Countdown to General Election 7th May 2015

[Adrian symonds]

Couldn't see Nick Nenadich on that list ...

Thankfully he have stepped down.

[Adrian symonds]

I have no idea who I am going to vote for in the GE, to be honest there is not much difference between any of them. We get the same rubbish form then before the election and once they get into power it is all forgotten.

 

I did a test to see who I am suited to vote for, it was mainly UKIP, with just under half Labour and then a small percentage of green. 
I would vote for the raving loony party I think if they stood if Hereford.

[dippyhippy]

Hi Adrian, and welcome to Hereford Voice. It's great to have you here.

 

I think this is something many of us are struggling with.

 

Locally, I know exactly which box I shall put a cross in...... as you say, nationally it's a different story.

[Roger]

I have no idea who I am going to vote for in the GE, to be honest there is not much difference between any of them. We get the same rubbish form then before the election and once they get into power it is all forgotten.

 

I did a test to see who I am suited to vote for, it was mainly UKIP, with just under half Labour and then a small percentage of green. 

I would vote for the raving loony party I think if they stood if Hereford.

 

Hereford was a bit of a Tory/Lib Dem Marginal seat until the Tuition Fee fiasco with the Lib Dems (and them getting into bed with the Tories). Their National poll rating is pathetic. UKIP will get an increased knee jerk poll boost I think but their candidate has only been in place 5 minutes. I expect a Jesse Norman walkover for Hereford/Hereford South. 

[bobby47]

Well I'm voting UKIP and I don't care what anyone thinks of me for voting for a political Party you've all been socially engineered into sneering at and being conditioned by the media and the mainstream parties to be afraid of.

And therein lies the truth. Most of you won't vote UKIP because you've been programmed to think its a bad thing to do to say that the free movement of people from across the vast expanse of East and Central Europe hasn't been anything but a joyous celebration that allows their home Countries to lose their young people, impoverish themselves, ruin and destroy their home economies and place our own infrastructure, housing and public services under an intolerable strain. You won't vote UKIP because its now so deeply engrained into our national Brutish psyche that we must be ever so tolerant and welcoming and that any other view leaves you open to being branded or labelled a bigot or a racist.

For the many I fear, you'll continue to tolerate the near on slave labour conditions the EU economic Capitalist model has created, ignore the growing expansionistic policies of Western Governments and pretend to yourselves that all's well. For many of you, you choose to turn away from the madness that is Brussels and like lemmings you'll continue to do what the ruling elite have programmed you to do instead of thinking for yourselves.

This bloody European Union continues to poke Mother Russia with a stick, the Continent is more fragile now than it has been for decades and this bloody free movement of migrant cheap labour that Business and Government are so reliant upon within the United Kingdom has stopped us lending a helping hand to all these poor people who choose to take their chances on the hazardous sea crossing from Africa and Asia.

If we weren't so chock a block with near on two million EU economic migrants here to make money, we'd be in a position to help someone who's never done you and me any harm, escaping the bloodbaths created by us, religious maniacs and unelected mandarins from the EU.

And why do we let it happen? Because a low skilled cheap labour migrant employee is worth so much more than an African and an Asian man or woman who just wants to live peacefully without being shelled by their tormentors who just happened to get their weapons from us because of some big business profitable arrangement that was dressed up as being a worthy cause.

No! I'm voting UKIP.

[megilleland]

I agree with you Bobby. This election is our last chance to change the way the establishment run our lives. Any vote, other than for UKIP, is a confirmation that things will not change. The topics covered over the last months have highlighted how these politicians are looking after themselves and their party and not our country. The planned fragmention of the UK will result in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and eventually England becoming regions of the EU and answerable to this unelected bureaucracy. Having trawled through the UKIP manifesto they make what seems to be common sense policy and the few extracted sentences below appeal to me.

 

UKIP will not allow large companies to continue getting away with paying zero or negligible corporation tax in Britain. We will bring this unfairness to an end.

 

Government has focused on the wrong spending priorities for far too long. It is time to stop wasting money on trying to be popular on the world stage, and start tackling urgent, pressing

needs here in the UK.

 

Immigration is not about race; it is about space. Immigrants are not the problem; it is the current immigration system that is broken. 

 

The NHS is the National Health Service, not the International Health Service. 

