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| UK general election 2015 | |
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| Topic Started: May 6 2015, 03:49 PM (1,761 Views) | |
| Miva | May 6 2015, 03:49 PM Post #1 |
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Not that many people here are from the UK, but we vote in the elections tomorrow. It could really go any way. We've had a coalition of the Conservatives (the main right wing party) and the Liberal Democrats (a centre, liberal party) since 2010. And their predicting that we'll have another coalition this time since neither Conservatives or Labour (the main "left" wing party) are likely to get a majority. It's anyone's guess who'll be part of it though. I really hope it's a left leaning group of parties though. Right wing policies and opinions make me feel depressed; they all seem to be full of hate and selfishness. Sorry if that's an unfair generalisation, but that's just how I feel. I'll be voting for the Green Party, "for the common good" as their motto goes. Perhaps that makes me idealistic, but I want to hope things can change for the better in the future, they seem to as well. It wont matter though, this is a safe labour seat ... yay politics. |
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| cipher | May 6 2015, 03:51 PM Post #2 |
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Fancy Chicken
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Hey at least you guys get more than two legitimate parties. :P |
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| Sagie | May 6 2015, 03:51 PM Post #3 |
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crotchety
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Miva, can you give this American a brief crash course in who is running and what positions matter? I've heard bits about it and am rather curious. |
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| Catman | May 6 2015, 03:59 PM Post #4 |
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Loneliest Stardust Crusader
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I think we'll end up with another coalition situation. |
WHY ARE WE STILL HERE... ...JUST TO SUFFER?!
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| Miva | May 6 2015, 04:12 PM Post #5 |
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(Mostly taken from bbc news) So our main two parties are: "The Conservative Party can trace its roots back to the 18th century. As Britain's main centre-right party, it has traditionally stood for free trade, private enterprise, individual liberty, low taxation and strong defence. David Cameron has been leader since 2005." Cameron is smarmy, but good at avoiding questions and/or turning points around to make them go in his favour. "Founded by the trade union movement in 1900 to give workers a voice in Parliament, the Labour Party is Britain's main left wing party. It has moved towards the centre ground in recent decades but wealth redistribution and social justice remain key aims. Ed Miliband has been leader since 2010." Miliband is goofy and there are any number of stupid pictures of him. He's regarded as quite weak and unwilling to stand up for anything specific in case he alienates people. His main strategy appears to be to say the conservatives are wrong about everything. And more recently to say the SNP are dangerous. One of them has been the majority party each election since (as wiki tells me) 1945. Until 2010 when the conservatives and the liberal democrats formed a coalition. "The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by the merger of one of Britain's oldest political institutions, the Liberal Party, which stood for free trade and individual liberty, and the Social Democratic Party, a centrist offshoot of the Labour Party. Nick Clegg has been leader since 2007." Back in 2010 Nick Clegg was all the rage. He's good at talking and appears more human than Cameron or Miliband. All the students were going to vote for him and it was going to change everything. They actually didn't get many more seats than they had in past elections though and only got a taste of power because neither other party could get a majority. Despite getting lots of votes each time around they get less seats per candidate than the other two parties due to the unfairness of the first past the post. The coalition over the last 5 years have cut a lot of spending in the name of "balancing the books" since the economic crash, but it's meant a lot of hard times for people. Clegg gave up his pledge not to increase student fees in order to get a chance to introduce the "alternative vote" to make voting fairer, but it backfired and no one voted for it. (A post about the other smaller parties soon) |
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| Sagie | May 6 2015, 04:26 PM Post #6 |
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crotchety
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That's super useful Miva, I appreciate you sharing that info. :D |
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| Miva | May 6 2015, 04:38 PM Post #7 |
