Off Topic Great Britain General Election May 7th 2015.

Is it because he's a foreigner?

 

I wish this election would just end already. Is anyone hearing anything new??? What a waste of time. If anyone is expecting someone to say or do something over the next 2 weeks that will suddenly make them say "Ah yeh, that's it, I'm voting for them" then you are in for a massive disappointment (as we all are anyway regardless). Just have the vote tomorrow cos fck all new is going to happen between now and May 7th.

What a pile of ****.

 

Cameron is gonna go toe to toe with gorgeous george for 12 rounds the night before the results come out.

I reckon Galloway would smash Mr Inbred weak chin too even tho he's twice his age

 

Just in case you missed this earlier, was after a link for this as sounds like its worth a watch.

 

Election 2015: Labour plan to stop 'massive' rent increases

• From the section Election 2015

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Labour says rents have gone up by an average of £1,200 since 2010
Private landlords would not be able to increase annual rents by more than inflation for three years under Labour plans to give tenants more security.
If Labour form the next government, Ed Miliband said he would act immediately to curb "massive" rent hikes which have forced some people out of their homes.
New tenants in England would have the right to find out what predecessors paid to help negotiate the "best deal".
The Conservatives say rent controls "destroy investment in housing".
As the last full week of campaigning before the 7 May election gets under way, a clutch of polls suggested there remains little to choose between the Conservatives and Labour, with most experts still predicting a hung Parliament with no party winning outright.
A Survation poll for the Mail on Sunday has given the Conservatives (33%) a four-point lead over Labour (29%) while an Opinium poll for the Observer has the Conservatives on 34% and Labour on 33%.
A You Gov poll for the Sunday Times put Labour (34%) two points ahead of the Conservatives (32%).
Housing is a key election battleground, with all the major parties promising to build hundreds of thousands of new homes over the next five years to address what campaigners say is a chronic shortage of new housing stock.
'Generation rent'
On Sunday, Mr Miliband will set out Labour's policies for helping "generation rent" - the millions of people who the opposition say have been priced out of the housing market in recent years and are trapped in short-term, often insecure rental agreements.
Labour have already announced plans to extend the typical tenancy agreement from a year or less to three years following a probationary period of six months. Estate agents will also be banned from requiring fees from tenants before they move in.
Key priorities
Labour
Main pledges

• Responsibility "triple lock": fully funded manifesto, cut the deficit every year, balance the books as soon as possible in next Parliament
• Extra £2.5bn for NHS, largely paid for by a mansion tax on properties valued at over £2m
• Raise minimum wage to more than £8ph by 2019
• No rise in VAT, NI or basic and higher rates of income tax
• Access to childcare from 8am-6pm for parents of primary school children
• Freeze energy bills until 2017 and give energy regulator new powers to cut bills this winter

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Policy guide: Where the parties stand
But the Labour leader said he wanted to do more to stop the estimated 4.5 million households renting privately from being "ripped off".
He is pledging to cap rents during the course of the standard three-year tenancies so they cannot rise by more than the CPI measure of inflation, which is currently 0%, while allowing flexibility for them to be reduced.
While market rates will still apply at the start of a contract, tenants will have a legal right to know what the previous tenant paid, which Labour says will put them in a stronger position to negotiate and make substantial rent rises between contracts less likely.
Labour says three-year tenancy agreements should become the norm, with landlords having to give two months' notice before asking a tenant to leave and only if they have a "good reason" to do so. The rent cap would not apply to those who have agreed shorter contracts with their landlords, such as students or business people needing flexibility.
The party claims rents are, on average, £1,200 higher than they were in 2010, with some tenants in London facing double digit rises in a single year.
'Decent deal'
The UK rental market is far less regulated than its European counterparts, Labour argues, with one shadow minister recently comparing the London market to the "Wild West"
Confirming that Labour would legislate for the changes in their first Queen's Speech, Ed Miliband said action was needed to help those "struggling to meet the costs of putting a roof over their head".
"Some are having to move all the time, ripping up the roots they have laid down at work or with friends, even having to change their kids schools," he said.

