How are YOU voting?

[quikshop]

Postal vote cast;

Not Tory. Their stealth taxes have seriously impacted my earnings potential through changes to IR35 tax rules, and threaten my wife's earnings with cuts to education.

Not Labour. Corbyn & Abbott are incompetent British-hating pacifists, which is a shame because a lot of their policies make sense. All is forgiven Andy, David et al.

Not Liberal Democrat. They are anti-Liberal anti-Democratic (irony) and have a whining fool nice-but-dim Tim in charge... would rather see our Border-Collie be PM than Tim.

Not UKIP. They did their job, now retire gracefully.

I've voted Green

 

[MikeJ]

Not Tory. Their stealth taxes have seriously impacted my earnings potential through changes to IR35 tax rules, and threaten my wife's earnings with cuts to education.

Welcome to the world where people complain taxes are too high and spending isn't high enough.

 

[quikshop]

Why green?

They are largely raving lefties and the majority of their mouth-foaming nonsense does not appeal, however I firmly believe that there needs to be a strong environmental framework applied across our capitalist system;

• We have cartels like the motor industry that are still selling vehicles that emit 20 times the legal limit of poisonous pollutants.
• The EU has a ridiculous self-cert scheme for most industries that allow new products to be brought to market without any checking on the potential harm to humans or the environment. Micro-beads, WTF!?
• Our Government as most across Europe are dragging their feet over new networks of electric charging points and hydrogen fueling stations. Private industry is trying to fill the gap but the cartels are blocking at every opportunity.
• In parts of the UK over 90% of recycled waste is still going to landfill. This at a time when Countries like Sweden are having to import waste because they successfully recycle 100% of their own waste (that can be recycled).

And of course, on a non-environmental view I support the concept of a living wage and more importantly, proportional representation.

Until we have PR, the first past the post system will keep the balance of power firmly with the two big parties. Nearly 5 million voted UKIP last time round and they got 1 MP. Over 1 million voted Green, 1 MP. The make-up of Parliament does not reflect the will of the British people, and deliberately so.

 

[Clinton]

There is only one serious party in the UK worth voting for.

 

[quikshop]

There is only one serious party in the UK worth voting for.

"Atheism will be given charity status being a non-prophet organization" - laugh

 

[Ian J]

Until we have PR, the first past the post system will keep the balance of power firmly with the two big parties. Nearly 5 million voted UKIP last time round and they got 1 MP. Over 1 million voted Green, 1 MP. The make-up of Parliament does not reflect the will of the British people, and deliberately so.

The thought of the Green Party gaining more than the one seat that they have is enough reason on it's own not to bring in PR

The Green Party controlled Brighton Council but made such an almighty mess of it that they lost to Labour at the next council elections and for a party that stands for the environment Brighton ended up 302nd out of 326 councils for its recycling record

 

[Deleted member 59730]

Postal vote cast for the LibDem in my area, Andrew George. He was our MP for many years before being ousted in the 2015 GE. He was certainly the best MP St Ives have seen in living memory.

I would be tempted to vote Green if they had a good viable candidate in this area. Fortunately Andrew George leans towards green ideas.

I confess that the only party congress I have ever attended was The Monster Raving Loony Party Congress Party. They had this really silly idea in their manifesto, Protected name status for Cornish Pasties.

 

[garyk]

Postal vote cast;

Not Tory. Their stealth taxes have seriously impacted my earnings potential through changes to IR35 tax rules, and threaten my wife's earnings with cuts to education.

Although ironically IR35 itself was introduced under a labour government.

I seem to remember some posturing and last minute attempts to change this legislation with specific exclusions because who also operate as one man service based limited companies?

Barristers....and what did Tony's wife do as a job?????

 

[Mr D]

Welcome to the world where people complain taxes are too high and spending isn't high enough.

Yes, did make me smile.

 

[Mr D]

Postal vote cast;

Not Tory. Their stealth taxes have seriously impacted my earnings potential through changes to IR35 tax rules, and threaten my wife's earnings with cuts to education.

Not Labour. Corbyn & Abbott are incompetent British-hating pacifists, which is a shame because a lot of their policies make sense. All is forgiven Andy, David et al.

Not Liberal Democrat. They are anti-Liberal anti-Democratic (irony) and have a whining fool nice-but-dim Tim in charge... would rather see our Border-Collie be PM than Tim.

Not UKIP. They did their job, now retire gracefully.

I've voted Green

Someone has to vote Green I'm sure.

I'm not a fan of theirs. Other parties want to tax me a lot, the Greens want to kill me.

Haven't yet decided who to vote for, so far have only met one candidate. If I don't get to meet the others then that candidate will get my vote.
If I find a better candidate....

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I have seen very few people campaigning .Only yesterday I saw too lib dems in Exeter .
They if you must know they had stopped to watch a dog do its business on a grass verge .!
For me this reinforces the fact that they have their priorities all wrong

 

[Ian J]

Someone has to vote Green I'm sure.

If the Green Party actually managed to win the election would we end up with joint Prime Ministers?

