noses clean.

As Far as I'm aware the Lib Dems haven't made one of those pre-election policies that go along the lines of: 'here's an excellent policy that you're going to love but we won't put it in unless you vote for us first.' A few days ago Labour announced such a policy regarding the minimum wage and it's an excellent policy but I'm sick of them rushing out policies that do nothing for people like me during their term yet a month before the election they announce the policy we've been waiting over three years for only to be told they won't put it in unless you vote for us first.

As I've already said, my vote is going to the Lib Dems this year but unfortunately I can't see them winning because they don't ever seem to be one of the 'Big Two'.

[blueshift]

I've put down Lib Dem. They do a good job where I come from (the South West) though where I currently am, in Birmingham, they haven't a gnat in hell's chance.

Still, I'd rather Labour than Conservative. The Conservatives literally make me vomit (not literally). But that is more 'better the devil you know'

[Andy Turnbull]

As someone who considers himself British and Scottish I will never vote for the SNP. I can never bring myself to vote for the Conservatives who under their last administration treated us as second class citizens and I don't believe for a minute the current shower are any better. So it's a toss up between Labour and the Lib Dems. Normally no contest I'd go Lib Dems but the fear of a Tory government means I'm not entirely ruling out Labour yet.

Andy

[blueshift]

Yeah, the fear of Tories is the only think that might make me vote Labour rather than Lib Dem.

Labour might be bad. But the Tories will definately be bad for me at least; they've already said they'll freeze the pay of all civil servant workers earning over 18k.

While they sit giving themselves pay rise after pay rise

[Nigel]

Apr 7, 2010 23:51:05 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

As someone who considers himself British and Scottish I will never vote for the SNP.

I'm the same with Plaid.

A bit off topic, but it annoys me whenever there's a discussion about independence, that it's always treated in isolation, that a referendum should be held just in that country seeking independence. If Scotland, Wales, Cornwall or whichever country/region should leave the Union then it affects the whole Union. Therefore any referendum should include the whole Union, albeit with some sort of weighting system so that the potentially-independent state would have a proportionally greater say. (eg if most of the Welsh population wanted independence and most of the rest of the UK wanted to maintain the Union, then Wales could never be independent in a straight vote.)

[kayevcee]

I agree with the Conservatives that New Labour couldn't run a piss-up in a brewery- that their heavy investment in public services has been cancelled out by the massive increases in red tape and startling levels of over-management and unchecked nepotism while important, lower-rung staff are underpaid, under-equipped and overworked. Also that a national program of voluntary youth community projects could be of great benefit to the country if it's properly managed.

I agree with Labour that the Conservatives can't run a piss-up in a brewery either. That their opposition to National Insurance increases is bad news for workers everywhere and that support from company CEOs means little as they are the ones who will have to pay more out as a result of the increase. Also that their plan to cut the budget deficit more quickly will cost a lot of people their jobs. Also also that George Osborne inspires as much confidence as a future chancellor as that six foot chicken from Animaniacs wearing a tie and a blue rosette.

I agree with the Liberal Democrats that both ID cards and our nuclear weapons are titanic wastes of money and we would be far better off without either. Also that proportional representation is a better system of determining the content of the House of Commons. Also also that Vince Cable was right and anyone with any sense could have seen the housing crash and resultant global wibble coming years before it actually happened. Labour has made a lot of the right decisions to get us out of recession smoothly but this is countered by the fact that they never took action to reverse the Tory policies that got us into this mess in the first place.

I agree with Andy that when you scratch the yellow paint of the SNP you'll find blue underneath, and possibly a coat of primer because it's very hard to convincingly cover blue with yellow.

I agree with the Green party on pretty much everything, but as Martin says there's not a whole lot of point in trying to support them under the current electoral system.

I agree with the BNP that the mainstream parties have failed to come up with a coherent strategy for dealing with the influx of foreign families to Britain.

I agree with everyone who says that a bunch of deranged fascist white supremacists don't have the answer either.

Looks like it's the Lib Dems for me too.

