Off Topic Great Britain General Election May 7th 2015.

The BBC poll tracker has Conservatives and Labour neck and neck on 33%, UKIP on 14%, Lib Dems on 9%, Greens on 5%, Others 7%

 

How can anyone possibly know when people haven't voted yet? A lot of people don't even know who they'll vote for yet!!!

 

Yes but the polls **** convinces undecideds that there is no point voting other than Labour or Conservative.

 

The numbers are way off, for sure.

 

So have you just completed your own straw poll or are you just guessing?

 

Who cares... they all do the same thing anyway... apart from the Greens who keep restricting all the roads round here to 20mph... **** sake

Anyone but them will do

 

The Greens are barking mad. Two of their policies include open borders and a citizens income for all of £72 a week! Here's Natalie Bennett getting her arse handed to her when challenged:

Voting for them must be like voting for the Monster Raving Loony Party. I'd hate to be in an area that they win.

 

Agreed. A vote for the Greens a completely wasted vote.

 

Election 2015: Tories 'confident' about £8bn NHS pledge

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David Cameron said the NHS would get "the cash required"
The Conservatives are pledging an extra £8bn a year for the NHS in England by 2020 if they win the election.
The party said it was "absolutely confident" it could fund the five-year plan for the service, drawn up by its boss Simon Stevens last year.
Labour, which is highlighting its own guarantee of one-to-one midwife care, said the "unfunded" Conservative pledge was a sign of a campaign in panic.
The Lib Dems have also pledged £8bn, funded by scrapping some tax reliefs.
In other election news, Nick Clegg's party is also promising new laws to protect people's rights online including the threat of prison sentences for firms illegally selling personal information.
'Step change'
Last year Mr Stevens, head of NHS England, cited £8bn as the funding gap between what the NHS currently receives and what it needs to implement his modernisation programme.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said there had been a "step change" in demand for the NHS due to an ageing population, and said the Tories' commitment was "not a blank cheque".
Asked how the Conservatives would fund the pledge, he said the economy had been turned around and pointed to investment in the service during the last Parliament, when the government guaranteed an above-inflation increase in funding.
He said: "If you want to be sceptical about the commitment, look at the track record."
Policy guide: Health and care
This issue includes NHS funding, GP access and social care, particularly of older people.
Compare parties' policies

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Policy guide: Where the parties stand
As part of their action plan for the NHS, Prime Minister Cameron is promising same-day access to GPs for over-75s, recruitment of more than 5,000 family doctors, better integration of GP and hospital services and improved weekend and evening access to healthcare for patients.
The £8bn will ensure the service can "continue to deliver an amazing service", he will say.
But Labour's shadow health minister, Liz Kendall, said the pledge was "not worth the paper it's written on."
She told Today: "We are the only party that has committed additional funding to the NHS that's properly sourced... we will do whatever it takes to get the NHS the money it needs."
Labour has promised an extra £2.5bn a year for the NHS, to be paid for by a tax on homes worth £2m or more, a levy on the sales of tobacco companies and curbing what it says are tax breaks enjoyed by hedge funds and other finance firms.
'No credit'
Ed Miliband's party is confirming its £138m pledge to recruit 3,000 extra midwives to ensure women get one-to-one care during labour.
Last month, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg challenged his rivals to "come clean" on how they would fund the £8bn shortfall.
He said his party would add £2bn allocated in the Autumn Statement to funds raised by scrapping some reliefs on capital gains tax and employee share schemes, enabling it to invest £3.5bn over six years on mental health care.

