Tag Archives: general election 2015

The Voice

Should the SNP and Greens be included in leaders’ debates?

By The Voice | Thu 15th January 2015 - 1:15 pm

Welcome to another of our occasional series of posts where two writers offer an alternative view to one of the issues of the day. Today, it’s whether the SNP, Plaid and Greens should be invited to take part in leaders’  debates. 

Jonathan Waddell says there is a case for the Greens to be included on a UK basis but not the SNP and Plaid:

Earlier this week, Wings Over Scotland claimed that to exclude the SNP from UK-wide election debates would be to subjugate Scots to second-class citizens. Website owner and frequent contributor, Stuart Campbell, argued:

the only reason to bar them is that they’re Scottish. In other words, Scotland’s MPs are worth less than MPs from other parts of the UK, and therefore by extension Scottish votes are worth less than other people’s votes.

Speaking as a Scot who believes in giving a platform to a plurality of parties at any given election to encourage a representative debate of the issues and views affecting the country, surely the more obvious reason is that over 90% of the electorate can’t vote for them; or at least a question of electoral logistics rather than anti-Scottish sentiment?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 59 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Playground, panto and poultry – a day in the life of a debate about a debate

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th January 2015 - 9:34 pm

I have to say I’m completely over this debate talk. I’m starting to think that we should just lock every party leader in the country in the Big Brother house after the current occupants have departed and leave them there till they start behaving like adults rather than 9 year olds in the playground.

We have Dave who doesn’t want to take on Nige who’s wooing his more prejudiced voters. And wasn’t he talking about “green crap” not so long ago. More opportunistic posturing than repenting sinner, though.

We have Nige who thinks he can come across as the man of the people and wipe the floor with everyone, except his stats are dodgy and his views based on misinformation and prejudice.

We have Ed who must know he’s more cut out for writing worthy books in a dusty attic than slugging it out in a tv studio where he’s going to look as uncomfortable as hell. He has something to fear from everyone. Nige and Nicola are after his vote, Dave can give him a pasting on the economy, Nick has done more for disadvantaged kids in 5 years than his party did in 13 and he knows his vote is vulnerable to the Greens on the left. He must be very grateful to Dave for giving him a get out of jail free card. All he needs to do is utter the magic words “let the Greens in” and Dave will have no choice but to find another excuse to avoid debating.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 13 Comments
Paul Walter

Pub landlord to call time on Farage

By Paul Walter | Wed 14th January 2015 - 7:21 pm

Oh joy! Oh rapture!

At last the prospect of some fun during the election campaign!

All hail to the ale!

The Guardian reports:

Comedian Al Murray has announced he plans to stand against Nigel Farage in the seat of South Thanet in May’s general election.

Continue reading »
Posted in Humour and News | Also tagged , and | 22 Comments
Stephen Phillips

Opinion: could we have a better leader?

By Stephen Phillips | Tue 13th January 2015 - 10:25 am

Some people will take this question to mean that we really should find a better leader, others that we have a good one already.

Perhaps unlike some of those who contribute to this website, I do not know Nick Clegg personally and can therefore only judge him from his television appearances, writings and what is written about him in the press.

He appears to come in for considerable criticism largely, as far as I can see, for being in coalition with the Conservatives, although some threads on this website also seem to have other reservations about his leadership.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 58 Comments
Newspuppy

You can tell there’s an election coming up.. #1

By Newspuppy | Sun 11th January 2015 - 10:54 am

You can always tell when there’s an election coming up when stories start appearing in the press in the category of: “Someone with an (incredibly tenuous) link to a Lib Dem has done a Bad Thing.”

The Guardian’s been guilty of two of those recently.

First they published a story saying that an “aide to Vince Cable” had tweeted that convicted rapist Ched Evans was “probably not guilty.” The person in question was a civil servant in Vince’s department.  I would imagine that the spokesman for Vince Cable quoted was also a BIS press spokesperson, not a Liberal Democrat.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | 16 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Tweets from the campaign trail – the first major campaign Saturday of 2015

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 10th January 2015 - 9:16 pm

I’m going to get told off for that headline, I’m sure, because I expect most Liberal Democrat campaign teams were out campaigning last Saturday too. Anyway, I thought I’d share a few tweets to give a wee flavour of what our candidates have been up to today.