-Nick

[skillex]

Apr 8, 2010 9:05:04 GMT Nigel said:

Apr 7, 2010 23:51:05 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

As someone who considers himself British and Scottish I will never vote for the SNP.

I'm the same with Plaid.

A bit off topic, but it annoys me whenever there's a discussion about independence, that it's always treated in isolation, that a referendum should be held just in that country seeking independence. If Scotland, Wales, Cornwall or whichever country/region should leave the Union then it affects the whole Union. Therefore any referendum should include the whole Union, albeit with some sort of weighting system so that the potentially-independent state would have a proportionally greater say. (eg if most of the Welsh population wanted independence and most of the rest of the UK wanted to maintain the Union, then Wales could never be independent in a straight vote.)

I do see your point and I'm not for one minute arguing in favour of Scottish (or Welsh) independence as I am pro-Union but if one of the UK's "home nations" wanted independence then really the only viable way to measure this would be through that nation/region holding its own referendum.

To have a pan-Union referendum would arguably be out of step with international secessionist precedent (using Greenland as the stable precedent, Kosovo as the potentially unstable precedent, and the "neverendum" in Quebec), in which the would-be independent state has its say in a referendum but not the wider multi-national state. This would be a relatively straightforward process in any constituent part of the UK, unlike the various would-be breakway states across the former USSR like South Ossettia, Ingushetia or Nagorno-Karabakh, all of which have mixed ethnicities between two larger states. Vernon Bogdanor has written extensively and very well on the asymmetrically federal nature of the UK post-97 so I'd reccomend some of his stuff if you are as constiutionally geeky as I am.

[Deleted]

According to the Daily Mirror (a strict Labour paper that enjoys bashing the Tories whether they have done anything wrong or not and then go on to say that the paper always plays fair) Labour has agreed to freeze income tax for five years - but only if they are re-elected.

Ha, ha, ha, ha , ha!

I've heard that one before. It's old, old story of promising something good just to win the votes and then pretend it was never mentioned as soon as they have got power. Let me remind you that before the last election Labour promised so many good things yet when they got re-elected the only thing they swiftly introduced was the 10p tax band which made people like me £5 a week worse off. Labour is also supposed to be on the same side as the Trade Unions but they haven't even lifted a finger in the recent turmoil with both BA and Network Rail. In fact when the latter ran out a high court injunction to ban their workers from striking Labour just sat on their arses and watched the workers get kicked around the floor like shit by the fatcats at Network Rail.

[Shockprowl]

Is the Monster Raving Looney Party still going?


I'm at a complete loss. There's so much wrong with this country, and I have no idea how's best to combat it. I too have to look into individual party policy details, but I'll prob vote for which ever best supports the NHS, in which I work.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

166 of the local councils in England also go to the polls on 6 May. These local elections don't affect the make-up of Parliament, but do affect your local Council services.

How are Hubbers living in these local authorities planning to vote? For the same party that you vote for in the general election, or for a different party based on the performance of your current Councillors?

Martin

[Deleted]

My local MP David Taylor died on Boxing Day last year and it would be hard for the locals to elect a replacement and give this new guy the same kind of enthusiasm that they did with his predecessor. Taylor was a man who mingled with the public. He could be often seen walking around the local town centre or having a pint of two in the local pubs and talking to the locals all year round - not just to drum up support for the local elections. He was different from the MP's we see on TV, he will be sadly missed and I doubt his replacement will get the same kind of respect he did.

[Bogatan]

My area has been in labour hands for over 40 years. In 2005 Diana Johnson (who I do not remember reading one positive thing about, ship was shippied up from London because this is a safe seat so she must be popular with someone within the labour party and has consistantly backed the national party over promises made to the local population) won with 52% and a 7000+ majority. In comparison to previous years that wasn't a good showing apparently. Lib Dems got about 30%. I'm leaning towards supporting Denis Healy this year as one of the 13% voting con last time my vote can shrink the gap at least this time.

But the one thing that really annoys me is that everything we get in the post, the main headline is "The conservatives cant win here, we're the only alternative to Labour." That might be true and worth pointing out, but its just taken quite a bit of effort to find out what his position is on anything. After literally dozens of newsletters and the like many of which I do read, I couldn't tell you his views on one major issue.

