Will you be voting at the upcoming elections?

[thediceman]

Just heard the libdems on the radio

Legalise cannabis - I like
Bring home troops - I like
Increase tax- Good plan

Poor people pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than rich people?

Have i missed something or is the statement above a complete pile of shite?

Not shite, I love the idea of Amsterdam style coffee shops in Ipswich.

[StuartHopkin]

Just heard the libdems on the radio

Legalise cannabis - I like
Bring home troops - I like
Increase tax- Good plan

Poor people pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than rich people?

Have i missed something or is the statement above a complete pile of shite?

Not shite, I love the idea of Amsterdam style coffee shops in Ipswich.

Lol no legalising Cannabis completely would be immense!

Im on about the fact she thinks people who earn £15k pay more tax proportionally than those who earn £150k

[thediceman]

Just heard the libdems on the radio

Legalise cannabis - I like
Bring home troops - I like
Increase tax- Good plan

Poor people pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than rich people?

Have i missed something or is the statement above a complete pile of shite?

Not shite, I love the idea of Amsterdam style coffee shops in Ipswich.

Lol no legalising Cannabis completely would be immense!

Im on about the fact she thinks people who earn £15k pay more tax proportionally than those who earn £150k

I knew that's what you meant, I'm just to stoned to care 

[StuartHopkin]

Just heard the libdems on the radio

Legalise cannabis - I like
Bring home troops - I like
Increase tax- Good plan

Poor people pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than rich people?

Have i missed something or is the statement above a complete pile of shite?

Not shite, I love the idea of Amsterdam style coffee shops in Ipswich.

Lol no legalising Cannabis completely would be immense!

Im on about the fact she thinks people who earn £15k pay more tax proportionally than those who earn £150k

I knew that's what you meant, I'm just to stoned to care 

Good times

[kinboshi]

Just heard the libdems on the radio

Legalise cannabis - I like
Bring home troops - I like
Increase tax- Good plan

Poor people pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than rich people?

Have i missed something or is the statement above a complete pile of shite?

Not shite, I love the idea of Amsterdam style coffee shops in Ipswich.

Lol no legalising Cannabis completely would be immense!

Im on about the fact she thinks people who earn £15k pay more tax proportionally than those who earn £150k

No idea what was said, do you have a link?

One thing that I was wondering about the Lib Dem MPs, were there a far smaller percentage of them involved in the expenses scandal than the other parties or not?  I'd suspect that it was the case (but could be completely wrong).  Anyone know?

[thetank]

Poor people pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than rich people?

It's misleadingly worded. Income in tax is not the same as income tax.

The calculation takes into account all tax, not just income tax and national insurance, but also council tax, road tax, VAT on utilities, food and argos furniture. Special duty in addition to the VAT on booze, fags and petrol.

It's a nice pithy statement, but the way the numbers work, it's always going to be true that poor people pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than rich people, even if the lib dems got in.

That is unless you want to charge "rich people" an income tax rate of 90%+. Check selected countries in the continent of Africa to see how this works.

[Pawprint]

I think the best thing that could happen is we get a hung parliament and we all vote in by text to pick a dream team to get the country out of the mess it's in.

Portfolio	Labour	Conservatives	Lib Dems
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown MP	David Cameron MP	Nick Clegg MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer	Alistair Darling MP	George Osborne MP	Dr Vince Cable MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs	David Miliband MP	William Hague MP	Edward Davey MP
Secretary of State for Justice	Jack Straw MP	Dominic Grieve QC MP	David Howarth MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department	Alan Johnson MP	Chris Grayling MP	Chris Huhne MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Hilary Benn MP	Nick Herbert MP	Tim Farron MP
Secretary of State for International Development	Douglas Alexander MP	Andrew Mitchell MP	Michael Moore MP
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government	John Denham MP	Caroline Spelman MP	Julia Goldsworthy MP
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families	Ed Balls MP	Michael Gove MP	David Laws MP
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change	Ed Miliband MP	Greg Clark MP	Simon Hughes MP
Secretary of State for Health	Andrew Burnham MP	Andrew Lansley CBE MP	Norman Lamb MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions	Yvette Cooper MP	Theresa May MP	Prof. Steve Webb MP
Secretary of State for Defence	Bob Ainsworth MP	Dr. Liam Fox MP	Nick Harvey MP
Secretary of State for Transport	The Lord Adonis PC	Theresa Villiers MP	Norman Baker MP
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport	Ben Bradshaw MP	Jeremy Hunt MP	Don Foster MP

Possibly others in contention aswell, but sorting the three main parties was easy.