 

Hospital car parking charges are a tax on the sick. We will invest £200 million to make parking at

English hospitals free for patients and their visitors

 

We find it astonishing that other political parties, while launching high-profile campaigns against TTIP, nevertheless remain committed to our EU membership. Their hypocrisy is shameless.

 

Further, by linking vocational schools and colleges with industry, we will introduce an option for

students to take an apprenticeship qualification instead of four non-core GCSEs. Students can then continue their apprenticeships past the age of 16, working with certified professionals qualified to grade their progress. 

 

We will also amend planning legislation to ensure planning applications for family housing developments of forty homes or more, without dedicated garden space for each unit, will be required to include a communal play area in each scheme.

 

We will end unfair ATOS-style Work Capability Assessments and return assessments to GPs or appropriate specialist consultants, who have full access to patients’ medical records and are likely to know the patient. We believe this makes them the best person to undertake assessments and we will ensure they are adequately funded and resourced to take on this task. 

 

UKIP will introduce policies to incentivise the creation of more affordable housing, while protecting rural communities and preserving our precious countryside. 

 

We will replace the current National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and introduce fresh national planning guidelines that will prioritise brownfield sites for new housing and genuinely protect the green belt. 

 

We will take steps to remove the barriers to brownfield builds with the aim of building one million homes on brownfield sites by 2025 to address the current housing shortage. 

 

UKIP will only allow installation of speed cameras when they can be used as a deterrent at accident black spots, near schools and in residential areas where there are specific potential dangers. We will not permit speed cameras to be used as revenueraisers for local authorities. 

 

HS2 is an unaffordable white elephant and, given other, far more pressing calls on public expenditure, such as the NHS, social care and defence, not to mention the need to reduce the deficit, it must face the axe. 

 

UKIP will abolish green taxes and levies and withdraw from the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme,

reducing fuel bills and enhancing industrial competitiveness at a stroke.

 

We will also make the way you pay your bill fairer, by stopping energy companies charging extra for customers who use prepayment meters, who do not pay by direct debit, or who require paper billing. 

 

We will push every local authority in the country to offer at least 30 minutes free parking in town centres, high streets and shopping parades, to encourage shoppers into our town centres and boost local business.

 

Removing VAT completely from repairs to listed building 

 

Introducing a ‘presumption in favour of conservation’ as opposed to the current ‘presumption in favour of development’ in planning legislation.

 

The EU is just not interested in sustainable fishing. If we want to eat fish in the future, we must preserve our fishing industry and our marine ecology. We can only do this if we escape the CFP and introduce our own sustainable fishing practice.

 

Our human rights will be enshrined in law via the introduction of a new, consolidated UK Bill of Rights. This will complement the UN Declaration of Human Rights and encapsulate all the human and civil rights that UK citizens have acquired under UK law since Magna Carta. This new UK Bill of Rights will apply across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

 

We will decriminalise one crime: non-payment of the TV licence fee. This will become a civil rather than a criminal offence. We will also review the cost ot the licence fee with a view to its reduction. 

 

British justice is still the best in the world, but is being corrupted by the EU. Unelected bureaucrats in Brussels and judges in Strasbourg and Luxembourg, can ignore British fears about crime. It is time to bring our British legal system back under British control. 

 

UKIP will campaign for a new, proportional voting system that delivers a Parliament truly reflective of the number of votes cast, while retaining a constituency link, so every vote really does count. 

 

UKIP wants far reaching political reform to ensure that government answers properly to Parliament and that Parliament is accountable to the people. 

 

UKIP believes councils should exist to serve their communities first and we will put power back where it belongs: in the hands of local people. 

 

UKIP will declare St George’s Day, 23rd April a Bank Holiday in England and St David’s Day, 1st March, in Wales. 

 

We will rebuild our Armed Forces and restore them to their rightful place among the most professional, flexible and effective fighting forces in the world, able to meet the security demands of the modern era and react appropriately to any threat that the UK faces both now and in the future. 

 

Wherever we send our brave heroes, whatever the danger, they never let us down. We will not let them down. We will honour the Military Covenant. Britain’s role in the world has changed significantly over the past few decades. Instead of concerning ourselves with securing peace, British forces have been deployed around the world in a series of conflicts that seem to have worsened, instead of improved, our security situation.â€

 

Clamping down on so-called ‘fake charities,’ or state-funded political activism

[Adrian symonds]

Hereford was a bit of a Tory/Lib Dem Marginal seat until the Tuition Fee fiasco with the Lib Dems (and them getting into bed with the Tories). Their National poll rating is pathetic. UKIP will get an increased knee jerk poll boost I think but their candidate has only been in place 5 minutes. I expect a Jesse Norman walkover for Hereford/Hereford South. 