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"The UK Independence Party was set up in 1993 to campaign for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. That remains its core aim but it has a full range of other policies, with particular emphasis on cutting immigration. Nigel Farage led the party from 2006-9 and again from 2010." So yeah... these guys. Farage is always seen with a pint in his hand out side of a pub, they do everything they can to appeal to nationalist. Farage is very careful not to say anything racist so that he can claim his party isn't racist, other members of the party are not so careful. Members have been kicked out for anything from using a racist accent while singing to claiming the floods were causes by the gays. Still they're on the rise ... Farage tries to appeal to the masses claiming the other parties are run by rich upper class and that he's a mans man, but he used to be a banker and is far from poor. It's all an illusion. All of their polices are about anti EU immigration, but his wife is German. It makes no sense but people don't seem to mind. They have a couple of seats now. "The Greens began life in the mid 1970s as the Ecology Party. The party in England and Wales has expanded from its core environmentalist message under leader Natalie Bennett, to present itself as a more left-wing alternative to Labour." They won one seat in 2010. Bennett is Australian I believe. There have been some issues with her ability to talk publicly like forgetting her parties policies and such. Not much to say beyond that, they're left, pro-europe, they want to cut the defence spending and increase the aid budget. A lot of people don't take them very seriously and until the voting system changes it's unlikely they'll be able to get many seats. "The Scottish National Party was formed in 1934 and its central belief is Scottish independence. After voters said 'No' in last year's independence referendum, the party's then leader Alex Salmond resigned, handing over to Nicola Sturgeon." Sturgeon did very well on the leaders debate a few weeks ago, obviously since these guys are Scottish they aren't running anywhere but Scotland, but she did a good job of standing up for the left voice where perhaps Miliband and Bennett failed. There's a lot of fuss at the moment where Miliband is insisting he wont make a deal with the SNP as he says he wont let them hold the government to ransom in order to gain benefits for Scotland. To the point where he's said he'd rather let the conservatives get in power than join with the SNP... this sounds stupid to me... it's obviously some play to insure the people vote Labour rather than other smaller parties to insure that conservatives are kept out of power: harnessing peoples dislike for the conservatives rather than trying to make his own party sound appealing, but if it fails and they have to form a coalition with the SNP or not be in power then it could backfire. There is also other even smaller parties: "Plaid Cymru: Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 to make the case for Welsh independence, and sees itself as a party of the left. Leanne Wood has been leader since 2012." "Respect: Left-wing party Respect was formed in 2004 out of the movement against the Iraq War. The party's leader is former Labour MP George Galloway." "Democratic Unionist Party: For more than three decades, the Democratic Unionist Party was a party of protest for unionists but since 2007 when it agreed to share power at Stormont with Sinn Féin, the DUP has become a party of government. Peter Robinson has been its leader since 2008." "Scottish Greens: The Green Party began life in the mid 1970s as the Ecology Party but has expanded from its core environmentalist message to present itself as a more left-wing alternative to Labour. The Scottish Greens are led by Patrick Harvie and Maggie Chapman." "SDLP: Born in 1970 out of the civil rights movement, the SDLP is the second largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland, drawing support mainly from within the Catholic community. Alasdair McDonnell has been leader since 2011." "Alliance Party: The Alliance Party is the main cross-community party of Northern Ireland, seeking to attract support from both Protestants and Catholics. It has been traditionally aligned at Westminster with the Liberal Democrats. David Ford became Alliance leader in 2001." "Traditional Unionist Voice: The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) was born out of a split in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Its founder and leader, Jim Allister, launched the anti-Good Friday Agreement party in 2007 after the DUP decided to share power with Sinn Féin." "Ulster Unionist Party: Founded in 1905, the Ulster Unionist Party draws its support from the unionist community, the vast majority of whom are Protestant. Mike Nesbitt has been leader since 2012." "Green Party NI: The Green Party began life in the mid 1970s as the Ecology Party but has expanded from its core environmentalist message to present itself as a more left-wing alternative to Labour. Steven Agnew leads the Green Party NI." "Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition: Formed ahead of the 2010 general election, the TUSC is a coalition of trade unionists, campaigners, anti-cuts groups and socialists. The party is led by former Labour MP, Dave Nellist." "Socialist Labour Party: The Socialist Labour Party was launched in 1996 by trade unionists and activists reacting against Tony Blair's 'New Labour'. It is led by former National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill." "Workers Party: The Workers Party originated from the Official IRA which rejected violence in the early 1970s and was replaced by the Provisional IRA. Today, it describes itself as socialist, secular and anti-sectarian." "Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol (CISTA) is a new political party standing on the single issue of reforming the UK's drug laws relating to cannabis. CISTA is led by Paul Birch." Edited by Miva, May 6 2015, 04:42 PM.
