The 2015 Popularity Contest (aka UK General Election )

[peteblue]

......for example, the public sector has been a rich recruiting area for school leavers and graduates. I work in a government department and we genuinely haven't taken anybody on since the last election. I was talking to a teacher last night, his view is that whole system is falling apart.

I have to say that I'm ok, I retire next year but I worked through the Thatcher years and it was depressed. The stats don't lie, unemployment has dropped but I fear the vast majority of jobs are low pay. Low pay means a generation don't buy houses, cars etc. without being cynical, I'm sure the sons of wealthy politicians will be ok. I genuinely feel for youngsters who work hard at school, do everything advised and end up with little reward.

But the government departments are not supposed to exist to generate employment, they are to deliver what the country needs. Gordon Brown and co used the government recruitment as a way of generating Labour votes. Maybe,just maybe, your government department actually doesn't need any more people. We certainly do not need any more expensive failing government programmes. Businesses however are recruiting and they are the only people who actually generate wealth in a very competitive world.

Teachers saying that the system is falling apart is a bit rich tbh. Teachers are not being made redundant, they are not on zero hour contracts, they cannot be displaced by cheap foreign competitors, and they get paid very well before picking up a nice pension. Like many who do very nicely from the public purse a little less moaning and a bit more pragmatism is required. You can't spend what you haven't got and the only people who generate wealth are in the private sector.

I too worked and brought up a family through the thatcher years, it was tough but it was needed and our lives have improved as a result......

 

[peteblue]

Why ? so you can completely ignore or deny it. I could invite you down to the food bank I volunteer for ( we need all the help ) and see for yourself some of the proof, but you'd probably class them all as lazy, scroungers or liars.

Why do you jump to incorrect conclusions. Just give a list of all these savage austerity measures......

 

[jaycee]

Unemployment has dropped because over 500,000 people are currently sanctioned,700,000 people are on 0 hour contracts and the are only estimated figures

 

[edge]

funny thing with all these extra jobs national productivity is down ? are there 1.25 million extra really producing the some total of nothing.
Or is it the con trick of taking one full time job and splitting it into three part time jobs, that the employer can pay next to nothing or no national insurance, holiday pay sick pay ect , while we the taxpayer pick up the bill in top up benefits,
I would love to see the figures for how many people that are in part employed by the government who after all are making up their wages , aren't the tory party against this sort of thing, the government paying for millions of subsidised jobs or does that go out of the window when they and their friends can make a few bob out of it.
The unemployment figures don't include 16-18 yr olds anymore as they can't leave education till a later date this is the first time this has had that effect also anybody that is hitting the job center back to work targets has been taken of the jobless figures as they are now counted as actively seeking work not unemployed.
Yes everything is rosy out there . loads of jobs to be had lifes never been so good, vote tory

 

[Seanjd]

Why do you jump to incorrect conclusions. Just give a list of all these savage austerity measures......

I will give you an example of one ideological austerity measure carried out by this government which has been disasterous; benefit cuts.

"In 2013, some 871,000 people were sanctioned by the DWP, losing some or all of their benefits for weeks or months." - The Independent.

Not only has this cut meant a huge increase in food bank users, but it has also directly killed people. There is currently a review into at least 60 deaths which can be linked directly to wrongly cutting the benefits of the most vulnerable people in our society by either deeming them fit for work when they are not, or by claiming that they are not taking their job search seriously. One example, an ex-soldier called David Clapson, died without any food in his stomach. He had no food in his fridge. His power had been cut for days which meant his fridge did not work. He was a type-1 diabetes sufferer and needed his fridge to keep his insulin. There was £3.44 in his bank account - he was found dead next to a pile of printed out CV's in addressed envelopes. Why did he die? The DWP sanctioned him because they deemed him to be 'not taking his job search seriously'.

This is one of at least 60 cases of deaths directly linked to benefit cuts.

Are you proud to support a party who sanctions the most vulnerable in our society for no fault of their own? Ian Duncan-Smith is. When questioned about the death of David Clapton on Question Time last year, he replied, "I am proud to be cutting benefits and getting 200,000 people back into work".

 

[Seanjd]

funny thing with all these extra jobs national productivity is down ? are there 1.25 million extra really producing the some total of nothing.
Or is it the con trick of taking one full time job and splitting it into three part time jobs, that the employer can pay next to nothing or no national insurance, holiday pay sick pay ect , while we the taxpayer pick up the bill in top up benefits,
I would love to see the figures for how many people that are in part employed by the government who after all y are making up their wages , aren't the tory party against this sort of thing, the government paying for millions of subsidised jobs or does that go out of the window when they and their friends can make a few bob out of it.
The unemployment figures don't include 16-18 yr olds anymore as they can't leave education till a later date this is the first time this has had that effect also anybody that is hitting the job center back to work targets has been taken of the jobless figures as they are now counted as actively seeking work not unemployed.
Yes everything is rosy out there . loads of jobs to be had lifes never been so good, vote tory

Absolutely correct. This government has gone to great extremes to show they are lowering unemployment - all of which are to the detriment of the poor and the economy.

 

[The Esk]

Just give a list of all these savage austerity measures......

Pete, go and read the independent reports, Social Policy in a Cold Climate written and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Nuffield Foundation and the Trust for London.

http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case/_new/research/Social_Policy_in_a_Cold_Climate.asp

It shows that non-protected (protected is a loose term in this context) spending has fallen by more than 30% during the period of this Government.

