Everyones thoughts on the impending General Election

[Tigger]

With the Election date now set for 7th June, what are peoples comments so far on all the parties and their recent Manifesto Pledges.

Also what about the guy who hit John Prescott and then John Prescott hit him?, made the news a bit more exciting than normal.

I know I shouldn't Tigger, but I found the Prescott incident hysterically funny. The film footage of the whole thing is amazing. Quite nice to see a politician acting entirely on his instincts!!

You know, the press and many people will jump on the band wagon because of this, but, if it had been me I would have done the same thing. We have a difficult situation in Scotland, as we have to vote for the Scottish Parliament and the British Parliament as well, our present local MSP is for the SNP and I will say that he has been a big boost to our area, as it is a rural area, he has not only helped the farming community in the present crisis, but has helped a lot of other businesses, either tourism or other businesses. Fuel Prices to be slashed, to do that what will the Tories add tax onto to compensate for that, Labour has announced that MAFF is to be done away with, and a Rural Affairs Department put in its place, a very good idea as we have SERAD (Scottish Executive rural Affairs) here and they have handled the whole issue of rural businesses and tourism very well, Health Service and Education again, why haven't they sorted those things out in the past 4 years, why do they need another term to sort it out, and I find Charles Kennedy a bit odd, and he doesn't even think that they'll win an election. I don't know what the outcome of the election will be, I just hope whoever it is that we don't join the Euro, I don't want to lose our Island Status or our sovreignty.

anybody hear ann widdecombe doing her george washington to the police and saying "i won't make any promises about how much more money we'll give you" - well they can't give them any more if they're cutting taxes, can they???? how stupid do they think we are, excuse me????

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where was this, robin??? (the tomatoes!)

what we have to do, to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the available choices, is turn up to vote but mark all the boxes, or write "none of the above" across the paper, or something; that way the paper is counted - "spoiled ballot" - so they can't blame apathy but nobody gets the vote.

although anyone in a key marginal can send a more effective message. i'm in a very safe tory seat - 39th lib dem hope, which is pretty faint - so not much point in doing anything except spoiling my paper!!! (though imagine if the libdem lost by one!)

incidentally in my own local experience both education and health services really are better than they were 5-10 years ago.

except for the fact that the poor teachers are run ragged doing admin and reading memos, i hasten to add. i mean that the kids' measurable performance has improved but school isn't half so much fun as it used to be because the staff just don't have the time.

all the juniors used to swim every week when my older kids were in junior school - now just year 5 swim. there used to be orchestra, miscellaneous music lessons, art club, chess club, that kind of thing...no more. which is more important, do you all think?

I agree with Croppy - wish politicians would act on their instincts a bit more often! I am satisfied with the govt on the whole, though VERY dissatisfied with the way they've handled countryside issues - all their policies have been directed at supporting the rural rich, they have really let down the rural poor. Not what you would expect from the Labour party, and not what most Labour supporters and MPs would either I think!
Tigger, don't be scared of the Euro - we have effectively already lost our sovreignty. We have three choices - go totally independent, in which case we'd be a quaint little backwater within a generation, lean towards the US, in which case we'd be the little guy holding the big bully's coat every time the Americans feel like "teaching a lesson" to some foreign leader (they only ever pick on small guys, noticed?), or join the European Union with our hearts and minds, in which case we'll be a equal partner state in a powerful new country. Very democratic, a bit hard for feudal old Britain to come to terms with perhaps! We should get rid of all our foolish suspicions about the French/Germans etc - it's all a hangover from the propaganda put out by our government from the Napoleonic wars onwards! I wish the Labour Party would have the courage to come out and say that they are going to do the best for Britain by joining the Euro asap! Anyone been to Dublin recently and seen all the building there? 7 cranes visible from my hotel window last year, building all the offices needed to house the English speaking companies who are investing in Dublin instead of London because Ireland is in the Euro!

Sml, I agree with you. On the whole I am pleased with Labour but I think they are not necessarily the Labour party I voted for. A lot more needs to be done esp. with regard education, NHS & poverty. However, I do believe that the changes that are being made are moving things in the right direction. Personally, I will be horrified if the Tories get in. However, whatever ones political beliefs you must use your vote. It is so important. Lastly, the sooner we have the Euro the better!

