I personally don't find Russell Brand has much interesting to say...but I accept young people do. I, too, agree that Milliband agreeing to be interviewed by Brand was a good move. Politics is largely show business unfortunately. It has to be because so many people who vote are ill educated and ignorant of policy/manifestos etc. A lot of people ultimately vote for who feels right. Who looks/sounds like them. Who looks like a leader etc. Milliband had nothing to lose being interviewed by Brand and everything to gain. Brand is left wing. He is angry about what he perceives as a bloated, corrupt, obscenely wealthy elite. He is angry about the Tories. He is angry about New Labour. Milliband has a little problem. His problem is that he and his brother, and his chancellor etc. , were key figures in the New Labour government, a Thatcherite government in many ways who spent money on the state like no other government (I believe Bill Clinton coined the phrase "a 3rd way" for this political philosophy) and they ****ed up. So he needed to disassociate himself and his party from the brand 'New Labour'. This has been the game from day 1 of his election as Labour leader. So he listens to Brand, he empathises, he sympathises, he is seen to be making an effort to engage with, understand and listen to the angry, apathetic left wing voter. It's a no brainer. A vote winner. No doubt about it. It's still vacuous though. Brand is still a daft twat. Milliband is still going to have to make cuts whilst leading a weak government who will need to go cap in hand to SNP and Plaid. He is already lying about this and taking the electorate for fools. His party are still taking Wales for granted. He is still partially responsible for saddling your and my children the bill for employing a load of chinless wonders in joke jobs and lavishing money we didn't have on the state in general.
Hi Phillip, Wow -- David Cameron's plan to force fracking on us just hit a new low. The prime minister wants to change the law to allow fracking firms to drill under our homes. But now he's fast-tracking his plan through Parliament at a blistering rate. Only a HUGE backlash from our MPs can stop him -- and we've got just days to make it happen. Can you tell your MP to vote against the prime minister's plans to force fracking on us? Sign the urgent petition to all MPs: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/fracking-vote Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it's often known, is a controversial process where a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals is blasted underground to release trapped gas and oil. It's already been banned in France and Bulgaria, and just last month New York joined the list of US states that have taken action to stop the industry. Despite massive public opposition, David Cameron is determined to bring fracking to the UK. And right now he's on the cusp of changing our laws to make it easier to roll it out. But the prime minister's plan can't get the go ahead without approval from MPs -- and inside the halls of Westminster, a backlash is starting. The Scottish National Party and the Green Party have spoken out against Cameron's plan. Amongst Labour and the Lib Dems voices of dissent are on the rise, while Conservatives are feeling increasingly nervous as we approach the election. MPs will vote on the issue before the end of this month -- that's far earlier than expected and a move that would slash the time for debate and scrutiny. 152,000 people have already asked their MP to vote against Cameron's plan, but we'll be even stronger if thousands more join in. Can you quickly sign? We're piling the pressure on before the crucial vote. Alongside our friends at 38 Degrees and Friends of the Earth, teams of volunteers will visit several MPs at their offices -- handing over our petition face-to-face. And then next week, we'll double our impact by sending letters to every single Westminster MP -- telling them who's signed the petition in their constituency, and calling on them to vote down Cameron's plan. Together we'll make this petition unmissable, so if you haven't yet, please sign today: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/fracking-vote With all my thanks, Richard Why would anyone with an ounce of intelligence vote for this Tory Scum coalition? It just goes to show the level of intellect behind such a party......
Here we go again Phillip, keep up with your own arguments it's tiresome ... Is stating that voting is futile at the top of the page and then denying that you "don't vote" by the bottom of the page an example of cowardice or just stupidity? You decide.
I'd vote for the party that doesn't allow criminals to walk the streets after 55 convictions for 150 offences. So that counts out Labour, Conservatives and Lib Dems then. If a far right party appears and pledges a three strikes and you are out policy like other western non-EU nations then they would have my vote.