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| Sagie | May 6 2015, 04:42 PM Post #8 |
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crotchety
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That's all really fascinating. Thanks Miva. You guys don't really seem to have a solid rallying point for the left, which is sort of sad, but looking at our candidates for next year, we don't really either. |
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| Miva | May 6 2015, 04:47 PM Post #9 |
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Yeah that's been my major issue with everything. |
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| cipher | May 6 2015, 05:12 PM Post #10 |
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Fancy Chicken
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Yeah I was gonna say there are similarities in U.S. politics where there is much more diversity of groups considered left wing or liberal, and conservatism seems to have a much more unified front. |
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| Nikki | May 6 2015, 07:04 PM Post #11 |
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Omniheurist
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I have a dilemma. I want the government to reduce debt without making cuts in social services. Liberal Democrats promise exactly that (others don't), but I know it's impossible, and I know they know it. Should I vote for a party which makes blatantly false promises, but nevertheless are the right promises that no one else makes? |
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| cipher | May 6 2015, 07:34 PM Post #12 |
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Fancy Chicken
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Well it's not impossible, they could raise taxes or cut govt programs that are not social services. But unless they have a good plan it's likely just pandering for votes and you should consider secondary factors for your choice. |
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| Nikki | May 6 2015, 08:03 PM Post #13 |
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Omniheurist
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They don't. The right thing would be to raise taxes to higher fortunes, but they are NOT going to do that, since they are friends with the Conservatives. The alternative is to vote blank. Unless... wait! *goes to Google* It seems that the Greens are defending Universal Basic Income. I think I'll vote them, since I know they can't raise to power, anyway. *Reads wikipedia* Wow! There is a Pirate Party in UK? I think I'll vote them instead. |
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| Iridana | May 7 2015, 12:13 AM Post #14 |
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Phoenix
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You'll only be able to vote Pirate Party if they have a representative in your constituency :) I've technically already voted, since I'm lazy and applied for postal vote :p I went for Greens myself, because I'm an idealist, and I like most of their policies. Not all, but most. It'll be interesting to see what happens at the end of all this, it's a lot closer than it's been for a long time. I don't think UKIP are in a position to do much damage anymore, time and the media are against them at this point (had we had this election nearer to the Euro elections things might have been different), and I don't think anyone would want to go into a coalition with them. Labour are too opposite to them, and Cameron isn't that stupid, not with so many Tories defecting over as is. Not sure I buy Milliband's talk of no coalition with the SNP either, it might be the only way he can get Labour into power, though I will admit that Nicola Sturgeon's talk of wanting another independence referendum does give me concerns as to whether she would actually try and hold things to ransom for more benefits to Scotland. It's quite nice to have a political discussion with people who share my views mind, I know two other people at work voting Greens as well (well, one definite and one on the fence between voting Greens or spoiling the ballot). There was one UKIP supporter there, but she's voting Tory now, on the theory that voting UKIP is a wasted vote, an argument I've always hated, but in this instance I guess I shouldn't complain too much :p |
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| Nikki | May 7 2015, 12:20 AM Post #15 |
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Omniheurist
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Oh, right, I hadn't thought of the constituency system, it's the first time I vote here. Let me see... *searches Wikipedia*. DAMMIT! My city is split in two constituencies, and just by a couple streets I can't vote for the Mad Hatter! |
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