2015 UK Election

DTV · Mon 26 Jan, 2015 16.20

Gerry Adams in the debate could be pretty fun.

Alexia · Mon 26 Jan, 2015 16.48

DTV wrote:Gerry Adams in the debate could be pretty fun.

He's no longer an MP - he's a TD nowadays. Martin McGuinness has also resigned his Westminster seat.

NI's actually an interesting one - SF got more votes (171k v 168k) but less seats (5 v 8) than the DUP....

DTV · Mon 26 Jan, 2015 17.02

Alexia wrote:
DTV wrote:Gerry Adams in the debate could be pretty fun.
He's no longer an MP - he's a TD nowadays. Martin McGuinness has also resigned his Westminster seat.

NI's actually an interesting one - SF got more votes (171k v 168k) but less seats (5 v 8) than the DUP....

Northern Ireland is very interesting given how absolutely weird their party system is - none of the parties elected in 1970 have an MP today. Between 1970 and today 14 different parties have been elected which is impressive given they have only 18 seats.

While I was aware that both Adams and McGuinness are no longer MPs, surely in the event that Sinn Féin are invited Adams will attend? It is the leaders debates after all. Which could be odd in a 9 way debate where only 1/3 of the candidates aren't MPs.

barcode · Mon 26 Jan, 2015 21.31

There is no point in having any of the NI parties in the mainland debates, since non of the mainland parties stand in NI and verse vicer.

I also see the green are getting alot of stick from its leaders comments on Sunday:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... dlers.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... think.html

scottishtv · Tue 27 Jan, 2015 02.01

barcode wrote:There is no point in having any of the NI parties in the mainland debates, since non of the mainland parties stand in NI and verse vicer.

The DUP made their case pretty well, in a logical way, on Friday and so did Galloway for Respect.

barcode · Tue 27 Jan, 2015 09.25

I still stand by my point.

Alexia · Tue 27 Jan, 2015 13.47

barcode wrote:There is no point in having any of the NI parties in the mainland debates, since non of the mainland parties stand in NI and verse vicer.

Actually it's a bit more subtle/complicated than that. Firstly, Labour don't stand in Ulster because of the SDLP. I believe the LDs have a similar arrangement with Alliance.

Secondly, at the last election Scameron formed an official alliance with the UUP, resulting in them losing all their MPs. The one UUP MP who did get elected stood as an independent in protest at the New Force alliance. As a result that little arrangement split up in 2012, with the formation of the NI Conservatives.....who promptly lost all representation they had on any political level by the 2014 council elections.

I also see the green are getting alot of stick from its leaders comments on Sunday:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... dlers.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... think.html

No, the Greens are getting the usual hatchet jobs from the Right Wing press. Same as the UKIP jobs done by the Left Wing Press.

barcode · Tue 27 Jan, 2015 21.25

Whats the difference between the Scots voting in Left wing SNP instead of the Left wing Labour? Either way there dont want the tories.

DTV · Tue 27 Jan, 2015 22.00

barcode wrote:Whats the difference between the Scots voting in Left wing SNP instead of the Left wing Labour? Either way there dont want the tories.

I couldn't resist pointing out that the SNP are Centre-Left were as Labour are economically positioned somewhere between Centre-Right and Right wing. While Scottish Labour maybe a bit to the left of the main Parliamentary Labour Party, Labour policy hasn't been Left of centre since Michael Foot was leader.

Other than the ideological differences, there are a whole host of reasons that many Scots are currently expressing a preference towards the SNP than towards Labour not limited to the Trident issue, the fact the SNP are seen to be the only party that will make the Westminster Trio keep their word on their endless referendum promises, the SNPs Social Democratic economic policy, general distrust of the major parties, Nicola Sturgeon being the most popular leader in the country (her approval rating is something like +40%), the fact that the Labour Party treats Scottish Labour like it was just another constituency, Labour's post-1994 history, New Labour introducing NHS PFI bullcrap et cetera, et cetera.

barcode · Tue 27 Jan, 2015 23.21

When its comes to business some of the SNP opertions have been rather right wing

My Q was more about the fact, it clear who the scots done want.

Gavin Scott · Wed 28 Jan, 2015 01.25

barcode wrote:When its comes to business some of the SNP opertions have been rather right wing

Name some.