Why Bother With The General Election?

[ToraToraTora]

It seems only Basildon (now Baslidon and Billaricay) matters anyway!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basildon_(UK_Parliament_constituency)
This is a tongue in cheek post to lighten things up a bit ok!

[jim360]

TIL there's something called the Cooperative Party ... :O

[tonyav]

Nah, nothing South of Watford gap matters.

[youngmafbog]

Is there anything North of it ? I thought you had to provide a passport at Watford Gap?

[tonyav]

youngmafbog
Is there anything North of it ? I thought you had to provide a passport at Watford Gap?


LOL, plenty, youngmafbog. Thats where the election will be decided.

[johnny37]

the only constituencies that matter are the marginals of which there are about 20 odd i believe.

[Deskdiary]

Yes the marginals plus with this election (possibly) Scotland.

[ichkeria]

Except that there are a lot more seats now which are unpredictable. Not just the usual marginals

A world where only Basildon and Billericay mattered is a truly scary thought :-)

[mikey4444]

TTT...This constituency has been fought over very well for decades. Labour since 1997, Tory before that and then Labour before that again. You could call it a bellwether seat !

But it not been half as much fun, since it was held by Harvey Proctor in 1979.

This colourful and highly entertaining character used to be regaled by cries of "Wacko !" every time he entered the Chamber, by Labour and Tory in equal measures. They don't make MPs like that anymore !

[ToraToraTora]

well whoever wins the election it seems mikey so lets see if that's true this time.

[ToraToraTora]

well whoever wins it wins the election it seems mikey so lets see if that's true this time.

[Canary42]

Why indeed, since nobody voted for the present Coalition.

[mikey4444]

Very true canary !

I have heard representatives from the LibDems say truly nasty things about the Tories, and then go on to say that they want the British electorate to vote them in to another "coalition" with Tories again in three weeks time....all in the same day !

Confusing what ?

[New Judge]

Just on a point of order:

The UK electorate does not vote for a party to govern them. They vote for individual Members of Parliament to represent their interests at Westminster. The Queen then invites whomsoever she is advised is most capable of forming a government to do so. In 2010 she invited David Cameron to do so and that's why we finished up with the Coalition.

[ichkeria]

The 'nobody voted for a coalition' argument is a bit misleading. Depends how you look at it: arguably more of the electorate got their wishes. Namely the Tories AND the Lib Dems. At the time I was cross about it but in fairness it was the best solution given the vote and given our electoral system

[Canary42]

Your argument is invalid ichkerie, lots of people (including me) voted LibDem to keep the Tories OUT.

Buy anyway my comment was meant in the lighthearted spirit of the OP, not to be analysed and shot down. Such is life.

[sunny-dave]

That's such a relief NJ, that we have the last knockings of a ludicrous historical anachronism looking after things . ..

[ichkeria]

Depends how you look at it canary
I also voted LibDem to keep the Tories out but at the end of the day I voted LibDem. And I failed because the Tory won our seat. Like I say we don't tend to vote 'for' coalitions by definition but what happened was the least bad option. In fairness to the LibDems they did rein in the worst excesses of Toryism. We even had a chance to change the voting system to account for tactical voting but we spurned it

[mikey4444]

NJ...while what you say is strictly true, its completely unrealistic to think that people will be going in to the Polling Booth with a fervent wish to elect their local MP, and not to elect the next Government. The vast majority of voters aren't even aware of who their local MP is, unless he or she is high profile. I can remember a time when the Party of each candidate wasn't even on the Ballot Papers, just the name of the candidate. ( Not sure when that changed though ? )

If the electorate end up giving both Labour and the Tories about the same number of MPs, then a coalition of some kind is inevitable. Its what happens in many other European countries, mostly due to the huge number of slightly different Parties that are available to vote for, and that is how democracy works !

So, until we reach a time when most of the minor Parties, like UKIP, The Greens, Plaid Cymru, etc, etc disappear, we must accept that we faced with coalitions into the foreseeable future.

I don't like it any more than you do, but when the People speak, we have no choice but to listen !

[ToraToraTora]

I know I said lighten up guys but openly admitting to voting limp dum? I didn't expect that!

[mikey4444]

TTT...I suspect that lots of people have voted LibDem, in order to keep the Tories, and Labour out. After all, what would be the point of voting for the LibDems for any other reason ! In my opinion, tactical voting will be much in evidence in a few days time.

Perhaps it always was, but it was just that we didn't notice !