We have to start with Tom Brake. Can you believe he’s been running street stalls in Wallington since 1990? That’s 300 separate occasions.

Lynne Featherstone shows that Lib Dem MPs get results:

The Cleggster was out and about in Sheffield.

And Christine Jardine wasn’t letting the snow stop her from socking it to Salmond in Gordon:

A warm reception on the doors, then.

Nobody was letting the seasonal weather put them off, especially not Tim Farron. It was quite appropriate that I’d been writing this morning’s article about him last night (I know how to live) while watching a programme about the excellent film Frozen.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 22 Comments
NewsHound

Trouble and strife for Labour in Redcar

By NewsHound | Sat 10th January 2015 - 12:55 pm

In 2010, Liberal Democrat Ian Swales won the Redcar seat with a swing of 22% from Labour. He announced last July that he was standing down and in September local Councillor Josh Mason was selected to defend his 5200 majority.

It seems that while the Liberal Democrats in Redcar are working hard to elect Josh, all is not so well in the Labour camp where local leaders have been likened to North Korea and a neighbouring Labour MP has taken to using Freedom of Information legislation to find out what his party’s council is doing.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 4 Comments

Opinion: Liberal Democrats are the only party which can be trusted to get the European question right – we should say so

By Bryan Cartledge | Fri 9th January 2015 - 12:59 pm

At some point during the next 2-3 years the British people will probably be faced with the most crucial decision to confront them since the end of World War II: that of whether or not to leave the European Union. The importance of this issue far transcends that of the individual policies listed in the emerging manifestos of the three main parties. The impact of these policies will be felt for, at best, the span of a single Parliament. The impact of our decision on Europe will be felt for decades.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 17 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Vince Cable and Danny Alexander to be confirmed as Election Spokesmen for Cabinet jobs they have been doing for the last five years

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 7th January 2015 - 8:36 am

 

Exclusive, Vince Cable will lose his economy job with the Lib Dems tomorrow screams the Spectator headline. In fact, this is the second biggest surprise since the sun last rose in the East. The first biggest surprise, by the way, was that Alex Salmond would stand in Gordon where he faces defeat by Lib Dem Christine Jardine in May.

Anyway, back to the story which is about the party announcing its spokespeople for the General Election. It is hardly a surprise that Vince and Danny have been named as covering the roles they have been doing for the last five years. Doesn’t sound quite so scandalous that way, does it? Some might say that’s a sensible choice and would be more of a story if it weren’t that way round.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 42 Comments
Caron Lindsay

48 good things Nick Clegg has done

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 7th January 2015 - 7:48 am

 

It’s Nick Clegg’s 48th birthday today and we at Liberal Democrat Voice obviously wish him a happy day and successful year ahead.

I thought it might be a good idea (with a little help from LDV colleagues) to take a look at some of the good things he’s done, 48 of them to be precise, and encourage party supporters to make 48 calls to voters in our key seats to tell them about them this week. Not all of them in each call, of course, but there’s plenty to be going on with.

So, here we go:

1.  From his very first major speech as leader, championing mental health and in government improving treatment and services.

2.  Investing money in disadvantaged kids in school which is already helping to improve attainment figures in that group.

3.  Defying both Labour and the Conservatives to cut income tax for people on low and middle incomes.

4.  Having the guts to take questions for half an hour every week from members of the public on live radio.

5.  Not just voting for same sex marriage but actively and enthusiastically being comfortable with it.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 8 Comments

Opinion: Could there be a National Government by the end of the year?

By Sally Pearson | Tue 6th January 2015 - 2:54 pm

Many readers of Liberal Democrat Voice may have missed the Financial Times’ prediction that 2015 “will see the creation of a national government in the UK.” It sounds deeply implausible. But activists who remember the coalitions between Labour and Conservative that have operated in local government over the past 25 years will recognise that these two deeply self-interested parties have more in common than they admit – including a strong reluctance to share power with Liberal Democrats.  So here is a New Year fantasy on how the FT’s prediction might come true.