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Analysis by BBC political correspondent Iain Watson
With house prices reaching record levels in south-east England in recent years, more and more families are renting from private landlords.
It's estimated that nearly four and a half million households in England currently live in private rented accommodation. That's double the number a decade ago - and now accounts for one in five of all households.
Ed Miliband has already said he would give tenants more security by introducing three-year tenancies. Landlords would have limited grounds for regaining possession during this time - but tenants could still leave by giving a months notice.
Now the Labour leader is going further by pledging to freeze rents in real terms for the duration of the three-year tenancy.
Rents would still be set at a market rate initially but landlords would have to tell prospective tenants what they had charged previously to help in negotiations. Both the British Property Federation and the Association of Residential Lettings Agents have warned that rent controls could reduce investment in the supply of new rented housing.

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"Labour has a better plan. The security of three-year tenancies for all who want them with rents capped, so they can fall but not rise by more than inflation. The rights they need to negotiate a decent deal with landlords and stop rip-off letting fees."
Labour is also warning "rogue" landlords that they face losing tax relief enabling them to offset 10% of their annual rental income against falls in the value of furniture and appliances.
If properties are not adequately maintained, Mr Miliband said landlords would not be able to claim all of the so-called "wear and tear allowance", arguing they should not be "subsidised for providing accommodation that fails to meet basic standards."
He added: "This is a plan for a stable, decent, prosperous private rental market where landlords and tenants can succeed together."
Buying assistance
Conservative communities minister Brandon Lewis said Mr Miliband was "re-launching a policy that descended into chaos when it was first announced".
"Rent controls never work - they force up rents and destroy investment in housing leading to fewer homes to rent and poorer quality accommodation.
"The only way to have affordable rents is to continue to build more homes."
The Conservatives have placed increased home ownership at the heart of their housing plans, pledging to extend the Help to Buy Scheme to 2020 and extend the Right-to-Buy scheme to up to 1.3 million tenants of housing associations.
Under their plans, housing association tenants would get the same discounts to buy their homes as council tenants currently enjoy.
The Liberal Democrats are promising young people still living with their parents a loan to help pay for a deposit on a rented home of their own.

 

These political parties will say anything now to get peoples votes. Never mind consequences - medium and long term. And I mean all the parties. Why do we think they will implement them. The libdems swore that they would abolish tuition fees: they increased them. The Tories gave the most solid pledge that they would not reorganise the Nhs: they carried out the biggest reorganisation since its creation.

 

3 year tenancy agreements are such a bad idea. Gives the landlord no flexibility and will mean less properties are made available to rent during a period when we are in a housing crisis. Labour have lost the plot.

 

If any party truly wanted to address the housing situation in this country then the first thing to do is radically overhaul the housing benefit system. HB distorts the market and keeps both rent and house prices artificially high. There is also an argument that HB is yet another way of transferring taxpayers money into the hands of the wealthy (generally).

Either way it is a brave call by labour and just shows how confident they are that one way or another they will be in power and are now just trying for those floats that might just edge them into a majority.

 

Well all the polls this morning have the Tories back ahead of labour. So I'm not sure why labour would be confident of being in government unless they already know they will do a deal with the SNP which they have strongly said they won't (I expect they will do a deal but doubt anything is already in place).

I can't imagine labour or the Tories winning a majority, no-one wants either of them in power.

 

Hilarious, and an example of how Cameron is a professional liar, but not a great one.

Claims he is a Hammers fan on the podium when he's a villa fan. Blames "brain fade"


OK who here has claimed to be a United fan by accident? EVER? even when pissed?
Cameron is such a lying ****ebag

 

Bang on Triff.
Private landlords in the main are complete ****s, they buy up cheap properties in big numbers, divide houses into flats, spend very little on renovation, then overcrowd the places and charge the maximum rent they know unemployed tennents are entitled to claim.

My old boss used to have a plastering contract with one who owned many properties and theres many more like him,.

 

Back home in Ireland so many bent retired coppers are landlords now
#****s

 

And there's many more who aren't like that too. I know quite a few people who have bought additional property as an investment and rent it out and none of them are bad landlords at all and most avoid going for non-private rentals as the property tends to come back in a worse condition.

