Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, on Mumsnet for a webchat

[JustineMumsnet]

Do post your advance questions here.

Gordon, just coming on to say I am going to vote for you but my vote is worth NUTTIN because I live in super-crazy-Tory Henley. I really hope that if you get in again you get started on the electoral reform pronto. Good luck!

Loves mumsnet where else can notsorampantrabbit pose a question to the PM?

I'd just say to GB that I felt for him
the other day talk about a bad day at work!

Have you seen the common people 2010 on utube?

After the horror of the Badman report, why should home educators vote for you? How can you convince us that you're not out to completely eradicate home education as an educational option? Please don't just trot out the "safeguarding" thing though, as all of the cases which have been used to "prove" Badman's recommendations were nothing to do with Home Education, and all to do with the LAs/SS departments being unwilling/unable to do their jobs properly.

Gordon
As you have seen, there are a fair few overseas MNetters, most of whom cannot vote as we have been out of the country for over 15 years.

Do you think that it is fair that although we still have strong ties to UK, have family, investments, some of us have property in UK and intend retiring there, we have no political influence in the land of our birth?

Alyson - How is that relevant to his thread? I am a genuinely undecided voter, but given the fact that the PM has decided to come on MN, I would like to see some genuinely thought out questions to him, not some naff song making fun of where someone went to school (which, if you think about it, is just making fun of their parents). Respect for the office and all that...

Hello Gordon

Good luck on Thursday, you have our vote.

I think people would be much happier and secure if they knew where the cuts were going to be happening. We all know they are going to happen but nobody seems to want to stand up and say where they are likely, are you able to give us a more specific idea?

Yes we want to know where the cuts will be - you must know, just tell us!

We promise not to tell anyone else

HELLO GORDON!!!

I think you're doing a great job and it must be he hardest job in the world to have taken over from Blair and be sked to defend many of his decisions.

I am so grateful for the NHS - I think its amazing, and surestart, 15 hours free childcare... and more.

I really hope you and your fmily get through this stressful and exciting time, and I hope you don;t have to move house....

Look forward to seeing you answering questions... just don't call any of us biggotted with the computer still on...

P.S.

Do your kids like Thomas the tank engine?

Same as others have said really. What cuts will you make and where in order to sort out the deficite? Straight answer please, no bollocks.

But I think thats wishful thinking.

he wont give the answer because it can only be answered with something negative and they will all sheild us from the truth like we are children until they get the gig.

If any of the leaders gave us a direct answer to this question I would vote for them instately, because it would show they have nuts.

Mr Brown,
Given that your father was a man of the church, do you think there is a place for Religion in public office?

Do you think the gradual growth of the secular society is a good thing, making it more inclusive; or a bad thing, leaving us without moral compass?

foureleven I agree. We all want somebody to just stand up and say sorry we need to cut they are going to be here, here, here and here.

I don't want it to be Surestart, x doesn't want it to be the NHS, y doesn't want it to be whatever means the most to them. But we ALL would have respect for the person who had the balls to stand up and tell us straight like adults!

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Will our children's nursery places be safe from cuts?

Will you be doing anything to help children and adults with autism?

foureleven Totally agree, i think we're sick of spin and pr perspectives.

We need a leader with the balls to be direct and honest and i think that he electorate would really appreciate that, If we ask a question we want an answer not a detour.

Rather like Lady Thatcher! Whether you loved her or hated her she never fudged an issue.

The Green Party has pledged its support to the Baby Milk Action pledge to protect breastfeeding and babies fed on formula.

See here.

Will you add your name to it?

"Baby Milk Action pledge form

I pledge that if I am elected to the House of Commons I will encourage the Government to protect breastfeeding and to protect babies fed on formula. In particular to:

? Strengthen the UK Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Regulations to bring them into line with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent, relevant Resolutions of the World Health Assembly

(I understand that the 23 health worker organisations and mother support groups in the Baby Feeding Law Group and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child have called for this and that the Government's own Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition and enforcement bodies have called for promotion of follow-on formula and health claims to be banned alongside the ban on infant formula advertising).

? Support and defend the International Code and Resolutions around the world and at the United Nations and other international organisations

(I understand that UNICEF has stated: "Marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued: in the developing world, WHO estimates that some 1.5 million children die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. These facts are not in dispute.")"

And, please, don't trot out the old "we respect the right of women to do as they choose" because that's not working - as many as 80% of women want to breastfeed and only 21% of those who start are still doing so exclusively at six weeks.

At the moment, the National Health Service is providing National Lip Service to the issue of breastfeeding support. The Tories want to waste spend money on more Health Visitors. What are Labour pledging to do to support the most vulnerable members of our society?

i'm saying good luck too Mr Brown

Sorry for this one Gordon, but just wondering if you think Labour would stand more of a chance if you weren't the Prime Minister?

And why do you refuse to admit that, whilst the recession may well be global, it doesn't take a genius (never mind the person in charge of the country's finances) to realise that the huge amount of debt us as individuals, and the country as a whole, have was/is totally unsustainable? I truly believe that if you had held your hands up and taken responsibility for the financial crisis, your traditional supporters would have had a lot more respect for you (and I am speaking as a previous labour supporter).

Sorry that's 2 questions - I couldn't help myself!

I would like to ask you about the current Tax Credits system. It seems very confusing and in need of a complete overhaul.

If you are working you pay tax then you have to claim it back through another agency who are in my experience completely rubbish, tax credit awards based on last years earnings, then they issue you about 20 letters on the same thing, then you get a letter saying you have been paid too much and they are stopping this year's award. A lot of families really depend on tax credits and are devastated when they are taken away.

My partner and I are awarded the lowest band of tax credits and I find it amazing that if we earned 54K and had one child we get the same amount as if we earned 25K and had 6 children. Surely that is not right.

What are your plans for reforming the tax credits system and making it fairer?

My Children and I, have had much better services since Labour have been in power than my family ever had in the 1980s. We are a working class family who benefit from family tax credits, extended schools, Sure Start etc.

How are these services likely to grow and support young families, and how do you propose to extend these services to young people in order to tackle anti social behaviour and yob culture which is threatening to overtake the towns and cities up and down the country.

hi hunker

me to dh "GB is coming on mn later dya want to ask anything?"

Dh "Why would he do that you're all evil bstards"