General Election 13:52 - May 22 with 19664 views | raynor94 | Are we about to hear the date later today, Sunak has called a cabinet meeting this afternoon. Inflation is down, things aren't going to get much better for the Tories. July 4thš | |
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General Election on 14:00 - May 22 with 4256 views | Whiterockin | Time to disappear for 6 weeks. | | | |
General Election on 14:32 - May 22 with 4220 views | Joesus_Of_Narbereth | If they hold an election on Independence Day and whoever the leader of the SNP is that week doesnāt take full advantage of that fact then Iāll be flabbergasted. | |
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General Election on 14:37 - May 22 with 4208 views | majorraglan | I saw this online somewhere else a little earlier. āJudge Tories on their record, not their rhetoric! Closed 600 police stations Closed 800 public libraries Closed 1300 children's centres Cut council funding by 50% Extra 600,000 kids in poverty Extra 5 million people on NHS waiting list Highest tax burden in 70 years 1000% increase in food banks Trebled national debt Trebled immigration Stagnant economic growth Dirty riversā I personally would add A failing criminal justice system where cases can take years to get to Court, Numerous prison overcrowding issues leading to early release Shambolic control of our borders, Rampant fraud during the pandemic, PPE contracts etc, Running down the armed forces, defence expenditure in real terms is lower now than it was 14 years ago - thatās mental especially when weāve had a more aggressive Russia to contend with. (See Litvinenko and the Novachuk) Defence procurement. Boris and his lies If heās calling a GE now, then I reckon itās simply because thereās more bad news on the way and theyāre going to try a damage limitation exercise. Itās by no means a certainty they will lose because the centre right media will fall inline behind them, Telegraph, Times, Mail, Express, Sun, GB News etc and weāll have an avalanche of pro conservative publicity. This mob are the worst I can remember. | | | |
General Election on 15:04 - May 22 with 4179 views | johnlangy |
General Election on 14:37 - May 22 by majorraglan | I saw this online somewhere else a little earlier. āJudge Tories on their record, not their rhetoric! Closed 600 police stations Closed 800 public libraries Closed 1300 children's centres Cut council funding by 50% Extra 600,000 kids in poverty Extra 5 million people on NHS waiting list Highest tax burden in 70 years 1000% increase in food banks Trebled national debt Trebled immigration Stagnant economic growth Dirty riversā I personally would add A failing criminal justice system where cases can take years to get to Court, Numerous prison overcrowding issues leading to early release Shambolic control of our borders, Rampant fraud during the pandemic, PPE contracts etc, Running down the armed forces, defence expenditure in real terms is lower now than it was 14 years ago - thatās mental especially when weāve had a more aggressive Russia to contend with. (See Litvinenko and the Novachuk) Defence procurement. Boris and his lies If heās calling a GE now, then I reckon itās simply because thereās more bad news on the way and theyāre going to try a damage limitation exercise. Itās by no means a certainty they will lose because the centre right media will fall inline behind them, Telegraph, Times, Mail, Express, Sun, GB News etc and weāll have an avalanche of pro conservative publicity. This mob are the worst I can remember. |
Thank you major. I was planning on starting a thread with a similar list. My plan was to point this out so people know exactly where we are and are totally aware of what the Tories have done to the country. Then i'd save the list in order to repost it as and when needed. That's because people forget so quickly. I would hazard a guess that this lot will be blaming Labour for the state of the country within 12 months, complaining that they haven't fixed the problems which they created over the last 14 years. So i'll save your post and use that instead if that's okay ? | | | |
General Election on 15:30 - May 22 with 4153 views | Joesus_Of_Narbereth | Whoever gets in itāll just be more of the same ad finitum. Anyone who thinks the Tories can turn this around are nothing more than fools with Stockholm syndrome and similarly anyone who looks at the intellectual capacity of that Labour front bench and thinks theyāll do a competent job are equally mentally delinquent. | |
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General Election on 16:05 - May 22 with 4124 views | oldtownjack |
General Election on 14:37 - May 22 by majorraglan | I saw this online somewhere else a little earlier. āJudge Tories on their record, not their rhetoric! Closed 600 police stations Closed 800 public libraries Closed 1300 children's centres Cut council funding by 50% Extra 600,000 kids in poverty Extra 5 million people on NHS waiting list Highest tax burden in 70 years 1000% increase in food banks Trebled national debt Trebled immigration Stagnant economic growth Dirty riversā I personally would add A failing criminal justice system where cases can take years to get to Court, Numerous prison overcrowding issues leading to early release Shambolic control of our borders, Rampant fraud during the pandemic, PPE contracts etc, Running down the armed forces, defence expenditure in real terms is lower now than it was 14 years ago - thatās mental especially when weāve had a more aggressive Russia to contend with. (See Litvinenko and the Novachuk) Defence procurement. Boris and his lies If heās calling a GE now, then I reckon itās simply because thereās more bad news on the way and theyāre going to try a damage limitation exercise. Itās by no means a certainty they will lose because the centre right media will fall inline behind them, Telegraph, Times, Mail, Express, Sun, GB News etc and weāll have an avalanche of pro conservative publicity. This mob are the worst I can remember. |