 

[MikeJ]

A mate of mine is the green candidate his constituency. He'll probably lose his deposit, but he's standing for what he believes in.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

Haven't yet decided who to vote for, so far have only met one candidate. If I don't get to meet the others then that candidate will get my vote.
If I find a better candidate....

I get the feeling that several here are not involved. I went to a Tim Farren Q&A session and was very impressed. Really on top of all the answers, even the difficult ones. I'm on first name terms with my Libdem candidate so that makes a difference.

 

[The Byre]

Welcome to the world where people complain taxes are too high and spending isn't high enough.

That is because governments seek to change society by increasing (and seldom decreasing) taxes - when they should be changing the law.

For example -

We have cartels like the motor industry that are still selling vehicles that emit 20 times the legal limit of poisonous pollutants.

Instead of increasing taxes for polluting cars, they should be ignoring the NEDC tests and enforcing the existing laws on pollution by making these cars adhere to the law in real-world tests. If Toyota, Honda, Ford, most VWs and Rolls Royce can do it, so can Renault, Nissan, Dacia, Mercedes and all the others who ignore the law. Simples!

The same for the cost of living and run-away house-price inflation in the South of England. Don't waste money, subsidising people's wages - introduce rent control and mandatory house insulation (along with pretty much the rest of Europe!)

 

[Mr D]

Rent control? Be a brave government to try that - it would affect house prices, it would affect investment.

 

[Clodbuster]

Vote posted, Not Labour anyway. Prefer a zero balance credit card.

 

[Clinton]

The same for the cost of living and run-away house-price inflation in the South of England. Don't waste money, subsidising people's wages - introduce rent control and mandatory house insulation (along with pretty much the rest of Europe!)

Surely the best solution is getting their finger out when it comes to increasing supply of housing stock?

 

[STDFR33]

Surely the best solution is getting their finger out when it comes to increasing supply of housing stock?

Hard to do that when they keep squeezing housing associations.

 

[ffox]

Don't waste money, subsidising people's wages - introduce rent control and mandatory house insulation (along with pretty much the rest of Europe!)

Surely the best solution is getting their finger out when it comes to increasing supply of housing stock?

While I agree, low cost housing is the answer to much that is wrong in this country.

Rent control? Be a brave government to try that - it would affect house prices, it would affect investment.

I think @Mr D has it. Neither May nor Corbyne have the courage to risk damage to the property investments that represent around 40% of total UK wealth.

 

[The Byre]

That house price inflation bubble will burst one day and that will be far more damaging to the economy than any rent control.

Hose price inflation has already stopped outside the South. All those greedy hopefuls on interest-only mortgages are going to have a rude awakening when prices start to fall!

 

[The Byre]

Surely the best solution is getting their finger out when it comes to increasing supply of housing stock?

And whose finger do you suggest be pulled out?

Shirley, you are not suggesting MORE public spending (and thereby increasing the cost of living for the poor)??? That means it's going to be my bloody finger again that gets pulled!

But you could change the laws on brown-field sites and change the laws on land-banking and planning permissions. That would stir things up a bit and get things moving!

 

[UKSBD]

The problem could be solved if councils weren't judged on efficiency in certain sectors.

Say a council built 50 homes on a piece of land and charged £500 a month rent for them.

A private housing association built 50 homes on a similar piece of land and charged £1000 a month rent on them.

The council would be slated for being inefficient and losing tax payer money because they are undercharging.

What we need is more non profit making housing associations, preferably Government owned and who won't get a slating for being inefficient.

 

[Mr D]

Its fine to say more houses should be built. Governments have said it in the UK multiple times.

Minor issue of planning permission, which is not national usually, land, facilities, builders, bricks etc.
The last 2 we would have to import from overseas if we pushed up housebuilding a lot.

Then there is a minor issue of getting people to move house. If the houses are not where people want to live...

 

[Clodbuster]

T.......... preferably Government owned and who won't get a slating for being inefficient.

I guess everything will be solved if everything is Government owned - including your business? If I can arrive in this country with just £2000 and a family - no job lined up, ten years later I own my house, university educated my daughter myself as I was not entitled to local funding and built up a pension pot. If I can do it then so can every other person if they get off their collective backsides.

 

[Newchodge]

either May nor Corbyne have the courage to risk damage to the property investments that represent around 40% of total UK wealth.

I recall the house price inflation and bubble bursting that the government (can't remember which one) caused many years ago. Back then you got tax relief on mortgage interest payments. If you had a joint mortgage you BOTH got tax relief on the same mortgage interest payments. The government announced that from a date about a year forward, tax relief would be limited to 1 person, but this change would not affect those who already had a mortgage.

Result, obviously, was that everyone who had been thinking about getting a house needed to buy 1 within a year to benefit from the largesse given them by the government and house prices rocketed. That didn't matter to the purchasers as, even if they had a bigger mortgage than they could really afford the government would pay 60% of the interest.

The mayhem when, eventually all mortgage tax relief was removed, including for those who already had it, resulted in an enormous drop in house prices, probably to the level they would have been without the tax relief. Loads of people were unable to move because they were in serious negative equity and eventually the building societies had to think of creative ways to resolve the issue.