No-one was surprised that the General Election of May 2015 was inconclusive but the degree of uncertainty was even larger than expected. Labour won the most seats – some 279, on 30% of the vote.  33% voted for the Conservatives, but this gave them only 267 MPs.  UKIP came third in terms of votes, but won only 6 seats. The Liberal Democrats, with 38 MPs, were the third largest party in the Commons, but with 4% less votes than UKIP. The SNP won 36 MPs, claiming that with a loose alliance with the 3 Plaid MPs it now outweighed the Liberal Democrats.  3 Greens, and 18 Northern Ireland MPs (9 DUP, 3 SDLP, 5 Sinn Fein, 1 Alliance), completed the tally.

With three or four parties polling over 20% in many seats, nearly 50 MPs had been elected on less than a third of the vote; 15 were returned on less than 30%, including 2 Greens and several Liberal Democrats.  Newly elected MPs who had scraped small majorities in hard-fought contests had little enthusiasm for an early second election.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 42 Comments
The Voice

Clegg says Lib Dems would spend extra £8bn on NHS

By The Voice | Tue 6th January 2015 - 10:25 am

nhs sign lrgNick Clegg has set out how the Liberal Democrats would invest in the NHS in government for the next five years.

From the Guardian:

Fleshing out the figure released by the deputy prime minister at a press conference, the Lib Dems said they would increase the NHS’s funding by £8bn a year by 2020-21 in three stages. They would make permanent the coalition government’s extra £2bn a year – which was announced in the autumn statement – by 2015-16.

In addition, Clegg said the party would find another £1bn a year in real terms in 2016-17 by capping pension tax relief for the wealthiest (which the Lib Dems said would save £500m), aligning dividend tax with income tax for those earning more than £150,000 (saving £400m) and scrapping the shares for rights scheme, which allows employees to forfeit certain employment rights in return for company shares (saving £100m).

Once it had reduced the deficit in 2017-18, Clegg said that the party would increase health spending in line with growth in the economy. He said: “It’s a combination of change plus more money and the reason we can do that, and no other party will be able to do that, is firstly, as we explained at our party conference, is we are going to introduce some tax changes which only affect the very wealthiest, to put in an extra billion pounds into the NHS, and next year and the year after that.”

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 37 Comments
Caron Lindsay

LDVideo: Nick Clegg on buoyant form, saying: Liberal Democrats needed to govern responsibly and fairly

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 5th January 2015 - 10:18 pm

Nick Clegg looked not just ready for but enthusiastic about the 122 day long election campaign to come this morning. He was in great form at his monthly press conference and in a short video afterwards made 3 key points:

1. “The simple question is who can finish the job of sorting the economy but do so fairly.”

2. It’s not lefty Labour or never-ending austerity with the Tories. He also called the SNP, UKIP and Plaid a “rag bag” of factional and sectional interests who would make a mess of the next Parliament.

3. Liberal Democrats offer compassionate, fair government and economic competence.

Watch the whole thing here.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 51 Comments
The Voice

Christine Jardine attracts cross-party support in her quest to become MP for Gordon

By The Voice | Sun 4th January 2015 - 8:00 pm

Christine jardineLiberal Democrat PPC for Gordon is receiving offers of help from people who campaigned for a No vote in the independence referendum last September. These include supporters of both Labour and Conservative parties who are prepared to vote for her to stop Alex Salmond’s return to Westminster.

There will be no official pact between the parties but Christine won a lot of friends during the referendum campaign with her infectious enthusiasm and endless energy so it’s hardly surprising that they think she’s more than a match for Salmond.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 25 Comments
NewsHound

Malcolm Bruce: People will realise the positive impact Lib Dems have made in Government and will want more of us there

By NewsHound | Fri 2nd January 2015 - 1:21 pm

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Sir Malcolm Bruce told the Herald recently that Nick Clegg is “strong and resilient” and that the Liberal Democrats have achieved much in government. When people reflected on the last five years, he said, they would want to see us in Government again:

The MP for Gordon said voters would in the next few months have to “think very hard” about what outcome they wanted on May 8.

