Lib Dems launch election campaign

[ComradeDavo]

For those Brits with local elections this year, and anyone else with an intrest in British politics...

(by the way, May 4th is the election(s) date)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4871074.stm

Lib Dems launch election campaign

The Liberal Democrats will be offering "fresh choices" to voters with pledges to cut crime and scrap the council tax, Sir Menzies Campbell says.
Local elections are set for Thursday, 4 May - with 4,360 council seats up for grabs across England.

The polls will mark the first national test for the party's new leader.

He says Lib Dems are ready to challenge Labour in the cities, and "fight the Conservatives" despite "their attempts to reinvent themselves".

'Revitalised' Tories

At the launch of the Lib Dem local election campaign, Sir Menzies predicted his party "will be winning more votes, more councillors and control of more councils" than it did in 2002, when many of these seats were last contested.

He said the party's record in local government was "vital to our success nationally", adding that "people can see that voting Liberal Democrat makes a difference to their lives".

"You can be assured that wherever you are the Liberal Democrats will be offering fresh choices and new directions," he said.

"Putting a premium on protecting and improving the environment, as you might expect, but also improving community safety, tackling crime and clamping down on anti-social behaviour.

"Clearing up problems in some of our most deprived and neglected areas. Areas that were once solid Labour for generations but have got fed up of too much talk and not enough delivery

"We're challenging Labour in the big cities - where the Conservatives have long since disappeared from view.

"We're fighting the Conservatives in the shires and suburbs, and gaining ground in spite of their attempts to reinvent themselves."

Local taxation

Sir Menzies says his party has done particularly well in recent local elections by winning support from disillusioned Conservatives and voters opposed to the war in Iraq.

However, he accepts that "things have changed" due to "a revitalised Conservative party" and the fact that Iraq is "less salient as an electoral issue".

The Lib Dems will be "placing a premium on protecting and improving the environment", he said.

They also plan to continue pressing for the abolition of the council tax, with average bills reaching more than £1,200, without last year's government offer of a £200 rebate for pensioner households, he said.

Instead, the Lib Dems want to see a local taxation system based on the ability to pay.

Glad to see them still talking about replacing council tax with local income tax

 

[Rambuchan]

I wish them well and look forward to the day when these fellows and their views are considered the opposition, rather than <insert whatever the conservative party are about this week>.

 

[Cuivienen]

Doesn't Labour do dismally in local elections? In that sense, locally, the Lib Dems are the Official Opposition to the Tories.

 

[Cuivienen]

Double post.

 

[ComradeDavo]

I would expect labour to do very badly in these local elections. I would expect both the Tories and the Lib Dems to make big gains because of this.

 

[Rambuchan]

Doesn't Labour do dismally in local elections?

Yes and they are getting worse and worse as their policies are shown to be empty of meaning and strategy.

In that sense, locally, the Lib Dems are the Official Opposition to the Tories.

We don't often talk about opposition parties in local elections. I meant on a national level.

 

[Suppersalmon]

I was going to stand as a candidate for this but im to young

 

[ComradeDavo]

I was going to stand as a candidate for this but im to young

A Lib Dem candidate?

 

[Suppersalmon]

A Lib Dem candidate?

yup

10 charecter limit thingy

 

[EdwardTking]

Glad to see them still talking about replacing council tax with local income tax

That will merely benefit those in the black economy.

 

[mrtn]

"We're fighting the Conservatives in the shires and suburbs, and gaining ground in spite of their attempts to reinvent themselves."

We will fight them in the air, we will fight them on the beaches, we will never surrender?

 

[Cuivienen]

I just looked at some statistics... it's scary that you actualy elect BNP local councillors in some parts of the country. I think I even came across a council controlled by the BNP.

*shudders*

 

[colony]

I just looked at some statistics... it's scary that you actualy elect BNP local councillors in some parts of the country. I think I even came across a council controlled by the BNP.

*shudders*

Well apart from that whole racism thing the only person I've met who admitted to voting BNP is relatively normal, but sometime it feels like a debate with an angry dog would be more productive.

As for the local elections I don't even know if there is one here, but if there is I'm likely to waste my vote again, by not voting. Cameron wants to be Blair, and I'm not the biggest Lib-Dem supporter ever. Maybe I could just vote for UKIP

 

[AxiomUk]

I'm waiting for political parties to begin to make policies for themselves rather than verifying their existence in opposition to other parties. The first to do that I feel will finally begin to create a proper more politicised party system.

I'm sick of Lib Dem's always saying 'We're the alternative to the Tories and Labour' like we don't know that. I'm tired of Labour's policies supposedly being alternative to the Tories, and the Tories being the 'moderate line' compared to the others.

On that note too, if the Lib Dems are anything like the Liberals of old, they're hardly going to be different to the Labour party. Just what unique policies do they propose to bring across? A coalition government is the only true effective method of sorting out extremities in society, in my opinion.

 

[ComradeDavo]

I'm waiting for political parties to begin to make policies for themselves rather than verifying their existence in opposition to other parties. The first to do that I feel will finally begin to create a proper more politicised party system.

I'm sick of Lib Dem's always saying 'We're the alternative to the Tories and Labour' like we don't know that. I'm tired of Labour's policies supposedly being alternative to the Tories, and the Tories being the 'moderate line' compared to the others.

On that note too, if the Lib Dems are anything like the Liberals of old, they're hardly going to be different to the Labour party. Just what unique policies do they propose to bring across? A coalition government is the only true effective method of sorting out extremities in society, in my opinion.

To be fair I feel that the Liberal Democrats do say alot more than that, it's just when the media picks up the report they tend to show the 10 second clip of the leader saying that and then ignore the rest.

The Lib Dems are different from the Labour party because the Labour party has taken a centralised authoritarian route, whilst the Lib Dems have always championed local politics and Liberal approachs.

Just look at ID Cards! The Lib Dems couldn't be further from Labour on this.

And on crime as well, Liberals talk about prevention and rehab for minor criminals...Labour talks about the ASBO as if it is the solution to everything.

Plus I would say the idea of replacing council tax with local income tax was unique to the Lib Dems.

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

I'm slowly but surely edging towards being a Lib Dem supporter. Mainly due to reading posts by those with more knowledge of their policies (and how they compare to Labour / Conservative).

But if I vote in another US-lapdog warmonger I won't be impressed

 

[Enkidu Warrior]

Hmmmm, the first elections I'm missing. I hope the Lib Dems do well, particularly because we all know that Labour are going to do terribly and I don't want the Tories to have something to smile about.

I don't agree with the Lib Dems on everything, but as long as they lead the charge against ID cards and support international law they'll have my support.

I'm astonished with how far to the right Labour have gone - John Reid is openly urging that the Geneva Convention be watered down. I don't know why it bothers him so much - why doesn't he just ignore it like the UK and US have been doing so far.