On 6 May 2015 at 9:20pm Ol' Frankie Blue Eyes wrote:
And now, the time is near, to cast vote of which I'm certain . . .
Oh yes I certainly know who I shall be voting for . . . do you ?
On 6 May 2015 at 11:02pm Malling voter wrote:
Labour. I can't bring myself to vote for Norman via the Conservative party and the dangerous decisions he will vote on in my name if I vote for him. Really nice fella and a good constituency MP but the former outweighs the latter unfortunately.
On 6 May 2015 at 11:05pm Clifford wrote:
Malling voter, do you mean poor Norman went to all the trouble of resigning as a minister so he could pretend the coalition was nothing to do with him, lost all that ministerial pay, and now you're going to hold five years of working hand in glove with the Tories against him?
On 6 May 2015 at 11:38pm 8 miles from home wrote:
It's the day when the silent voter becomes an Ukip voter. Let the fun begin.
On 7 May 2015 at 6:47am Sussex Jim wrote:
Vote today according to YOUR political beliefs. Remember, it's a secret ballot. But above all, go and vote.
On 7 May 2015 at 6:56am my town wrote:
Vote u k I p the people party
On 7 May 2015 at 7:09am Earl of Lewes wrote:
I'm betting that Norman Baker gets in, but with a reduced majority. Greens will keep Brighton and Labour will gain Hastings. I'll be along to collect my winnings tomorrow
On 7 May 2015 at 7:52am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
I've just been to vote and there was already a queue, which I hope is indicative of a high turnout. The town council ballot paper is about a yard long!
My prediction for Lewes and Hastings is the same as yours, Earl, but I'm not so certain about Brighton Pavilion. Lucas is an excellent MP, but the party's failure to run the council effectively may swing things against her. I hope not.
On 7 May 2015 at 7:58am Earl of Lewes wrote:
Agreed - the Greens' farcical management of the waste collection lost them a lot of friends, but Lucas still seems popular and the polls indicate that she'll win.
On 7 May 2015 at 8:58am Belladonna wrote:
No queues in Cliffe yet. Norman needs to take note of his disgruntled constituents if he gets back in - with his vastly reduced majority.
I predict Hove will also go Labour. Which would be a good indicator of a Labour win
On 7 May 2015 at 9:45am Uquit wrote:
Nice to see that no UKIP are standing for Town Council, kind of proves that Lewes is, in the main, a tolerant town (other than this forum which is full of crazed bigots)
On 7 May 2015 at 9:58am Paul Newman wrote:
Hallo , ( yes back again)
I have no visceral objection to the Labour Party as it really is. My problem with an SNP vote by vote purchase and supply arrangement, aside from it being undemocratic, is that it will be an unstable with little authority in England.
If you think about it, the ability of a Nation to borrow is much more to do with stability than the amount of money within its borders. Nigeria is awash with oil but no-on in their right mind would but Nigerian Government bonds.
We are not Nigeria or Greece, although we are not so different to Greece as people think.
Instability is poison in the market .A reduced ability to borrow and finance debt will put pressure on taxes such as VAT and NI which we cannot avoid, will force up interest rates and cut time for getting back into the black. I would vote for almost any Party to avoid that result as would many other centrist folk from all parties .
Overall to me it looks as if the system is just not functioning. We need radical electoral reform and we also need good will and reasonableness to achieve this. Let’s hope there is a sufficient supply.
Happy voting
On 7 May 2015 at 10:35am d wrote:
Ukip!
On 7 May 2015 at 11:39am Actually wrote:
From the FT today: "the coalition has ended up delivering not its own plans but those of Labour’s March 2010 Budget, as is shown in a New Policy Institute paper."
Both parties, then, are lying.
On 7 May 2015 at 11:55am Momogiraf wrote:
I have just voted, and a neighbour announced she'd voted for 'Nigel' (actually its some bloke who lives in Havant). To the incredulity of other on-listeners, she said 'too many people flooding into the country!' And Then the proof: 'have you seen the traffic in Lewes recently?'
On 7 May 2015 at 12:01pm Paul Newman wrote:
Actually - I have been aware of that for a long while which is why the endless talk of austerity has been badly misinformed The FT is supporting the coalition (although it tends to be rather Keynsian ..Ed Balls worked there ).
To take one example , the £12b supposedly to be cut from welfare. There is zero chance of that actually happening and both manifestos have been sheer fiction. Honestly the reporting has been atrocious.
