Your voice does matter!

AS you’ve probably heard thousands of times already this year, there’s a General Election happening on Thursday May 7th. Now, you might be sick of hearing about it, but to be honest it needs to keep being talked about.

Many people right across the country believe they shouldn’t vote for any political party because ”it won’t make a difference” or ”they’re all the same”, but we need to put these thoughts to rest.

Yes, over the past decade MP’s haven’t done themselves any favors by using tax-payer funded money to fund their own lavish lifestyles, and only doing things that would significantly help themselves, but we need to put this to one side… For now.

The election on May 7th, is not like any other we’ve seen before. We are literally fighting to keep our communities (or what is left of them) together. It’s the most important election in a generation. It really is.

Over the past 5 years, David Cameron and his Conservative party have destroyed our country under the guise of ”We’re all in this together”, but we’re not all in this together. As everyone knows, with the Conservatives in power, the poor have been hit the hardest, and the rich have become richer. The rich support the rich. That is what our country has become.

The heart of our communities have been ripped out, libraries and leisure centres for the young have been shut down, over one million people are now having to rely on food banks because their wages aren’t rising, and bills are rising higher than ever before. This just isn’t right and We cannot go on like this. Families in 21st century Britain should be not be relying on handouts.

To vote in this General Election, you have to register to vote. The deadline for registering is April 20th and after that you will no longer be eligible to vote. Some of you may say there is ”no point” or ”my vote won’t make a difference”, but it can… and it will.

To reiterate, this is the most important General Election in a generation. Your voice does matter. It will make a difference. Please register to vote!

Register to vote before April 20th, by visiting the following website: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Will he, won’t he…

UPDATED.

YOU might not know this, but there’s an election happening in May, and in the run-up to it, the main party leaders will take part in TV election debates. But, over the past week they have been thrown into disarray. Let me tell you why…

During the campaign of 2010, the leaders of the three main political parties – Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats, all took part in a three-way television debate, in which they answered questions from the public about economic, health and social issues. The debates screened on the BBC, ITV and Sky News were watched by over 22 million viewers, and were seen as a huge success.

Fast forward to late 2014, and the three main broadcasters, now joined by Channel 4, announced their plans for the upcoming General Election – including a return of the TV debates. The BBC and ITV announced their debates would feature the leaders of the Conservative, Labour & Liberal Democrats, although the latter would include UKIP leader Nigel Farage. The third and final debate to air on Channel 4/Sky News would be a head-to-head between David Cameron and Ed Miliband. The debates would take place, every 2 weeks from April 2nd, and continue on April 16th, and end on April 30th – exactly one week before polling day.

Controversy…

When the plans were announced, The Green Party expressed their disappointment at being excluded, and demanded to be included. Their demand was rejected, and the party launched an online petition which gained over 275,000 signatures, and saw a huge surge in membership. The campaign led to the BBC and ITV announcing plans for a seven-way debate, featuring leaders from the UK’s seven main political parties, including the Tories, Labour, Lib Dems, the Greens, UKIP, the SNP and Plaid Cymru. The Greens accepted the new proposals, and congratulated the broadcasters for listening to them.

The first debate is due to take place on Thursday April 2nd on ITV, hosted by ITV News presenter Julie Etchingham; the next on BBC One would air on April 16th, hosted by David Dimbleby; the third and final debate to air on Sky News, would take place on April 30th and be chaired by Jeremy Paxman, with the aftermath hosted by Kay Burley.

However, a few days after the plans were confirmed, the PM announced that he would only take part in ONE of the proposed debates, because he thinks the debates are a waste of his time, specifically if they’re held during the election campaign. Instead, Mr Cameron has held the broadcasters to ”ransom”, by proposing a 90 minute debate with the 6 remaining political leaders, if it is held on Thursday, March 26th – 4 days before campaigning starts.

But, his actions have been criticised by politicians, political commentators, and voters for trying to ”derail the democratic process”, and has even been accused of ”running scared” from the Labour Party, and has been called ”a chicken” by Labour leader Ed Miliband.

The broadcasters have since announced that the debates will still be go ahead, and they’ll be ”empty chairing” the PM, if he doesn’t show up.

But, what do the public think about the debates?

