General Elections - Manifestos

This week each of the parties vying office launched there manifesto and the first party to launch there manifesto were the Labour Party. 

I would say that in all the years that I have watched and followed politics I have never taken such a keen interest in the manifestos. 

I was very impressed with Labour and Ed Miliband as they did not make any unrealistic promises they know cannot be achieved and it seems like they had spent time to cost every pledge out. 

I would say that they did not provide us with specific details as to what areas they will cut and how much of the cuts the UK public should expect. 

However it was somewhat a of good manifesto and it was presented very well by Ed Miliband. 

The next day it was the  Conversatives and David Cameron turn and their manifesto was a complete contrast to Labour's.  

The Conservatives were promising to spend money left, right and centre. This after spending three years telling us that there was no money. 

David Cameron presentation of this manifesto was weak. He seemed very red face and came across like he was not comfortable with what he was saying. 

He also seemed to gloss over the manifesto and did not  go over the weekend announcements of more spending in the NHS. 

Liberal Democrats were equally woeful as their leader Nick Clegg only selected one journalist in the question and answer session. 

Overall a good manifesto launch for Labour and now they really need to capitalise on this launch and build up a lead in the opinion polls.  

Week One - General Election campaign

Last week was an excellent week for Ed Miliband and the Labour and it is clear now that the British people are now listening and maybe prepared to give Ed Miliband go. 

Ed Miliband announcement on going after UK citizens with "non dom status" has played really well the voting public and he has laid some solid foundations for the next three weeks of campaigning. 

However the biggest problem that the Labour Party is a potential loss of votes and seats to the Scottish National Party. These loss of seats could be the reason the Labour Party do not get a majority. 

 

For me it is deeply troubling and I am not seeing real signs as to what the plan to do about it. I hope the Labour put more resources and time into keeping their Scottish seats and also enlist the help of Gordon Brown. 

I believe the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown really help to turn it around but they need to ask him now and not three days before polling day. If the Labour Party are serious about getting a majority. 

For the Tories the first official ended on a bad note with George Osborne giving a "car crash" interview and he simply could not answer where the Tories where going to get 8 billions pounds to fund the NHS. 

The Tories are about 2 percent down the polls and Labour really need to capitalise on this and even try to extend their lead if  they are to get a majority in the May elections. 

I suspect the Tories will now throw the kitchen sink at the election and I hope Labour are willing and ready to respond in a dignified manner that can help them get the keys to number ten. 

UK General Election - 8th April

So by this time next month we will know who is to govern the UK for the next five years. I was incredibly lifted by Ed Miliband plan to ban the "non dom" tax status. 

This is when a person who was born and lives the UK claims tax concessions..i.e. Pay no tax on on their incomes outside of the UK due to their father or grandfather being born abroad.  

This tax law has existed for over two hundred years and it's great that Ed Miliband wants everybody living in the UK to pay their fair share. 

The Tory response to Labour announcement was embarrassing, as they tried to pick holes in what Ed Balls said about non doms three months ago and tried to make out they are making up policy on the hoof instead addressing inequalities in the tax law. 

Judging by the political commentary and the Tory response, I think this will really help Ed and he just now needs to consolidate his message. 

Tories launched their Education policy yesterday and it was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster and which culminated into little girl having her head on the desk as David Cameron was trying to read to her! 

So Ed Miliband is doing well without trying to play it safe and being true to himself. 

Prime Minister Questions - 22nd October 2014

In this weeks Prime Minister Questions focused on the NHS. David Cameron was again blaming Labour for the problems with NHS Wales. Ed Miliband was excellent at highlighting the problems within NHS England.

David Cameron response was weak and  even his own party did not really seem to be supporting him. I think it is bit ridiculous of David Cameron to blame Labour for NHS Wales when he is Prime Minister of the whole country. 

So I think that Ed Miliband won the exchange by sticking the facts and highlighting that David Cameron is responsible for NHS England which is having some serious problems. 

These are the kind of exchanges that are important for Ed Miliband to win he has any realistic chance of becoming Prime. Minister in eight months time. 

Review of the UK Euro elections

The results of the Euro elections was announced yesterday and as expected UKIP got the largest share of the vote. 

Although UKIP did well and came top, like the local elections they didn't do particular well in the major cities. 

The Conservatives came third overall and this was bad result for David Cameron and it has put pressure on him to either form a pact with UKIP or call the EU referendum earlier. 

Neither of which Cameron wants to do and it leaves him and his party in a perilous situation. 

The Labour Party had the best set of results since 1999 and doubled the number of MEPs in London alone. But strangely the BBC said was a terrible result for Labour. 

The Liberal Democrats had a bad Euro election and they only have one Euro MEP down from eight. Like I said in my previous blog Nick Clegg should do the honourable thing and resign. 

Overall great Euro election for UKIP and the Labour Party but the Labour Party have a lot to do to ensure they get that majority in May 2015.

Review of the UK Local Elections

Last weeks local elections had some very surprising results. It was clear from the results that UKIP are no longer a fringe party and they made significant gains in the local elections.

