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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Classical Mechanic

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It would surely depend on the business. McDonald's will obviously be hit if they increase the wage of the average employer, but then it's also a cost McDonald's will be able to afford due to the sheer amount the company is worth, and there's a solid argument is something they should be paying to their employees if they're worth more. Presuming wage increases are gradual and don't come to all companies at the same time, I imagine there'd be a potential economic boost that could come from some companies giving employees more, insofar as people would have more to spend on the economy which could thereby fuel growth. I agree it's obviously not as simple as just giving people more money and assuming they'll be fine from there, but in the past history has shown there are ways in which you can boost the wages of unskilled workers while benefiting the economy in the long-term.

On automation, it's largely an inevitability anyway. I'd presume a Labour government would look to counteract this by looking at initiatives such as UBI to provide for people who aren't working. In the long-term it's a fairly reasonable goal that if you have less jobs, you have more people working a lesser number of hours (4 day-week idea etc) with the government providing people with a certain amount of income as well through various schemes, UBI or otherwise. After all, if businesses want to automate, they'll still need customers; a supermarket cutting down on their number of employees ultimately doesn't benefit them if no one has money to pay them for goods.
It’s not really how listed companies work though. They don’t look at it and think ‘we have enough money to cover this’, they’d think ‘how do we get rid of this overhead so we continue to produce dividends for investors’.

I’m not sticking up for McDs, I know someone that was a manager there and they’re a horrible employer. They’re such a bad employer because they do everything legally possible to pay their employees as little possible.

I’m think a more sensible approach would be to end zero hours contracts or introduce a fair flexible working policy and to continue with current minimum wage plans.
 

SillyUsername

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Why didn't you increase your employees pay in line with bankers pay then?
So you’ve resorted to being facetious, good one.

Why does minimum wage have anything to do with what your tradesman earn? You bid for a job based on cost and profit not on what other professions are earning, that has never had anything to do with it until now so why would things change?
Because believe it or not, a skilled tradesman with tools, a van, job insecurity and years of training behind him is not going to go out and graft for a day when someone who just got taken on at the drive through last week is being paid just as much.

If the government decided to introduce a £15 minimum wage which these McDonald’s workers are calling for, wages across the board would adjust accordingly, overtime, as would the cost of living.
 

Jippy

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So you’ve resorted to being facetious, good one.



Because believe it or not, a skilled tradesman with tools, a van, job insecurity and years of training behind him is not going to go out and graft for a day when someone who just got taken on at the drive through last week is being paid just as much.

If the government decided to introduce a £15 minimum wage which these McDonald’s workers are calling for, wages across the board would adjust accordingly, overtime, as would the cost of living.
McDonalds workers don't set minimum wage though. What they're paid is broadly irrelevant to the wider argument on minimum wage levels.
 

Ultimate Grib

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So you’ve resorted to being facetious, good one.



Because believe it or not, a skilled tradesman with tools, a van, job insecurity and years of training behind him is not going to go out and graft for a day when someone who just got taken on at the drive through last week is being paid just as much.

If the government decided to introduce a £15 minimum wage which these McDonald’s workers are calling for, wages across the board would adjust accordingly, overtime, as would the cost of living.
I think you’re confused. They’re asking their private company to pay them £15 not the government to introduce £15 minimum wage. Do your tradesman take offence at what private companies pay their staff? Do they take offence to unskilled admin staff at national builders for example making more money than them? Or the PAs to the CEO making double what they make?
 

Sweet Square

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Do you think a plasterer is still going to skim your walls for £150 a day when fast food workers are suddenly on £120?

Are teachers going to remain on £30k when the fast food industry is now paying just as much?

Are the solicitors working on your conveyancing going to stay on £30k now that the fast food industry paying just as much?

Why bother with any form of training when we can all just work in fast food :lol:
You do know fast-food workers in Denmark are on £15 a hour and the country hasn't turned into a giant McDonalds.
 

Mr Pigeon

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Has anyone checked to see if Moggys common sense has failed him and he has trapped himself in his coffin? He’s not been out for ages...

