General Chat

Maureen - I admit I was a Liberal Party worker forty years ago, but round here (Trafford) it is unlikely to change from Conservative - their flagship in the North! As I've said on other threads, we are all in for a hell of a shock this time next year when new Council Tax bands and increased house values announced........as a pensioner on Tax Credits, the Liberals' idea of a local income tax would help me enormously (yes, I get some rebate - but have dared to save for retirement, so penalised). Lily

Hi again Lily on your last comment about maggies hubby being a millionaire, so is cherrie blaire!!! most in government do other paid jobs as well as being politicians!! if we did that it would be called moonlighting!! Anyway Lily i have loved this debate it's been very calm and relaxed, although we beg to differ on some issue's Thankyou for all your positive commrnts Love Helenxx

None of the parties listen to the people - end of story and yes my husband reitred 10 years ago and since Blair came in we are worse off. A realistic basic state pension would be a start. Ann

is it true the lib dems want to get rid of council tax??

I've vote for the Lib Dems, so far because I've always found their policies to be more in line with my thinking than other parties - although my grasp of politics isn't too special. I'm not keen on a single european currency but generally I think the Lib Dems make a lot of sense and I have a fair bit of confidence that Kennedy would be a good PM if he ever got in. My borough is one of those where the LibDems stand an excellent chance of ousting the Tories apparently:)

my councilo tax band is the lowest i can get,and i pay about 800-900 a year,im just worried that im gonna have to pay more.i still dont know who to vote for,this is theis first time ive been able to

In my opinion Council tax is unsustainable as presently set up. But I am not convinced that a local income tax would be any fairer and would mean an awful lot more administration. Part of the problem is the fact that Council tax only supplies a quarter of what Councils spend, the rest is from Government grants, the criteria for which can be politically skewed. And the Government can order local authorities to supply services but not fully fund them. And local authorities can use funds ostensibly provided for , say, police, for other things. For all the hubris heaped on it, the Poll Tax was actually quite fair. Each person needs services and each person bore an equal share of the cost. The protests came from those with three or four wage-earners in a house which was of a low rateable value, using services but paying very little in Rates, who suddenly found that they were expected to pay their fair share.

i know im def. not voting labour i think they have mucked up the country enough,tony blair is just letting more and more people in without a second thought to how it affects the country

I actually agree with Brian on the Poll Tax; the problem was that it was not introduced properly or explained properly enough, and all those who were at work and were earning and who previously depended on others in their household to pay the rates etc had an almighty shock when they received their poll tax bills and realised they now had to contribute to the services they mostly took for granted. Jacqui

some older people are still getting over the conversion from pounds shillings and pences etc, they wont be able to cope changing to euro's. I just don't vote, cos Labour and Tory are the same and Lib Dem want single currency, so I'm left with any other silly party that comes along, that arent worth voting for anyway. AL

Rupert bear, i was going to ask Morfydd that question. I would definitely not vote for a party that suggested means testing, not nice for elderly people to be means tested, some would be so humiliated they wouldn't claim and we'd have lots of them dying because they couldn't afford heating. And whoever said if you means test the elderly for heating payments you should means test for child benefit, I am with you too. What gets me is listening to the labour manifesto, all the things they are going to do --- and how long have they had to sort things out? All lies, and no doubt all parties are the same. Who is going to stand as the GR candidate and what is your manifesto? Ann Glos

I want to vote for a party which has a real feeling for money. Most of us can remember when a Pound had real value. I read recently that House Prices had doubled in the last 5 years, yet I have not heard of anyone Gold Plating their Bath Taps! And I have no wish to be labelled 'A European'. I am English to the core and want to remain so.

Hi, Thanks for posting http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor*com. It tells me i should vote Lib Dem - which i guessed it would say. Sadly, a vote for the Lib Dems here would let the Tories in so I can't. I wish we had proportional representation. Gwynne

I wish we could stop voting for parties, or individual people we know nothing about, and instead vote on the policies we prefer from each party. The party with the highest votes for their policies could be the overall winner, with pro rata for the remainder, and all winning policies should be brought into being during the life of the parliament. I have often voted Lib Dem in the past, but might be a case of who is in the best position to oust Labour, find Tony getting more like a dictator.

When is Charles Kennedy going to let us get to know all his cohorts and let them speak on behalf of the dept they would represent? All he had to do, when asked about the effect of local income tax, was pass the question over to his 'chancellor' and let us judge the man who could be in that (shadow) position if the Lib Dems were the official Opposition. How many of us could name the main MP's in the Party? Lily

Blame the media, if they don't show and name opposition candidates, then we don't get to know who's who

Just read an admission in a (Tory) newspaper that Labour (barring accidents) will be back in power with a smaller no. of seats......can I ask everone to VOTE on 5 May, we might get a surprising result instead of a govt voted in by less than 40% of the country....... Lily

You have all made such valid points. I really think (from all the media hype as well), that we are all so sick of being lied to by politicians that we can't really trust any of them! The people who would form the most efficient govt are, in my view, men and women who have made a success of their working lives (outside of politics) and have a good business acumen, instead of all the 'old boys' from certain schools/uni's. Trouble is, my preferred MP's wouldn't touch politics with a bargepole! Lily

Any of you watch the prog last night at 7.0 pm on Channel 4? Some radical suggestions were made, on how to tackle the problems society has...I kept thinking about the other side of their arguments but must admit we could do with some 'fresh' blood in govt who wouldn't be frightened of grasping nettles! Lily