Lib Dem’s revel in false “ facts”. Everywhere I go I see large signs saying “Lib Dems winning here”. On past form and present polls in a majority of these cases it will be a lie as they will lose again. It is a bad form of lie, the self serving lie. They think people will vote for them if they pretend lots of others will. Very often most people have no wish to vote for them, so learning they might win is not going to change it.
Their latest national leaflet tells me “Labour are in third place in large parts of the country”. Not in the polls the rest of us read.
It says they will “double nature” by 2050. What does that mean? How? Surely their actual plan is to convert more farms to solar and wind installation and put up many more pylons for grid, industrialising the landscape.
They say they “will bring down household energy bills by taxing the profits of gas companies to deliver the savings”. How? Surely charging more for gas to pay the tax puts our gas boiler bills up? There is no policy to give us free heat pumps to stop us burning gas. No policy to avoid power stations burning gas when the wind does not blow.
They say they will “deliver real protection for people against rising mortgage and rent payments”. As a party that pursues more regulatory controls on landlords leading to less rented accommodation I do not see how that works. Mortgages are mainly determined by the Independent Bank of England, an institution they support. So how would they get rates down?
It is high time Lib Dem’s were more thoroughly fact checked. They combine self serving endless messages about how they think people are going to vote with wish lists detached from reality.
I see green Ed took an internal flight the other day. He should practice what he preaches about modes of transport.He did not have to organise such a long distance tour criss crossing country in a way designed to maximise the use of fossil fuels.
July 2, 2024
Well that’s a pretty comprehensive factual demolition job – mind you – a very easy target🤭 they have not yet worked out that when we tell lies the idea is not to be found out!
You can’t complain about the Lib Dems revealing, almost in an hourly basis throughout this campaign, that their leader is a clown. Busy falling into lakes or simply falling, he had no time to answer any questions.
They will deal with all these issues as they dealt with the Horizon problem – or they would if there was PR – head firmly in the sand and fingers pointing at someone else.
July 2, 2024
The limp dumbs are no worse than liebour or the tories. Remember bonfire of the Quangos, Get Brexit done, we are the party of low taxes etc etc..
We all know Davey is lying it’s taken a little longer for the electorate to cotton on to the tory and liebour lies.
Excellent result in France, a template for what will happen here as a result of 14 years of utter incompetence.
July 2, 2024
@Ian Wraggg +1
We don’t need and should have to endure any of them
July 2, 2024
Correct …..and I can’t see the tories doing anything different after the election
July 2, 2024
He’s even done a bungee jump – certainly the way polls predict his party will plunge – into 4th place.
July 2, 2024
I have to give him that one – I certainly wouldn’t do it! But then they are the Loony Party so maybe that explains it?
July 2, 2024
Come on JR,
This election is not about what Labour Lie Dumbs promises, but the sheer utter refusal of the EU one nation Tory party refusing to deliver on their promises, namely wrecked economy, highest taxation with poorest services, crime rife everywhere, woke trans rot, deliberately betrayed Brexit- the 85 seat majority to get elected!
Your party now trying to scare people not to vote for any other party or they will be wiped out! That is what people intend to do because the Tory party sold out our nation to EU giving away N.Ireland, mass welfare immigration to burden our taxes and services putting them first!
Message to Sunak and Badenoch, Good riddance. Don’t come back.
July 2, 2024
@Hope +1
If only, the Boris Johnson collective responsibility cabinet still believing and pursuing their master pronouncements. that’s before we get to all the other traitorous wannabees involved in disenfranchising the UK’s hard-working centre ground that is paying for all this deceit.
July 2, 2024
As my daughter commented, addressing Sunak, “Get out to help out!”
July 2, 2024
Anyone can survive a bad one term government, the problem is when that bad government changes everything forever. The Lib Dems are PR fanatics.
This is what is happening in France today – with their two phase voting – so the politicians can change the game halfway through to defeat the majority will. More than 180 3rd placed candidates running in France’s parliamentary race refused to take part in the run-off to consolidate their vote with the 2nd candidate to defeat the first placed candidate ‘National Rally’.
◾️After the first round, Macron and the leftists wasted no time in declaring their intention to oppose Le Pen’s party. They called on those who came in third to withdraw from the run-off. Their strategy involved encouraging voters to support the main competitors of the ‘National Rally’.
◾️According to Le Monde, 121 candidates from the leftists, 60 from the president’s coalition, and several contenders from other parties refused to continue running in the election race.
◾️The ‘National Rally’ leader Jordan Bardella has already condemned such tactics and slammed these moves as ‘dishonest and unnatural’.
Never vote for any party that will remove the power to sack governments from the people.
July 2, 2024
Its certainly against democracy, the french voted RN and the other partys are collectively going to stop what the people wanted …..a bit like the tories & the civil service, when they didn’t enact a full brexit
July 2, 2024
Yes, that’s why we are about to sack them. The French problem is that they can’t sack them. The political class is gerrymandering the election halfway through.
That’s why there is violence on the streets of France and relative peace here.
There is a lesson in there somewhere.
July 2, 2024
The Constitution of the French Fifth Republic was introduced in 1958. A referendum in 1962 accepted this two-round voting system by 62.3% of the voters out of a 77% turn-out.
So what you are denouncing this time has been going on in France for more than 60 years.