Like a long list of their potential "future stars" he made the mistake of opening his mouth and now he has to sit on the naughty step until everyone moves on to the next dipshit. Then he can come back like nothing ever happened *cough Fox cough*
 

Ultimate Grib

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You do know fast-food workers in Denmark are on £15 a hour and the country hasn't turned into a giant McDonalds.
Yes but inflation in Denmark must be huge because everyone else must have put their wage demands up out of pure jealousy.
 

Red Dreams

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Great post RD but I fundamentally disagree with most after the "- - - " (that I added)

The middle ground hasn't disappeared. It's as much there as it ever was, we just have to fight for it (those of us that believe in it).

Mate. There is really only the Haves and Have Nots. And for any that still seem to be in the middle it is fast disappearing. Your next response needs critical action right now or it will be too late.

Yeah we do need drastic measures to prevent people falling into poverty.

How do we do this? Not just be removing the austerity measures that should never have been put in place as I explained. But to actually improve the decay that has set in.

Those that vote Lib Dems, many will be doing so because they believe that the left-wing-Labour economic model is flawed as it has been proven to be so time and time again. The Lib Dems are the party of common sense.

There is no left or right. Only Right or Wrong. By your definition if we do what the Labour Manifesto proposes, we are "Left". They are simply common sense proposals.
If the Lib/Dems are for common sense proposals, they certainly have not shown any by simply voting with the Tories. Swinson said she made mistakes?? Its actions that matter.

I fully support better workers rights - but not never-ending strikes.

I fully support taking back public utilities and public transport into public ownership - but think it needs to be done carefully over time.

I don't support having a "big state". The size of the state should be: Large enough to give us everything we need, but no larger.

I fully support treating the economy with care. It's the economy stupid.

I fully support asking the rich to pay more. I think MBEs and Knighthoods shouldn't be given to rich people if they haven't donated significant amounts of money continuously to charity.

I fully support a carbon tax, but/and we need to first establish it and work through any
issues.

The rest of the above sound good on paper. But what specific plans have been proposed?

It's not fair to throw the accusation that Lib Dem supporters don't care. We do, we just don't have the same political orientation.

Perhaps they do care. But just don't understand?
A storm is coming. It will bring blood and wont be washed away.
This election will be the last chance to ensure it blows away and does not hit our shores.
 

Cockney Phil

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A storm is coming. It will bring blood and wont be washed away.
This election will be the last chance to ensure it blows away and does not hit our shores.
I fear the Britain we once knew has been washed away by successive governments since Thatcher. She was a a bitch but at least you knew what she was doing and why. Boso is a ticking time bomb and his henchmen are like something crept out from under a stone. They make it up as they go along while being paid bundles by the media and the gun runners - a nightmare that will take decades to heal and all so unnecessary.
 

Red Dreams

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I fear the Britain we once knew has been washed away by successive governments since Thatcher. She was a a bitch but at least you knew what she was doing and why. Boso is a ticking time bomb and his henchmen are like something crept out from under a stone. They make it up as they go along while being paid bundles by the media and the gun runners - a nightmare that will take decades to heal and all so unnecessary.
I still cannot believe Bozo is the PM. But then again I cannot believe Trump is the president either.
Two clowns that could star in IT 3.
 

SillyUsername

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You do know fast-food workers in Denmark are on £15 a hour and the country hasn't turned into a giant McDonalds.
The cost of living there is significantly higher than here so are they actually any better off in comparison to the rest of their society? How much do you know about the Danish economy or are you simply repeating talking points you read elsewhere?
 

