Eu elections in the UK

[geni]

Ok it's the European elections and these are the options:

Conservative
Their campaign seems to be based on:
a) vote for us and hurt labour
b) we will stand up for Briton and the south east in Europe

Greens
Their campaign seems to be based on:
a) we were against the war
b) we are against privatisation
c) we are against top up fees
d) no to gm food, airport expansion, mobile phone masts, large numbers of new houses in the SE, the euro, gm crops

The liberal democrats
Their campaign seems to be based on:
a) the conservatives are evil
b) Our EMPs have done a good job so far

English democrats party
a)Their campaign seems to be based on:
The current system with a Scottish parliament and a welsh assemblerly in unfair on England

The senior citzens party
Their campaign seems to be based on:
a)Higher pensions
b) 40% of the population is made up of seniors

The British National Party
Their campaign seems to be based on:
a)asylum seekers are evil
b) we are not racist

The UK independence party:
Their campaign seems to be based on:
a) we will take you out of Europe

I haven't been sent any labour leaflets.

Comments:

I cant see why the English democrats party, UK independence party and the senior citizens party are running since the things they want can't be decided by Europe.

The BNP is racist.

The greens seem to be turning into a left of labour NIMBY party

The Lib Dems see to have perfected the art of campaign literature

The conservatives appear to being sandwiched between labour on one side and UKIP and the BNP on the other


Have a break for us politics

 

[aerocontrols]

Don't forget Respect.

 

[geni]

Don't forget Respect.

Are you really suggesting there is a reason I should remeber them?

 

[aerocontrols]

Are you really suggesting there is a reason I should remeber them?

It's my understanding that your goal was to list all the parties in the UK that are running for office in the European Parliament, and also that the Respect Party is doing that.

 

[charley_bigtime]

Ok it's the European elections and these are the options:

Conservative
Their campaign seems to be based on:
a) vote for us and hurt labour
b) we will stand up for Briton and the south east in Europe

I read no further. Looks like they're getting my vote.

 

[geni]

It's my understanding that your goal was to list all the parties in the UK that are running for office in the European Parliament, and also that the Respect Party is doing that.

Unfortunety I've already thown away there stuff.

From what I can remeber:

Their campaign seems to be based on:
a) get out of Iraq

b)£7 something or other minum wage

 

[iain]

How to vote :

Conservative - If you like Michael Howard, or you're anti-European, but can't quite stomach UKIP, or you're anti-Labour and don't like the Lib Dems.

Labour - If you like that nice Mr Blair and think he's done a good job.

Lib Dem - If you are pro-Europe and/or anti-war-in-Iraq.

Green - If the beard-and-sandals brigade appeals to you and the environment is your big thing.

UKIP - If you are stronly anti-European and don't mind voting for a party with slightly dodgy racist overtones.

BNP - If you think Hitler wasn't such a bad chap after all - maybe just a bit misunderstood.

Others - If your pen slips and you mark a cross in the wrong box by mistake.

 

[BillyTK]

[snip]
UKIP - If you are stronly anti-European and don't mind voting for a party with slightly dodgy racist overtones.
[/snip]

The fact that they have Robert Kilroy-Silk and Joan Collins (where does she live, exactly) as their <del>useful idiots</del> figureheads should tip everyone off that this bunch are the comedy option.

 

[Reginald]

Well given that people are supposed to be somewhat disillusioned with Mr Blair, and that IMO Howard really hasn't shone through as much as he could (let's face it he has enough material to work with and the best he can do is offer (maybe) some support for a fuel protest) and that the level of apathy about EU elections in the UK is......well........I cant even be bothered to describe it, I would expect these smaller groups to do well. If you can call getting 3% of the 25% that bother to turn out "doing well".

No monster raving loony party candidates?

Guess I'll be staying at home then.

 

[mummymonkey]

I always vote because as my old dad used to say to me, "If you don't vote you can't moan." And I like a good moan.
My wife's an election officer and every election she trousers the thick end of two hundred quid. Expensive things, elections.

