I don't know why this lie continues. See my earlier post.

Sometimes I think that people just hear what they want to.

Actually they are open to the idea - as long as concessions are made on things like votes for 16 year olds and letting EU nationals vote.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...-eu-referendum

If Cameron agreed to this I expect that UKIP would deem the vote a fraud before it even started.

That's just positioning the LDs for a graceful get-out in the event of being backed into a corner over the subject.

Election 2015 polls: This is how Ed Miliband gets to 323 seats and becomes Prime Minister

http://may2015.com/featured/election...rime-minister/

It's certainly a mixed bag when it comes to our general elections.

this isnt really very good for a representative democracy in the 21 st century. imagine if the snp wins every seat in scotland with 52 % of the vote then the 48 % dont have anyone to represent them. if labour and the snp win less than 40% of the vote between them nationally yets can rule over regions of the country they dont have hardly any seats and the 60 odd percent who are the majority. the first pass the post system is well past its sell by date

What happens if one of the Governing parties MP's dies and the Government and opposition are dead level? Especially if the by-election is lost for the Government. All this scrimping and scraping is pretty worrying. Do you think any party will drag the tea lady in just to make up the numbers?

I do not understand the logic of that, fair enough if you want to argue in regards to this election and a referendum but there is no reason why any future government would be prevented from holding one. Of course a lot may change in 5 years which may make an exit more or less likely

So we are doomed then

If a vote in parliament is tied the speaker has the casting vote (s)he will vote by tradition to keep the bill moving through its stages but not to bring it into law

Not correct. He could only call a referendum if he does have a majority.

Very true. It's too easy to punish political parties for not being sufficiently interested in a particular area, but with FPTP, it actively encourages parties to focus on those areas where they already have strong support, and not bother with those where support drops below a certain level.

With a sensible proportional representation system, it is in the interests of all parties to value support from every part of the country.

Same difference I would have thought....

They are perhaps set to get a handful of seats this time round and net gains will probably encourage their supporters to stick with them even if the party as a whole remains significantly under-represented. They are likely to come second in a number of seats and it will be interesting to see which party they have replaced as the challenger - Conservatives, Lib Dems or Labour?


This is what the most recent poll says in South Thanet:

UKIP 39%
Cons 30%
Lab 26%
Greens 2%
Lib Dems 2%

(it's only a few days old)

As for the fates of Clegg and Alexander, the local polls can be seen here http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2015/04...ield-hallam-2/ and here http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2015/02...ch-strathspey/.

For those of a nervous disposition who don't like looking directly at polling figures, a hint to their likely fate can be found below:

There's an interesting, recently released constituency poll from Lord Ashcroft:

Thurrock (Essex)

Cons 30%
Lab 31%
Lib Dems 2%
Others 2%
UKIP 35%

Source = http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2015/04/thurrock-2/

YouGov/Sun:

CON 33 (+1)
LAB 34 (=)
LIB 8 (-1)
UKIP 14 (=)
GRN 5 (-1)

*Wonders if the Sun regrets using Yougov for their polling*

Despite the Tories and their lapdog press doing their utmost to discredit Miliband and Labour, it doesn't seem to be translating into a break through for the Tories. And time is now running out. This must be troubling for Lynton and co.

Not really.

It's still stalemate-deadlock-tie after all this campaigning and only just over 10 days to go! Double

These Polls are like a long term marriage, boring but steady as opposed to up and down like young loves dream......

Ed Miliband puts Boris Johnson on back foot in TV sparring session

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...non-dom-status

The Tories sending their lackey to do their bidding, but Miliband, just like Cameron, makes mincemeat of him.

One of the opposition MPs would abstain to compensate.

It should have happened in 1979 with the No Confidence vote - Sir Alfred Broughton, Labour, was fatally ill but willing to travel to London in an ambulance and vote from the yard within the Palace of Westminster, which would have been accepted as a legitimate vote. However, Jim Callaghan decided Broughton was to ill to travel and there was a high probability that he would pass away on the way to or on the way back from the Commons.

Labour Deputy Chief Whip Walter Harrison approached Bernard Weatherill, Conservative Whip, asking for a Conservative MP to step down to compensate for Broughton. Weatherill said the convention of abstaining was never meant for something as critical as life or death of a Government and would never find a Conservative MP who would agree to step down; however, after a moment's reflection, he offered to step aside himself. Harrison was so impressed by the offer (as Weatherill would have been finished with the Conservatives by doing such a thing in a critical vote) that he told Weatherill to take part in the vote.

Labour lost by one. A general election was called. Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister.

I find it odd that YouGov has had so many almost identical polls in a row. Given the margin of error you would expect them to fluctuate slightly at least. maybe they are doing something odd with their adjustments?

YouGov is the poll I would trust the most. They normally have there finger on the pulse.