TheReligion

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I think it's fair to say if minium wage increased drastically then everything else above would also follow suit. There's no way you'd end up with current minimum wage workers earning the same as tradesmen and and so forth. I'm not saying an increase in wages is a bad thing, the more the better, but if it was distributed evenly would it even matter or would the cost of living just rise to balance it out?
 

sun_tzu

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I think it's fair to say if minium wage increased drastically then everything else above would also follow suit. There's no way you'd end up with current minimum wage workers earning the same as tradesmen and and so forth. I'm not saying an increase in wages is a bad thing, the more the better, but if it was distributed evenly would it even matter or would the cost of living just rise to balance it out?
Also in a global economy are wages in the UK increasing inline with other countries or significantly more
And what impact is this having on inflation rates and currency
These factors would play a big part of if companies chose to move jobs out of the country as well
 

Ultimate Grib

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The cost of living there is significantly higher than here so are they actually any better off in comparison to the rest of their society? How much do you know about the Danish economy or are you simply repeating talking points you read elsewhere?
Yes they are because the cost of living wasn’t suddenly raised because their wages went up :houllier:
 

fergieisold

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So you’ve resorted to being facetious, good one.



Because believe it or not, a skilled tradesman with tools, a van, job insecurity and years of training behind him is not going to go out and graft for a day when someone who just got taken on at the drive through last week is being paid just as much.

If the government decided to introduce a £15 minimum wage which these McDonald’s workers are calling for, wages across the board would adjust accordingly, overtime, as would the cost of living.
This was always my question. Increase the minimum wage and what happens further up the chain? More wage increases demanded or higher charges for services.
 

Fiskey

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One thing that's not being added into the equation when talking about high wages is the fact that governments get more money when wages are high. Switzerland has much lower tax rates than we do but because everyone is getting paid more their tax income is pretty good.
 

Classical Mechanic

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Yes but inflation in Denmark must be huge because everyone else must have put their wage demands up out of pure jealousy.
Just having a quick look at average wages in Britain and Denmark and the minimum wage as a % of the average wage looks roughly the same. I'm on the fly but it sees to be around 45%, it seemed to be about the same as Australia too, which has the highest minimum wage in the world.
 

Steven Seagull

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Why do people pretend that McDonald’s potentially paying their staff more is some kind of government policy?

imagine being such a miserable twat that when a union comes together to ask for better conditions in a shit job all you can do is complain and look down on them.
 

Mogget

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Sometimes Corbyn really doesn’t help himself.

Sometimes the people criticising Corbyn without reading what he actually said don't help themselves. He said IF an arrest was possible it was preferable. It's literally right there in the thread under the original tweet ffs
 

Ekkie Thump

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Sometimes Corbyn really doesn’t help himself.

This is Mann and Usherwood spinning Corbyn's statements into meaning something they didn't. If you read Usherwood's thread it's clear that all Corbyn is saying is that, if possible, he'd rather folk like Bin Laden and Baghdadi were arrested than killed. At no point does he question the US account of what happened nor does he suggest that the US should have actually arrested him on the night he died, rather he suggests that an arrest ought to be the ideal outcome of these types of operation.
 

EwanI Ted

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I think it's fair to say if minium wage increased drastically then everything else above would also follow suit. There's no way you'd end up with current minimum wage workers earning the same as tradesmen and and so forth.
If the government decided to introduce a £15 minimum wage which these McDonald’s workers are calling for, wages across the board would adjust accordingly, overtime, as would the cost of living.

Kind of amazing the principle here is even being disagreed with. If skilled work pays less than unskilled work, more people will start doing the unskilled work. Simple supply and demand then means that the smaller supply of skilled workers end up in higher demand and charge higher prices. You end up back at square one. This is basic stuff.

Its not a question of whether it would happen, but at what point. Add a penny to the minimum wage, not much happens. Make it £100ph and all hell breaks loose. Personally I'm all in favour of the highest minimum wage you can have, but the skill of setting the minimum wage is to put it at the highest point you can without triggering negative consequences. The debate should be about where the sweet spot sits.
 

Fiskey

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Kind of amazing the principle here is even being disagreed with. If skilled work pays less than unskilled work, more people will start doing the unskilled work. Simple supply and demand then means that the smaller supply of skilled workers end up in higher demand and charge higher prices. You end up back at square one. This is basic stuff.