Let's be charitable and say "unauthorised meetings" with Israeli officials and Russian Intelligence officers. | |
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General Election on 16:28 - May 22 with 4087 views | majorraglan |
General Election on 15:04 - May 22 by johnlangy | Thank you major. I was planning on starting a thread with a similar list. My plan was to point this out so people know exactly where we are and are totally aware of what the Tories have done to the country. Then i'd save the list in order to repost it as and when needed. That's because people forget so quickly. I would hazard a guess that this lot will be blaming Labour for the state of the country within 12 months, complaining that they haven't fixed the problems which they created over the last 14 years. So i'll save your post and use that instead if that's okay ? |
Absolutely, fill your boots and if you can think of anything Iāve forgotten add it on. Iāve never previously voted Labour, but Iām seriously considering it this time out. The current incarnation of the Conservative Party is just about the worse group of politicans I can remember this country ever having. I know Boris is very popular with some, but his lies, parties, the Dom Cummings saga, the lies about the MP who allegedly groped other MPās I believe have led to where the Conservatives are now. The couple of hundred quid I save in NI contributions is more than gobbled up by having to pay privately for my kid to see a consultant and physiotherapy sessions. | | | |
General Election on 16:49 - May 22 with 4068 views | AnotherJohn |
General Election on 14:37 - May 22 by majorraglan | I saw this online somewhere else a little earlier. āJudge Tories on their record, not their rhetoric! Closed 600 police stations Closed 800 public libraries Closed 1300 children's centres Cut council funding by 50% Extra 600,000 kids in poverty Extra 5 million people on NHS waiting list Highest tax burden in 70 years 1000% increase in food banks Trebled national debt Trebled immigration Stagnant economic growth Dirty riversā I personally would add A failing criminal justice system where cases can take years to get to Court, Numerous prison overcrowding issues leading to early release Shambolic control of our borders, Rampant fraud during the pandemic, PPE contracts etc, Running down the armed forces, defence expenditure in real terms is lower now than it was 14 years ago - thatās mental especially when weāve had a more aggressive Russia to contend with. (See Litvinenko and the Novachuk) Defence procurement. Boris and his lies If heās calling a GE now, then I reckon itās simply because thereās more bad news on the way and theyāre going to try a damage limitation exercise. Itās by no means a certainty they will lose because the centre right media will fall inline behind them, Telegraph, Times, Mail, Express, Sun, GB News etc and weāll have an avalanche of pro conservative publicity. This mob are the worst I can remember. |
It is a poor record. However, for balance we need to consider the macro-economic picture, the contingencies that affected all European governments in recent years, and the polices that both main parties supported. One could argue that after an early period of austerity when the Tory government ran the economy on something closer to the US low-tax, low-spending approach, there was a policy change that brought us closer to the European pattern of high-tax, high-spending public finances. In FY 2023-24 total public expenditure is estimated to be Ā£1,189 billion or 46.5% of GDP, equating to about Ā£42.000 per household. Tax revenues were about Ā£1,095 billion. The high spending coincided with a willingness to increase the national debt, which most European countries did in this same period. In the financial year ending March 2024 the UK Govt borrowed Ā£121.4 billion. Total debt rose to 97.9% of annual GDP. Policies that Labour also supported, and in some cases said should have gone further include: - Furlough scheme. Cost Ā£70 billion (cf cost of PPE, 2019-end 2021, Ā£17.5 billion). - Energy bill relief/energy price guarantee. Cost Ā£30.3 billion + ? for specific measures such as reduced council tax charges (2022-23). - Country-specific protection schemes for persons from Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Cost ? - Assistance to Ukraine following Russian invasion to 2024 Ā£9.5 billion plus Ā£3 billion promised for current FY. - Public support for a growing population of economically inactive people. Cost ? My point is simply that many of the problems we now face would have been there under any government, and things will not be easy whoever wins the forthcoming election. Certainly, the last few years havenāt seen relentless spending cuts and closures to fund tax reductions. It is more a case of long-term problems of low productivity, sharply rising population and low investment coming home to roost. [Post edited 22 May 17:35]