 

[geni]

No monster raving loony party candidates?

They couldn't aford to enter.

 

[demon]

'Invisible man' attack on Blair
By Paul Waugh And Joe Murphy, Evening Standard
7 June 2004
Tony Blair was dubbed "the invisible man" today after all references to him were kept out of Labour's TV broadcasts and campaign leaflets for this week's elections.

Amid polls showing voters are set to punish the Government over Iraq, the decision underlines fears that the Prime Minister is the party's biggest liability at the ballot box.

Both the Tories and Liberal Democrats went on the attack after Labour's final election broadcast today yet again failed to include a Blair appearance.

The Evening Standard has also learned his picture and signature have been left off party leaflets in all 11 regions ahead of Thursday's local and Euro elections.

The move ends years where the party leader was Labour's biggest asset and vote winner. Lib-Dem campaign organiser Lord Rennard said it was "extraordinary" that the Prime Minister of the day was such a vote loser that all references to him had to be dropped.

"Tony Blair's unpopularity on the Iraq war and issues such as top-up fees is doing Labour real damage," he said.

Tory party chairman Liam Fox said Mr Blair was now the "invisible man" of Labour's campaign. "The absence of Tony Blair from any of Labour's election broadcasts clearly shows he is losing authority within his own party."

But Cabinet Office minister Douglas Alexander insisted that although Mr Blair was not in the TV broadcast, he and other senior ministers were out on the campaign trail getting Labour's message across.

"Elections are not simply a judgment on one individual or one party," Mr Alexander said.

Link: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/11194462?source=Evening Standard

 

[geni]

Invisble man? invible party I still haven't seen any labour campaining stuff yet.

 

[UndercoverElephant]

I think the labour party are going to get a right royal stuffing.

I think also think the conservative party are going to suffer at the hands of UKIP. The greens and the libdems will pick up lots of votes coming from people who feel that the war in Iraq was illegal and immoral, and who want to see the labour party get rid of Tony Blair because they are scared he has become an electoral liability.

The interesting thing about these elections is that most people aren't interested and don't vote. So the ones who do vote are the ones who have an active interest in politics, and most of those are either anti-european UKIP voters or anti-war people who want to give Tony Blair a bloody nose for providing political cover for George Bushs illegal war.

Should be an interesting night. Personally I am voting green, because where I live the greens usually come third after labour and conservative. Under no circumstances could I ever vote conservative, and while Tony Blair remains leader of the labour party I cannot vote labour. It is not a wasted vote either - there is a very good chance that my constintuency will return at least one green MEP, and maybe even two. What would be really interesting is if UKIP steals the conservative vote and propels the greens into 2nd place behind labour. It is not impossible that the greens could even come first in Brighton itself. I live in hippyville.

 

[Darat]

'Invisible man' attack on Blair
By Paul Waugh And Joe Murphy, Evening Standard
7 June 2004
Tony Blair was dubbed "the invisible man" today after all references to him were kept out of Labour's TV broadcasts and campaign leaflets for this week's elections.

...snip...

So let’s just ignore the big "profile" pieces on both ITV and BBC news programmes, radio interviews, yesterday large segments of him campaigning on all major TV news bulletins and so on.

 

[The Don]

For the first time in my life I'm not going to vote Labour (I've even been a party member 20 years and I'm knocking that on the head). For me it's a combination of the Iraq Factor, timidity over Europe, the ridiculous posturing w.r.t asylum/immigrants and my feelings of revulsion regarding p.f.i.

So what are my options

- BNP, errrrrr no
- UKIP, don't really fit with my internationalist view
- Conservatives, like Labour but worse
- Greens, I cannot stand their "anti-science" standpoint

Which leaves me with

- SLD, who are the political equivalents of the home town rivals

Come the general election I shall of course by voting tactically in the hope of keeping the Tories out.