Its not a question of whether it would happen, but at what point. Add a penny to the minimum wage, not much happens. Make it £100ph and all hell breaks loose. Personally I'm all in favour of the highest minimum wage you can have, but the skill of setting the minimum wage is to put it at the highest point you can without triggering negative consequences. The debate should be about where the sweet spot sits.
You probably end up at square one in terms of salary differentials, for example in a world where flipping burgers pays £30k a plumber may get £60k etc. But as labour isn't the only input cost you hopefully end up with a more balanced economy, all goods, services etc. won't increase to the same level as the pay increase.

In addition, if salaries are higher there should be more incentive for both automation and further training, as there is a greater incentive to keep high performing productive staff. We've got a big productivity problem in this country, and I think higher wages could be part of the solution.
 

EwanI Ted

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You probably end up at square one in terms of salary differentials, for example in a world where flipping burgers pays £30k a plumber may get £60k etc. But as labour isn't the only input cost you hopefully end up with a more balanced economy, all goods, services etc. won't increase to the same level as the pay increase.

In addition, if salaries are higher there should be more incentive for both automation and further training, as there is a greater incentive to keep high performing productive staff. We've got a big productivity problem in this country, and I think higher wages could be part of the solution.
Goods and services made in the UK will increase because we're paying more to the people who create and deliver them. And if more people want to buy something - like a TV say - then simple supply and demand dictates that the price will increase there too. There aren't many cases where increasing both the cost of producing something and increasing demand for it won't result in a price increase to consumers.

And don't forget, we already operate at a trade deficit in this country, ie we import more than we export, which broadly speaking is a bad thing. If we shunt the pay scale of everyone up the ladder too many steps, that deficit increases further. Suddenly goods abroad will seem cheap as chips to us and we'll buy from abroad instead of the UK, but people in other countries looking at items produced here will see them increase in price, and they'll buy less. The net outflow of money from the country increases, trade in the UK falls and jobs are lost. So there are other issues like that to think about.

Again, this isn't to say we shouldn't increase the minimum wage, we certainly should do. You can increase it by a certain amount without too many problems. But it needs to be at a level where were don't end up with adverse consequences, particularly since they can be self-defeating.
 

Smores

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Sometimes Corbyn really doesn’t help himself.

Imagine posting a John Mann tweet and thinking 'yeah this must be accurate'.

The Daily Mail have gone with a front page attack on this but it doesn't make any sense considering our own governments policy and even the US policy on the night was to take alive.

"Labour Leader reiterates international law" doesn't really have a punch as a headline i guess.
 

Raulduke

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We broke it so trust us to fix it :houllier:

 
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Sassy Colin

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Happily. I think minimum wages should be aggressively increased to see how far they can go before we start seeing unemployment problems. This includes gig economy.
Why should the government, any government care about how high the minimum wage is? It doesn't cost them anything, in fact the tax take increases.

Let's keep increasing it and see how many companies we can put out of business.
 

Ady87

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I've been a manager in McDonalds and monitored labour costs in real time as a % of turnover and have carefully managed it to maximise profit. My concern is that if the business put wages up, they'd simultaneously put pressure on managers and staff to do more with fewer people to protect margins. When I left school and went to work there, whilst we were all paid £3.65 an hour, we at least had strength in numbers and could share the horrible burden. :lol:

Whatever they're paying people there these days isn't enough and I really resent those that look down on the staff. It might be unskilled work, but you work an early/close in a busy city centre store for 9 hours+ and tell me how much you enjoy it by the end of day 1.
 

Maticmaker

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The fallout from the whole Brexit process, whether we stay or go will go on for decades and its not just the negotiation of a new trade agreement if we leave or the treatment metered out by the EU if we stay. Make no mistake what happened in 2016 put a rocket up the backside of all those in power or those aspiring to power, because they all misread the situation entirely and that will (if not already)give them cause to review everything they thought they knew about the people of the UK and how they read the signs on this issue.

For the last half decade or more, following on the treaties of Maastricht, Lisbon etc. nobody checked in with the British public about what was going on in the EU. The media of course played up the 'us and them' angle taking pot-shots at Delor and those other EU leaders that followed, but most people never read beyond the headlines and never wanted too either, it was what it was and the Politico's kept it that way. The crash of course in 2008 and the expenses scandals all started to focus attention on how we were governed, on a day to day basis and not just the big stuff like the Iraq war.