Andy

[primenova]

You've got to feel sorry for Brown - he got control after Blair & Bush had got up stuck up s*** creek & they took the paddles.

But from the main 3 you've got

brown who we get what we see & still looking for a paddle

DC - with all his hairbrushed ads - sure that'll help with the teens who go trying to make themselves thin like the mag fake celeb photos

then the other one you can't remember the name of



----------

One thing that bugs me is with local councils & how people vote. When the Cons lead ours was a labour council who did stuff & said - Gov cuts back from con's. So when Labour got in power all the local go vote in the con's who just do the samething & state you shouldn't have voted labour. so if cons get back in i'm sure that my area will be won by labour. They just go vote the other side in & then wonder why they just use the blame the other party exscuse to get people mad. They both do it - but out of that expensive stuff - the LD only going round cliaming biscuits while wasn't it the con's claiming most of it & [HIGNFY - Ian Hislop sure he said stuff about it] making fuss when told to pay back.

[Bogatan]

I really don't feel sorry for Brown he was there making a lot of the economic decisions from the start and chose to support the various wars Balir went in to.

Andy

[Deleted]

I'm still annoyed at all of the 'we'll introduce this policy if you re-elect us' spin that comes around every time there's a General Election. If the parties involved genuinely wanted to introduce those policies they would have done it months ago and not wait until one month before the election and then not introduce them until they won power. It all stinks of vote grabbing and not genuine support for these policies they are harking around. It's like it every time a General Election is just around the corner and I can't believe that the public have such short memories that they don't remember that the same thing happened at the last election ... and the election before that ... and the election before that one also.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Apr 9, 2010 10:36:13 GMT @zudobug said:

Taylor was a man who mingled with the public. He could be often seen walking around the local town centre or having a pint of two in the local pubs and talking to the locals all year round - not just to drum up support for the local elections. He was different from the MP's we see on TV

Most are.

(I'm not saying most are necessarily as good as your guy, but most are a lot better than the general picture of MPs you get from the media. I suspect that the proportion of MPs who are popular with their constituents is completely at odds with most people's idea of the proportion of decent MPs. So many people who think all MPs are rubbish except for theirs - they can't all be right.)

Martin

[Deleted]

I suppose you've got a point there but there are two or three other local MP's in my area in surrounding villages who I never hear about. It's as if they keep a low profile until the run-up to an election. There's nothing wrong with keeping out of the public gaze but it just doesn't paint a very good social picture of yourself when you want to be elected by the local voters.

[Philip Ayres]

Listen to The Vote NOW Show !

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Apr 16, 2010 11:17:40 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Listen to The Vote NOW Show !

Rather too cynical for my tastes.

I'd suggest giving the party leader debates higher priority in your schedule.

Martin

[Mark_Stevenson]

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Lib Dem voter. Always have been. This time however I'm going to get a little more involved in my local candidate's campaign. This is a very important election, and the idea of a Tory government is an utter anathema to me.

My local MP is Jacqui Smith. It's fairly safe to say she won't be for much longer...

Mx

[Nigel]

Out in the car last night, I passed three farms within about two miles of my house. Each had candidates' signs along their hedgerows. One had Labour, one had Conservative and one had Liberal Democrat. What I found interesting about this is that it seems to suggest that none of the big three has any particular policies that support British farming in this election. Farming used to be a big issue.

[Deleted]

Farmers usually vote for the Tories because that's the party that tends to lean more towards fat-cats and big money makers than any of the other parties. Many a time farmers have been exposed as people wanting to make as much money as possible because they can't get enough of it. The Foot and Mouth outbreak from a few years ago was caused because one farmer didn't want to lose money by destroying diseased cattle so he went about his normal business and sold them on to other farms thus spreading what should have been a minor self contained situation.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

I think that's an over-generalisation, Zudo. Small farmers are totally exploited by supermarket supply chains, and have to work harder and longer hours than you or I ever will to make ends meet.

Martin