I was chatting to the north Hereford Green candidate today, doing a bit of a video shoot and she impressed me to be honest. Ok I am not in North Hereford, but that is not the point.

The problem is politicians normally say what they want you to hear and once they get in they forget about it. But what she was saying made sense.

 

But I am still stumped with who to vote for, Green is not really my type of party, the problem is I will not vote tory and Lib Dems, UKIP, I am not sure about to be honest, while some of their policies looks good, I think they still a one trick party.

Labour is a wasted vote to be honest.

 

Thinking of not voting in the GE, after all what is the use of voting just for the sake of it?

[dippyhippy]

Hi Adrian, I absolutely understand you disillusionment with the main political parties.

 

Please, think carefully about the issues that are important to you. Please consider the changes that you would like to see made.

 

At the end of the day, where you place your cross, will be between you and the ballot box.

 

But please, please, please use your vote.

 

It really is more important now than ever.

[Roger]

I was chatting to the north Hereford Green candidate today, doing a bit of a video shoot and she impressed me to be honest. Ok I am not in North Hereford, but that is not the point.

The problem is politicians normally say what they want you to hear and once they get in they forget about it. But what she was saying made sense.

 

But I am still stumped with who to vote for, Green is not really my type of party, the problem is I will not vote tory and Lib Dems, UKIP, I am not sure about to be honest, while some of their policies looks good, I think they still a one trick party.

Labour is a wasted vote to be honest.

 

Thinking of not voting in the GE, after all what is the use of voting just for the sake of it?

 

I think you should cast your vote. I agree you should not just cast your vote for the sake of voting. I would prefer people voted for a reason. I include 'tactical' voting in that. Not overly applicable in the National Election in the two Herefordshire seats. I think the Tories are home and dry but the local election wards (53) are up for grabs. Minus the odd uncontested seat. 

[mikefitz]

Anyone notice an an alarming similarity between UKIP posters and IOC material??

[Glenda Powell]

Yes Mike I thought that as well. I notice they have their posters everywhere in Redhill, just wondering if they ask permission of the householders!

[dazza333]

mikefitz/glenda, we in the IOC are only interested in the local vote and have no affiliation to national politics. In fact on the A438 I actually put my board immediately next to a UKIP board with permission of a householder, the next day it had been removed....as an IOC candidate my personal view on the UKIP 'battlebus' is that it reminded me of 1933 Berlin with Goebels at the wheel and Adolf reading the map....just a thought.....I felt it was time this thread had the inclusion of Godwins Law.

[greenknight]

Hi Adrian, I absolutely understand you disillusionment with the main political parties.

 

Please, think carefully about the issues that are important to you. Please consider the changes that you would like to see made.

 

At the end of the day, where you place your cross, will be between you and the ballot box.

 

But please, please, please use your vote.

 

It really is more important now than ever.

Morning Dippy

 

Very much agree with your comments. Sadly I've not been inspired by the five though a certain lady from Scotland has showed her passion even if her ultimate plan is not to my liking!

You know what for me I feel we may do this all over again within five years so if that happens we should discuss the possibility of fielding Herefordshire Independent Candidates.

Where have they gone this time around?

[ragwert]

An unlikely Twitter phenomenon and an illiterate Conservative candidate have combined to propel Labour fifteen points clear in the latest YouGov poll. What started as an innocent teenage crush on would-be PM Ed Miliband, quickly gained support on Twitter, as a legion of young Miliband admirers, dubbed Milifans, admired the Labour leader’s sultry good looks.

Within a few hours, however, a more sexually charged tone crept in. Sixteen-year-old Carly from Canvey Island tweeted ‘He’s well lush, and I bet he’d be gentle too’, while Bekki, 15, told the world she would ‘do anyting to feel dem Milihands on my booty’.

Disgusted Tory candidate John Grant took to Twitter using the hashtag #MilibandlovesMiners, tweeting ‘See how Miliband loves the miners – he can’t get enough of the dirty urchins’, following it up a minute later with ‘Vote Conservative to stop miners procreating’.

