UK General Election - 12th December 2019 | Con 365, Lab 203, LD 11, SNP 48, Other 23 - Tory Majority of 80

How do you intend to vote in the 2019 General Election if eligible?

  • Brexit Party

    Votes: 30 4.3%
  • Conservatives

    Votes: 73 10.6%
  • DUP

    Votes: 5 0.7%
  • Green

    Votes: 23 3.3%
  • Labour

    Votes: 355 51.4%
  • Liberal Democrats

    Votes: 58 8.4%
  • Plaid Cymru

    Votes: 3 0.4%
  • Sinn Fein

    Votes: 9 1.3%
  • SNP

    Votes: 19 2.8%
  • UKIP

    Votes: 6 0.9%
  • Independent

    Votes: 1 0.1%
  • Other (BNP, Change UK, UUP and anyone else that I have forgotten)

    Votes: 10 1.4%
  • Not voting

    Votes: 57 8.3%
  • Undecided

    Votes: 41 5.9%

  • Total voters
    690
  • Poll closed .
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711

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We've just announced we've won CL rights till 2024 this morning so expecting that to offset some of the damage as news filters through. (Long standing BT employee here)

There is a lot of speculation about what Broadband actually costs. I wouldn't be surprised if both the cap ex and op ex costs banded about are inflated by a fair bit. Our CEO isn't exactly going to come out and say it costs bugger all as a few million people might well pull out their BT bill and have a thing to say about it. Some interesting comments in the office about all this today anyway.

There is a lot to be said about A) Openreach's performance/efficiency and B) The market's ability to get fast fibre all over the country, years after the tech being available when it's being delivered quicker in countries that do things differently.
Interesting. On the face of it there's plenty of competition, but I wouldn't be surprised if it all depends on BT at the end of the day. Does this make sense? And if BT are crap is that because they're close to a monopoly or something else?
 

Paul the Wolf

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I can imagine you when they were talking about building all the roads and motorways etc. PIE IN THE SKY!
You're missing the point, it's not feasible funding wise and will actually slow the process down apart from the damage it will do to the country because people won't invest in the UK in case they get nationalised.

Ps The roads and motorways in the UK are awful.
 

Shamwow

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You're missing the point, it's not feasible funding wise and will actually slow the process down apart from the damage it will do to the country because people won't invest in the UK in case they get nationalised.

Ps The roads and motorways in the UK are awful.
Anything to back the first 2 points up?
 

Fiskey

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I think one's personal view as to whether governments are good at providing this kind of service or not will inform whether you think this is a good policy or not. Historically, I don't think governments have done these things particularly well, which was one of the main drivers behind privatisation. Might they be able to do better in future? Maybe, but my general feeling is that its best to leave as much as possible to the market to decide.
 

Paul the Wolf

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Anything to back the first 2 points up?
The biggest shareholder in BT is Deutsche Telekom, the 4th biggest is Orange - doubt they want government gilts instead of a telecommunications company. Then we have Google and Amazon etc paying for another thing in the long list of things they'll be paying for.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said:

Virgin Media has the fastest scaled network in the UK and has pledged to bring next-generation Gigabit broadband to half of the UK, by the end of 2021. As this commitment shows, private investment is essential to delivering improved broadband infrastructure.

With billions of pounds worth of private money invested in the UK, Virgin Media continues to expand its network, providing competition and choice to consumers.

Government policy has a role to play and can help to accelerate broadband deployment in a way that minimises the level of public subsidy needed and provides the UK and consumers with incredible connectivity within a competitive market.


Matthew Fell, CBI’s Chief UK Policy Director, says:

Fast reliable broadband is an absolute priority for people and firms and does need improving. But Labour’s plan is not the way to do it. The roll out of full fibre broadband across the country is underway, and all renationalisation will achieve is to slow down a process that needs speeding up.

It is private sector investment that has driven connectivity, massively widened internet access and put faster speeds within reach for most UK households. This progress will be stopped in its tracks and the bill passed to pensioners and savers.
With so many challenges facing the UK, blinkered ideologies must be left behind and replaced by forward-looking public-private partnerships that deliver rather than delay.

As the scope of Labour’s radical re-nationalisation plans expands almost daily, firms around the world lose confidence in the UK as a place to invest safely. Some will be asking if they are next. This threat damages the livelihoods of communities across the country. It’s time for all parties to work with business, not against it.

I have the impression that if Corbyn said that he would give everyone who voted for him a million pounds Labour supporters would do all kinds of mental gymnastics to believe it.
 

