General Election

[Henarar]

Remain

isn't that how TM voted or at least said she would vote and the then conservative leader

 

[czechmate]

should have got of their bloody lazy arses then and gone an voted, if this is the case and not a bullpoo excuse then they didn't deserve to win the vote, lazy buggers

Half true and half down to the polls. I take some comfort, at the moment, of the serious rating that MLP has in the polls. Should hopefully motivate the sensible.

 

[arbel]

Half true and half down to the polls. I take some comfort, at the moment, of the serious rating that MLP has in the polls. Should hopefully motivate the sensible.

What? To vote for her?

 

[orchard]

There's leaving the EU, and then there's the question of how some of the power regained is going to be divested. May intends to write our rights and create the ability for government to introduce laws without parliamentary approval/scrutiny. This Erdogan-esque power grab is what I mean by anti-democratic/anti-elected oligarchy.

Be careful what you wish for, she hasn't any idea, nor integrity, to follow through any particular model of EU withdrawal.

...though I suppose if they can delay Brexit long enough, the Lib-Dems might manage to out-breed the Conservatives and get a clear majority... Do you think that's their policy?

 

[czechmate]

What? To vote for her?

No, to take the threat seriously enough to turn out (today) and vote against her

 

[Guy Smith]

June 8th will be the first General Election since 1966 where we will return to Westminster and Whitehall the men and women who will sit down and write a new agricultural policy without having to defer to Brussels.

As to whether that is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen. Either way, it will be an historic election for farming in this country.

 

[czechmate]

June 8th will be the first General Election since 1966 where we will return to Westminster and Whitehall the men and women who will sit down and write a new agricultural policy without having to defer to Brussels.

As to whether that is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen. Either way, it will be an historic election for farming in this country.

Sad to say Guy,but I think the importance of agriculture, in 2017 will be incomparible compared to 1966

 

[Guy Smith]

If you read your history you note farmers weren't exactly happy with Government and policy in the 1960s

 

[czechmate]

If you read your history you note farmers weren't exactly happy with Government and policy in the 1960s

He he, I don't need to read any history to know that farmers have always been whinging f**kers

 

[Osca]

Nobody, but nobody, knows how any person voted. It is a secret ballot, and whilst some are stopped on the way out and asked how they voted, there is no guarantee they will tell the truth.

Nobody knows either the age groups of those who voted and those who did not. There is no possible way of anyone acquiring this information.

I used to believe that but its not true. Here the clerk's look for your name on the register, against which there is a number, this number is then written on the voting slip before handing it to you, so how you voted is traceable. It is not a secret ballot!!!!!

My Dad used to say, "If anyone asks you how you voted, tell them to mind their own business. People have died to get you a secret ballot and a chance to vote! It is the one thing that allows us a democracy1"

I used to think - "Silly old codger!"

But as I get older I realise he was right and we are hugely privileged as a result of the sacrifices of others..

However, Penmoel is right about the little number. I'm sure they don't check up unless there's a suspicion of extra - forged- voting papers or something, but if wished, a voter could be traced. If you wrote "I save all my own seed and I never pay any tax on it" on your voting slip, I dare say they would be at your door.

 

[Osca]

As for the last referendum, I think most people thought it was a foregone conclusion. That would include a lot of potential Brexit voters who just didn't see the point in voting since we were being told we would Remain; not just Remainers who couldn't be bothered. And there will be a lot of borderline voters who, seeing the reaction of the EU, would think it too late to try to backtrack; just, I suspect, as in the last referendum, back in the '70's, it seemed too late to reverse our having been forcibly joined to the EU, even though I'm not sure it would have happened had we had a vote in the first place.

But this election isn't the referendum. And I think a lot of people who would have voted against Cameron and wouldn't normally vote for May, would dread the alternatives, regardless of Remain or Leave. Let's hope so.

 

[Jackson4]

Half true and half down to the polls. I take some comfort, at the moment, of the serious rating that MLP has in the polls. Should hopefully motivate the sensible.

Except the youth are far more likely to vote for Le Pen than any other party over there, the only party that wants to leave the EU. Those that voted leave here a were characterised as racist and bigoted by our press yet 40% of the youth over their are expected to vote FN, a party much further right than any of our parties?

Do the press give a balanced view or are all the youths clever this time.. but nasty It probably will be Le Pen into the next round then one of the other 3 will win wont it.

 

[Henarar]

Half true and half down to the polls. I take some comfort, at the moment, of the serious rating that MLP has in the polls. Should hopefully motivate the sensible.

were the polls not quite tight ? I can't remember which leads me to my next point that I don't take much heed to the polls as they have never asked me and I may not tell them correctly anyway so how can they know,
there is only one poll that counts so get of your arse and use it is my advice

 

[Osca]

There's leaving the EU, and then there's the question of how some of the power regained is going to be divested. May intends to write our rights and create the ability for government to introduce laws without parliamentary approval/scrutiny. This Erdogan-esque power grab is what I mean by anti-democratic/anti-elected oligarchy.

Be careful what you wish for, she hasn't any idea, nor integrity, to follow through any particular model of EU withdrawal.

But when elected members are deliberately and openly misusing their power to try to overturn the decision of a democratic vote, in some cases against the clear wishes of their own constituency, she has no real choice but to tighten the reins. From where I sit, much as I would prefer MPs to be responsible, accountable and involved, she is simply doing her duty, whilst others are not.