Speaking to BBC Wales, Bryn Jones of the South Wales Miners Federation said: ‘It’s despicable – we get labelled as all sorts, and granted we’re a bit grubby behind the ears, but for the Conservatives to suggest we shouldn’t have any more nookie – well, I’m shocked. Most of us are on income support, if it wasn’t for the Dirty Dragon and its rock bottom prices our community would fall apart. Thank goodness Ed Miliband is on our sideâ€.

As news of the Tories’ apparent anti-miner’ stance spread, voters quickly came out in support of Labour, causing an unprecedented swing to the left in the latest YouGov poll. Others, however, were quick to see the funny side. Dafydd, 68, tweeted ‘I love you too Ed. You have lovely eyes, dark and brooding – like coal’ while Stanley, 47, wrote ‘Handsome Ed, you have a lovely (coal)face, I’d love to make you mine’.

Keen to keep the momentum going in the build up to the election , Labour have begun filming a variation of a hit Channel Four show. ‘Come Mine With Me’ will screen at 8 p.m. on 2 May and will show Ed Miliband going to various mining communities across the UK to experience how the closing down of the mines has reduced accidents, improved safety and ended long working hours once and for all.

[Denise Lloyd]

Would I correct in thinking the  David Sheppard standing for Cons is the same David Sheppard involved in the Hereford Tertiary Education Centre (New Uni)?

 

Yes indeed he is and standing against Amanda

 

 

Sheppard David Brackenwood, Lea, Ross-on-Wye, HR9 7LN Conservative Party Candidate C A Reeves(P), Sandra E Phillips(S

 

Gosh if he got in he would have to absent himself from so many meetings it would hardly make it worth his while being a Ward Councillor.

[dippyhippy]

Yet another reason to back Amanda!

 

Excellent research there, Denise.

 

I award you a gold star!

[ragwert]

Something to make your P**s boil

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02q3k6w

 

[WirralPC]

Something to make your P**s boil

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02q3k6w

 

 

 

Bloated Tory reptile replete with fulsome quivering jowls.  What's not to like?

[Roger]

A poll worth watching is this one ... 

 

It was featured tonight in Panorama on BBC 1 at 20.30 tonight ... 

 

Current predictions are Tories 286, Labour 267, SNP 48, Lib Dems 24, UKIP 1

 

All just for info! 

[ragwert]

Eastern bypass - cheaper route

Agree but it goes right through the Lugg Meadows and that will never happen

[ragwert]

And something to make you smile

[greenknight]

Agree but it goes right through the Lugg Meadows and that will never happen

It can go above the meadows and be damned with budget!

[Aylestone Voice]

I stand to be corrected but was not the plan for the eastern route  to go only as far as the A438 Ledbury road and not across the meadows to the Worcester road and on to the A49

[Cloudberry]

Yes the Lugg Meadows are special, but it is like a mantra, that so many people who may have never looked at a map or actually been there, keep repeating that the Lugg Meadows are a barrier to any bridge or road on the east side of Hereford. There may still be ways to do this with minimal harm to the wildlife.

 

There are equally special wildlife habitats all around Hereford, but they consistently get overlooked when plans are made. Many of these woods/meadows/ traditional orchards/hedgerows, etc. may not have any sort of official designation, but as there have been precious few new designations in the last 20 years anywhere in Herefordshire, this is not surprising.

 

Resources have not been allocated to assess and monitor wildlife across Herefordshire on a consistent basis for many, many years. Council data is out-of-date and incomplete. Therefore, please don't assume there is nothing in the way of various plans for roads, houses, etc. without talking to some proper experts, and local people who note what they see.

[dazza333]

Thought maybe you'd all like to see this photo I took on the A438 Swainshill yesterday.....very metaphorical....you couldn't make it up.

[dazza333]

.....and yes it was upside down on both sides!!

[WirralPC]

I'm nicking that

[dippyhippy]

Hi Ragwert!

 

Have another read through of The Southern Link Road thread. Discussions have been had about this aspect of the route, and possible ways around it.... or over it, as the case may be! Complete with photos..... pages 3 and 4!

[Amanda Martin]

Anyone notice an an alarming similarity between UKIP posters and IOC material??

[Amanda Martin]

Anyone notice an an alarming similarity between UKIP posters and IOC material??