That's not how it works though is it. You vote for the party who best reflects your beliefs (well, you do if you have any bollocks) and if the result is unclear and one party can't govern alone...then you have a multiple party government and inevitably deals are struck in order to garner support. If voters hadn't been hoodwinked by this big play on tuition fees they might have ended up with a Lib-Lab coalition. Rather than a Labour minority government who will need the SNP and Plaid to ok everything they want to get through. Being anti-Tory is easy isn't it. Much more difficult to take responsibility for ourselves. Your repeated use of the word "scum" to describe the Conservative Party...the party who will get by far and away the most votes, and the most seats....reveals your intellect more than you could ever comprehend. I used to call them Tory-scum...when I was about 13 years old. Politics is for grown-ups.
Do you know what's interesting? Football is show business, ultimately it is not important. Just entertainment. A lot of our fans, however, believe that it is the result which is the be all and end all...rather than how the Swans go about it. Politics is not a game. It is deadly serious (ask anyone who lost relatives fighting New Labour's phoney Iraq war). The results are the ONLY thing that matters. Everyone involved fights dirty to achieve their results because it is so important. Yet a lot of the posters who are on record stating that they are only interested in Swansea City's results (and **** entertainment, **** integrity), which are frivolous...are the very same posters who dismiss the very real and very serious results the Lib Dems have achieved, on the grounds that they don't like the way they have gone about it.
Which party is that then? It certainly ain't the ones in power! They have systematically attacked the most vulnerable, introduced the bedroom tax that have lead to suicides, cut DLA for people who are disabled, and have doctors and specialists to prove, hide the unemployed by putting them on useless schemes that don't go anywhere. Who have not cut tuition fees, have cut services to the bone, and intend to go to the marrow should they be elected back in. .... I could go on You want to vote for this untrustworthy government, that is up to you, but I won't vote for the nasty party, the sold out party, or any party that promotes hatred, or will lead to the said parties above getting in because of apathy!
They made cuts because of the deficit left by Labour. Labour also claim they want to eliminate the deficit. Yet they opposed every single spending cut in the last parliament. Unbelievably they are standing at this election selling this message; We are not like those nasty people who made those cuts...we will make cuts to reduce the deficit in the coming parliament. The only hatred I see being promoted in Britain today is the hatred aimed at the Tories and Lib Dems from those who don't want to accept the reality of the situation. Labour (a party which wishes to portray itself as left wing) could have formed a coalition with the Lib Dems (a centre-left party) last time but made no attempt to negotiate with the Lib Dems. Why? Is it because they knew full well the decisions that had to be made to clean up their mess would be unpopular ones? Did they think about the damage the Tory party's austerity policies would do to Britain back then? Or did they think about what was good for the Labour Party? If they believed the "Tory Scum" would be so harmful they would have worked out a deal with the Lib Dems wouldn't they? Was it easier for the Labour Party to watch the Tories and Lib Dems do all the donkey work whilst slinging **** from the sidelines? You bet your ****ing arse it was! Anyone who can't see through these cynical, cowardly, lying bastards must have **** for brains. The kicker is...Labour's cynical self interest and strategy of opposing electoral reform and elimination of the Lib Dems has really backfired as now they will have to do a deal with the Scottish Nationalists. The party who are responsible for kicking Labour out of Scotland and in effect destroying Labour's chances of forming a majority government The level of incompetence displayed by this generation of Labour intelligentsia is astounding. Dangerous ****wits that they are.
From Lib Dem site Q&A: £400 tax cut What is the Personal Allowance? The Income Tax Personal Allowance is the amount you can earn each year without having to pay tax on it. Nearly everyone who lives in the UK is entitled to a Personal Allowance, which is currently £10,600. That means you only pay income tax on the amount you earn over £10,600 – if you earn less than this, you pay no income tax at all. What is the Lib Dem policy on tax cuts? The Liberal Democrats aim to shift taxes away from work and towards unearned wealth, to let you keep more of what year earn and make Britain more equal. On the front page of our 2010 manifesto, we promised to raise the personal allowance to £10,000. In Government, we’ve gone even further, raising it to £10,600 and cutting the income tax bills of 27 million people by £825. In the next Parliament, we want to raise it to £12,500, cutting taxes by a further £380. We do not think people on low and middle incomes should bear the burden of tax rises to tackle the deficit. Our plans to balance the books do not involve any increases in the headline rates of Income Tax, National Insurance, VAT or Corporation Tax. Will pensioners benefit from the tax cut? Yes, pensioners will benefit from our policy of raising the personal allowance, just like everyone else. Increasing the Personal Allowance to £12,500 by the end of the Parliament will cut taxes for more than 30 million people, including 6 million pensioners. For a typical basic rate taxpayer, this would be worth £380 a year. 950,000 more people will have their income tax bill slashed to zero, including 400,000 pensioners. Will Lib Dems cut National Insurance? Once we’ve raised the Personal Allowance to £12,500, we will consider raising the employee National Insurance threshold to match the Personal Allowance. This would mean low earners wouldn’t have to pay National Insurance contributions, but would still accrue pension entitlements. It would mean those earning less than £12,500 would pay no income tax or National Insurance contributions, and those earning more than £12,500 would get to keep an extra £530 a year – on top of our £380 income tax cut.