But, for every £1000 paid into Europe we only get £220 back, how is that fair?, and that is for all of Britain businesses. All the extra crap that all businesses have had to withstand, like paperwork, our own GP told me that he does 55% consulting and 45% paperwork, as he had 5 forms to fill out after I had a Mirena Coil fitted on monday. Tax, is another thing, many people who lost the animals in the F&M will be compensated, but, in the first year of re-stocking that can only stock at 25%, the second year 50% and by the third year 75% and in this year they will Tax on Capital Gains as they haven't rolled over the money in 3 years, they can't and it is not this establishment I am blaming for this. Our present government wishes us all to become custodians of the countryside, right thats ok, but we have to farm the way we know and not on the scale that some of them have been, as in those who farm purposely for the Subsidy. But, in Labours defence, the big boys of farming will get a shock, its farmers like us who will benefit, the ones who know there stock and who don't do it for the subsidy. The Organic Sector will benefit as well, because these chaps need help to get established and be able to stand up and say NO to the likes of Safeways or Tescos etc if they are trying to shaft them, also the supermarkets will be closely monitored for prices on all produce including milk, Dairy farmers get 19p per litre for their milk, what price do we pay?.

Sorry I'm rambling on again, but to vote you have to have confidence in who you are voting for, and at this time I don't have confidence in any of them.

I thought question time yesterday was interesting (David Dimbleby and audience were interviewing Charles Kennedy). Next week it's WIlliam Haigh's turn and the week after is Tony Blair's. It was nice to actually hear a party leader speak for himself rather than just reading/listening to a selection of what they say...selected by and interpreted by, the media and the spin doctors. Obviously those being interviewed will be well briefed on what to say but at least they have to answer 'on the spot' and we get to see more of the real person.

I'm fairly open minded a the moment, in as much that I wouldn't trust any party as far as I could throw them, so I'm going to watch these programmes and see if any of the leaders can convince me either way!

What annoys me about the election is that all the policies, spin and political campaigning on a national level are aimed at the undecided voters in marginal constituencies - "mondeo man", "worcester woman".. we've heard them all before. They are the ones who decide the election. I live in Cardiff, and we'll get a Labour MP - a very good one - 'm not unhappy with that, and I'll be happy with a Labour government (it will definitely take 2-3 terms before they can be properly judged), but I do feel a bit disenfranchised - my vote won't make much of a difference, and no one is really going to appeal to my interests.

But I am going to vote - it's not just the suffragettes who won votes for women, but also the Chartists who won the vote for non-land owners and aristocrats - I value the right to vote because it was hard won, and I will get out there and cross a box.

Pity our election system doesn't make politicians pay attention to all our concerns though, not just undecideds in marginals.

By the way - did you know that family/childcare issues are actually the most important ones to the electorate:

In a poll for the Fawcett Society, people were asked what their top political priorities were: Support to help make family life work recieved support way ahead of other, more traditional political issues:

What people want:

Paid leave for parents of new-born babies 79% (women) 71% (men)
Au automatic right for parents to work part-time 79% (women) 64% (men)
quality and affordable childcare 89% (women) 85% (men)

The topic of nearest importance as a policy priority was health (women 50%) men (41%)

I heard an interesting interview with Billy Bragg a couple of weeks ago on the radio. He has set up a partnering scheme for votes, so that people in different constituencies can 'swap' votes for candidates, thus making their own vote more valuable. I didn't really listen to the detail of the interview (as we were on our way to a wedding!) but a trawl through the internet might bring up a website for BB and provide more info.

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Tigger, where does that figure of £220 come from? I can't believe it is taking into account all the benefits we get from Europe. I think we should take a broader view of this one: all English/British foreign policy from the Crusades onwards has been directed towards one thing - making money for Britain, usually for the upper classes and rich merchants.
Some examples:

• all that looting in the Crusades
• Elizabeth the First and her pirate sea captains
• the British Empire, a lot of rich businessmen going into other countries grabbing what they could get in the way of land, minerals etc, backed up by the British Army, a lot of poor people who went and died in remote corners of the world thinking they were part of some great Empire!

So, we should have more faith in our ruling classes - they wouldn't be letting us go into Europe now if Britain Ltd wasn't going to make a profit out of it!!

Ireland is inevitably going to suffer THE most horriffic economic crash in the medium term. Inflation last year was 5.5% (1.8% in the UK), private debt is spiralling and house prices make Britain's look cheap. They have already received an official warning from Brussles over their irresponsible handling of their economy. Sure, the boom mostly reflects EU membership and specifically, subsidies but the UK would never have been eleigible for the vast majority of these.

I always thought one of the main points of a community was that the stronger members are in a position to look after the weaker/poorer ones. It doesn't seem to be the case with the european community - we always seem to be looking after own own interests - the whole debate is framed in terms of our "national interest", not the community's interest, or the interests of the poorest. It may not be a popular view, but I think rich countries like us should be "making a loss" on europe so that the poorer countries can be helped by countries like us, France, Germany etc...

...but the subsidies have been going for years, what has really made the place take off is the huge recent investment from the States. Agree about the house prices, have ruled out working there because of the housing situation.

You are right Sml but it was my understanding that the bulk of the US investment has been driven by tax breaks made possible via the EU.

Tom, of course that's why we do make such a massive "loss" on Europe.