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NHS England boss Simon Stevens says efficiency savings can account for £22bn of the service's £30bn shortfall
Liberal Democrat health minister Norman Lamb accused the Tories of "trying to pull the wool over the British public's eyes".
"It's easy to say you want to support the NHS, the difficult part is saying how you will pay for it. As Nick Clegg said, the NHS doesn't need warm words, it needs hard cash," he told BBC Radio 5Live.
BBC political correspondent Ben Geoghegan says: "With growing pressure on the NHS, the political parties have been trying to reassure voters that it will be properly funded in the future.
"NHS England says that if spending increases in line with inflation, there'll be a £30bn shortfall in the health service budget by 2020."
'Huge challenge'
The five-year plan for the NHS says £22bn of the £30bn could be found through efficiencies and new ways of working.
Chris Ham, chief executive of the King's Fund, said this would be a "huge challenge".
Measures such as improving procurement and cutting agency costs would make a contribution, he said, adding that "every doctor and nurse" should be "fully involved" in the reforms.
Prof Ham said there seemed to be an "emerging political consensus" around the need for an extra £8bn.
"The issue is whether Labour will make this very specific commitment on matching terms and we do not yet know that," he added.
Subscribe to the BBC Election 2015 newsletter to get a round-up of the day's campaign news sent to your inbox every weekday afternoon.
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Theyre in charge down in brighton... Sad times

 

How have they been? I read somewhere about issues with bin collections, but not much else.

 

Couple of good sites to help you decide and vote more knowledgeably. First one shows you what your current MP has been up to, second one shows candidates in the upcoming election...

www.theyworkforyou.com

www.yournextmp.com

 

It makes no difference to me, I'll end up with the same labour MP that's been there for the last almost twenty years... Although actually since the last general election I've moved just across into another constituency so I'll have the same labour Mp who's represented this area for the last ten years (and replaced a previous labour MP). The great choice of democracy

 

Yeah, think that's the same in a lot of traditionally red and blue constituencies where the result has been the same for decades, means the opposing red/blue party (delete as appropriate) and all the other competing parties / candidates have pretty much no chance. I still like to vote informed though so I know I'm voting for someone who best represents my own views, even if it's a lost cause

 

8bn into the NHS by 2020. Let me see, how much will the UK population grow by 2020, the 8bn will be less than 8bn as they never deliver the promises so, really it is just putting money into the NHS to keep it as it is to accomodate for increased need for NHS services by a growing ageing population. That's how I read it anyway, more political nonsense

They say 20-30bn can be "found" wtf does that even mean. They've already "found" 80bn since 2008.. from schools healthcare, services for the elderly, outsourcing services to cutthroat companies, more taxes and charges. where else?

80 billion for new nukes and 8 billion for the healthcare for the nation. Seems legit, spend 10 times more on weapons that can destroy the planet than on healthcare for your citizens.
#priorities.


I wonder how much the black hole that is GCHQ swallows, those numbers are not available.

meanwhile the Lords refuse to save money because they are worred about the quality of champagne

 

Haven't they said the hole is 30billion but the head of the NHS has said they can raise 22billion through becoming more efficient etc so it only requires 8billion extra. So the Tories are just auto promising to fill the gap. Or at least that's how the above article reads.

It's interesting to see that UKIP, the Lib Dems and Labour have all put down much more modest rises in funding than that. (3b, 2b, 2.5b respectively).

 

That means cuts. It always means cuts, more work for current staff and lower pay for new staff, freezes on hiring and giving contracts to the cheapest bidder and not buying all the equipment you need when you need it.

If there is 20 odd billion in cuts to be made through ineffeciency, then how badly was it run before now?

There is a reason you spend 6 hours in A&E. Also same reasons you have to wait weeks or months or even years for a consultant or specific treatment.

 

Someone should do a poll about members' voting intention here.

 

There is definitely space to make cuts in admin and management within the NHS. I'd have to look and see how the efficiency and working practice changes actually come about before judging.

My point was more that the Tories have just automatically promised to find the shortfall whilst the other parties are more realistic with what we can afford.

 

Yep, that's exactly what they mean, they're going to throw £8bn at a service that they know has a £30bn shortfall and are no doubt going to do what they always ****ing do, add more management in the hope of driving efficiency but merely add additional cost that requires front line resource savings to balance it out.

They've mis- managed the NHS since the days of The witch, how anyone could trust them with it is beyond me.