Do you honestly believe that crap you posted above? Lets face facts here, the liberals are the whore party, they will whore themselves to anyone who will keep them in power, it corrupts does power, the liberals have sold themselves out. They have no principles! The tories are worse, the son of thatcher will I hope not be in power from next week.
Reduce waste & bureaucracy Liberal Democrats will reform the European Union to make it more efficient and more focussed on the right priorities. We will put reduce unnecessary EU spending by reducing the proportion of its budget spent on the Common Agricultural Policy, and by scrapping the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Parliament’s second seat in Strasbourg. Q&A: Reduce waste & bureaucracy What is the European Economic and Social Committee? The European Economic and Social Committee is a body which enables the institutions of the EU to evaluate the interests of the various economic and social groups. It costs around £100 million a year to run, but contributes very little to the EU decision-making system. How will the Lib Dems cut waste in the EU? Liberal Democrats will continue to campaign to bring an end to the waste of MEPs travelling from the European Parliament in Brussels to its second seat in Strasbourg every month. This will save £150 million and cut CO2 emissions by 19,000 tonnes a year. We also want to reduce EU administrative costs further by cutting travel and transport budgets and the European Parliament’s car service. Why is this necessary? Liberal Democrats believe that power should be exercised at the appropriate level and that laws should be national, devolved and local where possible and European where necessary. Put simply, the EU needs to do more of what it’s good at and less of what it isn’t.
Which bit do you dispute? "Labour (a party which wishes to portray itself as left wing) could have formed a coalition with the Lib Dems (a centre-left party) last time but made no attempt to negotiate with the Lib Dems. Why? Is it because they knew full well the decisions that had to be made to clean up their mess would be unpopular ones? Did they think about the damage the Tory party's austerity policies would do to Britain back then? Or did they think about what was good for the Labour Party? If they believed the "Tory Scum" would be so harmful they would have worked out a deal with the Lib Dems wouldn't they? Was it easier for the Labour Party to watch the Tories and Lib Dems do all the donkey work whilst slinging **** from the sidelines? You bet your ****ing arse it was! please log in to view this image Anyone who can't see through these cynical, cowardly, lying bastards must have **** for brains."
£8bn for the NHS Our NHS is our most treasured public service and it is safe in Liberal Democrat hands. We are the only political party to set out a credible, costed plan to maintain high-quality NHS care, free when you need it. Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England, has said the Health Service needs £8 billion a year more by 2020 to cope with the challenges it faces. The Liberal Democrats will increase NHS spending by at least £8 billion a year by 2020, and have set out how we will pay for it. The other parties have refused to commit to giving the NHS the funding it needs. Q&A: £8bn for the NHS What is the Lib Dem policy on the NHS? Our NHS is the envy of the world, and we will fund it properly, deliver equal care for mental health and join up health and care services. One in four of us will experience mental health problems, but for decades mental health has been the last in the queue for funding and attention. In 2012, we called a halt to this and wrote equality for mental health into law. We have invested more than £500 million in talking therapies and help for people with eating disorders and introduced the first ever waiting time standards in mental health. We will increase mental health spending by £500m a year by 2016/17 – half of which we delivered in this year’s Budget. We will build integrated care services that fit around people’s lives, with more personal budgets so people can design services for their own individual needs. We believe this should happen from the bottom up, suiting the needs of local communities. How will the NHS be supported? The Liberal Democrats will put an extra £8 billion a year into the NHS by 2020. We will raise NHS spending by £1 billion a year above inflation until we’ve balanced the books in 2018, funded by scrapping the Tory ‘shares for rights’ scheme, increasing dividend tax on the highest earners and tightening the cap on pension tax relief. Once we’ve eliminated the deficit, we’ll raise the NHS budget in line with economic growth, so that it will be getting at least an extra £8 billion a year by 2020. To ensure the NHS is safeguarded for the long term, we will commission a non-partisan Fundamental Review of NHS and social care funding. What are Labour and Conservative plans for the NHS? Labour have only pledged an extra £2.5 billion for the NHS in 2017-18, and have not guaranteed this for the whole of the next Parliament. They have no plan to eliminate the deficit, so they will not be able to fund the £8 billion increase the NHS needs by 2020. The Conservatives have made grand promises about the extra funding the NHS needs, but have so far failed to say how they would pay for it.
