UK Elections

[Jolene]

I believe Britain should move towards a federal system to correct the imbalance of powers. Give England its own Parliament and give Westminster only certain powers.

English votes for English laws seems like a half assed attempt to not fix the problem.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I believe Britain should move towards a federal system to correct the imbalance of powers. Give England its own Parliament and give Westminster only certain powers.

English votes for English laws seems like a half assed attempt to not fix the problem.

Well, that's Britain for you - a pile of assorted laws and practices that were never really planned in advance, leaving the problem now that it's very difficult to start from scratch. If Scotland and Wales were willing to accept the idea of equal standing with England in regards to parliamentary voting rights I think it would do more to restore the balance than you'd think. It's just a shame that the parties most willing to push for that are also the most nationalist

 

[Jolene]

I believe Britain should move towards a federal system to correct the imbalance of powers. Give England its own Parliament and give Westminster only certain powers.

English votes for English laws seems like a half assed attempt to not fix the problem.

Well, that's Britain for you - a pile of assorted laws and practices that were never really planned in advance, leaving the problem now that it's very difficult to start from scratch. If Scotland and Wales were willing to accept the idea of equal standing with England in regards to parliamentary voting rights I think it would do more to restore the balance than you'd think. It's just a shame that the parties most willing to push for that are also the most nationalist

Hopefully the main parties take note of the SNP's strength as a sign to get this situation in order. If I was English I'd prefer if the SNP stayed north of the border in all honesty.

Considering how well House of Lords reform went I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I believe Britain should move towards a federal system to correct the imbalance of powers. Give England its own Parliament and give Westminster only certain powers.

English votes for English laws seems like a half assed attempt to not fix the problem.

Well, that's Britain for you - a pile of assorted laws and practices that were never really planned in advance, leaving the problem now that it's very difficult to start from scratch. If Scotland and Wales were willing to accept the idea of equal standing with England in regards to parliamentary voting rights I think it would do more to restore the balance than you'd think. It's just a shame that the parties most willing to push for that are also the most nationalist

Hopefully the main parties take note of the SNP's strength as a sign to get this situation in order. If I was English I'd prefer if the SNP stayed north of the border in all honesty.

Considering how well House of Lords reform went I wouldn't hold my breath.

Yes, Brits are very bad when it comes to reform. The Alternative Vote referendum was largely ignored, and yet we have people complaining en-masse that politics has them locked out.

I'm still not sure what to make of the SNP, but I hope we don't somehow end up with a SNP-Labour coalition. All the bickering of the Labour party, doubled!

 

[Lysson]

AV is a terrible voting system in my opinion. I think currently a lot of people probably want STV (single transferable vote) as many don't bother to vote because they know their favoured party will never win.
Unfortunately if we were to have STV we'd have extreme parties in the houses of parliament... but I suppose that gives more rights to minorities.
STV is very hit and miss though as it's more democratic but it'd allow extremist parties and and there'd be constant coalitions.

 

[GhostFingers]

Every time i hear another empty promise from a politician, this plays in my mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx7zm5mXc0I

How can i put faith in someone whose platitudes are as hollow as this? Moreso, how can i do this in just over a week's time?

 

[dig]

AV is a terrible voting system in my opinion. I think currently a lot of people probably want STV (single transferable vote) as many don't bother to vote because they know their favoured party will never win.
Unfortunately if we were to have STV we'd have extreme parties in the houses of parliament... but I suppose that gives more rights to minorities.
STV is very hit and miss though as it's more democratic but it'd allow extremist parties and and there'd be constant coalitions.

There's really no one voting system that's truly fair across the board. FPTP usually breeds a two party state, though we've strangely seemed to have broken that curse with the SNP. Proportional voting systems tend to allow parties with extreme ideas to net more seats than they would in FPTP. FPTP is probably the fairest in that you're less likely to give seats to an extremist party, but also means people tend to vote for the biggest parties in fear of not wasting their vote, as well making it harder for smaller parties to gain traction.

 

[Jolene]

To anyone still on the fence, politicians love apathy. It means they can screw the people without consequences. Vote even if nobody truly represents you. Be happy you have way more choices than here in the States.

AV is a terrible voting system in my opinion. I think currently a lot of people probably want STV (single transferable vote) as many don't bother to vote because they know their favoured party will never win.
Unfortunately if we were to have STV we'd have extreme parties in the houses of parliament... but I suppose that gives more rights to minorities.
STV is very hit and miss though as it's more democratic but it'd allow extremist parties and and there'd be constant coalitions.

FPTP is the best way to keep extremists locked out. Unfortunately, many people are seeing it as "undemocratic" and want to move to proportional representation. If Britain had this system UKIP would have about 20% of the seats (130 seats) while the Conservatives would get about 33% (215 seats) allowing them to get a comfortable majority It can get even bigger if you add in the Lib Dems. Since most people here appear to lean left you should be content with the current system. As it stands UKIP will get 2 the most.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Every time i hear another empty promise from a politician, this plays in my mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx7zm5mXc0I

How can i put faith in someone whose platitudes are as hollow as this? Moreso, how can i do this in just over a week's time?