Anyone got any preferences ?

[Longy]

Got to have Ken Clarke in there imo.

[thediceman]

Is a hung parliamnet really the best option when we are in a period where we really need a strong government to address many complex issues and make big decisions if we are to address the economic problems ?.

[Pawprint]

Is a hung parliamnet really the best option when we are in a period where we really need a strong government to address many complex issues and make big decisions if we are to address the economic problems ?.

I just don't feel any of the contenders have what it takes to get things sorted.  Now, if they were forced to have to all work together, instead of just having a go at each other, we might get things moving in the right direction.

[Bongo]

Is a hung parliamnet really the best option when we are in a period where we really need a strong government to address many complex issues and make big decisions if we are to address the economic problems ?.

I just don't feel any of the contenders have what it takes to get things sorted.  Now, if they were forced to have to all work together, instead of just having a go at each other, we might get things moving in the right direction.

They'd just have bigger arguments and nothing would get done.

[Longy]

The last time there was a hung parliment in this country in 74' they called another election later the same year to sort it out.

[Jon MW]

Is a hung parliamnet really the best option when we are in a period where we really need a strong government to address many complex issues and make big decisions if we are to address the economic problems ?.

I just don't feel any of the contenders have what it takes to get things sorted.  Now, if they were forced to have to all work together, instead of just having a go at each other, we might get things moving in the right direction.

They'd just have bigger arguments and nothing would get done.

Yeah, this - they wouldn't be forced to work together at all, which means the main parties would just work against each other as they always do

The most likely outcome is another election in Autumn, failing that one or two of the smaller parties would give one of the main parties a working majority in exchange for a policy or two that they'd never get through if they didn't have the leverage.

But overall, I don't think there'll be a hung parliament anyway.

[thetank]

One thing that I was wondering about the Lib Dem MPs, were there a far smaller percentage of them involved in the expenses scandal than the other parties or not?  

Useful visual representation.



Smaller percentage is defo true, but whether to throw the word far in there depends on whether you like the libdems or not.
Personally I think it's a bit hypocritical of them to try and make so much meat out of the expenses scandal in their campaign literature. It's not like they're squeaky clean and let's not forget one of the mediumly dark yellow dots is Nick Clegg who had to pay back a grand that he spent getting his garden done.

Another area where Libdems don't fair so well on expenses is if you look at the average expenses claimed per MP in the year 2008/2009. This is real term expenses both legit and dodgy.

£151,000 each for Libdem MPs compared to £146,500 for Labour and £138,000 for the Torys.
(To be fair, this might be a lot to do with London based MPs needing less in travel expenses and there being less libdems in London, I dunno tbh)
Personally I think the numbers are close enough to make no real difference, it's just that the LibDems are disingenous to campaign on the other parties claiming lots of expenses when it's them who are claiming the most.

[thediceman]

One thing that I was wondering about the Lib Dem MPs, were there a far smaller percentage of them involved in the expenses scandal than the other parties or not?  

Useful visual representation.



Smaller percentage is defo true, but whether to throw the word far in there depends on whether you like the libdems or not.
Personally I think it's a bit hypocritical of them to try and make so much meat out of the expenses scandal in their campaign literature. It's not like they're squeaky clean and let's not forget one of the mediumly dark yellow dots is Nick Clegg who had to pay back a grand that he spent getting his garden done.

Another area where Libdems don't fair so well on expenses is if you look at the average expenses claimed per MP in the year 2008/2009. This is real term expenses both legit and dodgy.

£151,000 each for Libdem MPs compared to £146,500 for Labour and £138,000 for the Torys.
(To be fair, this might be a lot to do with London based MPs needing less in travel expenses and there being less libdems in London, I dunno tbh)
Personally I think the numbers are close enough to make no real difference, it's just that the LibDems are disingenous to campaign on the other parties claiming lots of expenses when it's them who are claiming the most.

Nice charts, you must of spent hours doing that 

The others % is bigger than you would have thought. Is there is breakdown for this group. Was it the Welsh or Scots who nicked the most