Shamwow

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The biggest shareholder in BT is Deutsche Telekom, the 4th biggest is Orange - doubt they want government gilts instead of a telecommunications company. Then we have Google and Amazon etc paying for another thing in the long list of things they'll be paying for.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said:

Virgin Media has the fastest scaled network in the UK and has pledged to bring next-generation Gigabit broadband to half of the UK, by the end of 2021. As this commitment shows, private investment is essential to delivering improved broadband infrastructure.

With billions of pounds worth of private money invested in the UK, Virgin Media continues to expand its network, providing competition and choice to consumers.

Government policy has a role to play and can help to accelerate broadband deployment in a way that minimises the level of public subsidy needed and provides the UK and consumers with incredible connectivity within a competitive market.


Matthew Fell, CBI’s Chief UK Policy Director, says:

Fast reliable broadband is an absolute priority for people and firms and does need improving. But Labour’s plan is not the way to do it. The roll out of full fibre broadband across the country is underway, and all renationalisation will achieve is to slow down a process that needs speeding up.

It is private sector investment that has driven connectivity, massively widened internet access and put faster speeds within reach for most UK households. This progress will be stopped in its tracks and the bill passed to pensioners and savers.
With so many challenges facing the UK, blinkered ideologies must be left behind and replaced by forward-looking public-private partnerships that deliver rather than delay.

As the scope of Labour’s radical re-nationalisation plans expands almost daily, firms around the world lose confidence in the UK as a place to invest safely. Some will be asking if they are next. This threat damages the livelihoods of communities across the country. It’s time for all parties to work with business, not against it.

I have the impression that if Corbyn said that he would give everyone who voted for him a million pounds Labour supporters would do all kinds of mental gymnastics to believe it.
Wait, how does the Virgin statement back up any of your points?

Your second quote doesn't say how the government will slow down roll out of full fibre. It's just a lobby group vaguely saying that it will and you are lapping that up.

The last line of your post is ironic considering.
 

Dobba

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The exchange box in my village has had the 'Fibre is coming' advert on it replaced, twice, in the time it's taken for fibre to still not come and no date announced for when that'll change.
 

Fiskey

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I bet the crossover wouldn't be particularly marked. This is what the "Liberal intelligentsia" don't get, it is the left wing but fairly wealthy people who don't want trident. Having a nuclear deterrent is popular amongst working class people, the same people I imagine labour are targeting with the broadband policy.
 

Kaos

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Certainly, it's my actual name without any stupid numbers or dots. Glad you're amused though, and highly amused at that apparently.
I mean you can setup your own domain and give yourself any email address you desire.
 

Full bodied red

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Please never come back to England.

And of course my condolences go out to the people of France.

Truth hurts, does it ??

If ' England ' is full of people like yourself, I'm surpised that everyone else hasn't already left but I suppose you mean the UK although maybe deep down inside you are a little Engerlander after all ??
 

Kaos

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Even if you hate the idea of poor people getting something for free, I would have thought the potential benefits to business, particularly small businesses would be supported. Certain types seem utterly incensed by the idea alone.
It’s not just poor people. The UK is severely lagging behind in regards to high speed internet infrastructure. I’m a software dev and it amazes me how our contractors who dial into meetings from India consistently have a better connection than when I dial in from my home in Hertfordshire.

If the UK wants a thriving tech industry it’s absolutely paramount, more so if we leave the EU.
 

Fiskey

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Just the entire press, based on the reaction to the broadband policy, plus the entirety of at least one party's MPs and a good majority of at least two others in the Commons.
Not everyone disagrees with the policy because they think the state is too technically incompetent, there are a variety of reasons for disagreeing.
 

Sied

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We've just announced we've won CL rights till 2024 this morning so expecting that to offset some of the damage as news filters through. (Long standing BT employee here)

There is a lot of speculation about what Broadband actually costs. I wouldn't be surprised if both the cap ex and op ex costs banded about are inflated by a fair bit. Our CEO isn't exactly going to come out and say it costs bugger all as a few million people might well pull out their BT bill and have a thing to say about it. Some interesting comments in the office about all this today anyway.

There is a lot to be said about A) Openreach's performance/efficiency and B) The market's ability to get fast fibre all over the country, years after the tech being available when it's being delivered quicker in countries that do things differently.
I was having a look at some BT shareholders discussion boards and they aren't all convinced the CL deal is a good one. £1.2bn is a hell of a lot of money. Plus most of them think the chances of a Labour government getting in are tiny.