I bought a flat in London in 1982 for 30,000. I sold it in 1984 for 33,000. In 1998 it was worth over 300,000. I bought a house up here in the north east in 1999 for £26,000. In 2007 it was valued at £120,000. Those levels of house price inflation cannot be sustainable, especially as they are not matched by wage inflation, so the number of people able to get a mortgage to buy decreases every year, so there is more need for rental accommodation. Then those who could not buy the house move into it when it has been bought as a buy to let, and pay rent in excess of the mortgage repayments they would have made had they been able to get a mortgage.

Housing should not be seen as a source of wealth, not at the levels at which it is seen today. Housing is a necessity.

 

[Clinton]

Cyndy, I agree. But it's deep in the British psyche that property makes for the only reliable pension plan. And I don't blame the British people.

The alternative is trusting the government to not make raids on pensions funds to steal the money you've been saving for retirement.

BTW, you'll probably like this piece a contact of mine, Nicola Horlick, posted today: I vote for a hung parliament.

 

[ffox]

Housing should not be seen as a source of wealth, not at the levels at which it is seen today. Housing is a necessity.

Absolutely, but -

That house price inflation bubble will burst one day and that will be far more damaging to the economy than any rent control.

You can't argue with that either. -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...rs-of-Britains-house-price-boom-and-bust.html

Somewhere between 5 and 6 trillion GBP is tied up in housing. I remember 1989/1991 when house prices fell by around 50% - if the same thing happened again that would equate to the UK being written down by over 2.5 trillion. And we're worrying about Brexit?

The current government are encouraging more housing development, but not enough. In July 2016 the Government’s online Planning Practice Guidance (PPG), which sets out the methodology for assessing housing need, was updated in line with Clause 124, to specifically identify park homes as an additional type of housing that needs to be considered and planned for.

I know that Park Home Site owners are changing business registration SIC codes from Holiday park to Housing Association provision. And if there aren't enough mobile homes available it is easier, cheaper and quicker to build Park home sites than housing estates. But, it's not happening very rapidly.

Considering the pressures generated by the housing crisis the only reason I can see for the snail pace of change is that all of the politicians are very aware of what impact a 2.5 trillion GBP write down would do to UK PLC.

 

[Mr D]

Cyndy, I agree. But it's deep in the British psyche that property makes for the only reliable pension plan. And I don't blame the British people.

The alternative is trusting the government to not make raids on pensions funds to steal the money you've been saving for retirement.

BTW, you'll probably like this piece a contact of mine, Nicola Horlick, posted today: I vote for a hung parliament.

And we know government do raid pension plans.

A hung parliament - would the SNP join with the Conservatives or would it be Labour joining with the Conservatives.

 

[Clodbuster]

There is a development of 950 houses being planned near me that has been in the planning stage for 14 years when we saw the first notices go up. A new set of notices went up last week. There is always someone objecting mostly nimbyism. Time it was allowed to go.

 

[sirearl]

I guess everything will be solved if everything is Government owned - including your business? If I can arrive in this country with just £2000 and a family - no job lined up, ten years later I own my house, university educated my daughter myself as I was not entitled to local funding and built up a pension pot. If I can do it then so can every other person if they get off their collective backsides.

As Hilary said "If I can climb Everest anyone can"

Ask the unversity for a refund.

 

[Newchodge]

As anyone who has read any of my posts will realise, I have not quite made my mind up yet.

 

[Clodbuster]

Diane Abbott for Home Secretary - ye Gods preserve us.

 

[The Byre]

Diane Abbott for Home Secretary - ye Gods preserve us.

My 30 cents worth on the coming chaos and deluge -

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/a...d-place-ukbf-gets-ready-for-the-election.626/

 

[Mr D]

I rather like Diane. If there's a train wreck she is quite capable of being part of it.
While not the best advertisement for the Conservatives (that title belongs to her ex lover) she is pretty good.
Its like watching a female version of Richard Murphy as a politician. The guy that came up with Corbynomics...

 

[Clodbuster]

She looks remarkably like Robert Mugabe's former Vice President.

 

[Newchodge]

Theresa May as prime minister? Could anything be worse? Government by soundbite

Brexit means Brexit
Strong and Stable
Enough is Enough

But no policies, no costings, no ability and no intelligence.

 

[Ian J]

Theresa May as prime minister? Could anything be worse? Government by soundbite

But no policies, no costings, no ability and no intelligence.

I think that you're just ranting now.

I can think of many things worse including a racist Home Secretary and a front bench that will probably resign after ten minutes like they did in opposition

 

[Mr D]

Theresa May as prime minister? Could anything be worse? Government by soundbite

Brexit means Brexit
Strong and Stable
Enough is Enough

But no policies, no costings, no ability and no intelligence.

Funnily enough she has been PM for a few months now. The world did not end.

 

[sirearl]

Funnily enough she has been PM for a few months now. The world did not end.

If it does not affect moi then it affects no one.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politic...uts-philip-hammond-forgot-mention-budget-2017