The turn-out on 30/06 was 66.71% with a 33.29% abstention.
Of these the RN got 29.25%, ie 19.01% of the registered voters.
On this first round the voters had potentially 22 lists to choose from (resultats-elections.interieur.gouv.fr).
It is sad when people who do not have an easily accessible constitution, have at most five or six candidates per constituency to choose from with practically a choice between only two or three. consider themselves so much more ‘democratic’ than their neighbours.
As for sacking their government, the French people have had much more possibilities to change their government since 1962 than the British people (think of the three cohabitations and of a potential fourth one next week).
July 3, 2024
The French are not the yardstick to go by. They have always played by their own rules and are quite happy to cheat on anything and make up their own rules and ignore ones they don’t like.. We do not have to copy them. there are others in the world.
July 4, 2024
Graham46, You’re obviously right. But they have a 60+year constitution that allows a lot of possible configurations between the President, the Prime Minister, and where the Ministers are taken from.
I was responding to Lynn who was saying that the French cannot sack their Government. She might want to study some French history before writing things she does not seem to know the first thing about.
July 2, 2024
There would be no reason for the continuing existence of the LibLabCon under PR. Both the Labour and Tory Party are riven with internal strife as rather than being ‘broad churches’, they are more like ferrets in a sack. The Labour Party was created by immigrant communists who named it as such in order to trick the English into believing it was not a revolutionary party; however, the presence of Clause 4 in its constitution revealed its reality. Tony Blair ‘modernised’ the party by repealing Clause 4 and turning it into a mass immigration warmongering party. When Tony Blair stood down he was given a standing ovation by both sides of the House of Commons. Ever since, the Tories have adopted his policies with even more wars and mass immigration but it hasn’t stopped them feuding. As for the LIbDems, they would cease to exist under PR as people would have choices of parties with clearly defined policies which do not involve public clowning.
July 2, 2024
Unfortunately PR would guarantee the continued existence of the Labour and Conservative parties, even to the point where they would be constantly in government, maybe even simultaneously. Look at what happened in Germany. FPTP is the only system capable of purging a party from politics.
July 2, 2024
Germany is still under occupation by the US, as are we, so they are not able to engage in politics freely hence attempts to ban the AFD as ‘extremist’. The Tories delude themselves that we are allies of the US: yes as long as we allow them to decide who our enemies are and help fight their wars for them.
July 2, 2024
Mark “Look at what happened in Germany” – there in 2013 the Free Democrats (FDP) were ousted from the Bundestag, having too few votes to beat the five per cent. minimum election threshold.
July 2, 2024
So please explain how Giscard d’Estaing then Chirac more or less purged the Communist Party, and how Macron more or less purged the Socialist Party, moving parties with 20-25% in the ‘70s to a single digit presence in the ‘80s-‘20s French elections.
I am afraid you are suffering from a typical ‘British is best’ syndrome.
July 3, 2024
FPTP has guaranteed only two parties can govern,
July 2, 2024
There are 100 parties putting up candidates on Thursday.
Why do you think you don’t have a choice of parties?
The fact is that we voters have already whittled the 100 down to 2. And we always will, because then you can elect and sack your government.
July 3, 2024
Well not we who “whittled it down” but the FPTP voting system forced this. FPRP, in effect, forces people to either waste their vote totally or to vote for the most likely person to beat the other likely winner. So even before smaller parties get their X votes they have been cheated of votes and then are cheated of seating even from the votes they did get.
The Tories get say Y votes but of these perhaps as many as 50% would have preferred reform or other parties but know or think that a vote for the Tory candidate is the best bet to keep Labour out.
Another excellent video from David Starkey on Sir Kier’s Starsi – concluding that with the dreadful trio of Starmer, Oli Robbins and Sue Grey we have the new, very English KGB.
July 2, 2024
So John Redwood does not like my challenge that “Winning here” signs are neither ‘false facts’ or ‘lies’.
[ references to named candidate and constituency removed)
At worst, the signs are wishful thinking. As for the idea that people see the signs and it leads them to speculate on a party’s popularity – all parties put up signs wherever they can.
It’s pre election advertising and has been around ever since I can remember.
July 2, 2024
Simple solution to this thought process is to gain an alternative view by simply to counting the houses that do not have a LibDem sign up, which is very, very many more houses !
July 2, 2024
‘Winning here’ from the Lib Dems makes it easier to get the Tory/Labour/ Reform etc vote out.
We (real conservatives) should have thought of that before and put those posters up ourselves.
July 2, 2024
Indeed but we get this net zero gross hypocrisy and climate delusion from all parties and from Sunak, Starmer, Bill Gates, King Charles, Ed Davey, SNP, Plaid, Prince William, Emma Thompson, Greta… All parties, other than Reform – who are climate realists, Farage made an excellent speech on the topic the other day. He did not quite alas say the war in CO2 plant food is a total fraud & complete lunacy as it is – but he almost did. Worth voting Reform just for their climate realism. Plus in most English seat they are the best way to keep the Labour or Tory disasters out.
July 2, 2024
An excellent recent video – Labour’s Plans to End Democracy: David Starkey
Sunak lacks “nous” he says – he most certainly does – he even still thinks the vaccines were unequivocally safe, thing CO2 is a devil gas and called the election six months early – what a total plonker!