UKIP made some surprising gains in the North and South East England. But where unsuccessful in inner London where Londoners rejected there Euro/immigration policies. 

Whilst I accept that UKIP have made some considerable gains, the media especially the BBC said it had been an "earthquake" to UK politics. 

Which I think completely oversimplifies it yes UKIP made gains but they failed to make any inroads into various cities in the UK so they have some work to do to convince black and ethnic minority groups that they are not a racist party. 

Meanwhile Conservatives had a poor local election losing councils like Hammersmith and Fulham, Croydon and Cambridge. 

A loss of these councils would be a bitter blow to David Cameron and his party are losing vital support and getting a majority government in 2015 is looking more elusive with each passing day.

The Labour Party had a successful local election they gained over three hundred seats. 

But if you watched the BBC and other media outlets then they had a terrible election and this thought is not backed up with the statistics. 

Labour need to work on ensuring that they can get the people from the main cities to vote and this will ensure they are elected as a majority government. 

The shock of the local elections was the Liberal Democrats who did very badly and even lost the running of Kingston Borough Council to the Conservatives. 

I personally think that the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg should resign and allow the Lib Dems to regroup and salvage some proud. 

So overall I don't think any of the parties where outstanding and they all have some real work to do before the next General Election. 

A year to the next UK General Election 2015

It's now officially a year to the next General Election in the UK and the polls have started to narrow. 

Labour have had a consistent five point lead but now only have a one point lead. This could be because more people are feeling optimistic about Britan's economic future and may want to stick with the Tories. 

Labour need make the choice clear by  highlighting the problems in employment like the zero hour contracts and the rise in foodbanks. 

The Tories will continue to promote and hope GDP figures go up and I suspect promising more growth post 2015.

UKIP are doing well in the polls and they could very much decide who wins the next General Election. 

It's time that both the Tories and Labour took UKIP seriously or they will find out the dire consequence of ignoring them.   

The rise of UKIP

I have'nt really blogged much about the UK Independence Party. But as the European and General Elections draw closer, UKIP could have quite a pivotal role. 

UKIP's main policy to try and get the UK out of Europe and up on until recently they have not had much input in the UK's General Election. 

However now opinion polls have been suggesting that they would poll at 

least 10% in an General Election. 

This more worrying for the Tories as it is mainly Tory voters who have defected to UKIP. So for the Tories to win a majority in the next general election they need to get the 10% back from UKIP. 

Labour do not need to worry so much about the UKIP vote. However the Labour Party would hope that UKIP do not get a lot votes. As UKIP would make it very difficult for Labour to govern effectively. 

Recently UKIP leader Nigel Farage has disowned the party 2010 manifesto. Saying that UKIP will write a new manifesto after the European elections.

Now UKIP realise they can return some of their candidates to the House of Commons.

 They are now trying to be a little more tactful and are trying to hold on to their 10% of the voting public and they hope that this will be sustained until the next General Election.

Countdown to the 2015 UK General election

It is now seventeen months to the next UK General Election and the main parties are preparing their election manifesto. 

The Labour Party will probably campaign on improving living standards. 

Yesterday Ed Miliband went to the Tory heartland of Stevenage to promise that the next Labour government  will build more houses. 

I think this will resonate with voters up and down the country, many of whom are feeling the affects of the housing shortage 

Tories are also going to focus on a cost of living but from a different prespective. The Tories recently leaked their child benefit proposals to the Daily Mail. 

In this proposals, child benefit will no longer be given to parents with more than two children. 

I think this is disaster of a policy which in my opinion is unworkable. What will end up happening is that more children will end up on the poverty line. 

The Tories would also like to restrict free  movement of labour between certain countries and the UK. 

This is also an unworkable policy as the key principle of the European Union is the freedom of labour movement. 

So this would be very difficult for the Tories implement without contravening EU policy. 

Conservative conference - Manchester

After the Labour Party's successful conference, the onus has been for the conservatives to achieve similar success. 

There conference has certainly started  with a bang and a string of policy announcements. First big policy announcement was the married tax allowance and this new initiative was to help married couples on a low income. 

However the Labour Party have said that this allowance will help about 15% of married couples and believes that this tax discriminates against single people. 

I would agree with this sentiment as whether a person is married or single they are working hard to pay their bills and put food on the table. To me everyone should be equally rewarded and not the select few.

Today the Chancellor George Osborne also announced there would be a crack down on long term welfare claimants. 

Which means  getting claimants to work for their dole money or making them attend the job centre every day. 

The Home Secretary Teresa May also announced that some illegal immigrants would be deported before they where allowed to appeal. She added that the Human Rights Act would be abolished in 2015. 

The Conservative have now  clearly lurched to the right wing of their party and this partly due to the growing popularity of UKIP. 

A lot of UKIP's members where dissatisfied Tory voters, so the Tories are hoping that a further crackdown on benefit claimants and illegal immigrants will encourage these dissatisfied Tory voters back. 

I think this will either go really well for the Tories or very badly now that they have  completely left the middle ground. 

It will be interesting to find out in the coming days whether they have taken the British people with them or not as the case maybe.