I'm a little alarmed that the government can forcibly buy whatever it likes and dictate the price itself. As a Centrica shareholder myself (unfortunately) I'm worried they'll be coming for my shares next, which have tanked in recent years thanks to government intervention, and then they'll buy my shares at the low price they've created.
Anyway you learn from your mistakes... I'll never buy shares in anything governments are likely to interfere with again.
 

Fiskey

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I was having a look at some BT shareholders discussion boards and they aren't all convinced the CL deal is a good one. £1.2bn is a hell of a lot of money. Plus most of them think the chances of a Labour government getting in are tiny.

I'm a little alarmed that the government can forcibly buy whatever it likes and dictate the price itself. As a Centrica shareholder myself (unfortunately) I'm worried they'll be coming for my shares next, which have tanked in recent years thanks to government intervention, and then they'll buy my shares at the low price they've created.
Anyway you learn from your mistakes... I'll never buy shares in anything governments are likely to interfere with again.
And thus things being taken into public ownership becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, as private companies don't get the capital they need to invest.
 

Dobba

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Not everyone disagrees with the policy because they think the state is too technically incompetent, there are a variety of reasons for disagreeing.
True enough. The state broadcaster has today covered the story with the tagline 'Broadband Communism?'
What you need to understand is Corbyn could come out with a policy that entailed rounding up an entire ethnic minority and segregating them from the rest of society and Dobba would still defend it, calling its detractors 'Red Torys'.
As the grandson of an immigrant that escaped two political regimes that did just that to his wider family, go feck yourself.
 

Honest John

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The price of broadband will tend to three fifths of sweet FA in any case. Driven by private investment and competition.

This is a Labour gimmick first and last.
 

Paul the Wolf

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Wait, how does the Virgin statement back up any of your points?

Your second quote doesn't say how the government will slow down roll out of full fibre. It's just a lobby group vaguely saying that it will and you are lapping that up.

The last line of your post is ironic considering.
Just a couple of examples.
As I said in my last line. Because Corbyn or McDonnell say something anyone who doesn't agree with them must be wrong. Hilarious.
How come France will be 10 years ahead of the UK without nationalisation? Or other European countries like Spain.
 

Shamwow

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Just a couple of examples.
As I said in my last line. Because Corbyn or McDonnell say something anyone who doesn't agree with them must be wrong. Hilarious.
How come France will be 10 years ahead of the UK without nationalisation? Or other European countries like Spain.
I don't know what France and Spain's plans are. Maybe because this government subsidised company has been primarily in charge of roll out so far?:

In 2009, BT announced Openreach would connect 2.5 million British homes to the higher speed FTTP network service by 2012 and 25% of the UK.[7] In July 2010 Openreach signed an £800 million contract with ECI Telecom to help it service and create a fibre-optic network serving 18 million households in the UK.[8] The deal was the largest in ECI's history.[9] However, by the end of September 2015 only 250,000 homes were connected.[7] Instead, BT offered an "FTTP on Demand" product.[10] In 2017, Openreach proposed offering super-fast fibre broadband to 10 million homes by 2025, using fibre to the premises (FTTP) technology.[9]

In June 2017 Openreach demonstrated its version of G.fast technology, using "side pods" that can be bolted on to existing cabinets to offer potential UK broadband speeds of up to 100Mbit/s.[11] The technology is designed for distances of less than 500 metres between the cabinet and the property, and is cheaper to implement than FTTP because it does not involve laying fibre cables,[12] although its maximum speed capacity is less than FTTP.[13] Openreach proposed making G.fast-enabled broadband available to 12 million premises by 2020.[14] By June 2018 G.fast technology had been made available to premises in 40 locations. Meanwhile Openreach were connecting 8000 properties per week to FTTP with the aim of reaching 3 million premises by 2020,[12] a target that was to increase following the publication of the Government's "Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review" and an increase in the supply of FTTP by alternative network ISPs. By May 2019, when it had connected 1.2 million premises to FTTP, Openreach aimed to have connected 4 million premises by 2021 and 15 million by around 2025.[13]
 

Abizzz

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Just a couple of examples.
As I said in my last line. Because Corbyn or McDonnell say something anyone who doesn't agree with them must be wrong. Hilarious.
How come France will be 10 years ahead of the UK without nationalisation? Or other European countries like Spain.
Aren't companies forced to deliver the same internet access in the countryside in France as they deliver in the cities? And isn't TC1 that helps deliver it state owned?
 