What we should all really be worrying about th is the 2.5% growth both parties have assumed . That looks very bold and if it is then we could hit a crisis sooner than we hoped. If we don`t have proper government by then ...gulp
On 7 May 2015 at 12:26pm Zebedee 2 wrote:
For once I agree with Newman. The system is not working. We desperately need electoral reform.
Just over half the people in the country generally bother to vote. Of those that vote usually less than half are represented by the party that form the government. Then even if the local politician you voted for gets a seat he can't represent you as he's often forced to follow the party line by the government whip.
And then of course you have one house that is not elected at all (the Lords, silly).
This is not a democracy, it's a sham. The sooner we have a properly proportional system with solely elected representatives the better. Until then we'll be stuck with the Labour/Tory seesaw, that gets us nowhere and only perpetuates the confrontational 'us and them' baggage the class system has left us with.
Personally I hope that it'll be impossible to form a government and that as a result calls to sort out our electoral system become to loud to ignore.
It's either that or time to revolt. Out with the pitchforks my friends.
On 7 May 2015 at 1:18pm Paul Newman wrote:
There is certainly mounting call for change but you do face the unrelenting opposition of Conservative ( and Labour above all), I should imagine the SNP and PC will not want their advantage to be taken away either. Add to that the genuinely difficult task of coming up with the right formula presumably with two houses and at least two if not three National Parliaments.
The its not as if PR is without faults or that FPTP is without advantages, for example the fact that an MP has to get real people to vote for him
We cannot go on, however with Greens plus UKIP getting at times 20% of the vote and about 3 seats between them while a Hebridean SNP voter has a constituency of 22,000 his own Parliament and is part of bloc whereby 4% of the vote sending about 60 MPs to Westminster
Wales is even more over represented
Its ridiculous and you simply cannot govern without a better level of consent than that
On 7 May 2015 at 2:07pm Clifford wrote:
Actually, I think what the FT means is that Labour would have achieved the same thing as the Tories and their Lib Dem poodles without cutting the public sector so drastically. After all, the Tories said the deficit would be gone now, whereas they have achieved only half that - which was the Labour target, wasn't it? The target that, according to Osborne, would have turned us into Greece.
On 7 May 2015 at 2:34pm Paul Newman wrote:
Not for the first time Clifford, you think wrong.
On 7 May 2015 at 4:30pm Southover Queen wrote:
I think PR was indeed resisted but I have a hunch that even in Labour/Conservative HQs people might be reconsidering. PR favours - nay pretty well delivers - a two party system. I think what this dismal campaign has shown is that this country no longer votes along either/or lines, and if there's a hung parliament after this my guess is that the appetite for change will be considerable.
On 7 May 2015 at 4:55pm pervy pete wrote:
Before I voted I studied each of our candidates closely and what they stood for. I gauged each against the other to decide who would be the best mp for Lewes while considering the national picture.
So in the end I voted for Maria Caulfield because she looks like a right little go'er.
On 7 May 2015 at 7:45pm Sussex Jim wrote:
Southover Queen, you may be quite right. Perhaps another coalition may well turn our country around. But we must address the issue of a significant percentage of the population being supported by those who work and pay taxes.
We must also address the problems of increased population caused by net immigration. If you increase the population by 10%, then we need 10% more school places, hospitals- even more GPs'- etc.
Can we do these things? We beat the Hun 70 years ago- yes, we can restore our land of hope and glory!
On 7 May 2015 at 7:47pm Sussex Jim wrote:
P.S.- We still have two hours in which to vote.
On 7 May 2015 at 8:40pm Uquit wrote:
You're right Sussex Jim, all those bloody pensioners taking all our tax money in benefits. Exterminate the lot of the money grabbing so and so's they don't even work anymore
On 7 May 2015 at 8:44pm Young and angry wrote:
The problem with democracy is that they let Daily Mail, Express and Sun readers vote
On 7 May 2015 at 9:59pm Sussex Jim wrote:
Uquit, I was referring to a far younger section of our community that think being on benefits is a lifestyle choice. Most pensioners have done their bit and earned their pension.
On 8 May 2015 at 9:02am Earl of Lewes wrote:
Looks as if I won't be collecting my winnings after all. I'll have to switch to scratch cards.
On 8 May 2015 at 4:15pm Momogiraf wrote:
I have just voted, and a neighbour announced she'd voted for 'Nigel' (actually its some bloke who lives in Havant). To the incredulity of other on-listeners, she said 'too many people flooding into the country!' And Then the proof: 'have you seen the traffic in Lewes recently?'