Croppy, I forget where I read/heard the Euro theory, in the FT or the Times I think. Seems quite plausible for companies who want to do business in Europe though - can't resist winding up the Eurosceptic lobby anyway! Isn't the UK eligible for the same tax breaks for attracting foreign investment then, or are they classed as subsidies?

I agree in principle about supporting weaker members through, but I also think that when you look at the whole picture, we are gaining just as much from them as they gain from us. Shared further education, easier trade/travel, migration of labour...it all counts.

I wouldn't trust journalists and editors blindly... they all have their points of view and some of those are run by big media moguls.... (do you remember when the Times would not run negative stories about China because Rupert Murdoch was trying to get a very important deal with China....? and this is also why Chris Patten was forced to leave his publisher - as they didn't like his pro HK book.... not good for China-Murdoch deal!)
And anyway journalism is about headlines - I would know I work in media relations...
However can I add my 2 pence worth (I am not British but from another European country and have lived here for several years now). Yes the UK is eligible for tax breaks just like the others but when a large corporation decides to invest in one country versus another it has to do with tax break but also strength of the currency, cost of labour which are currently very high in the UK - some might say because we are not in the Euro... and, their view of the political environment (our undecidedness over the Euro doesn't help)...
Having lived in several European countries, I can tell you that in every country there are parts of the population which is pro or against Europe and a healthy debate is just that healthy ! But scare mongering and nationalism only lead to short term gains and long term agony - that's my opinion... look at the balkans !

In the case of Ireland, their rate of corporation tax is 10%. This has been made possible by the scale of the EU subsidies to which they are entitled. I can't imagine the British people accepting a cut to corporation tax of that scale!. There's little evidence in Ireland that the advent of the Euro has led to greater equality. Wage disparities between the highest and lowest paid have increased while spending on health and education as a percentage of GDP has fallen.

Come on Croppy, it's a bit unfair to blame the Euro for all that. Didn't all that happen when we had the boom in the mid 80s in the UK, years before the Euro? If it does promote equality, surely we should be looking Europe wide, over a longer period of time.

I'm not blaming the euro at all for that. Just interesting that the current boom in Ireland is pretty much like booms in the UK have been i.e. the rich get richer and the poorer get poorer.

Other than that, the UK's unemployment rate remains half the euroland average while foreign direct investment into the UK last year was more than France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands combined. We sem to be doing ok!.

But, we are not doing ok, over 65% of rural businesses are claimg one sort of Benefit or another, ask any of them if they wanto to dot his, their answer no!. These businesses are able to get WFTC on the basis that their books are so bad, the price of fuel is crippling, and I mean crippling many businesses, we are not so involved because our lorry has been off the road for 10 weeks now. Well people might say that the fuel escalator has been cut, big deal, it means nothing, the road tax on HGV has been cut, it means nothing. To fill an arctic that will carry a gross weight of 40tonne will cost £300 to fill and that is not the lorry being empty. Subsidy, subsidy was brought in so that the farmer could:-

1. Feed his animals
2. Dose his sheep/cattle (worm control)
3. Pay a shepherd on the Hill Farms

Right then, our Sheep Annual Premium has been CUT to £8.07 for the year 2001, I can say that that will not feed the ewe and her lamb(s) for the winter into the spring. Sml the figure of £220 was quoted by Fredrick Forsyth who is one of the most honest and open people I have ever listened to, not like the crap we are having to stand at the moment. Ok Labour is maybe well and ok for the cities, but my god he is crippling rural businesses, he wants us all to be Custodians of the countryside, i.e. fart about and make the countrside a bloody tourist attraction. I do resent the fact that people like yourself are not full aware of what we have to go through. Since the outbreak of F&M, many has criticised the amount that some farmers have been getting in compensation for their stock, their compensation is a Compulsory Purchase by the Government (whoever they may be), ok, 1 st year you are able to restock you can only restock at 25%, second year 50%, third year 75%, and on that third year, they will be shafted for Capital Gains Tax as they have not used it within 3 years. The compensation that they have received is nothing to what the stock will cost, nothing, Dairy Cow prices were on the rise same as Beef Breeding Heifers as well. This really annoys me, we fought Europe for years in 2 world wars to keep them from ruling us, why do we now want to bow down and let them?, I want the decisions made by Great Britain not by Europe.

Might I just add that 2 years ago the Sheep Annual Premium was £18.93, and the price of lamb has fallen every year since. We are now on a Form D Restriction with 40 lambs ready to go, the price fell from £2.70 per kilo last week to £2.25, we are being shafted by the supermarkets, it's time that the Goverment did something instead of faffing about and having his strings pulled by the rest of his party. Same goes for the other Political Parties as well, don't trust any of them until they come up with some Real, Truthfull and Honest Manifestos for Britain, in all areas.