Protect the Education Budget Liberal Democrats are committed to protecting school budgets from nursery to 19. It’s impossible to raise standards, recruit teachers and help more children succeed if our education system is starved of funds. All parties will have to make savings in the next Parliament but Liberal Democrats will not cut the money the government spends on schools, early years and 16-19 education. Q&A: Protect the Education Budget Why are the Lib Dems protecting education? Liberal Democrats have put education at the heart of our agenda for a generation. We believe every child deserves a great start in life, and are determined to make sure our education system finds and nurtures the best in everyone. Despite giving young people access to education from the age of 2 until 19, funding is only currently protected for young people from the age of 5 to 16. This is inconsistent with our view of education. Early years learning is critical because all the evidence shows that a child who starts behind, stays behind. And the final two years of education from 16 make sure every young person is properly prepared for higher education, training or the workplace. What is the pupil premium? The Liberal Democrats’ Pupil Premium is ring fenced funding for disadvantaged pupils. It is an extra £2.5bn we have put into schools which gives every child a fair start in life. The Pupil Premium is targeted at those that need the most help. Why is the Pupil Premium important? A world class education system is essential to break down the unfair divisions in our society, and to ensure a productive and world-beating economy. Too many people have their chances in life determined by who their parents were, rather than by their own efforts and abilities. With our Pupil Premium, investing in children who might otherwise fall behind, we are finally tackling the scandalous gap in exam results between rich and poor. But we must do even more. What have you done about tuition fees? Liberal Democrats have ensured no undergraduate student in England has to pay a penny up front of their tuition fees, and students do not have to pay anything back until they are earning over £21,000 per year. Last year 495,600 went to University – the highest figure on record. Young people from a disadvantaged background are now 70% more likely to go to University then they were 10 years ago under Labour. And we’ve lifted the cap on the number of students, so that in the future even more young people can go to University.
Liberal Democrats have been campaigning against climate change for longer than any other political party. Despite Conservative attempts to block our green policies, we have ensured this Government has been the greenest ever. Investment in renewables has more than doubled, and we’re using twice as much renewable electricity. Energy use is falling, helping to keep bills down. Competition in the energy market has never been greater, with new independent suppliers offering cheaper prices and better service. We have led the way internationally too. Ed Davey spearheaded the UK push to persuade the EU to set an ambitious target of reducing carbon emissions by at least 40% by 2030. In the next Parliament we will prioritise saving energy, with council tax discounts for insulating your home and energy efficiency help for low income families with high fuel costs. We will carry on greening our electricity, getting rid of coal generation by 2025 and setting an ambitious power sector “decarbonisation” target. We will grow the green economy of the future with smart investment. And we will do this while keeping energy bills down. please log in to view this image
Green homes The Liberal Democrat Green Homes Bill will require every home to be properly insulated by 2035. This will build on the Green Deal with a national programme to raise the energy efficiency standards of all Britain’s households and eradicate fuel poverty – cutting people's council tax bills if they take part. We will help tenants afford to stay warm and keep bills down, with new energy efficiency standards for private rented homes. Q&A: Green homes What is the Lib Dems policy on energy efficiency? The Liberal Democrats will introduce a Green Homes Bill, with an expanded and more ambitious energy efficiency programme, which will incentivise people by allowing them to get a double bill cut. If households cut their energy use through substantial improvements in the energy efficiency of their homes we will cut their Council tax bills by £100 for ten years. Why do we need to improve energy efficiency? Energy efficiency is the best way to reduce energy bills. We have made considerable progress in this area, with household energy consumption declining rapidly at around 2.5% per year. But we must go further and faster, both to help households cut their bills and to tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions. Do energy efficiency improvements push up rents? No. We have made clear that improvements will only be required if there is no upfront cost for landlords. There is support to help fund the works, as well as Green Deal loans available, to ensure there are no upfront costs for landlords. There is no reason for rents to rise and tenants can only benefit from the proposals. How will energy efficiency improvements be funded? The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund has funds of £120 million per year already allocated for 2014/15, 15/16 and 16/17.