“At the moment, people are in protest, they don’t like the fact we’ve had a really hard economic time and, therefore, they are not prepared at the moment to reward the Coalition government. But when they consider what the alternatives are and what the outcome might be, they will firm up their support for the Coalition because they will recognise that it has brought about a recovery that the other parties could throw away,” argued Sir Malcolm.

When it was pointed out that the Lib Dems were fourth in Scotland and fourth or sometimes fifth across the UK, the deputy leader insisted people should not prejudge the outcome of the election.

“There are people out there yet to make up their mind and when they reflect the positive things the Liberal Democrats have achieved on tax, pensions, the green agenda and schools, they will want to see more not fewer Liberal Democrats in the next parliament; that’s what our campaign’s going to be about.”

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 41 Comments
Charles Kennedy

Charles Kennedy MP writes…Our challenge for 2015 is to make positive case for UK political reform

By Charles Kennedy | Fri 2nd January 2015 - 11:59 am

 

As the BBC Radio Scotland self-promotional message has been reminding us at regular intervals throughout the holiday period 2014 certainly was “Scotland’s Year.” The best of times, the worst of times. From the sporting triumphs of the outstandingly successful Commonwealth Games and the hosting of the victorious Ryder Cup through to the referendum and ending on the tragedy of the Glasgow bin lorry crash we have never been out of the news.

The ever-perceptive journalist and commentator Iain MacWhirter (like myself, essentially, a federalist – unlike myself a Yes voter) reckons that the referendum represented the moment at which Scotland became “psychologically independent.” It is an interesting reflection and one which will be further tested as soon as May in the looming Westminster general election.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 5 Comments
The Voice

Cadan ap Tomos selected to fight Cardiff West in the General Election

By The Voice | Fri 2nd January 2015 - 8:45 am

Cadan ap ThomasWelsh Liberal Democrat Cadan ap Tomos has been selected to fight the seat of Cardiff West at the General Election.

Wales Online has the details:

Fluent Welsh speaker Cadan grew up in Ceredigion and now works in the National Assembly for the party.

The University of York graduate said: “I’m delighted to have been selected to fight Cardiff West for the Welsh Lib Dems. Labour has been taking our communities for granted for far too long, and I look forward to running a strong campaign in the run up to next May.”

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Kirsty Williams congratulated Cadan on his selection.

She said: “He is a terrific candidate with a breadth of experience who I know will work tirelessly for the people of Cardiff.”

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
Caron Lindsay

The General Election year is here – let’s make it a good one

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 1st January 2015 - 12:00 am

 

2015.

It’s here.

Because of us, we’ve known exactly when the General Election would be since the Autumn of 2010. Taking away the ability of the Prime Minister to slot in an election at a politically expedient time is a good thing.

Anyway, this year is going to bring its challenges, its tears, its tribulations and, we hope, its joys. And they will just start with the General Election in May.

So, fellow Liberal Democrats take a breath, a few swigs of bubbly and enjoy today – for tomorrow and every other day until May 7th, we knock on doors. Nobody will tell our story for us. We have to do it for ourselves with heart and soul. We have a good one to tell. Even at a time when the country was strapped for cash, we did a whole load of good for children, for women, for anyone on a low and middle income. We did a lot of what we said we’d do. Kids from poorer backgrounds are performing better because of the money that Nick Clegg sent to spend on them. Families now have the choice over who takes the leave when a baby is born, something that Nick Clegg had been banging on about for years and Jo Swinson implemented. That policy sums up what liberalism is all about – giving people the right to make choices about their own lives that suit them. Those changes in the mental health system? Driven through by Nick Clegg. Sure, we’re not feeling the effect of them all yet, but the cultural change has been started. That’s why we need Norman Lamb in office as long as possible to finish the job. And there’s our Steve Webb. A proper pensions expert in charge of pensions. He’s done a great job of making sure that the pensions system is fairer for everyone, and more liberal, giving people more choice and power. And then there’s our Lynne Featherstone making a huge difference for women and girls across the world, taking action on sexual violence, education and FGM. And was there not something about same sex marriage too?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 131 Comments
The Voice

