UK Politics Mega-thread - Page 34

On October 10 2013 09:54 KwarK wrote:
Law proposed = law passed?

The Labour has lost its lead over the Conservatives with both parties now tied on 35%, according to a poll published on Thursday.

The Ipsos MORI survey for the Evening Standard will worry Ed Miliband as it suggests the rise in fortunes for David Cameron is linked to a tentative economic recovery.

It is the first time Labour and the Conservatives have been tied in an Ipsos MORI poll since January 2012. The parties were also shown to be level in a YouGov poll in mid-September before the party conference season got underway.

Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos MORI said: "The dividing lines between the leaders are a bit clearer after conference season, and they have all shored up their support – especially Ed Miliband, who has given more confidence to his own supporters. At the same time we have seen the Conservatives’ vote share rise in recent months in line with economic optimism. The public’s view is fascinatingly poised."

Despite the overall figures being worrying for Miliband, the poll does contain some good news. The Labour leader's signature policy of freezing energy bills until 2017 was the most popular proposal announced during the party conferences - with 62% saying it is the best for them personally and 50% seeing as the best for the country.

Miliband also received the biggest boost in personal support of all the main party leaders. Six in ten (61%) Labour supporters are now satisfied with the way he is performing as Labour leader, this is the highest Ipsos MORI has recorded since his first month in office.

Nick Clegg has warned that the UK could be driven by Tory "ideological extremists" into a government shutdown like that experienced in America this week as Republicans and Democrats fought over the US budget.

"We see what happens when ideological extremism goes unchecked," the Liberal Democrat leader told the Financial Times. "It would be very complacent to assume that can't happen here".

Clegg compared Tory eurosceptics to the Republican Tea Party wing, arguing that they both shared "a rigid, ideological self-belief that runs roughshod over the interests of the country”. Bill Cash, Peter Bone and Douglas Carswell are among the most prominent Tory eurosceptics.

The Deputy Prime Minister also warned that Tory eurosceptics' aim to take Britain out of the European Union would be an act of "economic suicide".

Downing Street has suggested people who are struggling to pay their energy bills should consider wearing jumpers to keep warm during the winter.

When asked whether the prime minister thought people should put a jumper in order to spend less money on heating, a spokesperson for David Cameron said: "He is not going to prescribe the actions that individuals should take but if people are giving that advice that is something that people may wish to consider."

The high cost of energy has become a key battleground between the coalition and Labour ahead of the general election in 2015 - after Ed Miliband pledged to freeze prices until 2017.

The prime minister's spokesman made the suggestion after energy secretary Ed Davey said he was sure some people did put on extra clothes to keep their bills down. He told BBC Newsnight on Thursday evening: "I am sure people do wear jumpers, I wear jumpers at home."

"If you insulate your home more you can turn your heating down," he said. And he encouraged people to switch providers if their bills were too high. "They can switch, we have sen a big increase in competition under this coalition government. There are some really big savings to be had out there."

Responding to the jumper suggestion, Miliband said of the government: "Their crime policy used to be ‘hug a hoodie’. Now their energy policy appears to be 'wear a hoodie'."

On October 21 2013 01:04 jello_biafra wrote:

I've gone through several winters in this country with no central heating, it's really not that cold and you save a lot of money so it's actually pretty sound advice I would say, if a bit obvious.

Tory backbencher Adam Afriyie has insisted he will not be "bullied" into dropping his plan to amend David Cameron's EU referendum Bill to ensure a referendum on the European Union takes place before 2015 - despite being called, among other things, "a chateau bottled nuclear powered ****" by a fellow Conservative MP.

Afriyie has been pushing to amend the Downing Street backed legislation put forward by James Wharton that would guarantee an in/out referendum by 2017. His amendment would ensure any public poll took place before the election. However his plan has not gone down that well with other Tory MPs, who fear attaching the amendment would prevent the Bill from passing the Commons and scupper any chance of a referendum being held at all.

The internal-party row came to a head last week when Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill, was reported to have launched into an angry tirade against Afriyie in the Commons tea room.

The Mail on Sunday reports that Soames told the MP for Windsor: "You are a chateau bottled nuclear powered ****. You are totally f***ing disloyal, a f***ing disgrace to your party, your fellow MPs, your prime minister and your country."

On October 21 2013 01:16 Nyxisto wrote:


Well i guess most of the time it's not the advice itself, but more from whom it comes. If rich guys like Cameron tell people who basically live on pocket change to put that good old jacket on it's quite cynical.

On October 23 2013 06:32 3Form wrote:


Yes it's utterly condescending, but it's not straight out of Cameron's mouth, I think it's a little bit of a case of overreporting.

Really though the main issue is that wearing an extra jumper isn't going to do anything for those that really do run the risk of dying from the cold in winter - the elderly.

On October 26 2013 05:14 HellRoxYa wrote:


Yeah, it's pretty stupid. Brand implies that there are people out there with all the answers. And he implies that he sees all the problems. While acknowledging problems with the system is important, saying that the system must go completely is an entirely different thing.

Obviously big business buying parts of the government is a very real problem, but listening to Brand it sounds like he assumes the problems will go away if the politicians will go away, apparently not realizing there will always be a need for politicians.

The UK would do good with a PR system instead of FPTP though, That would most probably get you closer to where you want to go quite quickly. But the AV system (half-way to PR) was shot down, much due to downright misrepresentation by the politically interested parties in the UK about what AV would actually mean (often claiming it would mean worse representation on average when the opposite is true). So for now Brand does seem to have a point about the UK system - voting doesn't matter too much. Either you vote Tory or you vote Labour, or perhaps Liberal Democrats. But if your view isn't covered by any of those, then you choose the lesser evil between them because hey, what can you do? Voting still matters in this respect, but not as much as it would had more views been represented.

Edit: And for the environment. Beyond government pandering to and being bought by companies every now and again the real change will come through social desire for change. It needs to be a bottom up change, where people actually care enough about the environment to change their daily lives, or put pressure on companies and research institutes to develop new and cheaper technologies for more environmentally friendly production and so on. We're already seeing this change in the western world but it's not enough yet. Changing the government by "revolution" wont change this.

On October 23 2013 13:11 KwarK wrote:

Who have a special winter fuel allowance to deal with exactly that.

On October 26 2013 07:00 3Form wrote:

Yet thousands still die every winter due to the cold, apparently!