Zero-carbon Britain Our Zero Carbon Britain Bill will set new targets and policy frameworks to realise the Liberal Democrats' ambition for the UK to be as close to zero carbon as possible by 2050. The Bill will setan ambitious 2030 target to reduce carbon emissions by getting rid of coal power generation by 2025. Continuing the shift to cleaner energy, supported by the Green Investment Bank, will create 250,000 low carbon jobs by 2020. Q&A: Zero-carbon Britain What is the Zero Carbon Britain Bill? Our Zero Carbon Britain Bill will toughen up climate change targets in the light of experience and a global climate change treaty, by increasing ambition to cut greenhouse gases, introducing a de-carbonisation target for electricity generation, expanding the powers of the Green Investment Bank and banning electricity generated from unabated coal. Why do we need to work towards a zero carbon economy? The 2008 Climate Change Act set a target of reducing our carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 in order for the UK to play its part in limiting the rise in global temperature to 2 degrees Celsius. Since then climate change scientists have warned that progress to limit global warming to 2 degrees is too slow. With other major countries now taking action, Liberal Democrats believe that additional effort and faster action is required by the UK and the EU. Is a zero carbon economy achievable? DECC’s 2050 calculator shows that it is quite possible to at least meet the target of 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 using existing technologies. We are very confident that with the right support to R&D and with likely speed of technological innovation, particularly in relation to carbon capture and sequestration over the next 35 years that it will be possible to reach a goal of a zero carbon Britain. What are the costs of a zero carbon economy? There are no specifically identified public expenditure cost implications. However giving a higher priority to R&D for low carbon innovation will have costs. Party policy is that half the tax revenues from shale gas production should be earmarked for a low carbon transition fund.
Energy bills Liberal Democrats are determined to encourage greater energy market competition in order to help keep bills down for consumers. We will insist that energy companies allow customers the freedom to change to any cheaper supplier within 24 hours. We will also take on the Big 6 - setting a target for 30% of the energy market to be supplied by independent companies, rather than monopolised by one small and overly-powerful group. Q&A: Energy bills Who are the Big 6? The Big 6 are Britain’s largest energy suppliers, supplying gas and electricity to over 50 million homes and businesses in Britain. These suppliers include British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON UK, npower, Scottish Power and SSE. Why is energy market competition necessary? The Coalition government inherited an energy market in 2010 dominated by the Big 6, who together accounted for well over 99% of households. There had been rapid consolidation of the number of suppliers under Labour from 14 suppliers to just six. That shrinkage of the market resulted in widespread concern about rising prices, inflated profits for the Big 6 and appalling customer service. How will you help small energy suppliers? We will work with local authorities and community energy groups to make it easier for them to become suppliers, either through initiatives or by encouraging a new simpler Community Energy supply licence. We will also improve government and regulator’s liaison with small suppliers, in order to understand and anticipate the effect of current and potential energy policies on their business. Why not just introduce Labour’s energy price freezes? We inherited a broken energy market from Labour and we are fixing it. We’re increasing competition, making it easier to switch suppliers and reducing the bewildering number of tariffs. All independent and small suppliers have opposed Labour’s plans for a price freeze. The policy would hit them hardest and many would run the risk of being forced out of business – a situation which would undermine the greater industry competition we have worked hard to achieve.