Daniel Coleman selected to fight Dundee West for the Liberal Democrats

By The Voice | Tue 30th December 2014 - 1:55 pm

Daniel ColemanDaniel Coleman will be one of the youngest candidates in the country when he fights Dundee West for the Liberal Democrats in May. Last year, while still at school,  he was recognised by Dundee City Council as being truly community spirited when he was awarded the McManus Citizenship Award.

Daniel is a qualified football referee and has chaired Dundee Youth Council. He also represented the city in the Scottish Youth Parliament.

He’s also been the sole Scottish representative on the British Youth Select Committee at Westminster .

From the Dundee Liberal Democrats’ website:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | 2 Comments
The Voice

Gareth Wilson selected to stand for Liberal Democrats against George Osborne

By The Voice | Sun 28th December 2014 - 4:37 pm

Gareth Wilson and Paddy AshdownOccasional Liberal Democrat Voice contributor Gareth Wilson has been selected to fight George Osborne in his home constituency of Tatton in May. He is seen here with Paddy Ashdown at Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow.

Gareth lives in Mobberley in the constituency and recently successfully led a campaign which defeated an attempt to build an unsustainable large housing development.

On his selection, Gareth said:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 21 Comments
The Voice

Study shows that voters in Liberal Democrat seats trust their MPs more

By The Voice | Sun 21st December 2014 - 5:55 pm

Mike Smithson at Political Betting talks about data from the British Election Study that shows how well thought of MPs are in their own constituencies. Liberal Democrat MPs come out well on top, being much more liked even among opponents than their Tory and Labour counterparts. His graph illustrates thus:

LD MPs wider respected

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | 41 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Youth unveils its General Election campaign plans

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 20th December 2014 - 11:54 am

LY Cardiff campaign weekend Dec 2014One of the nicest things that’s happened to me this year was when I logged on to Facebook last night and found an invitation asking me to sign up for a Liberal Youth Action Weekend. It’s a long time since I was involved in one of its predecessor organisations, but it brought back memories of the great fun we used to have campaigning in Aberdeenshire under the guidance of party legends like Sheila Ritchie. It was great being at university in Aberdeen because the local party really embraced the students and wanted them to be part of the local organisation outside the university and treated us all like human beings, not just fresh legs to deliver leaflets. It’s no coincidence that that combination helped to lay the foundations for such a strong base in the North East of Scotland. It’s also no coincidence that most of that Aberdeen University contingent are still involved in the party in some way. 

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | 6 Comments
Caron Lindsay

“The best opinion poll I’ve seen in a long time” says Nick Clegg

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 16th December 2014 - 9:51 pm

Nick’s Bite the Ballot Leaders Live Q & A this evening went pretty well. Those watching were asked to tweet #yesNick or #noNick to indicate what they thought on four different subjects, jobs, education, health and immigration.

All I can say is that I hope all these young people have votes. Here are the scores on the doors:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 7 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Ed Miliband has his economic deficiencies but is the Liberal Democrat response adequate?

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 11th December 2014 - 11:07 pm

I’m getting as fed up with arguments about the economy as I was about the quality of the debate in the independence referendum. We seem to be stuck in a yah-boo soundbite fest that is deeply uninspiring.

Ed Miliband’s latest contribution on the deficit was pretty risible if you looked at it in terms of facts. He’s opposed practically every single cut the Coalition has made over the last four years but presumably his “sensible cuts” won’t actually affect anyone. Of course he’s not actually told us what they are, so we can’t really judge. Our problem is that with the way our newspapers and broadcasters work, neither Labour nor the Tories have to be that good to get their message across. Already we seem to be being demoted to an afterthought in most news reports. We have to work ten times as hard as everyone else to grab even a tiny bit of attention.