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General Election on 16:50 - May 22 with 4067 views | raynor94 | You heard it here firstš Bring it on! | |
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General Election on 16:55 - May 22 with 4066 views | SullutaCreturned |
General Election on 15:04 - May 22 by johnlangy | Thank you major. I was planning on starting a thread with a similar list. My plan was to point this out so people know exactly where we are and are totally aware of what the Tories have done to the country. Then i'd save the list in order to repost it as and when needed. That's because people forget so quickly. I would hazard a guess that this lot will be blaming Labour for the state of the country within 12 months, complaining that they haven't fixed the problems which they created over the last 14 years. So i'll save your post and use that instead if that's okay ? |
Thing is, John, I reckon it'll take a lot longer to put things right than Labou will get. Unless of course people have actually woken up to the tories now. That is also assuming Labour will do any good. If they are anything like Welsh labour we are just going to have different problems rearing up. Given the state of things I reckon labour will need 4 full terms to get near fixing the country. if they get 2 terms and things aren'tgreat the right wing press will be all over them and the cycle will probably continue and the country's descent into the cess pit will continue. | | | |
General Election on 17:19 - May 22 with 4035 views | Joesus_Of_Narbereth | The jug eared clown is being drowned out by a rendition of āthings can only get betterā by D-ream | |
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General Election on 17:19 - May 22 with 4035 views | Wingstandwood | Deliberately and blatantly timed to coincide within the same time period as the Rwanda flights..... and to avoid the possibility of damning/worrying footage from news and social media showing a 'peak' summertime invasion of yet more small boat arrivals should Rwanda fail to become a detterent. | |
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General Election on 17:20 - May 22 with 4029 views | union_jack | Youād think someone would hold an umbrella for him! | |
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General Election on 17:30 - May 22 with 4006 views | Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
General Election on 17:19 - May 22 by Wingstandwood | Deliberately and blatantly timed to coincide within the same time period as the Rwanda flights..... and to avoid the possibility of damning/worrying footage from news and social media showing a 'peak' summertime invasion of yet more small boat arrivals should Rwanda fail to become a detterent. |
And all the students going home for the summer. | |
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General Election on 17:52 - May 22 with 3975 views | AnotherJohn |
General Election on 17:19 - May 22 by Wingstandwood | Deliberately and blatantly timed to coincide within the same time period as the Rwanda flights..... and to avoid the possibility of damning/worrying footage from news and social media showing a 'peak' summertime invasion of yet more small boat arrivals should Rwanda fail to become a detterent. |
Obviously Sunak has gone for the date that he thinks is most to his advantage, but probably his options were quite limited. The pollsters said that the winter and the main summer holiday period would turn voters off, leaving October or November as the likely dates. But there were also concerns that November would clash with the US Presidential election. So it probably came down to a choice between around October 10th or just before the summer holidays. | | | |
General Election on 17:59 - May 22 with 3962 views | JACKMANANDBOY | Time to switch off until voting day as voting is the only meaningful thing one can do. | |
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General Election on 18:05 - May 22 with 3954 views | johnlangy |
General Election on 16:28 - May 22 by majorraglan | Absolutely, fill your boots and if you can think of anything Iāve forgotten add it on. Iāve never previously voted Labour, but Iām seriously considering it this time out. The current incarnation of the Conservative Party is just about the worse group of politicans I can remember this country ever having. I know Boris is very popular with some, but his lies, parties, the Dom Cummings saga, the lies about the MP who allegedly groped other MPās I believe have led to where the Conservatives are now. The couple of hundred quid I save in NI contributions is more than gobbled up by having to pay privately for my kid to see a consultant and physiotherapy sessions. |
I will thanks. JON said in an earlier post that people who think that Labour may do a competent job are as mentally delinquent as those who think the Conservatives might. The obvious difference is that the Conservatives have shown that they are incapable whereas we can at least agree that Labour have not been in a position to put things right. So, Conservatives definitely not, Labour hopefully yes. Not a ringing endorsement but at least some positivity. | | | |
