This country is doomed

[HappyFace2025]

While the vote in Gorton and Denton may be described as a 'protest' vote the strength of both the Greens and Reform performance is something to worry all of us not just Labour.

The Greens will do well anywhere with a young demographic and/or where they’re best placed to beat Reform. Lessons have been learnt about what tactical voting can achieve.

In what way are individual police officers biased? I’ve known loads and they came from all political sides, generally they just want to do their job, I don’t think you’d last long if every interaction with the public was based on your like/dislike or the political considerations of the individual you’re dealing with.

By being independent observers, that's how.

Amazon adhere's to the law and are audited as legally required. They do pay tax, business rates, employee NI etc. It's easy to roll out the solution "if we just taxed Amazon more then the NHS wouldn't be suffering".

The law needs changing. It's disgusting the amount of mega corporations who register for tax elsewhere then bleed the country dry. THIS is definitely a major reason that the NHS and other public services are struggling and billionaires get richer by the day. Shameful.

Normal British citizens?

Go read some studies about how they treat their staff

You can't just change the law and solve the problem!

If the government could, why wouldn't they have done to already?

Think about it.

#6thFormPolitics.

That’s what they do, it throws no light on what they contribute. What difference do they make?

This isn't like a typical business - costs & revenue of running infrastructure are global. Ireland hosts most of the companies that service the UK so the revenue and tax goes there. When you consent to use Amazon you are using processing services across Europe, not just the UK. It's fulfillment that is local, hence the distribution centres that do pay business rates, which ultimately gets passed on to consumers..i.e you and me.

You can't legislate to force companies to run in the UK. That's why it hasn't been done by any party, including Labour.

Tech and Globalisation has changed taxation and the UK didn't/hasn't caught up .

The government absolutely can change the law to clamp down on tax avoidance. Or is a House of Commons briefing paper too 6th form for you to consider? https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN02956/SN02956.pdf

By doing what they did now and by highlighting breaches at the ballot box.

Everyone who is entitled to vote has the right to vote independently, according to their belief. Coercing has no place in democracy.

Alleged breaches which cannot be proved so we have to take their word for it. When the polling clerks, whose word is equally valid, say it didn’t happen. It’s a bloody good thing they’re volunteers and we’re not wasting money on them.

How do you think the public would respond?
How do you think Amazon would respond?

Yes I do think it's 6th Form politics. They'll be a reason they havent progressed a government paper to law won't there?

There's no such thing as a magic bullet.

There's no proof anyone was co erced. It's quite normal to have conversation with family about who you are going to vote for for

It's completely misogynistic to suggest that women were forced to vote Green by their husbands

Would reform be complaining if they had won

Of course it's normal to have these conversations, they have no place at the ballot box though.

Would reform be complaining if they had won

I think we all know the answer to that.

We all agree tax evasion should be clamped down on but the examples discussed here are different. Tech companies can choose where their legal entities are based and pay tax according to that country. You can't tie down a tech firm to one country simply because of the infrastructure that sits behind it. It isn't the same as bricks and mortar shops or a manufacturing plant.

Europe allows these movements, legal entity in one country offering services to all other European entities but paying tax on that income in one country. When you buy from Amazon your order is likely to be processed outside the UK and only the storage of the goods and delivery is within the UK - which is subject to tax.

Who said they happened at the ballot box

Every polling station should have police presence to ensure elections are conducted legally. The military if necessary if resources don’t allow. Essential democratic processes cannot be reliant on volunteers from the community to enforce the law. There’s no reason to disbelieve the independent observers. It seems nobody was upholding the law in a number of polling stations. Why would that be? Why weren’t people stopped from entering the polling booth in multiple numbers? Regardless of the outcome of the election, it stinks.

Sorry, meant the booth.

Sorry, that was meant to be the booth, not the box.

I have never once voted and have anything happen like that. Never seen people go in two at a time or discussing who to vote for. Would not be allowed

Yes, it is illegal. And all poll staff have training to identify undue influence. If they had seen it, they would have stepped in.