July 2, 2024
Needless to say Sir Ed Davey like Sunak, Hunt, Handcock, Cameron, Truss, Ed Miliband, Evette Cooper, Ed Balls, Ted Heath, Michael Foot, the Eagle twins…
So Ed Davie was ideally qualified to be “Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change” under PPE dope Cameron of Greenshill yet had and has zero grasp of physics, energy, climate or it seems economics. The title now is an oxymoron – Minister for Energy Security AND Net Zero! Rather like Minister for Women AND Equality!
July 2, 2024
All PPE I meant.
July 2, 2024
So Sir Kier tells us will stop work at 6.00 PM on a Friday Night as PM to take his kids kick boxing, dancing or similar. Well given his proposed agenda the less he does the better I suppose.
July 2, 2024
Cheerleader dancing it seems.
July 2, 2024
If Starmer does not want to work past 6pm he would be better off working for any council! He could work from home and do a 9-3ish, with flexy time, with an answer phone saying he is unusually busy and all callers should treat him with respect et etc.
I note a female NHS worker suspended for refusing to use changing room with trans woman ie man.
July 2, 2024
Or he could try Wokingham Borough Council, where council officers first told elected councillors a couple of years ago not to call them in their office, but email them. Then they told councillors not to email them, but contact them via a web portal. (Can you prove you’ve left a message on a web portal? ): )
Nice work if you can get it.
July 2, 2024
@Lifelogic – another part-timer in the HoC, where are the professionals, the managers the ones able to get to grips with the prolific expenditure. Oh, I forgot they all spend Government money, not taxpayers money so it doesn’t matter
July 2, 2024
There is a simple explanation as to why Sir Kneelalot could be planning to stop work at 6pm on Fridays :
None of the papers or the broadcast media are mentioning it, but his wife is Jewish and Judaism passes down through the female line in a family.
Jewish people celebrate Shabbat each week from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, and in particular, the Friday evening meal is an important ritual.
If Starmer is planning to stop work on Friday evening out of respect for his wife’s religion, I think that is very commendable. Whether he will be able to keep to it, is debatable.
July 2, 2024
Not sure the Muslim vote would share that view.
July 2, 2024
H,
Which is why he is keeping quiet about it.
As Alistair Campbell used to say ‘We don’t do God.’
July 2, 2024
Harold MacMillan used to sit of an afternoon in the Downing Street garden reading contemporary novels, so I believe. This attack on Starmer is pathetic.
July 2, 2024
I want Starmer on a 2 day week!
July 2, 2024
+many
July 2, 2024
So Coldplay thank everyone who’s pedalled their “power bikes” on the tour so far and at Glastonbury. On average they generate around 11kWh per night it seems to power their light show.
So the cyclists will need to eat about 50kwh of extra human food to give this output 11KWH output – which will take about 300kwh of energy, fertiliser, fossil fuels etc. to produce, process, butcher, package, freeze, deliver, chill and cook – a bit less if they do not eat meat and live of porridge! Plus all the diesel energy used to transport all the “power bikes and gear. Overall efficiency about 3% or so at best. Do they really think they are saving the world? Using electricity grid would be about 15 times more efficient.
Rather less wear and tear on expensive to fix hips and knees too. A few horses in a power wheel might be a bit more efficient but that might be seen as cruel as they cannot volunteer!
July 3, 2024
I wonder if those peddling fools realise that they have effectively been turned into human-hamsters in a wheel?
July 2, 2024
He deliberately avoids the CO2 lie as it would be a total distraction and open goal for the flat Earthers of the msm and Uni Party. He can imply enough for the rest of us. Trump and Farage know the score.
July 2, 2024
Lib/Dems espouse Laa/Laa land politics, designed to allow the unthinking, unenquiring to sleep comfortably in their beds at night. When the whole confection is headed by a man who headed a Post Office that conspired with a supplier to destroy the lives of so many sub postmasters, it is surely a case of caveat emptor for the politics he represents. A politics not enhanced by the sight of said leader playing derring do teenage games. (Words left out Ed) Who wants a government led be a very mediocre circus act of dubious moral foundation.
July 2, 2024
La La Land dreamers is a good definition.
LibDem Party is for those who watched Lord of the Rings and thought it was an historical documentary…
July 2, 2024
Ed Davey should be held to account over post office scandal. His stance holds no scrutiny. Why did he not assess numbers of prosecutions were not possible. He could have got his staff to do any number of things, he had vast Govt. resources at his disposal and lamely chose to believe management of post office! What answer did he expect! Idiot or grossly incompetent.
July 2, 2024
About the only sensible thing I can find in the Libdim Manifesto was “End retrospective tax changes such as the loan charge brought in by the Conservatives, and review the Government’s off-payroll working IR35 reforms to ensure self-employed people are treated fairly.” the rest was all dreamland lunacy or movement in the wrong direction.
Their Climate section particularly bonkers:- Making it cheaper and easier to switch to electric vehicles, restoring the requirement that every new car and small van sold from 2030 is zero-emission, investing in active travel and public transport, electrifying Britain’s railways, and reducing the climate impact of flying, as set out in chapter 16.
