Tonight's debate 7.30pm BBC 1

[BastardisMendacem]

Anyone fancy a discussion thread?

Apologies.!
Ive misunderstood your posts

Thought those who watched last night might find this interesting...

It's interesting because that graph I would wholeheartedly agree with as a fair representation. You can see how Farage is like marmite, but if you ignore the very good/ very bad which tend to be partisan, the results look the way I think the debate went.

People always focus on the economic impact of immigration. But what about space and quality of life? This is a small, densely populated island. To allow net immigration of 750,000 people in one year (probably closer to a million when you add in illegal immigrants) is f-ing insane and completely irresponsible. Where the hell are they all going to live? God, you can hardly move as it is.

I’m in rural Essex. In the last ten years, my local woods have been hacked into to build two massive new housing estates. A third huge housing estate has also been built at the other end of the village. The traffic is now so bad I hardly go out. I’ve given up yoga, for example, because I just can’t face the queues after work. And now we’ve heard that another 800 homes are going to be built on a busy road about two miles from here. That road is choked up with traffic NOW, so what’s it going to be like when those 800 homes are all built and occupied? And it’s never enough. No matter how many of these horrible rabbit hutches they jam on top of one another, we always need more, more, more.

No matter what drivel they come out with in front of the cameras, we all know that Labour will be softer on immigration than the Tories. If they get in with a huge majority, god help us.

Are you sure about that?

There was only one QT held in Boston in 2015 or 2016, and it was in September 2016 - after the referendum had already taken place.

Truth is important.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Question_Time_episodes#2016

(ETA: a quick search shows that QT has only ever been held in Boston twice - November 2013, and September 2016. So you really are talking out of your arse, whatever definition of "Brexit-times" you may be using here. I'm not a Brexiteer btw - just someone who thinks fact-checking matters.)

Absolutely this.

She’s not someone I want to represent me (slim pickings all round I know).

The debate fact checked. The immigration figures are interesting. I had always assumed figures under Blair when we admitted Eastern Europeans before the rest of the EU would be higher than now.
Of course, the figure is net migration and now we aren't in the EU freedom of movement for Brits into the EU is curtailed so there are very few emigrating. Most of the current migration is non-EU as we need to replace our previous workers from elsewhere like India, which has migration as part of its trade deals.

The BBC election TV debate claims fact-checked

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a597eea2-7d92-4194-960a-06ec508fdd7f?shareToken=07de3d03515eb03845072aa676ae585a

Yes indeed. And goodbye to the green belt.

Amazed that anyone rated Carla Denyer - I thought she was appalling.

we all know that Labour will be softer on immigration than the Tories.

And yet net migration has risen under the Tories, particularly in the last couple of years. Odd that, isn’t it?

But will doubtless get worse under Labour, no?

Visa changes already in place will likely keep lowering net migration but irregular migration will keep going up due to ‘smash the gangs’ approach

The latter will become more problematic if it rises too much, I guess we’ll see

I don’t know. I haven’t got a crystal ball. At least with a Labour government asylum claims will be processed instead of stockpiling asylum seekers and maintaining them at taxpayers’ expense. Process the claims quickly and get the successful ones into work seems a better approach to me.

Don't forget to look at the other fact checks. The NHS stats for example......plus Defence spending, the economy and tax. All interesting areas to compare pre 2010 with this government

That road is choked up with traffic NOW, so what’s it going to be like when those 800 homes are all built and occupied?

Same for us (outer NW London). The proposed 3,000 houses on land that's both green belt and an area of outstanding natural beauty has gone to appeal after being refused.

We live by the M25 and my (single track) road regularly gridlocks for two hours plus when there's issues on the M25 or roadworks on the main road. If I have a hospital appointment or need to pick my kids up, I literally can't leave my drive.

Our town fails to meet EU standards for air quality due to the level of congestion. I won't even get onto the GP surgeries and schools.

Perhaps people live in areas where an increased population from immigration would be a positive but our local area can't cope with the numbers it has. It's only going to get worse when they allow building on the few pockets of green belt land that break up the urban sprawl. So, in short, that's why I don't want uncontrolled immigration as I think our local services are already at breaking point.

Maybe the tories who have been in charge for 14 years should and could have thought of fixing this during their tenure.

But hey, blame the opposition.

Why does anyone have to love or hate immigration? It's like loving or hating a pick axe, all it is is a tool that can be used in a good or bad way.

If 7 million immigrants had come into the Country, and as part of a decent strategy built incredible hospitals, housing, and infrastructure nobody would be complaining about immigration.

If immigration gets reduced and it makes not a jot of difference to the state of the country then what's the point really.

The numbers are a red herring unless there's a rationale behind it which affects the Country in a postive way. Nobody has put such a rationale forwards.

Maybe the tories who have been in charge for 14 years should and could have thought of fixing this during their tenure.

Absolutely and I'm a Conservative voter. They have been dire on limiting numbers.

Thanks for proving me wrong about Boston, but also linking to the stat showing how disproportionately often Farage has been on QT.