 

[Darat]

For the first time in my life I'm not going to vote Labour (I've even been a party member 20 years and I'm knocking that on the head). For me it's a combination of the Iraq Factor, timidity over Europe, the ridiculous posturing w.r.t asylum/immigrants and my feelings of revulsion regarding p.f.i.

…snip…

I now live in a Tory safe seat but still will vote Labour.

The Iraq war - never agreed with the reasons given for why it was necessary. However I'm glad Saddam is out of power.

Europe - I like TB's approach - which seems to be more of a "we will decide each proposal on its merits" with a principle that the EU is overall a good thing and Britian should be part of it.

Asylum seekers & immigrants - I blame the media, there is not a major problem with asylum seekers & immigrants in this country and there never has been.

Domestic issues - schools, GP surgeries, hospital waiting times, policing, criminal system - all better then ever before, still major issues etc. but still the improvements since Labour came into power are startling. Don't people remember the Tory legacy? E.g. winter bed shortages, school buildings leaking, lack of teachers, lack of nurses, lack of policemen, UK school truancy amongst the worse in Europe and 3 million unemployed, this list goes on. Labour has, by spending more, rectified some of the damage done by the years and years of Tory scandalous under funding of key services.

Labour is not perfect and PFI is a prime example of it getting it totally and utterly wrong.

I still can not see what other party could have achieved more then Labour has done. (According to their various manifestos and promises during the time Labour has been in power.)

 

[The Don]

Asylum seekers & immigrants - I blame the media, there is not a major problem with asylum seekers & immigrants in this country and there never has been.

Exactly, then why are the Labour Party so desperate to introduce such "eye catching" and draconian measures as these, these or these

 

[Darat]

Exactly, then why are the Labour Party so desperate to introduce such "eye catching" and draconian measures as these, these or these

Totally agree that Labour has reacted with stupidity to the media scares. But that's the problem with a free (to print whatever the barons want) press, they've created a "problem" the government needs to solve it. Personally I’d find out where the press bosses lived and implement a very tough regime on “illegal workers” in those areas – I’m pretty sure that as soon as the bosses realise they’d have to pay living wages to employ legal cleaners, nannies, gardeners, pool cleaners, people to serve them their café latte and the like they’d soon stop creating the problem.

However seriously I do start with the premise that the other parties would put much worse "solutions" in place.

(And don't get me started on ID cards... actually there are quite a few things I'm not happy with... perhaps I should think about this some more ... nah me grandfather voted labour, me father voted labour so I'll vote labour... )

 

[The Don]

I agree that, in the last 80 years or so only two parties have experience of governing and that to vote for anyone else is a leap in the dark.

If one were to take a bleak view, one could say that through a mixture of incompetence, inertia and Sir Humphreyness, political parties almost always fail to get done what they set out to. On that basis one should chose the party whose outlook most closely mathes one's own ideals (always accepting that a 100% match is impossible)

I consider myself to be a slightly left wing (economically) libertarian (socially). On that basis the Labour Party seems to have failed me almost completely being increasingly authoritarian (for f*** sakes I soon won't be able to have a tab with me pint if Tone has his way) and slightly right wing (market forces don'tcha know). The things I am most concerned about (in no particular order) are:

- Identity cards (thanks for reminding me about this) - completely against
- Our increasingly draconian (and ineffective) asylum laws - new people bring new skills and new ideas
- Our continuing closeness to that idiot in the White House - I'm not anti-American, just anti Shrub-Junta
- PFI, PFI, PFI - the civil service is incompetent, business is worse lets put them together *sigh*
- Our shilly-shallying about Europe
- Our disregard for international law - "The big lad made me do it" is not a defence

On all of these points (and it is to be admitted - from the comfort of opposition where real world practicalities come into it) the SLDs are more in tune with my thinking. I consider the SLDs now to be the party of the left on the grounds that the "good old lefties" in the Labour Party are now an ignored rump