So, who IS going to win the next election?

[MicrosoftBob]

I think it will depend on who UKIP steal the most votes from, the way it's heading I wouldn't be surprised if they picked up a lot of disillusioned working class labour voters

[Gittins Gal]

Well yeah. I actually held out some hope in 2010 but I feel this lot are completely spineless, don't know what they stand for and spend all their time issuing soundbites to appease the populist press while not actually doing anything.

Ok, the economy is on the mend. The cynic in me thinks this has a lot to do with this artificially inflated housing bubble in London and the SE. People have short memories - ISTR Labour doing something similar back in 2009 with their raft of Keynsian measures they used to stimulate growth before the last election.

In short, I'm fed up with voting for the least bad option (which is basically voting Tory in my case). I'm not saying I'm going to vote UKIP - the jury's still out on the EU Here. Yes it is undemocratic in a sense and I really don't like the way the public has been hoodwinked over its ultimate goal. That said, the blame for a lot of the things that people moan about and attribute to our membership of the EU can be laid at the door of our own home grown miserablists. Leaving the EU ain't gonna fix that. In fact having lived and worked in Europe, we really seem to be the continent's specialists in providing a stock trade in meddlesome, miserablist bureaucracy.

So yes, I think the Tories will lose a lot of votes to UKIP. And it serves them right. Me, I'm going to register a protest vote of some description and , yes, it may help to let Labour in. Which will be worse but maybe so bad we actually get somebody with some Conservative principles running the Conservative Party once useless Dave has been duly defenestrated.

[eek]

but maybe so bad we actually get somebody with some Conservative principles running the Conservative Party once useless Dave has been duly defenestrated.

Have you not noticed that for the last 20 odd years parties have adopted the policies and views of their opponents when seeking re-election. Tony Blair moved the Labour party towards the Conservatives to win, the Conservatives did the same to win in 2010....

[Gittins Gal]

Have you not noticed that for the last 20 odd years parties have adopted the policies and views of their opponents when seeking re-election. Tony Blair moved the Labour party towards the Conservatives to win, the Conservatives did the same to win in 2010....

I think you could say that Labour accepted free market capitalism but on everything else they were true to their leftist roots. And then some....

[NickFitz]

33% voter turn out.

Yes, fond memories of Cowdenbeath. A constituency of Dunny-on-the-Wold, a rotten borough consisting of a tiny plot of land with several farm animals - 3 mangy cows, a Dachsund named Colin, a small hen in it's late fourties - and only three voters.

"Turnout 20,062 (34.78%)" - looks like the cows voted early and often

[Platypus]

All the councils up north are being forced to cut back on things as their grants from central government got decimated.

It *seems* that they cut back on libraries and swimming pools and social care (i.e. front line services) while maintaining an army of highly paid execs and well paid middle managers. Oh but the majority of public sector workers earn peanuts, I hear people exclaim! Well yes but I'm not moaning about them, I'm moaning about the otherwise unemployable who earn 40-50-60k being in charge of parks and countryside rights-of-way and loads of other bollox. Well it's not bollux, but being paid so highly to do it is bollox.

And that makes me very

And the nonsense about "well we are in charge of a multi-million organisation, just like private sector CEOs" well no you're not because you don't have to worry about getting the money in, just spending it.

Sheesh. Pass me my copy of the DM please

[VectraMan]

1. UKIP take lots of votes off The Tories. Labour get in. Economy screwed.
2. Tories continue to move further right wing to head off the perceived threat of a small but very vocal minority of UKIPists. Voting conservative becomes less palatable to the sensible moderate majority who stay at home. Labour wins. Economy screwed.
3. The LibDems, no longer the party that it was safe to vote for because there was no chance they'd get into power, lose a lot of support, mostly to labour. Labour wins. Economy screwed.

Probably the best hope is that Ed Milliband does or says something so monumentally stupid that even with the combined help of UKIP and the LibDems, he still fails to win the election.

[BA to the Stars]

Probably the best hope is that Ed Milliband does or says something so monumentally stupid that even with the combined help of UKIP and the LibDems, he still fails to win the election.

Everytime he opens his mouth

[Flashman]

Almost any result is acceptable provided it buries the Lib Dems once and for all.

The sooner that tiny bunch of leftie, Europhile, perverted, climate change extremists is buried the better the country will be.


But seeing as people voted for Nick Clegg last time as he came across well on the 'Tellie' I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them holding the whip hand over Labour in 2015.

[Doggy Styles]

• LibDems will lose votes thanks to 'selling out to the Tories', and many of their seats will go to Labour.
• UKIP won't win many seats, if any, but they will take a lot of votes from Tories, allowing Labour to win several seats.
• SNP are losing credibility for some reason, they'll probably lose seats to Labour.
• Most Labour voters are tribal, and wouldn't change their votes to the Tories under any circumstances.
• There is too much 'good news' coming out, which for many floating voters means the economy is fixed and it's safe to indulge themselves in Labour largesse again.

So it's all looking good for Ed.