Don't expect perfect trust, that's what I say. In a way, we get what we deserve. We demand honest forthright politicians and then beat them over the head whenever they misspeak or make small mistakes in impromptu interviews. We expect them to have principles of their own but represent the people who elected them, to have common sense but we call them weak whenever they change their mind on policy ...

So for my part I've been filtering out the dogma and exaggeration and adding a big pinch of salt, and will be casting my vote based on what's left

 

[Saucedo]

AV is a horrible system that would simply take a lot of the current bias towards labour and cons, and just hand it to the liberals.

Smaller parties would have even less chance of breaking through, as you might be able to get 30-35% in a seat, but unlikely to get 50.
Basically every Labour Lib marginal would fall to Liberals, as Conservatives would rather Liberals. And every Liberal Conservative marginal would fall to the, you guessed it, Liberals as Labour would rather have the Libs

 

[Beth Pavell]

I don't know if everyone has noticed this or not, but my point regarding the AV referendum was that almost no-one voted. Brits are more interested in marching and waving placards than actual reform

 

[Lysson]

I don't know if everyone has noticed this or not, but my point regarding the AV referendum was that almost no-one voted. Brits are more interested in marching and waving placards than actual reform

Woops, that might be my bad xD
Completely agree with you though. I studied UK politics at AS and people are far more likely to join a pressure group then they are to join a political party. More people are also more likely to sign a petition than to vote and some people just sign whatever's waved at them so the person getting signatures goes away.

Back more directly to your point is that people usually demand referendums and yet hardly anyone usually votes in them. Obvious exception is the Scottish independence referendum.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I don't know if everyone has noticed this or not, but my point regarding the AV referendum was that almost no-one voted. Brits are more interested in marching and waving placards than actual reform

Woops, that might be my bad xD
Completely agree with you though. I studied UK politics at AS and people are far more likely to join a pressure group then they are to join a political party. More people are also more likely to sign a petition than to vote and some people just sign whatever's waved at them so the person getting signatures goes away.

Back more directly to your point is that people usually demand referendums and yet hardly anyone usually votes in them. Obvious exception is the Scottish independence referendum.

That's very true. The Scottish referendum is an excellent example of democracy working - lots of people voicing their opinion on an important issue and lots of people backing that up with a vote at the polls. I rather liked how sober the whole thing was. No violence until the very end

 

[GhostFingers]

Back more directly to your point is that people usually demand referendums and yet hardly anyone usually votes in them. Obvious exception is the Scottish independence referendum.

I keep hearing about referendums (referenda? - Latin plural rule?) and they happen so discreetly and quietly that there are some people who find out afterwards that they missed it. Almost as if the powers that be don't want the voices of the populous heard.

Anyway, I've made my decision. I don't 100% support all of the policies and rules as the party in question, but i don't think you'll ever find that. Instead i'm going for the one that has the most similar ethical alignment as myself. Ideals

as opposed to truth.

 

[dig]

Hope we all remember to vote tomorrow! My household is going after my mum finishes work, after 8pm. Not sure if it'll be busy or dead

My last, completely un-scientific prediction:

Conservatives - 275~
Labour - 263~
SNP - 48~
Lib Dem - 29~
UKIP - 2~
Greens 1
Plaid Cymru - 4~

Labour minority government. Labour forms something of a pact with SNP & Lib Dem.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Hoping for an SNP majority, because if nothing else it would be entertaining

 

[The Infidel]

Decided to just do some rough figures, works out to 650 exactly as well.

Con 285
Lab 265
SNP 50
Lib 24
DUP 8
Sinn Fein 5
Plaid 3
SDLP 3
UKIP 2
Green 1
Alliance 1
UUP 1
Respect 1
Speaker 1

2 Alliances would form, one Conservative led (Conservative, Lib Dem, DUP, UKIP, UUP, Alliance) and then a Labour led one (Labour, SNP, Plaid, SDLP, Green, Respect) with Speaker and Sinn Fein not participating in either.

The Conservative Alliance would then stand on 321 and the Labour Alliance would stand on 323.

Although Labour would have 2 seats more both coalitions will be too unstable as they comprise 6 parties each and we'd head to a 2nd election this year, with Cameron still in place as a caretaker Prime Minister. Horrified at the site of Labour teaming up with Scottish, Welsh and Irish nationalists, I'd expect enough movement in England towards Conservatives, that they would then go on to have a small majority, or enough to get a majority with just Lib Dems as partners.

 

[Lysson]

I've come to the conclusion I have no idea what the results will be. I'm also not particularly bothered by the result as I don't think things will improve at all but I will still be voting.

 

[Shinobu]

Hope we all remember to vote tomorrow! My household is going after my mum finishes work, after 8pm. Not sure if it'll be busy or dead

My last, completely un-scientific prediction:

Conservatives - 275~
Labour - 263~
SNP - 48~
Lib Dem - 29~
UKIP - 2~
Greens 1
Plaid Cymru - 4~

Labour minority government. Labour forms something of a pact with SNP & Lib Dem.

I couldn't help but notice that your predictions are very close to the Five Thirty Eight predictions. They also admit that they can't guarantee particularly accurate results.

 

[CrackFox]

Everyone in my family has voted. Went with my brother to our old school today. Was weird being back there, it's changed so much. Anyway, really hope labour takes it. They aren't great but they are the lesser of evils.