Watch – Tory ‘marriage tax’ proposal contradictions explained

Blogger Nich Starling has made this video (2m 56s) highlighting the deep contradictions of the Tory marriage tax proposals.

Where’s your gay vote going?

My gay vote website have put together some graphs on how the Parliamentary parties have voted on Gay issues.

They want us to vote for them, but do they vote for us in Parliament?

continue reading… »

Election sexism watch (episode 3)

Martin Salter MP’s last speech: very worth reading

Martin Salter (Reading, West) (Lab):
To misquote one of my contemporary political heroes, my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, South (Mr. Mullin), whom I have come to regard as a friend as well as a colleague, this will be the last speech that I shall ever make as a Member of this House of Commons.

It comes at the end of what some have called the Manure Parliament, at a time when the stench of corruption and personal greed has overwhelmed the good that we try to do and the reasons why the vast majority of us come to this place.

In my last contribution I want to mount a staunch defence of politics and politicians: not as an apologist for the status quo-because I have always been on what one could call the Hezbollah wing of the reform movement-but because I believe passionately that a precondition for the survival of a healthy democracy is the holding of regular elections, and that for those elections to function there must be candidates.
continue reading… »

Is UKIP having problems making an impact?

contribution by Tim Fenton

One party that has not been getting much attention thus far in the General Election campaign, out there on the fringe, is UKIP. From a Tory point of view, of course, the less attention UKIP gets, the better: any traction from a concerted campaign dragging up Young Dave’s less-then-cast-iron-guarantee of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty would be most unwelcome.

So can UKIP make a difference? They’ll get a Party Election Broadcast, which will bring them at least to the attention of those not quite fast enough with the remote control. But they will only get the Euro-issue to lodge in the minds of the electorate if they hammer it home, and that means making their campaign Lisbon Treaty and Referendum full stop.

And that may be where the Tories get let off the hook: Lord Pearson, the party’s new leader, obsesses with immigration, so much so that the issue gaining traction could well be that UKIP finds itself on the same ground as the BNP. If Pearson can be persuaded to put away what is in reality his race card, then his party may dent the Tory vote.

How much? Well, it would only have to poll more votes than the majority by which a Tory candidate loses. Only then will Cameron’s volte face on a referendum come back to bite him.

Libdems in Waltham Forest in disarray

The Waltham Forest Guardian reports:

The Liberal Democrat local election campaign is in disarray after it emerged that three senior councillors, including the council’s deputy leader, have been ditched by the party.

Hopes that the Lib Dems, who currently run the council in coalition with Labour, could become the biggest party look to be in ruins after the party confirmed leader John Macklin, cabinet member for environment Bob Belam and chief whip Bob Carey will not stand for the party on May 6.

Wonder if it will have implications for the parliamentary seat in the area.

Election sexism watch (episode 2)

I was sort of hoping I’d set myself a difficult task in looking for evidence of sexist shite* in this election campaign: what with it being 2010 and all. But it turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s everywhere.

Here’s Amanda Platell in today’s Mail:

Have Cameron’s cuties really got what it takes to transform politics?

As a study of female ambition it’s worthy of a Vanity Fair picture spread: the Tories proudly parading their latest clutch of female candidates in a glossy photoshoot.

These are Dave’s Dolls, the real women he’s promoted and, in some cases, selected, to fight and win safe Conservative seats in the General Election. And what a fascinating bunch they are. No twin sets and pearls here.

Some blue blood, but not a blue rinse in sight, they are his new fighting force; the secret weapon with which he believes he will win the war.

Cameron’s cuties, Dave’s dolls: Amanda Platell is  Shakespeare and I claim my 5 groats!
continue reading… »

Twitter hashtags for all constituencies for #GE2010

Morus from PoliticalBetting is trying to get bloggers and tweeters to agree on Twitter hashtags for all constituencies, so that real-time results can be adequately collated as the election progresses.

This process may also help people building widgets to capture election tweets and sort them by region or party etc.
The suggested tags are below, FYI
continue reading… »

Tory LGBT founder will vote Labour; sick of Tory homophobia

Wow. This is a huge potentially damaging set-back for Cameron.

The Indy reports:

The founder of the Conservative Party’s biggest group campaigning for gay rights has said she will now vote Labour at the general election after David Cameron failed to reprimand a Shadow Cabinet member for questioning gay rights.

Anastasia Beaumont-Bott, the first chairman of the LGBTory group, said she felt guilty for having told gay voters to back the Tories in the past after Chris Grayling, the shadow Home Secretary, said he believed bed and breakfast owners should have the right to ban gay couples from staying in their property. She called on the Tory leader to dismiss Mr Grayling.

“I feel guilty because as a gay woman affected by LGBT rights I am on record saying you should vote Conservative, and I want to reverse that,” she said. “I want to go on record to say don’t vote Conservative. I’d go as far to say that I’ll vote Labour at this general election.”

Cameron has studiously refused to say anything of the matter since Grayling’s comments were exposed.
[hat-tip @michaelsavage]

Are parties avoiding these important issues?

Mark Easton at the BBC says the election campaign of all major parties is ignoring some pretty fundamental questions.

First on, housing.

I recently sent this question to Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties: Would it be better for Britain for house prices to rise or fall? It won’t surprise you to know that none of the party election teams answered the question.

This is an issue the Labour left has constantly made noise about, notably Jon Cruddas and John McDonnell, but gets little traction at the Parliamentary Labour Party level. Same, it seems, with the Tories and Libdems.

Then, there’s more.

Here’s another one. How are we going to pay for the care of our elderly?
…
What about this biggie? Where will the spending cuts axe fall? They almost certainly won’t tell us the details of where they plan (and one rather hopes they do have plans) to cut public services because, that too, would be electoral suicide. So voters’ opportunity to judge which party has the right priorities in managing the deficit is effectively denied them.

That’s a already a pretty bad indictment of the election campaign.

But shouldn’t the media be doing more to ask these questions then?