Prepare to Shafted by the CONservatives!

[Mr.E]

Tories aim to increase stranglehold on power as they draw up radical voting reform
THE dust has barely settled on the 2015 general election and Tory chiefs are already planning to tighten their grip on the UK electorate by redrawing constituency boundaries.After an evening that sent shockwaves through Westminster and the country, the Conservatives clinched power with 330 MPs - guaranteeing David Cameron a Commons majority.

But before the final votes had even been counted, the Conservative Party chairman declared his party would seek to rush through plans to radically reshape British politics.

Under Tory proposals, the UK's 650 constituencies would have their boundaries redrawn, and the number of MPs slashed to 600.

Experts predict the changes could hand Mr Cameron's party an almost un-defeatable grip on power, with newly-formed constituencies designed to secure a Tory victory.

Speaking this afternoon, Grant Shapps said: "This is Experts predict the changes could hand Mr Cameron's party an almost un-defeatable grip on power, with newly-formed constituencies designed to secure a Tory victory.

Speaking this afternoon, Grant Shapps said: "This is  onstituencies.

"One vote, whether it is yours or mine, should be worth the same."

Experts predict the changes could hand Mr Cameron's party an almost un-defeatable grip on power, with newly-formed constituencies designed to secure a Tory victory.

Speaking this afternoon, Grant Shapps said: "This is nothing about Labour or anyone else, the simple fact is we've got massive differences in the number of people who live in constituencies.

"One vote, whether it is yours or mine, should be worth the same."
Pressed by the BBC's Andrew Neil on whether the plans would near-guarantee the Tories at least a handful of new, safe seats, he responded: "I don't know how many seats."

The Tory chairman insisted the plans would be in place by 2018 at the latest, but added: "We may want it to go through faster."

The Conservative manifesto committed to the plans by 2018, with a promise to "make votes of more equal value through long overdue boundary reforms".

The plans have provoked anger among opposition parties, who see the move as tantamount to gerrymandering - the act of redrawing political boundaries to advantage one party over another.

The move follows outrage at the "dysfunctional" first-past-the-post system, which blocked the smaller parties from winning more than a handful of seats despite gaining a significant chunk of the popular vote.

Ukip, who won the support of 13 per cent of voters, ended up bagging just one MP, while the SNP were awarded 56 seats despite achieving just 5 per cent of the vote.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/576012/Tories-increase-stranglehold-power-radical-voting-reform

[WiseOwl]

Yep, the dicks who voted for them sowed the wind and got the whirlwind!


Nothing has changed – we still can't afford to pay for HS2

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin is 'delusional' if he thinks the general election result was an endorsement of the HS2 rail link, which will pile billions of pounds onto Britain's debt mountain. That's the view of UKIP's Transport spokesman Jill Seymour, who accused the Tory government of totally ignoring people whose homes stand to be destroyed by the £55 billion-plus route. Her comments follow a speech made by Mr McLoughlin in Leeds, when he confirmed high-speed rail and the creation of a 'Northern Powerhouse' remained a priority.

Mrs Seymour, an MEP for the West Midlands, said: "Mr McLoughlin is delusional in thinking that winning the general election is down to the support for HS2. He totally ignores the valid views of individuals who have already lost value on their properties and left them, in some situations, feeling desperate. Nothing has changed these past few weeks. HS2 still has no proven business case, and the eventual cost of the project is anyone's guess – it seems to go up every week.

"The comments made by Mr McLoughlin prove that the Tory government is still not listening to those affected by this line, and doesn't care about racking up a debt which will take generations to pay off, and which Britain simply cannot afford."

UKIP has always maintained that the HS2 'vanity project' should be scrapped.

Mrs Seymour said: "It is destroying people's lives and their communities. There are still unanswered questions on plans and costs, and yet it is still moving forward against public wishes. It will only be supporting a minority, at the expense of the majority.

"What passengers want is an affordable, comfortable, reliable and efficient rail network system that delivers from south to north, and east to west. We already have a network in place, but it is desperate for improvement."

[WiseOwl]

Douglas Carswell: "I speak for Millions" in Westminster

UKIP MP Douglas Carswell responding to the Queen's speech said, "I may be my party's only voice in the House of Commons, but I shall speak on behalf of not only my constituents, but the millions who voted for my party. I may have only one vote in the Division Lobby, but I shall use it to support Ministers when they do sensible things, to oppose the Government when they are being daft, and, when I think it is possible to improve things, to try to amend things to make them better."
"I imagine I will oppose much of what this Government do. I regret what is not in the Queen's Speech as much as I support what is in it. There is a failure to introduce meaningful political reform. There is nothing in it that will make Government more properly accountable to Parliament and Parliament more properly answerable to the people. There is little in it to disperse power outward and downward, or to personalise public services in the way I think they need to be."
"When I challenge the Government's shortcomings, however, I will do so cheerfully and in the belief that, yes, things are not good enough, but that is because they could and should be better. I will be optimistic and cheerful in opposing the Government when I need to do so, and I will support them when I think they are doing the right thing."

not a foreigner mentioned once