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Quick question, I was told that you guys vote for the party, not the person directly, is this true?
Yes, in the States you directly appoint your president to office- here we elect our party through local constituancy and the majority leader becomes PM. Hence why Gordon Brown has not yet been leader of a party that has won an election
I'm not yet sure who I will vote for, but it certainly won't be conservative.
Actually, in the BNP's manifesto, there are a lot of policies which make sense.
Their views on the NHS, the police, and investment in industry, to name a few, are quite good, and the mainstream parties would do well to take heed, because it does reflect the sentiments of the average person.
Sadly, they also have some which would be impossible to deliver, and some which are just crazy, which would make them unelectable.
Actually, in the BNP's manifesto, there are a lot of policies which make sense.
Their views on the NHS, the police, and investment in industry, to name a few, are quite good, and the mainstream parties would do well to take heed, because it does reflect the sentiments of the average person.
Sadly, they also have some which would be impossible to deliver, and some which are just crazy, which would make them unelectable.
The BNP - like the SNP & Plaid Cymru - are much more of a threat to Labour than they are to the Tories as these parties draw more support in traditional Labour areas than they do in Tory ones. Thus, they could splt the Labour vote and let in the Tories or Lib Dems. The result would be a larger Tory majority or, eventually, a hung parliament.
In Scotland itself there is also the constitutional question. Were the SNP to get a majority of Westminster seats then independence becomes a real possibility. While the SNP have done an okay job at Holyrood, Scottish Labour haven't exactly covered themselves with glory recently. Whether it be "Gorbals Mick" presiding over the expenses fiasco, Steven Purcell resigning from Glasgow City Council (a Labour bastion) amid admissions of cocaine abuse, heavy drinking and fear of blackmail, Glasgow City Council itself being engulfed by allegations of cronyism and financial impropriety and well known gangsters showing up at recent Labour fundraisers. So the opportunity is there for the SNP to make a push in Labour's West of Scotland heartland.
It is generally accepted that Labour need to be able to dominate their traditional heartlands in Wales and Scotland to command a majority in Westminster whereas the Tories will usually command a majority of English seats. And this is what our American friend doesn't get. The Tories are not a threat to Labour in Scotland or Wales. There it is the SNP, Plaid Cymru and, to a lesser extent, the Lib Dems who provide a threat. Equally, the threat to Labour votes in some parts of northern England may well come from the BNP (no matter what you think of them) as much as it would from the Tories or Lib Dems.
Even although they do have a point on some things, I don't think anyone would ever trust them not to take power, then become like the Nazis all over again.
Like Jaggy says tho, the main parties have got to watch that there isn't a protest vote toward the BNP, it could make things interesting if it happened. I can see them causing a couple of upsets.
None of them, ones as ruthless and corrupt as the other.
People who don't vote get the Govt. they deserve.
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