EV car are not zero-emission they are “more emissions but mainly elsewhere cars more tyre wear too.” In general, given the UK’s energy mix, they increase CO2 emission if you do the sums over their lifetimes. Not even walking or cycling are zero emission, there is simply no such thing as a “zero emission vehicle or method of transport. CO2 is the gas of life and food for trees, crops, plants, seaweeds… we live in a relative dearth of it currently.
July 2, 2024
Good morning.
The LibDems are in the race to be His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
Place your bets !
July 2, 2024
MB,
I cannot vote for a party that thinks a woman can have a penis. I prefer a factual basis for policies.
July 2, 2024
Or who think net zero is a remotely sensible policy or who thinks the vaccines were/are unequivocally safe, or who think that illegal migrants will stop coming without any real deterrents in place or like Starmer think he can smash the gangs and this will be the deterrent. Or also think anything in the Starmer agenda will be remotely good for growth.
We are governed by complete grade A nutters and often blatant liars!
July 2, 2024
Wasn’t it the tories didn’t repeal the gender recognition act nor any EU law
July 2, 2024
GC,
I think Treacherous May introduced gender ID rot.
However, all English students with a lifetime of debt should never forgive or forget lie dumbs. Lie dumbs perfectly content for EU students to get free university tuition here but not English students. Who was chancellor at St Andrews University….Ming Campbell!!
July 2, 2024
+1
July 2, 2024
While “Fact” checking our political leaders do not overlook the two major parties, who since 1997 have contrived and led us to where we are now. A third world broken country in which nothing works. A country in which one party offers envy and the other cake tomorrow. Historically both have demonstrated the total negativity and dishonesty of their offer. Both only want power for their own benefit, abusing the people of the UK is an accepted part of the process. But for the possibility of a Reform emergence, I see no light from the offerings of the three major players, the detritus of last nights visit to a burgher bar. Reform get my vote.
July 2, 2024
A ‘burgher bar’ – fast food for the wealthier inhabitants? Like Tony Blaire with an ‘e’ on the end? I would not expect any detritus. They are rich enough to keep the area spotless.
July 2, 2024
A few real conspiracy theories:-
The government actually care about the welfare of the people they govern.
Big Pharma care about the safety and effectness of vaccines and drugs and want to make you better – when they profit so much more from your being ill.
Governments invest and spend your money better than you do.
Manifestos are generally honest and sincere and the parties do their best to deliver what they promise once elected.
CO2 is a poison and a devil gas.
July 2, 2024
Some more conspiracy theories:- EV cars save net CO2
Walking and cycling cause no CO2 per mile direct or indirect on a Gov. web site.
The Covid vaccines are/were “unequivocally safe” Sunak.
Lockdown and Covid Vaccines saved millions of lives.
Putting VAT on school fees and abolition of net zero will raise net funds for government.
Sunak inherited inflation at 11% – no he as Chancellor took it from below 2% to 11%.
July 2, 2024
And me.
July 2, 2024
I suspect we will get a party a day until D-Day. Have patience.
Today we might have trashed the Lib Dem’s had they not so comprehensively trashed themselves ready.
July 2, 2024
From the LibDims “Climate change is an existential threat. Soaring temperatures leading to wildfires, floods, droughts and rising sea levels are affecting millions of people directly, and billions more through falling food production and rising prices.”
If you leave flammable material lying around in dry places sooner or later it will burn. It has done for millions of years. Plant and insects have even evolved over thousands of years to take advantage of this. Flood, droughts and changing sea levels have always happened. Food production has increases significantly due to fossil fuel fertilisers, tractors, harvesting, sowing, fossil fuel drying, freezing and other processing and better efficiency methods.
Anyway even if CO2 were the devil gas the LibDims quite wrongly claim. The UK exporting jobs and industries overseas etc. will do nothing for overall CO2 (our is 1%) given China, India, Russia… love of cheap, relaible coal, gas, oil… the Libdems, Tories, Labour, Plaid, SNP all live in a mad deluded dreamland with zero understanding of physics, climate or energy realities.
July 2, 2024
Fossil fuels have made us far richer and far better equipped to adapt to climate changes and weather changes that has and always will happen. Deaths due to extreme weather have this fallen hugely.
July 2, 2024
India has recently bought 850,000 tons of coal from the US, giving a boost to the mining industry as indeed has the advent of the EV, according to an industry spokesman on Peter Santanello’s YT channel!
July 2, 2024
Loads of fossil fuels needed to mine and manufacture batteries and EV cars and to charge them and then recycle them.
July 2, 2024
Australia makes £30 billion a year from China buying coal and iron ore. Apparently no harm to the planet. UK buys coal from…..Russia! That also helps the planet apparently. EU one nation Sunak Govt. Clueless.
July 2, 2024
So long as we don’t dig up any coal/coke in the UK ! …..(sarc.)
July 2, 2024
EurAsian Times,26.6.24,Sakshi Tiwari:”INSTC:In a Historic First,Russian Coal Reaches India via Iran Using the International North South Transport Corridor.”
And Russian coal is a lot cheaper than American coal!
(Look up the INSTC (particularly the map) and see what a significant development it is going to be.
July 2, 2024
“Fact ” check the two major parties and you will not feel any happier. Envy or cake tomorrow is their vision of the future. Conclusion, vote Reform for the only viable programme of measures to heal our very broken country.
