Economy only: which party policy works best and why?

whathavewedone

Okay sorry, it's a bit difficult not to drift off into other areas though. I don't think anyone bases their vote on just one issue although for me personally the economy is one of my top priorities. I guess I was just trying to explain why for me the spend spend spend mentality that we've had for the last decade hasn't been of much benefit.

If my post wasn't clear, it is primarily because of the economy that I intend to vote conservative this time. I think we need to make savings and cuts at this point. This is what the conservatives say they will do and what they have a history of doing in previous recessions.

The tories handed over a golden economy to labour in 1997 which they completely squandered.

Will leave it there.

whathavewedone

Just as a postscript, I don't think it's irrelevant to say that you don't want to vote for one of the smaller parties because of their lack of experience/loopy policies.

The country is in a state. How can you trust someone to put the economy right if they prioritise things like tackling binge drinking over safeguarding jobs and businesses? It's not what the country needs right now IMHO.

lostinrates

whathavewedone wrote: »

Okay sorry, it's a bit difficult not to drift off into other areas though. I don't think anyone bases their vote on just one issue although for me personally the economy is one of my top priorities.

LOL, nothing to apologise for.

FWIW its also possible to say, in the context of this thread something like ''If my vote were based purely on the economy I would vote for Party X abecause I think their policy of Y is the most pragmatic, however Party Z offers a better match to the other issues and a reasonable comprimise on economic policy.

One of my points of this thread is that we tend to vote on gut instinct, tradition, or people: very few of us have actually referred to quoted policy, and I submit, this would be even less so in the popultion in general, and I think we adults, s well as young people, desperately need education greater than politicl broad casts on the content of policy and potential implications mathematically. It would be hard to do this in an unbiased way: but I think we would benefit from it. Wouldnt i be wonderful if our votes were based on some knoweldge not just hope and gut feling.

My other point is I admit, I am one of those who finds understaning it hard. I was hoping that in an on topic discussion looking at economin policy some of those more conversant with this sort of thing could look at just economic policy and share their views of flaws and benefits of different parties approaches in this economic climate

Snooze

lostinrates wrote: »

LOL, nothing to apologise for.

FWIW its also possible to say, in the context of this thread something like ''If my vote were based purely on the economy I would vote for Party X abecause I think their policy of Y is the most pragmatic, however Party Z offers a better match to the other issues and a reasonable comprimise on economic policy.

One of my points of this thread is that we tend to vote on gut instinct, tradition, or people: very few of us have actually referred to quoted policy, and I submit, this would be even less so in the popultion in general, and I think we adults, s well as young people, desperately need education greater than politicl broad casts on the content of policy and potential implications mathematically. It would be hard to do this in an unbiased way: but I think we would benefit from it. Wouldnt i be wonderful if our votes were based on some knoweldge not just hope and gut feling.

My other point is I admit, I am one of those who finds understaning it hard. I was hoping that in an on topic discussion looking at economin policy some of those more conversant with this sort of thing could look at just economic policy and share their views of flaws and benefits of different parties approaches in this economic climate

Whilst your thread was well-intentioned it was also badly flawed due to

1. Everyone knows that their collective policy blurbs are nothing more than sound bites and won't ever see the light of the day, ie. they will do the exact opposite.
2. Everyone knows that the Tories will be coming in next year so discussion of whose economy policies are best is completely moot.

and

3. As mewbie & WHWD both say, people vote for the party which best suits them overall, not on one specific point, so this ultimately results in a thread of everyone saying why they'll be voting for x party instead of answering your (very) specific question.

:beer:

Rob

whathavewedone

I've been visiting some of the political blogs to give me a bit more insight into the views of the two main parties - Labourlist, conservative home and Ian Dale's diary mainly.

Obviously the news has been completely dominated by MPs expenses recently and this spills over onto the blogs as every day fires are being fought/people are resigning or are rumoured to be resigning and this means that the economy isn't being discussed as much as it was/should be.

Hopefully all the expenses stuff will be out in the open soon so that the parties can get on with campaigning for the next election with the spotlight on how they intend to deal with the economy. I'm getting a bit fed up with the drip drip drip nature of the revelations - I thought they would have got through them all by now but they're only up to around 200 and there are over 600 mps so it looks like it's going to drag on way past the European elections next week.

For the time being all I really know is that labour intend to tax and spend and the conservatives intend to make savings/cuts (particularly to the public sector) without raising taxes. I don't think we'll know the detail until just before the election - and it's quite possible that none of the main parties will tell us all that much then.

I do think it's easier for the smaller parties (and I include the libdems in this) to give a more detailed analysis of their plans because as no one expects them to win the election they will not be held up to scrutiny. On the other hand when it comes to the main parties whatever they say will be used as a stick to beat them with by the other side.

Labour are already going on about tory cuts and their first PPB (the one with the punchbag) listed cuts that the conservatives were going to make as though it was hard fact. In truth it was supposition presented as fact based on nothing more than than the tories' committment to cut spending in general. Nevertheless it probably resonated with a lot of people in receipt of tax credits etc.

Unpopular decisions are going to have to be made whoever gets into power. No one's going to want to risk losing the election by letting us into it beforehand. I'm not saying that's right but it's politics.

Strapped

lostinrates wrote: »

Conservative:
on economy
http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/Economy.aspx
on business
http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/Business.aspx

loads of other areas relavant (housing etc....not sure what to link)

Labour:
http://www.labour.org.uk/economic_stability_and_full_employment

LibDem:

http://www.libdems.org.uk/policies/economy;show


UKIP:

oh dear: this is the closest



Who else? Greens are linked above in the thread.

Thanks for the links, but as already said in this thread, some of the parties really don't give any policy specifics. It's hard to pick through and evaluate and tbh I do think that a lot of people use gut instinct and go for individuals they feel they can trust - at local MP level and looking at the leadership of political parties. Personally, I agree with the point already made that it would be advisable to have a chancellor with at least some economic training!

JayScottGreenspan

It seems to me that when the govt do something, 9 times out of 10 they mess it up and end up doing more harm than good.
I'm thinking of all the tinkering with the tax system, the benefits web, the mass of statutes on criminal law, police targets, NHS targets, anti-'terror' laws, licensing laws, ID cards, the move from RPI to CPI, the FSA, pointless degrees, AS-levels, two wars, devolution, car scrappage, etc...

I'd like a hung parliament. Whatever limits them to as few mess-ups as possible, please.

Pobby

Wouldn`t it have been nice if we could have had a party that realised, as did many of the population a number of years ago, that with so much borrowing, a ponzi scheme in housing, none of this was sustainable.

Davesnave

I went to school with my Green candidate & he was a nice guy who played a pretty mean guitar......

But the economy?

Greens are probably right about the long term future. For the immediate situation, I'm with Vince.

Masomnia

I'm thinking Green, not necessarilly because of any specific policy, but because I think the over-arching idea of sustainability is the right one. Good for a protest vote in my view.