Political Parties

[Half Penny Jon]

Hi everyone,

Which political party would you want to replace Tony Blair in next general election? I would vote for the Liberal Democracts because even though they would raise taxes by a small amount, it would pay for essential services and would improve the state of the whole country. Also, student fees would be abolished! What does everyone else think?

HPJ (800th post)

[Emperor Oli]

Conservatives

Not Lib Dems if they were the last party on Earth. A drunk, ill leader? Hardly the model PM, is he? The Conservatives will also scrap University Fees. The Lib Dems want to change our voting system from the traditional "First past the Post" to Proportional Representation because they can't be the ruling party any other way. PR doesn't work (look at the Weimar Republic!) and they are fools for thinking that it will

[Half Penny Jon]

Some relevant points there Oli. The UKIP think that advertising will win them more seats in Europe though

[Master Jmd]

Conservative

mostly the same with Oli...and i would never vote labour if Tony Blair contionues like he is at the moment, i think that he is getting a bit too 'lovey-dovey' with George Bush and i think that he is becoming too powerful...

[Sylvester]

I don't like any of them...

For Europe the UKIP, I want out of Europe altogether.

At home it's more tricky, the labour party is not actually a labour party, it is not a socialist party like it should be, if anything it's just inserted itself nicely into the previous Conservative party's place. Which has left the Conservative party pretty much in a mess.

The Liberals are... well i'm not really sure what the liberals are to be honest. If they were good old fashioned liberals then i'd be very happy to vote for them. But they are the 'New Liberals', the pro-everything party as far as i can tell. Plus they want the euro, they've made it quite clear that they see having the euro as a way forward to an integrated Europe, in a way you have to commend them for their honesty rather than Blair's we'll pretend the people have a choice but in actual fact...

The Conservatives, well i dislike the obsession they have got with lower taxes. Lower taxes means public spending cuts, means less cash into the NHS, = more privatisation and the destruction of the health service amongst other issues.

The Tories also seem to favour not taxing the rich as heavily as they should be taxed. (there were some figures somewhere to show that during Thatcher's period the poor overall were paying a higher percentage of their income in tax than the rich people). I think the rich should pay the same percentage, even the Royal Family should pay tax.

So in a nutshell, i hate Labour, i disagree with the liberals and the Conservatives are still dominated by new rights such as Lord Tebbit, enough said.

But currently the euro thing is the hinge i'm voting on so my vote goes to the Tories, for now.

I don't trust what any of the parties say anyhow, the conservatives are liars, labour are liars and so is the liberal party. You can't trust any of em.

[Master Jmd]

For Europe the UKIP, I want out of Europe altogether.

Yes, i do not see what Europe has to do with the good old British Empire...to me Britain is not, and will never be a part of Europe.

[Half Penny Jon]

We do need to keep on trading with Europe, but what we don't need is an MEP telling us what we can and can't do when it isn't even their own country!

[Chris Perkins]

For Europe the UKIP, I want out of Europe altogether.

Yes, i do not see what Europe has to do with the good old British Empire...to me Britain is not, and will never be a part of Europe.

What planet are you from Jmd???

There is no British Empire any more, despite us being an Island, we are part of the continent of Europe, and to not trade with Europe would be about the most stupid thing we could do economically.

The UK is the only sizable island in Europe and of course that makes us a little 'special' but we are in Europe, and we need to be.

I won't address some of the other bollocks previously stated, I just can't be bothered to type an arguement!

[Half Penny Jon]

I won't address some of the other bollocks previously stated, I just can't be bothered to type an arguement!

I think all of my points have been relevant Chris?

[Master Jmd]

What planet are you from Jmd???

There is no British Empire any more, despite us being an Island, we are part of the continent of Europe, and to not trade with Europe would be about the most stupid thing we could do economically.

Earth last time i looked

I had said 'the old British empire', not to mean that the British empire still exists, but to say that I would prefer to keep the 'British Empire' and not let it fade away into the Europian Union.

[Half Penny Jon]

There is no "British Empire", that ended a long long time ago!

[Master Jmd]

There is no "British Empire", that ended a long long time ago!

Argh ...i meant not to let the 'British Empire' title faid away and be 'forgotten' history...

[Half Penny Jon]

I am sure it won't ever be forgotten, you can be sure of that Master JMD!

