Ed V Dave - 9pm on C4 & Sky News

[Len Rum]

That shows a four point Labour lead mate, but I think it's rather overstating the Lib Dem and Green support.

i am struggling to see where support will come from if needed. i mean by either side of the divide.

Wait a minute doesn't that hand belong to Sturgeon, she' s holding the balance of power!

 

[Bill]

According to tomorrow's Torygraph, a leaked memo shows that Sturgeon secretly wants a Tory government.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/SNP/11514933/Nicola-Sturgeon-secretly-backs-David-Cameron.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... meron.html</a>

of course she does.

 

[The perfect fumble]

According to tomorrow's Torygraph, a leaked memo shows that Sturgeon secretly wants a Tory government.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/SNP/11514933/Nicola-Sturgeon-secretly-backs-David-Cameron.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... meron.html</a>

If the Telegraph has the memo and publishes it, this could be very bad for the SNP. But only if they have it and are willing to produce it, otherwise it will be just a ripple. The Telegraph was once a conservative paper of note, but now it's nothing more than a broadsheet rag full of right wing polemic and north of the border I suspect the Scots wouldn't wipe their arse with it, but if they physically have in their hands the memo, or a least a copy of it, then it'll be a body blow for Sturgeon.

 

[Len Rum]

According to tomorrow's Torygraph, a leaked memo shows that Sturgeon secretly wants a Tory government.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/SNP/11514933/Nicola-Sturgeon-secretly-backs-David-Cameron.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... meron.html</a>

If the Telegraph has the memo and publishes it, this could be very bad for the SNP. But only if they have it and are willing to produce it, otherwise it will be just a ripple. The Telegraph was once a conservative paper of note, but now it's nothing more than a broadsheet rag full of right wing polemic and north of the border I suspect the Scots wouldn't wipe their arse with it, but if they physically have in their hands the memo, or a least a copy of it, then it'll be a body blow for Sturgeon.

Will be very interesting to see if they have the document.
She would of course deny it as it is someone else's note of a conversation.
However I'm sure a Conservative government is her preferred choice, for obvious reasons.

 

[Rascal]

The tories should have nothing to fear from Labour if they played their cards right. Labour fucked up the economy beyond all recognition in their preceding term; the Tory policies this term demonstrably are working, and the electorate understands why the painful cuts are necessary; and the Labour leader is unelectable. It should be a slam dunk, but it isn't.

Labour did not cause the bank crash, stop telling lies.

The normal working people are sick to fucking death of this needless austerity as well so stop telling lies.

Tory policies have failed and Cameron has lied and you are lying for him

My first reply was pretty offensive, so I have deleted that.

But use your brain man, for christs sake. Just think for god's sake instead of spouting such tripe. The government is currently spending £90,000 million pounds every year more than it's taking in. When they took over it was £170,000 million every year.

And you say this was "needless austerity"? Really you need to sit down and THINK.

And as to whether or not Labour caused the banks to crash, it doesn't matter. It's irrelevnt. They did crash. 5 years ago we were in the SHIT. There's no point in arguing about how we got there. (Although it is in my view Labour's fault, but let's park that). We were in the SHIT. We could not carry on as we were or we would be like Greece by now. Do you have ANY idea what the unemployment rate and the interest rates are in Greece right now? Any idea?

I would have not minded the original version. I give it out so expect it back :))

Its like Tory bingo with you

Greece now.

Have you any idea when we finished paying off the debt incurred during WW1?

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

well a Tory government undermined by a Scotswomen determined to cock anything meaningful up to ensure another referendum doesn't sound appealing for anyone.

If she had any selflessness she'd be set on ensuring extended devolution powers for all the regions of the UK in the next parliament, including increased powers to English regions as well.

If she doesn't come round, it will be interesting to see how the electorate vote, particularly no voters in Scotland, and if they try and quash any SNP stranglehold with reduced seats, or a Tory or Labour majority.

For all the other politics bandied about, I do love Osbourne's term "Northern powerhouse", and I love the general concept of something like that, in fact I've wanted Manchester to grow into a huge, globally significant city with state of the art facilities and attractions for years.

 

[SkyBlueFlux]

Have a go arguing that snow is made of cheese and see how you do.

Cheese is made of milk, the main ingredient of which is water when frozen and falling from the upper atmosphere is what we refer to as snow. Could probably restructure that into a valid argument with some effort.

:)

Knock yourself out ;-)

By the way,


Most reports describe the deficit in terms of % of GDP, which back in 2010 was 11% of GDP. Some that give the numbers are these:

<a class="postlink" href="http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.org.uk/37839-OBR-Cm-8820-accessible-web-v2.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.org.uk/ ... web-v2.pdf</a>

1.10 Our forecast implies that by 2018-19 the UK’s budget deficit will have fallen by 11.2 per cent of GDP from its post-war peak in 2009-10 (around £190 billion in today’s terms).

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/key_issues/Key-Issues-The-economic-recovery-and-the-budget-deficit.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.parliament.uk/documents/comm ... eficit.pdf</a>

"Reducing the budget deficit will be the central economic challenge of the new Parliament. The deficit is forecast to be £163 billion (11.1% of GDP) this year: a very high level by historical standards."

I'm not disagreeing with you either per se, but I just want to point out that your argument is hinging on a few assumptions. Firstly, that a country running on a deficit is always a bad thing. You haven't yet proven that a country cannot operate on a deficit. Here is a list of government budgets with most recent estimates available, the vast majority of which run at a deficit. So if a country can operate at a deficit what should that deficit be? From my perspective as long as you have the means to service your debt then you're in a good position. However this is where I would agree with you that we need to improve our position and reduce the deficit, as the downgrading of our credit rating amongst other things suggests our ability to pay our debts is potentially at risk.