July 2, 2024
We have received numerous fliers and personally addressed letters from the LibDem candidate. Her focus is on sewage overflows. But it seems to have escaped her attention that that problem too might have something to do with the sharp rise of the UK’s population without a corresponding increase in the scale of the waste water facilities to deal with it. As for Davey, why is he still an MP after his gross failure as Minister when responsible for the Post Office?
July 2, 2024
Sewerage! No doubt from the river to the sea!
July 2, 2024
There should be clear blue water where, instead, there are complaints about the lies.
14 years !
Too late.
July 2, 2024
The trouble with voting tory …is that we’ll get all the same policies & plans that they had before the election …continuity woke, left wing green tories
July 2, 2024
Start with their name, Liberal Democrats.
That’s a blatant lie. They are neither liberal, nor as they proved over Brexit, democrats.
But they are going to win Conservative-held seats in the west country – not because they’re really popular but because many former Conservative voters refuse to vote for the shambles the Not-a-Conservative-Party has presided over.
July 2, 2024
@Donna +1
July 2, 2024
The problem is that deference to the climate cult has led all political parties to take leave of common sense. I read in the Telegraph that Claire Coutinho has approved a project to store large amounts of hydrogen in caves under Portland harbour. I also read that 99 per cent of all hydrogen fuel used in the world comes from fossil fuels. That’s because, to extract the hydrogen, natural gas is blasted with steam at over 700 degrees C., which is energy-intensive and creates a lot of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Hydrogen extraction costs are expensive, and large amounts of gases are created that do the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve – reducing CO2 emissions. But no matter: the government’s energy secretary has reportedly intervened to ensure lots of taxpayer subsidy will go to this scheme, and no party is going to ask whether this huge outlay makes any kind of environmental sense. Yes, the LibDems should be reality-checked, but the current government is little better, when you look at the dubious decisions they’ve been taking.
July 2, 2024
Is there anything in the Lib Dem manifesto (any of the manifestos in fact) about starting to write down the liability for Student Loans that will not be repaid? We might as well be paying grants at the rate of likely default once the 30 year period is complete.
What’s that I hear – someone else’s problem. So is Gaza.
July 2, 2024
Sir John
Most free thinkers know that the Liberal Democrats (besides not being liberal or democrats) have a story that is spun to mean something different in every corner they are active. There is no National policy, no National agenda other than Socialism. They are after all disgruntled left-wing Socialists that split away from Labour, because they couldn’t get their way.
This not the old Liberal Party re-incarnated, there is no connection, they just stole that part of the name. They are just a pretend, to appeal Party.
Then again, the difference between the LibDems, Labour and this version of a Conservative party is zilch, zero, nothing. All Socialist involved in BIG Government, high tax and borrowing, added to massive uncontrolled expenditure that the Country can’t afford. None of them have a plan for a strong resilient economy, the only thing that can fund a future.
July 2, 2024
Mr. Tumbles claims of “winning here” will hopefully backfire if sufficient numbers come out on Thursday spurred into action by that spurious claim just to prevent that becoming a reality.
As usual it is very easy for those who seek the power to make outrageous claims on what they would achieve if they did have the power. A simple claim does not come with any responsibility attached.
There are untruths, lies, and then the Lib Dem’s, led by a clown.
July 3, 2024
not to worry it will end with ‘Tears of a Clown’, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. 1967
July 2, 2024
They are not being fact checked because Ed is distracting them by water sliding and bungy jumping.
July 2, 2024
Our local LibDem candidate is useless, claiming if Labour and Green voters lend her their votes, she would be a ‘strong voice locally’ (although not winning). Her three claims of what she would do are so general, no voter in the land would disagree with them. However, she made no indication of HOW or WHEN such claims would be achieved, and was invisible throughout the campaign beyond a few badly-printed leaflets: Pathetic!
July 2, 2024
Sir John
“will bring down household energy bills by taxing the profits of gas companies to deliver the savings” As you say how, meaning how does that work!
I would relate that form of Socialist thinking to Sunak/Hunt, they raised taxes at the worst possible time, so removed money from the economy, while causing prices to rise so as to pay for their stupidity, and Hey-Ho we got high inflation. They have then pursued even higher taxation to cover their backs. It was controlling expenditure, their expenditure that was needed they are still refusing to do.
Big spend, high borrowing, high taxation to fund these warped dreams is 100% pure Socialism getting people to somehow believe that it is always someone else that will pay the bill. Even Reform can’t be let of the hook on this stupidity – raising personal allowances to 20K means someone else has to pay more, so the someone else needs to raise their cost to cover the increase. More downward spiral
What as a voter I want to hear is someone showing in practice how they will control expenditure in a way that we might believe them. The ‘bonfire’ of the Quango’s is still ringing in our ears – they were increased, and have cost us more, and we get less in return. Think now NHS. So on, and so on.
July 2, 2024
The Lib Dems, comedy gold.
Green Ed champion hypocrite and good pal with Emma Thompson who regularly flies in from USA to lecture us.
July 2, 2024
The only thing the LibDems have is a well worked and supported local organisation, that is good on self promotion.
They have had the luxury of being in opposition for decades, where it is easy to complain and blame, but when they eventually gain power at a local level, they are found wanting just like all the other Parties, so they then blame whoever is in Government for the lack of money to fulfill their dream projects.
