Who will win the UK election ?

Cyberman60

vivatifosi wrote: »

michaels... you missed the bit where they removed the 10% tax band and increased the pain for those on min/low wage.

That was Labour who brought it in and then got rid of it. They love to meddle. :rotfl:

Cyberman60

Sapphire wrote: »

When it comes to this, yes, I do have utter contempt for 'champagne socialists'. I cannot stand the hypocrisy of someone affluent – sometimes very wealthy – calling themselves a 'socialist' while doing nothing to redistribute their own wealth among the 'poor'. All they tend to do is talk, and vote, both of which actions require no expense from them.

Indeed, Blair (now worth 30 million or so), Mandelson (lied on his mortgage application but now has a paid-up house worth 5 million or so), Harman (kids at private school), Prescott (two Jags) to coin a few notable examples. Hypocrites, the lot of them !! :rotfl:

Loughton_Monkey

michaels wrote: »

This is the problem, the Tories have taken away my child benefit which labour would never have done.....

So vote Labour this time, and they'll give it you back, won't they?

Having no children, I am perfectly happy with this. Believe me, the money is far better spent giving vulnerable pensioners like Mrs LM and I embarrasingly high interest rates on our Granny Bonds. The only thing wrong is that they limit it to only £20K, which is pretty much 'small change' to us boomers.

I do wonder the degree to which Margaret Thatcher is spinning in her grave about Cameron. What would she make of him? My own view is that she'd have him marked down as a soft public schoolboy and so damned wet she would never have put him into any ministerial role.

She would have had the debt down to zero by now. Complete abolition of child benefit. Tuition Fees for 5 to 18 year olds [starting at £2K, escalating to £8K at age 18], just to get them 'used to it'. National Service for all unemployed adults. Corporation Tax down to 15% to attract thousand more businesses to base themselves here.

Britain would be booming again.

... large gin & tonics all round... :rotfl:

Thrugelmir

vivatifosi wrote: »

michaels... you missed the bit where they removed the 10% tax band and increased the pain for those on min/low wage.

I like the vow made never to increase the basic rate of income tax. Never did, Instead increased Employees National Insurance. Hid it in the budget by changing the rates a year ahead as well. So was buried in the small print of the budget and never noticed. Hardly surprising there's no trust left in politicians.

ukcarper

Yea just like won't increase VAT and no top down reorganisation of NHS.

Generali

ukcarper wrote: »

I'd say SNP and Plaid Cymru are nearer to what I would call socialism and although I like some of their ideas I realise that the deficit needs to be cut I also think Labour know that all be it at a slower rate than the Tories.

No idea what will happen after election looking pretty bad apart from Europe Labour seem to have more in common with Tories than SNP, Labour/Tory coalition could be best way forward never going to happen though.

Don't rule it out. The SNP are going to have a lot of very inexperienced MPs at Westminster and getting them into any sort of sensible agreement is likely to be hard simply because they don't know what they are doing. Some sort of Grand Coalition after the election wouldn't surprise me in the least.

ukcarper

Generali wrote: »

Don't rule it out. The SNP are going to have a lot of very inexperienced MPs at Westminster and getting them into any sort of sensible agreement is likely to be hard simply because they don't know what they are doing. Some sort of Grand Coalition after the election wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Could be good if it happened but I would surprise me mind you they alternatives don't look to good.

Thrugelmir

Generali wrote: »

Don't rule it out. The SNP are going to have a lot of very inexperienced MPs at Westminster and getting them into any sort of sensible agreement is likely to be hard simply because they don't know what they are doing. Some sort of Grand Coalition after the election wouldn't surprise me in the least.

How will the markets react to such an event?

Generali

ukcarper wrote: »

Could be good if it happened but I would surprise me mind you they alternatives don't look to good.

Put it another way. If you ran the majority group in Parliament, would you choose to deal with a regional nationalist party whose members have almost no experience in politics let alone running the UK or a group fresh out of Government with whom you agree on many of the Big Picture things?

BobQ

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

It's nothing to do with income any more. It's more to do with who you vote for....

Vote Conservative and you're "Middle Class."
Vote Labour, and you're a "Working Cla$$hole"

I agree class is not a very helpful concept these days and certainly does not relate to income.

I remember a time when most people were working class. Middle class was a term reserved for that small band of people who were professionally qualified white collar workers (accountants, solicitors, doctors, bank managers headteachers) or those with income from wealth. So those who had a secure income. In those days people were referred to as "working class Tories".

But in the last 30 years (with the reductions in manual work) the term middle class has been redefined and adopted by a lot of people as a way of enhancing their social status. I once saw an unemployed teenager on benefits claim to be middle class because they did not work!

The reality is that most people who call themselves middle class work for a living.

But they are just labels and I suspect that most people who vote Tory call themselves Middle Class and some are.