The property and rental market is a real mixed batch. Don't think it's as straight forward as the mean landlords ruining the lives of the poor tenants.

(Though I'll point out there are issues with plenty of landlords)

 

Neither can I really, despite the tory habit of sneaking up late on the day I just cant see enough of a swing either way. The labour/SNP pact probably has not been agreed yet but I think both sides are confident it will happen no matter what is said pre-election.

 

Yeah, of course their are many good landlords, but the sort that target the unemployed are only interested in their benefits and not in providing a nice comfortable homes for a fair rent.

 

That will be me then as I (we) have two properties we rent out and like to think we do not exploit our tenants in any way but would our rent prices be much lower without HB? of course they would.

I know a lot of others in similar position as we meet up a bit and generally they seem to be the good guys but I also hear lots of horror stories.

PS dont even get me started on the licensing schemes.

 

Of course he's a liar, he's a politician and its part of the job description (exluding Frank Field) would still like to see him trying to get this one past the UN.

 

Ed Miliband brings campaign and 'Milifandom' to Ealing

Labour leader Ed Miliband joined Ealing & Acton candidate Rupa Huq in the borough as part of his campaign

• Labour Party's campaign to Ealing.
  Supporters gathered in the Oak Tree Community Centre, in Osborne Road, on Friday (April 24) as the Labour candidate tried to drum up votes in the final two weeks before election day with Ealing and Acton Central parliamentary candidate Rupa Huq.
  Ms Huq called it the "most important election" of her lifetime before handing over to Mr Miliband who congratulated the candidate as well as other present Labour politicians: Steve Pound, Andy Slaughter, Virendra Sharma, and Julian Bell.
  Mr Miliband said: "It's not just a choice between leaders or political parties, but about the way this country is going to be run in the future.
  "Only when working class people succeed will this country succeed."
  He said this is why Labour is "fighting for an £8 minimum wage, fighting to ban zero-hours contracts, fighting to cut tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000, fighting to abolish the bedroom tax, to build homes again in our country for people to live in and most of all for the most precious institution in our country- the NHS".
  He added: "I do not think this country should withdraw from the rest of the world. We are stronger, better as a more diverse country."
  Mr Miliband also argued we should not allow tax avoidance to continue.
  'False promises'
  He showed support for the local candidate by saying: "I think there are enough people in this room to win this seat for Rupa.
  "Birthdays, nights out, DIY - put them off. We will be proud when we elect Rupa Huq and even prouder when we elect a Labour Government."
  On a local level, Mr Miliband said they would deal with the predicted 1,700 shortfall in secondary school places in the borough - by 2020 - by stopping building free schools in areas where there are surplus places, so they can actually get places where they are needed.
  When asked about Ealing Hospital, he said: "We will obviously review decisions that are being made when we get into Government because I think you have to ask questions about downgrading an A&E at a time when there is an A&E crisis.
  "I'm not going to make false promises - that's what David Cameron did before the last election - but we are going to look at the situation and we have got a big plan to turn the NHS around with 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more doctors, 5,000 more careworkers, 3,000 more midwives and that will take some of the pressure off A&Es."
  With regard to the threat of closures of centres for vulnerable people in Ealing, Mr Miliband blamed the Tory Government for making demands on Labour councils, who are then put in "impossible positions".
  On housing he said: "We are going to build 2,000 new homes a year, stop developers sitting on land, and we will stop letting agents charging tenants fees for renters."
  Lastly, on why he thinks people should vote for Ms Huq, he said: "Because she is brilliant. It's been about a people-powered campaign, knocking on doors.
  "I think she will be a rising star in the party."
  GetWestLondon
  
  

 

No they don't. And don't forget, the Tories need @ 4% of a lead over Labour just to have the same number of seats (not discounting Scotland).

I'd rather do a deal with The Krankies than one with Murdoch, as Cameron did during the phone-hacking scandal, and Blair, Major and Thatcher did in return for powerful influence over government policy regarding broadcasting rights and mobile/digital technology. Give me Sturgeon over that two-faced, Commons Committee-nobbling, Murdoch cock-sucker, Louise-Jimmy-Hill-chinned-Mensch any day of the week.