The nagging worry I have about Labour appropriating policies like our Mansion Tax is that they can then position themselves to say “vote for us, we come without their baggage”. This, I grant you, is pretty much the same as “vote for us cos we’re fairer than them and more economically responsible than them” which seems to be our pitch.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 36 Comments
Stephen Phillips

Opinion: Is the centre ground disappearing from British politics?

By Stephen Phillips | Mon 8th December 2014 - 3:28 pm

Ballot boxIs it just me, or has something recently changed in British politics? In fact, this apparent move towards what some might see as extremism may also be a characteristic of the political scene in Europe and further afield, too. It is almost akin to the frenzy that seems to hit societies at the end of each century, but manifesting itself a decade and a half late.

What the opinion polls appear to show is that the centre ground, represented primarily by the Liberal Democrats, has lost ground in favour of a …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 96 Comments
The Voice

In the next month 21 seats will short-list their wannabe Lib Dem MPs

By The Voice | Mon 8th December 2014 - 10:25 am

Lib Dems winning hereHere’s the full list of selection contests in the coming month available for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates’ list, together with the closing date for applications.

The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates:

Continue reading »
Posted in Selection news | 4 Comments
The Voice

Taunton Deane Liberal Democrats select Rachel Gilmour

By The Voice | Sun 7th December 2014 - 3:20 pm

Rachel GilmourFrom the Taunton Deane Liberal Democrat website:

Rachel Gilmour was selected at the members’ hustings on 6 Dec 2014 in Taunton by a full turnout of Members as their prospective Parliamentary candidate for the 2015 General Election.  She succeeds Jeremy Browne , MP,  who will stand down when parliament is dissolved in March 2015.

 

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
The Voice

In the next month 43 seats will short-list their wannabe Lib Dem MPs

By The Voice | Sat 22nd November 2014 - 5:25 pm

Lib Dems winning hereHere’s the full list of selection contests in the coming month available for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates’ list, together with the closing date for applications.

The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates:

Continue reading »
Posted in Selection news | 27 Comments
John Kelly

Opinion: Jewish and Muslim voting intentions

By John Kelly | Tue 11th November 2014 - 8:55 am

The Independent on Sunday headline on 9 November suggested that Jewish donors were deserting Labour because Miliband and Alexander have been so forthright in their criticism of Israel over the Gaza invasion this summer and their strong support for recognition of the state of Palestine.  A day earlier Jewish News published the results of a poll carried out within the Jewish Community.

The headline was that Jewish voters were 30% less likely to vote Labour because of its leadership’s stance.  What was much more interesting was that 19% say they would vote Labour compared with 15% who actually voted Labour in 2010 – i.e. at a time when the Brown/Blair governments had been pretty slavish in their support of Israel even during previous Gaza conflicts and the invasion of Lebanon.  Could this perhaps show that the most vocal leaders of the Jewish Community are out of step with the masses and that significant numbers in that Community in fact would rather support a Party that is highly critical of the present government of Israel?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 25 Comments
The Voice

In the next month 37 seats will short-list their wannabe Lib Dem MPs

By The Voice | Sat 8th November 2014 - 5:00 pm

Lib Dems winning hereHere’s the full list of selection contests in the coming month available for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates’ list, together with the closing date for applications.

The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates:

Continue reading »
Posted in Selection news | 3 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Peter Martin
    @ Mick, Are you proposing that NI contributions be increased now to increase the level of the State pension currently? One objection will be that this inc...
  • Roland
    >” What’s wrong with a fifteen year old car” A good point Nonconformistradical, we need to remember EV’s to deliver the supposed energy efficiency b...
  • Roland
    Shame it takes 14 + years to build a nuclear reactor, so until post 2040 our electricity will mostly be generated from (carbon-based) fossil fuels… We also...
  • Tristan Ward
    Geoffrey is right which is of course the reason at the last general election so many of those who actually did vote labour dis so with so little enthusiasm and ...
  • Nonconformistradical
    "Many people driving around in fifteen year old cars is an economic reality. " What's wrong with a fifteen year old car if it has been maintained properly. I...