The second assumption you make is that austerity will definitely reduce our deficit. It isn't necessarily that clear that it would. Many governments have attempted to make cuts in the wrong places and haven't helped their economy at all, in a lot of cases they've sent them backwards.

I'm a centrist in the sense that I think public services should be cost-effective and we should cut-out middle-management and waste where it is necessary and sensible to do so. However, austerity for austerity sake is non-constructive and can often lead to us actually worsening our situation by causing stagnation, higher unemployment, diminishing consumer spending and confidence in the markets. I'm all for spending cuts, but I don't want them to be arbitrary and driven by targets.

It actually comes down to Leanne Wood's rather apt point that putting deadlines on reducing the deficit doesn't help anybody. As long as our economy is growing and the deficit is decreasing then our debt as a % of GDP is stabilising, and that seems a favourable position to be in.

 

[ayrshire_blue]

It's another debate but you seem to be framing the independence movement in Scotland in to some kind of Hollywood Braveheart thing, it was nothing of the sort, the whole campaign had a nasty racist undertone to it

Agreed 100%. Hatred springs to mind the language used by many of the YES campaign, i saw it and heard it first hand but its gone, they lost and the SNP are the only option up here in Scotland as Labour are dead!

If that's how you feel then you obviously misunderstand what the Scottish referendum was about. Hating foreigners and wanting independence for your country are entirely different things.

Ironically, one of the arguments for Scottish independence was the fear of a UKIP or Tory government taking us out of the EU. Scotland didn't and don't want that.

To be fair you're not the only one. A load of people from south of the border seem to be of the opinion that the SNP are some right wing UKIP type party when they're almost the opposite.

It's another debate but you seem to be framing the independence movement in Scotland in to some kind of Hollywood Braveheart thing, it was nothing of the sort, the whole campaign had a nasty racist undertone to it

Nonesense.

To generalise a movement like that is ridiculous.

I never met one single yes voter who portrayed any kind of racist behaviour.

I know two no voters who voted no because they support the Rangers. And they have a love in with being British. I actually got a text from the no voter a week ago that read this.
'Rangers are the quintessential British club, it's only fitting to use British flags when talking about such a great British institution'

I've never once come across anyone who 'hated' the rest of the UK and thus voted yes.
I've came across many, myself included, who hate westminster and the way they roger our country.

Make no mistake, the yes generation has been born and it will have its day.

Scottish labour will struggle, in fact I would say they will never get into power again but of that you can't be certain, to ever be in power up here again.

The SNP should, rightly, romp this election.

It's another debate but you seem to be framing the independence movement in Scotland in to some kind of Hollywood Braveheart thing, it was nothing of the sort, the whole campaign had a nasty racist undertone to it

Agreed 100%. Hatred springs to mind the language used by many of the YES campaign, i saw it and heard it first hand but its gone, they lost and the SNP are the only option up here in Scotland as Labour are dead!

If that's how you feel then you obviously misunderstand what the Scottish referendum was about. Hating foreigners and wanting independence for your country are entirely different things.

Ironically, one of the arguments for Scottish independence was the fear of a UKIP or Tory government taking us out of the EU. Scotland didn't and don't want that.

To be fair you're not the only one. A load of people from south of the border seem to be of the opinion that the SNP are some right wing UKIP type party when they're almost the opposite.

It's another debate but you seem to be framing the independence movement in Scotland in to some kind of Hollywood Braveheart thing, it was nothing of the sort, the whole campaign had a nasty racist undertone to it

Nonesense.

To generalise a movement like that is ridiculous.

I never met one single yes voter who portrayed any kind of racist behaviour.

I know two no voters who voted no because they support the Rangers. And they have a love in with being British. I actually got a text from the no voter a week ago that read this.
'Rangers are the quintessential British club, it's only fitting to use British flags when talking about such a great British institution'

I've never once come across anyone who 'hated' the rest of the UK and thus voted yes.
I've came across many, myself included, who hate westminster and the way they roger our country.

Make no mistake, the yes generation has been born and it will have its day.

Scottish labour will struggle, in fact I would say they will never get into power again but of that you can't be certain, to ever be in power up here again.

The SNP should, rightly, romp this election.

Just had the chance to log on so I apologise if there's been further posts on this matter but I agree 100% with this post.

The only hatred I seen from the yes campaign was directed at Westminster. It wasn't directed at the English or the Welsh or anyone else, just at those in charge. Of course there would have been a few racist nuggets in there and likewise on the other side of the coin. But the movement in absolutely no shape or form had any racist undertone to it imo.

Also disagree with SWP's back. If I were a betting man and we had gained independence I'd have had my mortgage on us being accepted into the EU. But hey ho, that's all ifs and buts now and I debated on here for ages on that very matter at the relevant time.

The polls up here suggest a SNP romp but I don't think it'll be just as much as the polls suggest. The silent majority turned out for the referendum and I expect a silent bunch to turn out for Labour in May. Never the less, I'd estimate SNP will take 10 or 11 Labour seats. High - but not as high as some forecasts.

 

[Malty]

So Labour have a point lead right now? Looks like Ed Miliband is getting down to business.

Obviously 4 points is nothing at this stage especially with Conservative having the advantage of already in power. But it shows Dave needs to step up his game.

 

[Malty]

Miliband and Labour must be pretty happy with how it seems neck and neck in the polls considering all the doom and gloom before hand about Ed's ability to be PM. If come election night they have a 50/50 chance of winning, I'm sure they would take it now. Makes it exciting.

I hope Labour win, change is good, and it's Labour's time now.