David Cameron after winning a Tory majority in a GE and seeing off the SNP in the Independence referendum in Scotland, went for the ' hat-trick' with the In/Out EU referendum, totally believing that the old adage "You can fool some people, some of the time; most people most of the time, but not all people all of the time" was untrue.

What has been cruelly exposed because of Brexit; includes the North/South split in prosperity; the fact that the three smaller countries Scotland, Wales and NI that make up the UK all have their own parliaments or near equivalents, whilst the largest country England has to 'suck it up' via the UK parliament; that unification of Ireland or a Confederation of Irish States, seems almost now to have become a necessity rather than a idea for the future;
the effects of cut backs in public spending and/or investment, otherwise referred to as 'Austerity', will have to be tackled; the latent aspirations of a very large section of the Scottish public for another referendum on Independence are going to be around for a long time, unless the SNP gets a 'kicking' at the upcoming GE, which seems unlikely; and on top of all that the pressure 'do something' about climate change that will send the kids back to school with a feeling they might as well study because they do have a future after all!

If Boris wins a large enough majority we may eventually hear a lot less of the intrinsic issue in Brexit itself, but the thins it has unleash or bump up against are not going away anytime soon and the two most important lessons the Government need to learn and to ensure happen; make sure you take the majority of the people with you; and ensure the consent of the losers.
 

Cockney Phil

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This is Mann and Usherwood spinning Corbyn's statements into meaning something they didn't. If you read Usherwood's thread it's clear that all Corbyn is saying is that, if possible, he'd rather folk like Bin Laden and Baghdadi were arrested than killed. At no point does he question the US account of what happened nor does he suggest that the US should have actually arrested him on the night he died, rather he suggests that an arrest ought to be the ideal outcome of these types of operation.
Sometimes the people criticising Corbyn without reading what he actually said don't help themselves. He said IF an arrest was possible it was preferable. It's literally right there in the thread under the original tweet ffs
I listened to LBC yesterday from Fat Ferrari to Tom smalldick and the claims against what Corbyn actually said became ludicrous.

In a sad/pathetic indictment of talking radio shows, Corbyn words were continually replayed and confirmed he had said it was good the terrorist was dead but if they could be captured to serve a trial would be better. That was variously translated into Corbyn the terrorist letting all of Islamic/Irish terrorists free and that he was the embodiment of a national security threat and One even implied he was a kind of sleeping Soviet partisan ready to strike at the heart of the British empire.

Imagine an old man in his 70s causing shudders of fear in the armed forces, the media and and the establishment - Corbynism read McCarthyism.
 

ZupZup

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The Daily Mail have gone with a front page attack on this but it doesn't make any sense considering our own governments policy and even the US policy on the night was to take alive.

"Labour Leader reiterates international law" doesn't really have a punch as a headline i guess.
It makes sense when you consider who they are appealing to. The Conservatives have basically gone full UKIP and their supportive right wing shit rags like the Mail are trying to rile up the jingoistic little Englanders who want the return of the British (English) Empire, the death penalty and no immigrants.
 

Sassy Colin

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I already answered your point. Your tradesmen operate in a market that determines wage. You're the one just repeating points.
Why should tradesmen have to operate in a market, but unskilled burger flippers, of which there are burger joints on every corner, just get £15/hr for doing nothing extra, that hardly seems fair.
 

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I've been a manager in McDonalds and monitored labour costs in real time as a % of turnover and have carefully managed it to maximise profit. My concern is that if the business put wages up, they'd simultaneously put pressure on managers and staff to do more with fewer people to protect margins. When I left school and went to work there, whilst we were all paid £3.65 an hour, we at least had strength in numbers and could share the horrible burden. :lol:

Whatever they're paying people there these days isn't enough and I really resent those that look down on the staff. It might be unskilled work, but you work an early/close in a busy city centre store for 9 hours+ and tell me how much you enjoy it by the end of day 1.
I don't blame you mate. The first thing I thought when this topic was brought up was that working in McDonalds must be a lot harder than some of the posters seem to think.
 
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