One of the harshest areas of austerity and its' effects can be found in real spending per child on early education, childcare and Sure Start services were spending fell by a quarter between 2009-10 and 2012-13. Provision for adult social care users fell 7 per cent per year during the Coalition period to 2013/14

Here's a link:

http://www.casedata.org.uk/coalition-overview

 

[Seanjd]

It will. Even though it is the main one. People just talk.

The lowest turnout has been in the last 30 years is 65%. Do you really think we will see a 40% turnout? No chance.

 

[The Esk]

The lowest turnout has been in the last 30 years is 65%. Do you really think we will see a 40% turnout? No chance.

General election turnout since 1945, by region
Year UK England Wales Scotland N.Ireland
2010 65.1 65.5 64.7 63.8 57.6
2005 61.4 61.3 62.6 60.8 62.9
2001 59.4 59.2 61.6 58.2 68
1997 71.4 71.4 73.5 71.3 67.1
1992 77.7 78 79.7 75.5 69.8
1987 75.3 75.4 78.9 75.1 67
1983 72.7 72.5 76.1 72.7 72.9
1979 76 75.9 79.4 76.8 67.7
1974 Oct 72.8 72.6 76.6 74.8 67.7
1974 Feb 78.8 79 80 79 69.9
1970 72 71.4 77.4 74.1 76.6
1966 75.8 75.9 79 76 66.1
1964 77.1 77 80.1 77.6 71.7
1959 78.7 78.9 82.6 78.1 65.9
1955 76.8 76.9 79.6 75.1 74.1
1951 82.6 82.7 84.4 81.2 79.9
1950 83.9 84.4 84.8 80.9 77.4
1945 72.8 73.4 75.7 69 67.4
Source: House of Commons Research Papers 01/37, 01/54, 05/33 & 10/36.

 

[Seanjd]

General election turnout since 1945, by region
Year UK England Wales Scotland N.Ireland
2010 65.1 65.5 64.7 63.8 57.6
2005 61.4 61.3 62.6 60.8 62.9
2001 59.4 59.2 61.6 58.2 68
1997 71.4 71.4 73.5 71.3 67.1
1992 77.7 78 79.7 75.5 69.8
1987 75.3 75.4 78.9 75.1 67
1983 72.7 72.5 76.1 72.7 72.9
1979 76 75.9 79.4 76.8 67.7
1974 Oct 72.8 72.6 76.6 74.8 67.7
1974 Feb 78.8 79 80 79 69.9
1970 72 71.4 77.4 74.1 76.6
1966 75.8 75.9 79 76 66.1
1964 77.1 77 80.1 77.6 71.7
1959 78.7 78.9 82.6 78.1 65.9
1955 76.8 76.9 79.6 75.1 74.1
1951 82.6 82.7 84.4 81.2 79.9
1950 83.9 84.4 84.8 80.9 77.4
1945 72.8 73.4 75.7 69 67.4
Source: House of Commons Research Papers 01/37, 01/54, 05/33 & 10/36.

My bad, what I should have said is that the last General Election turnout was 65%. Numbers have risen over the last 3 elections when attitudes towards politics are at a supposed low. My point remains that we won't see a 40% or lower turnout.

 

[The Esk]

My bad, what I should have said is that the last General Election turnout was 65%. Numbers have risen over the last 3 elections when attitudes towards politics are at a supposed low. My point remains that we won't see a 40% or lower turnout.

Sorry mate was not trying to prove you wrong - interesting that turnout has increased in the last two elections. I'm guessing we should see a further increase in this election given how unpredictable the results will be.

 

[Seanjd]

Sorry mate was not trying to prove you wrong - interesting that turnout has increased in the last two elections. I'm guessing we should see a further increase in this election given how unpredictable the results will be.

Yeah, it's really difficult to tell. I can only assume that 2001 was so low because Labour seemed like the only available option at the time. Tories were so unpopular. IDS was their leader for crying out loud.

Lab/Con are currently neck on neck, and there is higher interest in other parties than in recent years, UKIP, Greens and SNP for example. I would expect it to rise from last year which saw Gordon Brown lose many Labour votes.

 

[toffee matt]

My bad, what I should have said is that the last General Election turnout was 65%. Numbers have risen over the last 3 elections when attitudes towards politics are at a supposed low. My point remains that we won't see a 40% or lower turnout.

Generally seems to be a lower turn out when nothing is at stake.

The two lowest turnouts were in 2001 where Labour we're a shoe in and 2005 where Blair was unpopular but their was no real alternatives.

1992 has a ridiculously high turn out due to the massive keep Kinnock out frenzy kicked off by the media

 

[edge]

here are a few examples of cuts
In June, the Independent Living Fund, which provides funding for around 18,000 disabled people to work and live in the community, will be wound down. In Liverpool, there will be a decision in early 2015 over whether the council will close a possible 23 out of the city’s 26 Sure Start centres. On a smaller scale, organisations including theIslington Centre for Refugees and Migrants, in north London, which supports around 150 refugees and asylum seekers, providing English classes, faces closure because of cuts to education budgets. “These are people who come to us on a daily basis who desperately need some kind of support,” project manager Andy Ruiz Palma says. “I would lose my job, but I am more worried about the clients. There is nowhere else for them to go.” In Ealing, west London, parents are campaigning to save the lipop crossing role, done for the past 20 years by Eileen Rowles, and now at risk of being discontinued because of council spending cuts.

Plus if you do more than a passing search you will find that
The Office for Budget Responsibility said in December that the chancellor’s plans would mean one million further government job losses by 2020 (a total fall from early 2011 of 1.3 million), representing a 20% fall in headcount.

 

[Pienaar's gloves]

Who would they form a coalition with though?

UKIP and possibly the DUP?