Well, a new poll released by the Sunday Times, shows support for the debates at 69%, but asked if they think a different format should be considered, 21% said it should. Asked if there should be a head-to-head debate between Cameron and Miliband, 42% are in favour, and 42% are against it.

But asked, who the public think are to blame for the breakdown in talks between the broadcasters and political leaders, it’s not good reading for Cameron – over 40% blame the PM for his ”disgraceful” actions, whilst 13% blame the broadcasters.

Today (11/3/15), makes further grim reading for the PM. A new poll released by ComRes for ITV News shows, 64% of voters believe the PM has ”damaged his reputation”, over his refusal to take part, and his ignorance to even answer questions about the debates. Also today, a new digital debate was put forward by Youtube, the Daily Telegraph & The Guardian, which would take place on Monday, March 23rd – which is what the PM wants.

With the pressure from politicians, and now voters anger increasing everyday, will the PM do the right thing, and finally agree to take part in all 3 of the proposed TV debates? Well it remains to be seen whether he’ll give in, or remain ignorant when questioned on the subject.

Whatever happens between now and April 2nd, there is no denying, it will certainly be interesting!

100 days to go…

YOU might not know this, but it’s only 100 days to go, until the General Election on Thursday 7th May 2015, and it promises to be the most exciting election, ever.

During the course of today (27/1/15), we heard a number of stories across newspapers, mobile news apps, and television news programmes, about what each political party is going to do, to secure our vote.

For the Conservative party, they brought out Chancellor George Osborne to tell us, that they are the ”only party” to keep Britain’s economic recovery on track, and that a Labour government would ”wreck the recovery”.

But, what recovery is Mr Osborne talking about? You might say. Many believe there is a ‘North vs South’ recovery happening. With the new jobs being created in the south of the country, whilst the North is not seeing job growth as quickly as the south. The north has seen job growth, but its slow.

Another fact to add in, is wages. Wages in the south are extremely high, compared to the north, because living there is expensive, but people in the north, haven’t seen a wage rise, and with food, energy, and clothing prices still high, the poorest, are becoming poorer.

Labour on the other hand, sent leader Ed Miliband to talk to reporters, choosing to focus on the National Health Service (NHS). The party pledged to train 10,000 more Nurses, to cut spending on bringing in agency staff from abroad, and to pour more money in to the service. ”Under David Cameron, there have been 8000 fewer nurses trained and hospitals have been left scrambling to repair the damage”, Mr Miliband said.

To pay for more investment in the NHS, the party would take money from its new ‘Time to Care’ fund costing £2.5 billion, which would be funded from a higher mansion tax, reclaim money from tax avoidance and, place a levy on tobacco companies. The Conservatives have come out saying Labour would ”lose control” over NHS spending and, plunge the service into a ”black hole”, in which it would never recover from. Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary even compared Labour, to the new left-wing party in Greece, Syriza.

But, a new Comres poll for ITV News, reveals that the NHS is high on voters agenda, with more people trusting Labour with the NHS, than the Tories. In the same poll though, it reveals that the Conservatives are the most trusted party to look after the economy, and Labour are still struggling to convince voters about their plans.

This election is not just about the main parties though, it’s about the ever-growing popularity of the small parties – particularly UKIP and The Green Party. With trust in politicians at an all-time low, people have turned to the smaller parties to improve their lives, because after decades of either Conservative or Labour governments, they feel nothing has changed for them.

UKIP appeal to working class people in particular because of it’s ‘no nonsense’ approach, and with the party cleverly depicting leader Nigel Farage, as a man who ”loves a pint and cigarette” down his local, they believe he is one of them, and someone who can bring the change they so desperately want.

On the other hand, The Green Party have seen a surge in popularity recently, due to the comments many UKIP candidates have said about gay, black, and disabled people during the past few months, and the fact they were left out of the TV debates in the run-up to the General Election. It added 2,000 members in ONE day amid a blaze of publicity over the issue, with membership soaring past UKIP, and even the Liberal Democrats.

A new poll for Sky News, the ‘Poll of Polls’, has predicted that Labour will be the biggest party, and hold the ‘balance the power’, with 282 seats, 44 seats short of an outright majority of 326 seats. The Conservatives are predicted to have 270 seats.

No matter what people say, or what the politicians do, this will be the closest and, most exciting General Election, ever!