If you simply want a protest vote, I can only suggest avoid the big three established Parties and go Reform, or independent, which ever suits your views best.
July 2, 2024
The smaller parties get away without much policy examination. While Labour and Conservative have not been able to fund the Dilnot Commission social care proposals, the Liberal Democrats are going to magic the money to do so immediately! Despite calling themselves ‘Democrat’ they want to overturn the results of both the E.U.Referendum and the voting method Referendum. I heard today a former Leader say on radio that they intend to make water companies into social interest companies without being challenged that that is in effect confiscation of people’s assets and would deprive pension funds and therefore pensioners of much of their income.
Nor have the Greens nor Reform had their policies properly examined even though unbeknown to most journalists Reform has such momentum (certainly I have found they have the most fervent support of any party, and that counts in an election) that they could end up as the biggest party and maybe the government after this election. It has happened in France; Trump despite more personal shortcomings than Farage is dominating American politics; Farage himself won the the Euro elections in Britain only 5 years ago in 2019 – I think it is a clear possibility he may win this election but if he does there will be chaos as his parliamentary party falls apart as have all the previous parties he has led.
July 2, 2024
LibDem’s remind me of that classic Laurel & Hardy comedy line ‘’Plenty of weather we’re having today’’
Then I realised it’s the same for the Tories & Labour, but they’d call it ‘’Plenty of climate change today’’, let control and tax it by calling the solution ‘net-zero’
Also has any party pledged to remove ‘standing-charges’ from energy bills ?
July 2, 2024
Standing charges are the green subsidies = taxes on power bills to pay for climate change policies =windmills/solar farms subsidies. £100’s a year on bills to pay for their religion and refusal to be energy sufficient in the National Interest.
July 2, 2024
The libdems are a lost species. They even believe the nonsensical descriptions they put out about themselves – They are certainly not the party of common sense, and their so called achievements are a disaster for most of us.
They deserve to loose badly on Thursday, for they have been at the heart of restrictive practices, and would impose more given the chance.
One of the big problems of the UK is that we have become effectively a 2 party state, with libdems and greens picking up some crumbs from the side line. People still vote for one of the 2 big parties they feel they were born into.
There is very little constructive thought employed by most people in deciding who to vote for – they believe in their chosen party and agree with their dogma. Without that they don’t belong and that terrifies them.
Labour have won too many political arguments over the years, forcing the political ground ever more left — What we need is a truly educated society that has the ability to pick to pieces the utter deceit and nonsense that politicians present us with.
Oh, and MPs who can think for themselves would be most welcome.
July 2, 2024
So Ed Post Office Davie is Zumba Dancing in Wokingham it seems, a sight not to be missed for locals no doubt.
July 2, 2024
@Lifelogic – didn’t he do well in destroying lives and destroying the Post Office. He wants you to forget he was the PO Boss, the one holding the PO management to account. Now to suggest he does the same for a whole Country and its people, you couldn’t make it up.
July 2, 2024
LibDem’s remind me of that classic Laurel & Hardy comedy line ‘’Plenty of weather we’re having today’’
Then I realised it’s the same for the Tories & Labour, but they’d call it ‘’Plenty of climate change today’’, let control and tax it by calling the solution ‘net-zero’
July 2, 2024
Reading their manifesto, I think their “fair deal” will exacerbate the country’s current problems. They propose more immigration, close ties with the EU including joining the Single Market and the acceleration of Net Zero including re-imposing the ludicrous EPC ratings on rented accommodation.
I won’t be voting for them.
July 2, 2024
Interesting discussion on times radio (available on you tube) where Andrew Neil interviews Rory Stewart. Stewart always comes over as a very decent sort and I have no doubt he did his best to be an effective minister. I would have voted for him had he gone on and stood as London mayor and we might have been spared the dreadful sidiq khan.
But when Andrew Neil asked Rory to identify what actual policies a ‘one nation’ Tory might have which where different from the ‘right wing’ government, he was quite unable to do so. Just a bit of waffle about decentralisation. Nor, excluding the very brief Liz Truss attempt, could he say what was in fact ‘right wing’ at all about the Conservatives, though he is supposedly alienated due to this. He is apparently wondering whether to vote Lib Dem or green, having ruled out Labour for some (unclear) reason. All very odd. Even some highly articulate and intelligent people who spend their life discussing politics seem to have very great difficulty expressing actual ideas and why they do or don’t support them. Or as illustrated in Sir John’s piece today, progressing even a first logical step from their initial posture.
July 2, 2024
I don’t like idea of One Nation Conservatism (nor ‘right-wing’ Tories or ‘wets’ – all silly derogative and / or divisive terms) but to offer some concrete ideas (for what I like as Cultural / Entrepreneurial Conservatism).
1) Do far more to support the churches, media, educators, and people in arts more to promote traditional cultural Conservative values. Conservatism should ultimately be a CULTURAL movement not an economic or even a political one (important as these are of course). Cultural values is like the fertiliser / good ground for the politics / economics to be rooted in and then thrive. Without strong ground / fertilise your brilliant political / economic ideas are wasted.
This is also connected to building up native British people who have psychological and other issues to get them back into work etc and so reduce immigration (but also many other things needed to reduce immigration – but this would be a big one).
2) Do far more to attract higher quality Tories with proper business experience to Parliament.
