A positive election post

Unlike many other countries our political system has developed around
fptp and to try and change that is not going to be easy .

Many people vote for a particular party on the basis of thier
percieved social class or along family lines and not the policies of
the parties


I think in any reform , England has got to be given its own
parliament as Scotland has , Wales assembly should also become a
parliament .


That way each country can adopt the policies that its voters want and
not what may be imposed by other countries within the UK

 

? The reason we need political reform is because under our current system
it is possible for a party to gain power (have a majority of seats in the
HoC) with far fewer having voted for it than voted for another, single
party. For example, the difference between Labour and Tories in 2005 was
only 3% in favour of Labour but it gave Labour 32% more seats. There was a
scenario where Labour could have still "won" that election even if they had
won many fewer votes than the Tories. I think a system that makes a result
of that possible NEEDS reform.

 

Looking at the Statistics , Wales and Scotland have voted for a
Labour government , allow them the right to have such , England on
the other hand has voted for a conservative government with
something like a 64 seat majority , allow England therefore to have a
conservative government .


Its wrong that England imposes its will on other countries within the
Union and its wrong that Scotland and Wales are imposing or have in
the past imposed there political wills upon England

 

Dyslexia is a bastard to live with

 

Under the current system we don't vote for PM so the PM doesn't need a
"mandate".

The PM can't use the Parliament Act unless he/she has a majority on the HoC

The problem with your argument is that "if the other parties decide to form
an anti-Tory opposition" and that opposition happens to have a majority in
the HoC then it can form a government and there is nothing that the Tories
can do about it. The Tories can't claim a right to power under the first
past the post sytem if they can't command a majority in the HoC. Of course
if the Lib Dems decided to abstain on the Queen's Speech then the Tories
could form a minority government as they would then have a majority in the
HoC. However, you can't really use the logic of "more people want this
single party than any other single party" or "they got more votes" to demand
a particular outcome in a FPTP system when there is no overall winner. My
reference to the 52% that a Lib-Lab coalition could claim just shows the
weakness of trying to use this kind of argument The bottom line is that
whichever grouping can get a Queen's Speech through the HoC will be able to
form a government.

I think that FPTP worked reasonably well when we had a more or less
two-party system. However, once you get three or more parties of
significant size involved it becomes progressively less fair and less
representative of the "will of the people".

 

No the UK has a parliament , Scotland has a parliament , Wales has an
assembly , Northern Ireland has an Assembly England although having
85% of the population is not individually represented within the Union


Why should the English accept that Scots Welsh nd Irish Mps can vote
on English matters but the English cant vote on thier matters

 

Many centre-left floating and tactical voters would hate it too and decide
not to vote Lib-Dem again. Meanwhile many centre-right floating and
tactical voters will probably decide that they might as well vote Tory next
time. Cue loss of many Lib-Dem seats at the next election.

 

Because he'd be ignoring what the large majority of non-LD voters want,
which is hardly in the spirit of PR.

Also, & I may have this completely wrong, three of the LD's top four
'wants' (taxes, 'early start' scheme & how to tackle the economy)
appear to align more with the Tories than Labour (or at least not
less), & the fourth (PR) doesn't align with either.

 

See reply to ogden. For all practical purposes we do vote for a PM.

Sorry didn't mean Parliament Act, I meant Orders in Council.

Which is what I don't agree with.

 

If some of the rumoursphere is to be believed, Mr Clegg didn't take
too kindly to being shouted at over the phone by the monocular
mutineer.

Further rumours suggest GB currently being installed in an executive
suite in a Jockish equivalent of the Crowthorne Hilton.

At least poor Sarah can toddle back to her "friend" in Canterbury with
her sons and turkey baster.

 

Yebbut it doesn't work like that. The creation of NHS Foundation
Trusts came about because all the Scottish Labour MPs voted in favour
of them even though Scotland wasn't going to get them. If they hadn't
then we wouldn't have FTs. It was a complete travesty.

 

Hundreds of years? Less than two hundred. Arguably less than one
hundred.

I'm sure the same arguments were used before the Reform Acts of the 19th
century and before womenfolk were given the vote in the 20th.

Double heh.

 

Up to a point. See below.

"Conference agrees that:

(i) in the event of any substantial proposal which could affect the
party's independence of political action, the consent will be required
of a majority of members of the parliamentary party in the House of
Commons and the fderal executive; and,

(ii) unless there is a three-quarters majority of each group in favour
of the proposals, the consent of the majority of those present and
voting at a special conference convened under clause 6.6 of the
Constitution; and,

(iii) unless there is a two-thirds majority of those present and voting
at that conference in favour of the proposals, the consent of a majority
of all members of the party voting in the ballot called pursuant to
clause 6.11 or 8.6 of the constitution."

So long as three quarters of sitting Lib Dem MPs approve it, it doesn't
even go to stage 2.

 

"Some of the rumoursphere" being one senior LD talking to one BBC
reporter.

He was heading back to his house north of the border last I saw on tv.

 

The presence of those MPs from "the regions" allows the government to
control the legislative agenda in the first place. What happens at
voting time is no more than a secondary concern.

 

It's not good enough for me.

 

I thought she had put a few pounds on since I last saw her.