[Sylvester]

I never said we shouldn't trade with Europe.

It's just i think we can cope without being partb of Europe (that is the European Union), just because we might trade with Asia or Africa or the Americas doesn't me we should be politically and constitutionally part of them. Same with Europe.

[Emperor Oli]

If we can get Europe to work for us, as it is doing magnificently for the French and Germans, it would be a huge boon to Britain. That's what the Tories want to do if they get into power - "tough negitiation" is their line and it's worked before, so it can work again. Oh and HPJ, MEP's have no power whatsoever so they can't tell you what to do even if they wanted to.

[Coppers]

When exactly is the next general election in the UK?

[Master Jmd]

When exactly is the next general election in the UK?

hmm, if i remember corectly, tony blair came into power in 1997, so the next general election should be in 2007...but i am not 100% sure

[Coppers]

2007! Here in your former colonies we have only to wait another six months or so. Forgive my ignorance of British politics and law, but does the concept of "term limits" apply? In other words, is there any limit to the number of years or terms that Blair can hold the position of Prime Minister?

[Master Jmd]

Bliar was voted to stay prime mnister in 2002, general elections occur every five years (i think)

[Sylvester]

Actually Master JMD has got it wrong.

Tony Blair was elected in 1997 (the first time)

he was re-elected in 2001 (the second in-ings)

Next election is May 2005 (or possibly 2006) that's if Blair makes it that far and doesn't get pushed aside as an electoral liability, like the Tories did with Thatcher in 1990/1.

A government has to call a general election every 4 or 5 years (although i think that's more out of custom, i don't think there is actually a legal requirement for them to do so?)

Looking at the results for the local elections which are slowly coming in. (these figures reported on GMTV)

Labour (Blair) had 780+ seats, they have lost over 200.

Conservatives (Howard) they had about 600 seats they are now up 101 seats.

Liberals had about 200, they've gone up 69.

Not all the results are in yet for the locals, Birmingham and Newcastle are the biggest dangers for the Government. Question is, can the Tories grab Birmingham and can the Liberals grab Newcastle?

I have a feeling that my local consituency probably has the liberals back in office again, infact i can't remember when they weren't.

[Sylvester]

Oh and as far as i'm aware there are no term limits.

I think Thatcher got in three times consecutively...

1979, 1983 and 1987... i think they ditched her before the 1992 election. (can't have been 1991 because the maths don't work to 1997)

I'm guessing (i dunno where you can find the dates exactly) but i think they held office for 5 years in 1987-1992, then held it for another 5 years till 1997 before calling an election.

[Master Jmd]

Oh right, i thought it was every 5 years...

[Master Jmd]

hehe, according to the southeasterly news; 'For the first time in 7 years, labour is in 3rd place'

[Geoff T]

When exactly is the next general election in the UK?

hmm, if i remember corectly, tony blair came into power in 1997, so the next general election should be in 2007...but i am not 100% sure

The UK doesn't have fixed-term parliaments, unlike the USA where the president holds office for four years before another presidential election and can then only stand for one more period of office. The only stipulaton is that a general election must be called after a party has been in office for five years.

This means that a prime minister can call a general election at any time during a parliament up to the maximum of five years. In practice this means that an election can be called at a time which suits the party in power.

In recent years there have been wide variations in the length of parliaments. In 1979 James Callaghan went the full five years before losing to the Conservatives in May of that year, ushering in the Thatcher period. In 1974 Labour under Harold Wilson scraped in with the smallest of majorities, so Wilson called another election that same year as a means of legitimising his position through an increased majority - which he achieved. That was the first year I was able to vote, so I got two general elections for the price of one.

[Sylvester]

Well the local election results for South Yorkshire are in (as they are for most places), Sheffield is still held by the Labour Party, but my local ward has had all three liberal candidates reinstated yet again by miles.

All the liberals having well over 2000 votes a piece, labour trailing with just over a 1100 votes each for all three candidates. One Tory with 1000, next the Green party with 900 votes, and the other two Tory candidates trailing way back with 700 votes a piece.

In the Barnsley area the Tories were slaughtered with most right wing votes going to the BNP. In turn they themselves were destroyed by the labour votes.

Most votes however went to the liberals and the independents.

I think Doncaster is now under the liberals, labour has been ousted.