3) Help develop Cambridge / Oxford as the world’s Second Silicon Valley (this would HUGELY grow and stabilise our economy with great skills / brands / exports etc).
4) National Service (at first voluntary and for 3 months only – that can be staggered over university – over 5 years). Where you can do military service / voluntary service. Whilst also learning useful skills for free according to how well you do in your national service (coding, digital marketing, cooking, basic plumbing etc), with special prizes of going on expeditions to places such as Costa Rica – camping out. And also some monetary prizes (to help with university fees). So a kind of heavily BEEFED-UP Duke of Edinburgh award. With prizes overall of Gold, Silver and Bronze for how well you’ve done including self-discipline, leading others, and more
5) Develop North of England more. Start off by connecting much better Manchester and Sheffield. They are 20 miles apart as crow flies but takes 90 minutes by road and 1 hour by train. And focus on developing Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds more (all fairly close together). And then the success of this spreads out to the rest in the North.
July 2, 2024
Where Oxford and Cambridge more focused on HIGH END TECH.
And Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester more focused on LOW END TECH (and the Financial / Legal / Creative Sector).
(And London on Financial Sector etc like always).
July 2, 2024
@ Ed M “3) Help develop Cambridge / Oxford as the world’s Second Silicon Valley….” – a daunting task, not least because of cultural differences, as discussed by AnnaLee Saxenian in “Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128”. Also see the little known work by Rob Koepp “Clusters of Creativity” that compares SV with Cambridge’s Silicon Fen.
July 2, 2024
Wow. You really put me in my place with these comments.
Just had a quick look at the first one you mention. Interesting but subtle differences between Silicon Valley and Massachusetts. I would never have been able to come to these insights without someone doing a study and writing about it like this.
Are there people in / working for Parliament who are able to advise government / Parliament about issues like this? Are the Tories talking about this / debating about this?
I might well be wrong of course about Cambridge. But if right (or more than 50% right), such a development could bring billions to our economy with great jobs, high skills, high exports. It would be a real game changer.
But I think a lot of work / study needs to be done on this (and how to develop the Leeds / Sheffield / Manchester area more – as the north of England is like a separate country. And we need these people working and really productive not sitting around depressed and costing the tax payer loads of money).
July 2, 2024
I think lots of research / analysis needs to be done:
1) What is the viability for Cambridge to become a Silicon Vallery?
2) If viable, how to invest so that every penny spent by government to help develop Cambridge area as next Silicon Valley receives a huge return in private investment and profit in this area (and so to the country overall including reducing tax burden in the future because of private enterprise flourishing here).
July 3, 2024
@ Ed M – I hope my point was not place-putting for you are correct in aim and Saxenian would agree that it is possible but there are huge barriers.
What we would need is a second Ludwig Erhard at the BEIS rather than the likes of Kemi and whomsoever is her replacement.
July 3, 2024
It is also true to say some initiatives have been taken, Cambridge’s St. John’s Innovation Centre for one but these lack scale and momentum.
July 2, 2024
R,
Not odd, he is another EU fantatic content to be led rather than lead. This is where labourtoryliedumbs EU one nation types are. Matters not who is governing as long as it is under EU. It is like these poor souls are EU radicalised.
July 2, 2024
This is not new, Richard1. Back in autumn 2010, Stewart was interviewed by the New Yorker about his Conservative convictions, but didn’t seem very sure of them. He admitted that before 2010 he had never voted Tory. That didn’t stop Cameron putting him up as a Tory candidate that year, in a seat where in fact he gained a big majority. From Call-me-Dave’s point of view, it was a great success: seat won, never mind if the man’s actually a Conservative or not.
July 2, 2024
Curious turn of phrase. If a self serving lie is a bad form of lie, what form is a good lie. Aren’t all lies self serving except white lies which are intended to serve others?
The Lib Dems are fooling themselves but which is worse, a car load of false promises or self delusion?
July 2, 2024
Stockholm syndrome.
July 2, 2024
Sorry this is about Conservatives and not the LibDems, but I met a Tory canvasser last evening delivering addressed envelopes. He asked for my opinion. I said I was tired of his failures and would vote for Refuge.
He was clearly an imporant person insociety and could not understand any of the points I made. His views were on the politial Left or the controlling upper levels of society.
He likes Biden. He thinks Trump is a grave danger. He said Brexit has failed and was wrong. Many other modern Tory views at odds with people he does not mix with.
Our MP is big in charity and woke support and has no experience of majority work.
July 2, 2024
If you told him you were voting for Refuge, I’m not surprised he couldn’t understand you.
July 2, 2024
Ooops. For the record, a typing error here. Reform is the name.
July 2, 2024
Tories don’t seem to have the volunteers these days, all the staff and big-wigs canvassing – probably for the first time.
Do them good! They might learn something.
July 2, 2024
I do wonder what Plato or Aristotle would have made of all these “facts” that are flying about. I suspect that they would say we are suffering from a surfeit of second-rate Sophists. The question is, did these Sophists exclusively do their training at Oxford (via PPE)? In which case it is about time that Oxford increased the quality of its curriculum.
July 2, 2024
You are right that the LibDems tell lies, but sadly, that applies to both the Conservatives and Labour. It also applies, increasingly, to the media, especially the BBC.