 

[linga]

There's leaving the EU, and then there's the question of how some of the power regained is going to be divested. May intends to write our rights and create the ability for government to introduce laws without parliamentary approval/scrutiny. This Erdogan-esque power grab is what I mean by anti-democratic/anti-elected oligarchy.

Be careful what you wish for, she hasn't any idea, nor integrity, to follow through any particular model of EU withdrawal.

I dont think this is quite correct.
The Government wants to be able to alter some existing law where the transfer of EU law into UK law would cause problems if not changed, as I understand it anyway.
These powers would be limited I believe.
You may still find that worrying but to alter law within certain limits is different to introducing new law.

The question of what particular model of EU withdrawal to follow will be determined in part by the way the EU decide to negotiate and so its quite hard for anyone to define an absolute position and unfair to demand one.

 

[Courier]

there is only one poll that counts so get of your arse and use it is my advice

Even if you are in a "safe seat" you can still make your voice heard by contributing to the "swing" even if YOUR vote doesn't actually count this time around [emoji35]

Bloody FPTP.

 

[hindmaist]

June 8th will be the first General Election since 1966 where we will return to Westminster and Whitehall the men and women who will sit down and write a new agricultural policy without having to defer to Brussels.

As to whether that is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen. Either way, it will be an historic election for farming in this country.

The truth is,these men and women will still be hugely constrained by the EU,WTO etc.They COULD reintroduce production subsidies,but what view will the WTO take of that? They COULD lift the GM ban,but what would the consequences be for trade with the EU.Of course,there's lots of stuff they can do,but there will be a huge pressure to keep the framework exactly as it is now,with any change being in the payment rates for the current schemes.
There are,of course,many complications.The US might insist we take GM stuff in order to get a trade deal.The Eu might insist we be GM free if we want to trade with them.Some sort of deal will have to be done and UK farmers won't be the governments main priority.There has never been a time when our various farmers unions were more needed.

 

[Courier]

We will just have to take whatever crumbs the rest of the World throws our way and live with it - we are about to be come the Worlds dumping ground for cheap food, and it will be seen as good for the 98% of consumers outside Agriculture [emoji36]

 

[Old McDonald]

I used to believe that but its not true. Here the clerk's look for your name on the register, against which there is a number, this number is then written on the voting slip before handing it to you, so how you voted is traceable. It is not a secret ballot!!!!!

Of course it is true. You obviously have never been in the position of Returning or Deputy Returning Officer at an election. Sounds like you have not even been one of the polling station staff.

Ballot papers have an accompanying stub. The voter's number is written on that stub not on the ballot paper. The relevant ballot paper and stub have the same identifying number. In that way it is possible, with extreme effort, to identify the voter for a particular ballot paper.

The law on the need to identify a voter is very strict and in over 30 years of involvement in many (mainly local authority) elections I have never known it to happen.

The logistics of finding even one ballot paper are such that you must realise it is not humanly possible to identify a trend of how people voted in something as broad as the EU referendum when millions voted. Even in a small local council it would be necessary to access all the ballot papers, all the stubs from the different polling stations - an impossible situation, and then employ masses of people to try to match the ballot paper with the stub and then analyse the results. The penalties for attempting to match even one voter are very severe.

Therefore, UK elections most definitely are secret ballots.

There's no doubt but that apathy and over confidence amongst the younger voters allowed a Brexit win. Brexit voters were far more motivated on the day.

There is doubt, because as explained above nobody knows who voted or how. In every election there are numbers of old people who have died since the register was made up, and more who have become too frail to go to vote. Few bother with a postal vote. This means the percentage of registered old people who actually cast a vote is lower than the media would have you believe.

However, Penmoel is right about the little number. I'm sure they don't check up unless there's a suspicion of extra - forged- voting papers or something, but if wished, a voter could be traced. If you wrote "I save all my own seed and I never pay any tax on it" on your voting slip, I dare say they would be at your door.

You may have noticed that a mark is stamped through ballot papers when you vote. If this mark is missing then the ballot paper is treated as an invalid vote. Forging papers, not an easy task, and with a very tight time availability, is not going to happen in the UK.

Making this mark puts a big onus on polling station staff to ensure the mark is used. Anyone missing even a single paper is usually never used again at an election. The reason for this is that because of their failure to correctly carry out their duties, they have deprived the voter concerned of his/her right to cast a vote. It is possible that in the event of a tie and spin of a coin or whatever to decide, that the losing candidate would have won had it not been for the failure to apply the mark.

Any writing on a paper would merely mean it is treated as a spoilt ballot paper by the Returning Officer, and nobody would make any attempt to identify the voter. If it was something as serious as a terror threat, then I daresay the court would be prepared to allow identification to proceed. I have never needed to do this, and do not even remember the procedure.

 

[turbo]

The truth is,these men and women will still be hugely constrained by the EU,WTO etc.They COULD reintroduce production subsidies,but what view will the WTO take of that? They COULD lift the GM ban,but what would the consequences be for trade with the EU.Of course,there's lots of stuff they can do,but there will be a huge pressure to keep the framework exactly as it is now,with any change being in the payment rates for the current schemes.
There are,of course,many complications.The US might insist we take GM stuff in order to get a trade deal.The Eu might insist we be GM free if we want to trade with them.Some sort of deal will have to be done and UK farmers won't be the governments main priority.There has never been a time when our various farmers unions were more needed.

Utter bolocks,the eu already allow GM in but won't allow us to grow it so what will be any difference between us growing crops or anyone else