Why the lib-dems are shit

[Nylock]

There is a differeance between ditching a policy when you are in power, and when you are in a coalition where the larger party disagrees with you. So some people within the party started speculating as to what policy areas you can negoiate on. Seeing as both Labour and the Tories wanted to raise tution fees there was no way the Lib Dems could hang on to that policy in government.

In that case the libdems should not have signed up to the scrapping of tuition fees AFTER secretly planning to abandon the pledge post-election and certainly in light of the policy commitments by the other parties. It just comes across as you lot using it as a cheap gimmick to maximise the student vote in your favor knowing full well they would vote for the party that pledges to minimise their debt burden. It is cynical, manipulative and disgusting. Frankly it is the sort of shit we have all come to expect from the other parties and the sort of shit your sainted leader was desperately distancing yourselves from during the election campaign. You sold a lie to the electorate and they fell for it -so don't be surprised that, like the snake oil salesmen and quack doctors of the old west, the townspeople want to run out out after finding out the extent to which they have been duped. Good luck at the next election, because it is only luck that will ever see you lot in power again.

 

[Streathamite]

In return for getting key areas of policy enacted, it's much better than what the Tories alone would have done.

Oh, have you? let's see now, shall we?

£2 Billion invested in social care

NOT enacted as yet, mereely planned and still being argued over, and if it ever happens it will not be backed up by a net increase in the budget for that dept or for the councils who'll implement it, so it's simply cutting one much-needed resource to pay for another

25% cut in Trident Warheads

no you haven't! ALL decisions on Trident have now been deferred for the whole of this parliament

ID cards Scrapped

scrapping them was a flagship tory policy anyway

Rise in Capital Gains Tax

except you bottled it. Libdem policy was an increase to 40 to get parity with income-tax, so as to stop some remuneration schemes using CGT to cut tax bills. You caved in and settled for 28%, which ruins the whole point of it all.

Stoped Tory plans to scrap inherritance tax

They were in desperate trouble with this policy anyway, and would prolly have dropped this anyway, as a flimsy support for the 'we're all in this together' line

Won a referundum on electoral reform

yes, but it wasn't a referendum on PR, was it? again, you bottled it and went for the woefullyn inadequate AV.

£7Bn on Fairness premium for children

bollocks! You have simply stolen £7bn from elsewhere in the education budget, the overall budget hasn't risen AT ALL!

150,000 homes for social housing

STOP LYING! This is a target, you haven't enacted anything. At current rate of housebuilding in the UK, and given the money the condems are prepared to put in to this (in short, pitifully inadequate), you don't have a hope in hell of hitting this

Green Investment Bank

a) this was originally a Labour plan anyway b) YOU HAVE ENACTED NO SUCH THING!! you have merely promised to do so.

Ending child detention for immigration purposes

you've done no such thing! You merely got a paper commitment in the coalition carve-up. Children are still being detained, the relevant minister now speaks of 'minimising the practice", and These people aren't impressed!

Replacing Air Passenger Duty with a per-plane duty

Nope - NOT enacted, ass yet, still something only at the planning/aspiration stage

The right to sack MPs guilty of serious misconduct
Fixed term parliaments of five years

You have NOT 'enacted' either of these, or got anywhere near it yet!
You have 'enacted' FUCK ALL. stop this laughable tenth-rate spinning ferchrissakes!

 

[butchersapron]

Good work streathers.

 

[Streathamite]

I think the greater the economic uncertainty the greater the appeal of the Tories to most voters.

once yes, but dunno if that's true now. If anything, I'd say the voters trust/distrust labour and tories equally on the economy: the older ones haven't forgotten the ERM debacle

 

[Streathamite]

Good work streathers.

cheers guv!

 

[Santino]

Oh, have you? let's see now, shall we?

NOT enacted as yet, mereely planned and still being argued over, and if it ever happens it will not be backed up by a net increase in the budget for that dept or for the councils who'll implement it, so it's simply cutting one much-needed resource to pay for another

no you haven't! ALL decisions on Trident have now been deferred for the whole of this parliament

scrapping them was a flagship tory policy anyway

except you bottled it. Libdem policy was an increase to 40 to get parity with income-tax, so as to stop some remuneration schemes using CGT to cut tax bills. You caved in and settled for 28%, which ruins the whole point of it all.

They were in desperate trouble with this policy anyway, and would prolly have dropped this anyway, as a flimsy support for the 'we're all in this together' line

yes, but it wasn't a referendum on PR, was it? again, you bottled it and went for the woefullyn inadequate AV.

bollocks! You have simply stolen £7bn from elsewhere in the education budget, the overall budget hasn't risen AT ALL!

STOP LYING! This is a target, you haven't enacted anything. At current rate of housebuilding in the UK, and given the money the condems are prepared to put in to this (in short, pitifully inadequate), you don't have a hope in hell of hitting this

a) this was originally a Labour plan anyway b) YOU HAVE ENACTED NO SUCH THING!! you have merely promised to do so.

you've done no such thing! You merely got a paper commitment in the coalition carve-up. Children are still being detained, the relevant minister now speaks of 'minimising the practice", and These people aren't impressed!

Nope - NOT enacted, ass yet, still something only at the planning/aspiration stage

You have NOT 'enacted' either of these, or got anywhere near it yet!
You have 'enacted' FUCK ALL. stop this laughable tenth-rate spinning ferchrissakes!

You can prove anything with facts.

 

[Streathamite]

You can prove anything with facts.

ba-doom TISH!

 

[ViolentPanda]

In return for getting key areas of policy enacted, it's much better than what the Tories alone would have done.

