Cameron wants another seven years as PM...

GeorgeHowell

If Cameron does the business on the EU issue in the forthcoming speech and beyond, it might induce enough potential UKIP defectors to swallow their pride and vote for him in 2015 to save his bacon. Only raging homophobes are going to vote UKIP just because of gay marriage, and surely there aren't enough of them left to swing an election ?

BertieUK

GeorgeHowell wrote: »

If Cameron does the business on the EU issue in the forthcoming speech and beyond, it might induce enough potential UKIP defectors to swallow their pride and vote for him in 2015 to save his bacon. Only raging homophobes are going to vote UKIP just because of gay marriage, and surely there aren't enough of them left to swing an election ?

Many times it has been a proven factor in the old quotation...

'Better the Devil you know than the Devil you don't know'....as in UKIP.

sss555s

I hope he does stay in. Gawd help us if clueless and gormless get in.

Have Labour actually got any polices or do they just constantly try and pick holes in what the ruling party do?

CLAPTON

sss555s wrote: »

I hope he does stay in. Gawd help us if clueless and gormless get in.

Have Labour actually got any polices or do they just constantly try and pick holes in what the ruling party do?

The clue is in the title 'the opposition party'; as always for both parties in opposition they criticise the party in power and don't announce any policies of their own until very near the election.
Sometimes they do announce 'asperations ' but they aren't policy.

It's the UK way of democracy and has been for at least 60 years and maybe longer.

chewmylegoff

leader of political party who is currently prime minister wants to be prime minister for longer.

was this really worth a thread?

Moby

Generali wrote: »

UKIP will win somewhere between 0 and 0 seats at the next General Election unless the electoral system changes.

Of course if Scottish people vote for independence in 2014 then there's a very good chance that there will be a Tory Government at the next election even if people vote as they claim they will.

There are so many variables still in play including the Scottish Independence vote to give anything other than a considered guess about the next election. For those who are interested this site provides the best ongoing unbiased analysis:-

http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/

DervProf

Of course voters will go for the "easy" option. People on benefits will want to keep their benefits, if not have them increased. Homeowners will want a "loose reign" on bank lending practices, so they get lots of lovely HPI. People who are struggling to find work in the private sector would welcome an increase in public sector jobs. Pensioners certainly would vote for any party that promises them a decent rise in their state pension.

Although seemingly unpopular, the current government appear to realise that these "vote winners" come at a price, and given the current world economic climate, and the legacy left by the last government, I think they do need more time to "balance the books" and get the economy into a state where they can offer some of the things that the population desire.

A._Badger

DervProf wrote: »

Although seemingly unpopular, the current government appear to realise that these "vote winners" come at a price, and given the current world economic climate, and the legacy left by the last government, I think they do need more time to "balance the books" and get the economy into a state where they can offer some of the things that the population desire.

This may be true, but the fact is that their presentation has been monumentally inept, with a series of open goals presented to the opposition.

DervProf

A._Badger wrote: »

This may be true, but the fact is that their presentation has been monumentally inept, with a series of open goals presented to the opposition.

Ideally, governments should not be judged on presentation, it's results that should count. Sadly, we seem to live in a society where people want things that "look good", "now", instead of waiting for something that actually works well. I think that a few years of "pain" in the economy will leave us with something more sustainable for the future. I did not hear Cameron and Clegg promising "no more boom and bust". They told us that it won't be easy. They've had just two and a half years to sort things out. No, things aren't "booming" yet, but they've hardly wrecked the economy (yet !) like labour would have us believe.

A._Badger

DervProf wrote: »

Ideally, governments should not be judged on presentation, it's results that should count. Sadly, we seem to live in a society where people want things that "look good", "now", instead of waiting for something that actually works well. I think that a few years of "pain" in the economy will leave us with something more sustainable for the future. I did not hear Cameron and Clegg promising "no more boom and bust". They told us that it won't be easy. They've had just two and a half years to sort things out. No, things aren't "booming" yet, but they've hardly wrecked the economy (yet !) like labour would have us believe.

Perhaps, but we are where we are.

We have an increasingly uneducated electorate which, in so far as it takes any notice at all of politics, takes its opinions from dumbed-down newspapers, politically loaded broadcast media and juvenile comedians.

Blair's triumph was that he realised this and played the media like a violin (until Iraq). Cameron's team might well well end-up with the epitaph Sellar and Yeatman applied to Cromwell: "right but repulsive",

If you want to get elected today, simply being right is not enough..