For example, the Conservative Manifesto in 2010,2015 and 2019 promised to reduce immigration but did the opposite!
It’s disheartening to see the PM and Chancellor, who claim to believe in low taxes, doing the exact opposite. Labour, too, is not being transparent about its plans for governance, further adding to the disillusion.
But when you ignore the people’s will, anger and frustration build up and eventually explode! Look at what is happening in France today. Having said all that I think the conservatives will do much better on Thursday than the opinion polls forecast. A Reform/Conservative coalition government may be the answer to the UK’s problems!
July 2, 2024
Well, the Metro free newspaper put “Leaders on the spot” today (p6). It questioned Ed Davey, Stamer, Sunak and Denyer (who? It’s the Green co-leader). Didn’t even mention Farage or Reform, you’d think they don’t exist.
July 2, 2024
“No policy to avoid power stations burning gas when the wind does not blow.”
Why, Sir John, do you continue to believe any existing Parliamentary party intends to continue burning gas when the wind doesn’t blow? There is no plan other than to close down our hydrocarbon fuelled generation. Since there is no plan at all for any grid-scale electricity storage by 2050 let alone 2030 it is clear the plan to reduce our energy bills is to provide us with chaotically intermittent energy which together with de-industrialisation and impoverishment will achieve our net zero CO2 emission goal to save the planet.
July 2, 2024
Liberal Democrats. Yes, Liberal with their stream of false facts yet proven to be anti-democracy. They are an unfunny joke.
What trustworthy Party can, before the National Referendum, swear to honour the decision of the people, whatever the outcome, blatantly ignore the majority because they chose incorrectly, and ‘came up with the wrong answer’.
Now those betrayers of democracy want us to re-join the cosy cabal of the EU? Who can trust such a Party now?
Sadly, the same applies to some Labour and Tory MPs too.
July 2, 2024
Libdem = LaLa Land
Conservative = No Change
Labour = Change
Reform = Old School Tory
Green = LaLa Land
SNP = Adrift
July 2, 2024
So, apparently not allowed to mention first past the post forcing me to vote Lib Dem – because my overriding objective is to see the back of this useless government.
July 2, 2024
How would you vote if it was PR?
You do understand that you can’t fire two parties at once?
July 2, 2024
The Conservatives have been so poor that it looks very much like the “false facts” Lib Dems will become the “Opposition”.
We can only hope that Labour learns from the Conservative’s demise that high immigration and Net Zero are not popular whatever the BBC’s daily propaganda may say.
July 2, 2024
85 illegal economic /criminals arrived yesterday from the safe country of France
Sunak can’t even stop them, the week of his election !
July 2, 2024
Dear Sir John,
What you say is correct but life is hard for a smaller centre party when the dominant Labour and Conservatives are aiming for the”centre ground”, as so crudely but effectively described by MrGalloway.
At the moment the Li Dems only distinctive policy is to rejoin the EU eventually, a haven for unreconciled Remainers in the Home Counties but clearly of little traction nationally. Better to keep out of the main policy debates and just portray your leader as a good sport, a decent chap who cares and leads.
Should the LibDems become the official Opposition, as one or two outlier polls have suggested, they would doubtless move after a year or two in the direction pioneered by Sir Nick Clegg and attempt to consolidate their position as the main broad-church alternative to Labour. After all, the Liberals are the main centre-right party in Australia and Liberal Democrats (albeit very different) are the dominant party of government in Japan.
If, by hook or by crook, the Lib Dems merely revive as a strong third force but Mr Farage is elected to Parliament and is as vocal as in Brussels, a Conservative Opposition will surely continue to be as drawn in both directions as its governments have been over recent years.
July 2, 2024
“green Ed took an internal flight the other day” Most if not all those that want to place NetZero punishment on the Country and its People don’t mean themselves. They and their families do not exclusively use EV’s, they and their families do not exclusively heat their homes with ‘heat pumps’. They and their families do not avoid and remove man-made oil-based products from their lives, even the footwear they use needs oil. Some might have leather footwear but they are looking to ban that
How many Government or State funded operations are working exclusively by the principles of NetZero.
The Palace of Westminster is not powered by ‘wind’(the external kind), they do not ensure all their office and facilities exclusively use heat pumps for heating and cooling.
Our Politicians fight for and support the off-shoring of UK Industry and Commerce, encourage the self-same thing as imports. For some demented reasoning encouraging and creating what they call World pollution, is OK – seemingly their ‘god’ tells them that CO2 cant cross borders.
Our Politicians exclusively send out the message of do as I say, do not do as I do. Now they expect to be empowered and paid once more by the taxpayer.
its not just the LibDems that are ‘nuts’ they don’t have the exclusiveness on that, the majority of Parliament supported the destruction of the UK and its people, without asking why and how much.
July 2, 2024
In an election full of nutty parties, the monster raving loony party are starting to look quite sane
July 2, 2024
Ian B :
“Green Ed” is really just “Red Ed” and this explains everything about him and his policies.
July 2, 2024
Why was my post about individual constituency MRP polls deleted?
Is such information inconvenient for your narrative?
reply I am not posting on individual seats
July 2, 2024
Your article talks about polling. So did my deleted post.
The party that is in first place in the national poll isn’t polling in first place in every constituency.
July 2, 2024
Boris helping Sunak …..Lordship in the offing