Mr Pigeon

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What amuses me is this 30 billion or whatever it is... it's less than the cost of replacing Trident.

Yet people don't act like that is something we can't afford to do... replacing Trident isn't seem as some fanciful crazy waste of money. Yet massively improving our digital infrastructure and internet access for all? Madness! Just who is going to pay for it?
"It'll cost the taxpayer an extra £60 a year in taxes booooo"

Meanwhile some people are paying over £60 a month for broadband.
 

Shamwow

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"It'll cost the taxpayer an extra £60 a year in taxes booooo"

Meanwhile some people are paying over £60 a month for broadband.
It probably won't even do that as I'd imagine having a much better broadband infrastructure for home and businesses would improve the economy
 

Shamwow

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I should stop trying to judge people by my own standards, I forgot this country is populated by a bunch of selfish nasty cnuts who just want everything they can get for nothing.
My sweet summer child.
 

Buster15

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The price of broadband will tend to three fifths of sweet FA in any case. Driven by private investment and competition.

This is a Labour gimmick first and last.
After over 10 years of vicious cuts to public services, I am sure that many voters take all these so called promises or pledges with a massive pinch of salt.
Even if 10% were to actually happen I would be amazed.
This is just a juvenile spending pissing competition which is rediculous in the extreme.
Just be truthful for goodness sake and stop treating the electorate like half-whits.
 

Sweet Square

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And offering free water would be moronic.
I should stop trying to judge people by my own standards, I forgot this country is populated by a bunch of selfish nasty cnuts who just want everything they can get for nothing.

After over 10 years of vicious cuts to public services, I am sure that many voters take all these so called promises or pledges with a massive pinch of salt.
Even if 10% were to actually happen I would be amazed.
This is just a juvenile spending pissing competition which is rediculous in the extreme.
Just be truthful for goodness sake and stop treating the electorate like half-whits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_Realism:_Is_There_No_Alternative?
 
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Paul the Wolf

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Aren't companies forced to deliver the same internet access in the countryside in France as they deliver in the cities? And isn't TC1 that helps deliver it state owned?
The objective was to give everyone ultrafast internet access but is a combined operation between all the providers like Orange, SFR, Bouygues, Scopelec etc. then by 2021 5G - and by the time 2030 arrives 5G and fibre will probably be out of date.
But it's not free.
 

Paul the Wolf

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After over 10 years of vicious cuts to public services, I am sure that many voters take all these so called promises or pledges with a massive pinch of salt.
Even if 10% were to actually happen I would be amazed.
This is just a juvenile spending pissing competition which is rediculous in the extreme.
Just be truthful for goodness sake and stop treating the electorate like half-whits.
Seems to work
 

SteveJ

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"...and then f*cking Sky cut me off just before Rashford equalised!"
 

Dobba

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OMG! I thought you were taking the piss.


:lol::lol::lol:
Friend of the fash, producer Rob Burley's rushed to Twitter to explain that it's fine because that is what some people have said about the issue. So we can look forward to the interview the BBC have been promoting all day with Prince Andrew having the caption 'Prince Andrew 'Massive Nonce'?' on screen throughout when it is shown this weekend.
 

Full bodied red

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Like the much better cars we all had when the government interfered with British Leyland.

I had one of those once....The RAC and the AA and Green Flag grew tenfold during the Government's ownership of BL.

What is really strange is that whenever the UK tried nationalised industries and companies, it never worked out happily. No idea why.

Unlike other countries in Europe whose nationalised companies thrived and prospered to the extent that they now own most of the TOC's in the UK ; most of the famous ' Red Buses ' in London ; VW became the world's largest and most profitable car manufacturer ; and there are plenty of other examples.

I think failure of state owned companies and industries in the UK was a particularly UK problem, and I don't really consider state owned infrastructure something to be avoided at all costs. It just needs to be done properly with the State as investors and owners but absolutely not as day-to-day managers.
 

Sweet Square

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Like the much better cars we all had when the government interfered with British Leyland.
Or like when the Thatcher government killed broadband.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/world-of-tech/how-the-uk-lost-the-broadband-race-in-1990-1224784

Friend of the fash, producer Rob Burley's rushed to Twitter to explain that it's fine because that is what some people have said about the issue. So we can look forward to the interview the BBC have been promoting all day with Prince Andrew having the caption 'Prince Andrew 'Massive Nonce'?' on screen throughout when it is shown this weekend.
The whole thing needs massive reforms and even that might not be enough to save it.
 
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