General Election on 18:10 - May 22 with 3943 views | raynor94 |
General Election on 17:20 - May 22 by union_jack | Youād think someone would hold an umbrella for him! |
That was pathetic, what was he trying to prove, look at me I'm tough | |
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General Election on 18:11 - May 22 with 3942 views | SullutaCreturned |
General Election on 17:19 - May 22 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth | The jug eared clown is being drowned out by a rendition of āthings can only get betterā by D-ream |
Which is the song Tony Blair used at his election, lets hope we don't have a repet of the boom and bust that him and Brown caused eh. We never really recovered from that and despite Tory claims about being responsible with the economy we are even worse off. | | | |
General Election on 18:13 - May 22 with 3937 views | JumpingJackFlash |
General Election on 17:52 - May 22 by AnotherJohn | Obviously Sunak has gone for the date that he thinks is most to his advantage, but probably his options were quite limited. The pollsters said that the winter and the main summer holiday period would turn voters off, leaving October or November as the likely dates. But there were also concerns that November would clash with the US Presidential election. So it probably came down to a choice between around October 10th or just before the summer holidays. |
I think that thereās been a sudden change of plan. Ministers brought back from official overseas trips suggests that this was a spur of the moment decision. Rumours that there were enough letters received by Sir Graham Brady to trigger a vote of no confidence in Sunak by the parliamentary party and a leadership contest. I canāt see any way that this was Sunakās preferred option so heās called the election to spite his enemies. Sunak wanted more of todayās slightly better economic data and flights to Rwanda to start and hoped to recover some of the deficit in the polls by November. | | | |
General Election on 18:15 - May 22 with 3926 views | johnlangy |
General Election on 16:55 - May 22 by SullutaCreturned | Thing is, John, I reckon it'll take a lot longer to put things right than Labou will get. Unless of course people have actually woken up to the tories now. That is also assuming Labour will do any good. If they are anything like Welsh labour we are just going to have different problems rearing up. Given the state of things I reckon labour will need 4 full terms to get near fixing the country. if they get 2 terms and things aren'tgreat the right wing press will be all over them and the cycle will probably continue and the country's descent into the cess pit will continue. |
I don't disagree Cat. People have very short memories when it comes to these things hence my response to the major's post. And although i'm jubilant that the GE is finally happening and sincerely hope that Labour win with a good overall majority i'm just hoping, not expecting, that they do a good job. | | | |
General Election on 18:17 - May 22 with 3922 views | raynor94 |
General Election on 18:13 - May 22 by JumpingJackFlash | I think that thereās been a sudden change of plan. Ministers brought back from official overseas trips suggests that this was a spur of the moment decision. Rumours that there were enough letters received by Sir Graham Brady to trigger a vote of no confidence in Sunak by the parliamentary party and a leadership contest. I canāt see any way that this was Sunakās preferred option so heās called the election to spite his enemies. Sunak wanted more of todayās slightly better economic data and flights to Rwanda to start and hoped to recover some of the deficit in the polls by November. |
Can't see many other options he had, it had to be called before the end of the year, November had to be avoided. He's going with today's economic news | |
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General Election on 18:19 - May 22 with 3909 views | oldtownjack |
General Election on 18:11 - May 22 by SullutaCreturned | Which is the song Tony Blair used at his election, lets hope we don't have a repet of the boom and bust that him and Brown caused eh. We never really recovered from that and despite Tory claims about being responsible with the economy we are even worse off. |
Did Blair and Brown cause boom and bust? | |
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General Election on 18:22 - May 22 with 3888 views | union_jack |
General Election on 18:10 - May 22 by raynor94 | That was pathetic, what was he trying to prove, look at me I'm tough |
I blame his aides who should have been there whether he asked or not. The word the pundits keep saying is āopticsā. | |
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General Election on 18:24 - May 22 with 3884 views | JumpingJackFlash |
General Election on 18:17 - May 22 by raynor94 | Can't see many other options he had, it had to be called before the end of the year, November had to be avoided. He's going with today's economic news |
You donāt call the foreign Secretary back from an official overseas visit unless itās a knee jerk reaction to something. September or October with a budget giveaway would be much better but his hand has been forcedā¦ | | | |
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