Lib Dems doing well - but do we really want a change in electoral system?

carolt

In the light of this:

LATEST:


Lib Dem's Nick Clegg says change of electoral system is unavoidable in event of hung parliament


I wonder how many people actually support a change in electoral systems, even if they are Lib Dem supporters in other ways?

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Not to mention they want to add VAT tax to all newbuild house sales.

That'll help FTB's...... Not.

Although it'll drive up prices of non-newbuilds, so please do feel free to vote for them....:D

carolt

Do you ever think about anything other than house prices, Hamish?

I would imagine for most people, house prices and the parties' intentions re them are just 1 of many factors taken into considereration when deciding voting intention, and not very high up the list, either...

poppingjay

Personally I'd support sweeping changes to the way our 'leaders' are elected but I doubt I'm thinking along the same lines as the Lib Dems. Elections are just part of the bread and circuses that allow us to think we are free when in fact we will always be governed by a bunch of out of touch career politicians from Westminster, just pick a colour, red, blue or yellow.

Partly politics in my opinion stifle debate as MP's are obliged to put party policy before the wishes of their constituents. In an ideal world we'd have lively local debates, in which the MP's would be 'whipped' by their public and sent to national government to fight our corner and collaborate in wider issues....back to reality though

The problem is people just don't know enough about politics to make an informed decision, if we did they'd have been a revolution years ago. We aren't taught about it in schools so most of what we know is gleaned from the media. We are a miss informed population and many of us are materialistic and selfish hence we provide such a good market for cheap foreign goods, but being the good consumers we are make us very easy to manipulate. The three main parties sell us their 'brands' and we lap it up, even though they offer little difference.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

carolt wrote: »

Do you ever think about anything other than house prices, Hamish?

I would imagine for most people, house prices and the parties' intentions re them are just 1 of many factors taken into considereration when deciding voting intention, and not very high up the list, either...

If you want to debate electoral system reform, we have Discussion Time for that.

This is the debate house prices and the economy board.

Not carolt's personal playground for nice people threads, birthday wishes, electoral system reform, and poor impulse control....;)

Wookster

Just ignore Hamish, he's a bit like a record stuck in a groove

On politics, none of the parties are credible on their own (in my opinion anyways).

Labour has no credible figures, other than perhaps Ed Milliband.

There is still something distinctly nasty about the Tories (at least the old part of the party... and George Osborne) but there are quite a few policies that would work well.

The Lib-Dems have it, but not quite - I feel that some of their policies such as opposition to nuclear power are just not really pragmatic. But they do have the Oracle of Twickenham on the economy.

So where I stand, there are gaps in each party and a coalition could work very well. It works in many European countries so I don't see why it couldn't work here, furthermore it may bring about an end to the punch & judy politics which has been so depressing about the two main parties campaign so far.

I would also imagine that more power sharing would make another illegal war much much less likely and that can only ever be a good thing.

Doctor_Gloom

carolt wrote: »

I wonder how many people actually support a change in electoral systems, even if they are Lib Dem supporters in other ways?

I most certainly do support a proper form proportional representation.
In the last election the Labour party got only 36% of the vote and yet obtained a clear majority of seats in the House of Commons. This is perverse,

StevieJ

I think the Labour/Tory strong govt line is overdone, I am pretty sure that there is a lot more cross party support for many sensible policies by MP's than they would have you believe, I really find it tiresome to hear the defense of certain policies by MP's (eg on Paxman or QT) who plainly don't actually agree with what they are defending

StevieJ

Of course the LibDems have still to overcome the potential undermining by the media, is this fair ?


Lib Dems slip back in polls

Three quarters of the article based on one poll and this slipped in at the end

But three other polls suggest the surge which followed Nick Clegg's runaway victory in the first debate is not receding completely.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20100425/tuk-lib-dems-slip-back-in-polls-dba1618.html

abaxas

Just a thought....

If you were employing someone for a job, would you give it to someone with no experience?

torontoboy45

count me in for PR or something similar; hain called this a 'once in a lifetime opportunity' to change the established, semi-corrupt system of UK politics, and I agree.

coalitions can provide weak government but strong gov. doesn't always mean good gov. IIRC no party has claimed a 50% + maj. since the 30's. only in the UK can a 42% share of the vote be called a 'landslide'.

the UK electoral system is perverse. time for a change.