£2 Billion invested in social care

With how much removed via local authority spending cuts imposed by central government?

25% cut in Trident Warheads

Due to a reduction in fleet, this would have happened whoever won the lection.

ID cards Scrapped

Tory policy that they would have carried out without Lib-Dem influence.

Rise in Capital Gains Tax

As a screen for a cut in corporation tax.

Stoped Tory plans to scrap inherritance tax

Their plans were to allow IT to "wither on the vine", not to scrap it peremptorily, so only time will tell if you've "stoped" anything.

Won a referundum on electoral reform

No, you solicited an agreement that a referendum on a type of electoral reform be held.

£7Bn on Fairness premium for children.

While directing money away from those same children by doing away with social and education programmes of proven value.

Rise in personal Tax allowance

Derisory.

150,000 homes for social housing

Over what time period was that?

Green Investment Bank

Whoop-de-doo.

Ending child detention for immigration purposes

Except that the coalition already rowing back from this commitment to a "minimisation of child detention" position.

Scrapping of ContactPoint

Was likely to happen anyway, as its' legality wasn't well-enough established.

Replacing Air Passenger Duty with a per-plane duty

In consultation with the air industry.

The right to sack MPs guilty of serious misconduct

And yet, so far, "serious misconduct" has only been loosely quantified. can't think why!

Fixed term parliaments of five years

Which merely shifts us from a 4-5 year parliament. Big deal.

 

[ViolentPanda]

I think the greater the economic uncertainty the greater the appeal of the Tories to most voters.

Except that in their first six months of government, the Tories and their Lib-Dem fig-leaves have proven very effectively that they don't enjoy even the same degree of public trust as their predecessors in the Thatcher and Major governments.

 

[butchersapron]

Get them in your sights and take them down.

 

[SpineyNorman]

For instance the NUS' plans to unseat Lib Dem MPs, I can't remember them launching anything like this when Labour broke promises and introduced tution fees in the first time.

So just because people made a mistake with Labour they have to repeat that mistake when your party is in power? People learn from mistakes (well, some of us do).

 

[butchersapron]

You could've said no if you wanted to.

 

[Lock&Light]

Except that in their first six months of government, the Tories and their Lib-Dem fig-leaves have proven very effectively that they don't enjoy even the same degree of public trust as their predecessors in the Thatcher and Major governments.

It will all depend on how quickly the government manages to steady the economic ship, or not, as the case may be.

 

[butchersapron]

This is some stunning insight you're offering today by the way l&L.

 

[Lock&Light]

This is some stunning insight you're offering today by the way l&L.

You're right. But I'm still saddened by your loss of cleverness.

 

[ViolentPanda]

It will all depend on how quickly the government manages to steady the economic ship, or not, as the case may be.

They've made a lot of noise in that direction, but in terms of having actually achieved anything, the jury is out, and will remain so for the rest of this quarter at least.
The entrails don't predict plain sailing, though. Having a row of Nobel economics laureates all saying "that Osborne, he's cocked it right up by cutting too much, too soon" doesn't give the public confidence that our Chancellor has a clue about what he's doing (if he isn't taking his direction from elsewhere, that is).

 

[mauvais]

This thread is real urbans. Thank you all for the dissection of their colossal failure & betrayal.

 

[little_legs]

A small clarification about the ID cards if I may. Is it true that the government is still asking the ISPs to keep the history of sites the users visit and e-mail addresses users send/receive e-mails to/from for another year or something?

 

[mauvais]

ID cards & the identity register are supposedly dead, but IMP (Interception Modernisation Programme, including email & website storage) is still very much alive.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/08/imp_date_2015/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/26/interception_modernisation_home_office_price/

 

[little_legs]

that's the one! thank you. i've heard people talking about it at school. theresa may is still snooping on us. nice.

 

[fractionMan]

@DonFosterMP for bath:

2. A fair chance for every child

Smaller class sizes, more money into schools and abolish university tuition fees

amongst other lies: http://www.bathlibdems.org.uk/pages/pledgelocalnational.html

Oh, and my favourite:

4. A fair deal for you from politicians

Making politicians accountable and give you the right to sack corrupt MP's

 

[Santino]

One must no longer think about pledges, promises, scandal and success, but instead one has to think of the hypothetical.

http://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-clegg-has-not-betrayed-us-22069.html

 

[frogwoman]

What hypothetical? They dont have any ideology, even one that tey pay lip service to.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

http://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-clegg-has-not-betrayed-us-22069.html

I don't think your appetite is strong enough for a mature politics

 

[Santino]

I don't think your appetite is strong enough for a mature politics

That'll be that second helping of mash I had earlier.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Tough on dinner. Tough on the causes of dinner.

 

[Santino]

I feel bad, especially after publicly signing that pledge not to have a second helping of mash.

 

[DotCommunist]

Clagg is said to be reaching out to 'hidden' voters- 3.5 million of them.

 

[butchersapron]

Doesn't appear to be a thread specifically about school cuts so i'll just park this here for now - hidden away in the bit of the paper no one reads yesterday:

Rich schools to get richer under spending plans

Schools in better-off neighbourhoods are expected to be the winners under coalition plans for education spending, which will see money shifting from councils in "more deprived" areas to richer ones, according to research published today.

Despite government claims to have protected school budgets in England, the research also shows the real levels of funding per pupil will fall by around 2.4% because of a demographic bulge that will see greater numbers of primary-age children in coming years.

 

[DotCommunist]

Todays gaurdian has done OK on making the coalition look like cunts- cuts to greater manchester police, the above mentioned and a scrapping of accountable stop-searches.