Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington (Post 565704)

Jaysay, that is where folk go wrong......following a party mindlessly despite the failings......and yes, I DO know that ALL paties have some failings.
I struggle to deal with duplicity........the fact that we can be as poor as church mice while the MP's live high on the hog at our expense(taxpayers, I mean)......and we are supposed to live clean lives while the MP's can slide around in all kinds of sleaze....and I do not single out any party as being worse than another. I also dspise the fact that the government want to meddle in our private lives. I despair of the whole caboodle.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 565618)

Besides thinking Greg Pope will continue to be the best M.P. for Hyndburn, I've just remembered a few other reasons why I'm more likely to vote for him than anyone else.

1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s.

2. Low mortgage rates.

3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.

4. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.

5. Cut overall crime by 32 per cent.

6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.

7. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18.

8. Funding for every pupil in England has doubled.

9. Employment is at its highest level ever.

10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries.

11. 85,000 more nurses.

12. 32,000 more doctors.

13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards.

14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament.

15. Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.

16. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time.

17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice.

18. Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year.

19. Restored city-wide government to London.

20. Record number of students in higher education.

21. Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.

22. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.

23. Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

24. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.

25. On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

26. Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland.

27. Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.

28. All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday.

29. A million pensioners lifted out of poverty.

30. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.

31. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents.

32. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.

33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.

34. Inpatient waiting lists down by over half a million since 1997.

35. Banned fox hunting.

36. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution.

37. Free TV licences for over-75s.

38. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals.

39. Free breast cancer screening for all women aged between 50-70.

40. Free off peak local bus travel for over-60s.

41. New Deal - helped over 1.8 million people into work.

42. Over 3 million child trust funds have been started.

43. Free eye test for over 60s.

44. More than doubled the number of apprenticeships.

45. Free entry to national museums and galleries.

46. Overseas aid budget more than doubled.

47. Heart disease deaths down by 150,000 and cancer deaths down by 50,000.

48. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent.

49. Free nursery places for every three and four-year-olds.

50. Free fruit for most four to six-year-olds at school.

:D

Originally Posted by cashman (Post 566174)

when a party seriously has the balls to tackle crime and immigration, i will return to the polling booth, until then they can all get stuffed. and before some bright spark says the BNP are doing, i am talking about politics, not " Rent A Thug":mosher:

Originally Posted by Neil (Post 565945)

What Greg did that all on his own - he must wear his underpants outside his pants. :rolleyes::D

Those are ok if you think they are good for the Country, I don't believe all of them are. I also think a couple of them might be little white lies.

Originally Posted by Cyfr (Post 566225)

I don't believe in not voting, but fair play to you. As a matter of interest, if the Conservatives addressed those issues would you forget the past and vote for them?

Originally Posted by blazey (Post 566248)

I guess it shouldn't be seen as a bad thing that some people do not vote, because the majority, myself included in this, often don't have any idea what we are voting for anyway, and what is worse, voting blindly or stepping down to just let those who do have an idea vote?

Originally Posted by Yolanda25 (Post 566242)

i never vote,never listen to politicians, my mum always said that if i dont vote i dont have the rite of speech later on if i want to complain