General Discussion

and I wonder how much of that money will find its way down here (and by here I mean Dawlish and the Exe Estuary in particular and the south west in general).

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/13/george-osborne-infrastructure-budget-pensions-hs2-tories

a quote from that link I've given above;

One senior government figure said of the infrastructure spending plans: "George Osborne is going to be looking for ways of helping our people – that does not mean people who might vote Conservative but Conservative MPs in marginal seats. It is not necessarily things that will have Tory MPs excited ideologically. It is more about things that are going to affect their constituencies.

"He is going to look at ways of investing in infrastructure – visible things, road and rail. He is going to want to do things to balance HS2. It is not to demolish HS2. It is going to be in addition to HS2. He will also want to do things on flooding."

piffle

@roberta - yes i understand your sentiment.  hence, as i commented in another thread, there is a glorious 14month window of opportunity for the sw to get a totally firm committment, whether a sea breakwater, or an additional rail line 'somewhere' that will be of lasting benefit.  polls show the election is in the balance so the sw are in a strong position of leverage.  if the sw doesn't nail it in 14months the opportunity will be lost for another 5years or so.  plus i get quite a strong sense that network rail are definitely keen for a new line so that they aren't at the mercy of operational constraints as soon as we get a 'bit of weather'. 

Look, if the south west can't get dosh out of central government when it is a Lib Dem/Conservative coalition it never will do. How many Labour seats are there max in the south west - 4/5? (1 x at Exeter, 2x at Plymouth?, 2x in Cornwall on a good day?). All the other south west constituencies are fought out between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives. If I remember correctly Anne Marie Morris won by 500 or so votes in 2010 over the Lib Dem in our constituency. So, does that make our constituency (Newton Abbot) a tory/lib dem marginal?

Results in this constituency are made by the Labour voter who votes tacticaly to keep the tory candidate out i have done this when voting.   The question is the Labour voters who backed lib dem may feel let down as they jumped into bed with the tories.  So where will they cast there vote this time if they back Labour the tories could win but what if they switch there allegiance to UKIP could they take the seat??

I think there will be a collapse in the Lib Dem vote in this constituency in 2015 partly caused by Labour voters no longer tactically voting Lib Dem. I think there will also be an upswing in UKIP votes in this constituency in 2015 as well as in other constituencies in the south west. However, although some of these UKIP votes will, I believe, come from Labour supporters not all Labour supporters will vote UKIP.  That said, I think UKIP will most certainly give the Conservatives a run for their money here. Perhaps it will become a Tory/UKIP marginal, who knows? Point is, whether it is a Lib Dem/Tory marginal or a UKIP/Tory marginal as long as it is a marginal seat it is all the more reason why this Conservative led government might be looking to pump money into this constituency in order to woo the voters who, after all, will be going to the polling stations in less than 14 months time. And as Clive has pointed out  the polls at the moment are indicating that it is still very much up in the air as to which party, Labour or Conservative, will end up with the most seats come the 2015 general election.

For info on the Parliamentary constituency of Newton Abbot see http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/newtonabbot/comment-page-1/

The only collapse is the one under the railway line

I've been waiting for the UKIPers who post on here to point out that Britain apparently contributes some £50m per day to the EU.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/11/24/britain-paying-eu-50m-a-day_n_1111498.html

and then to point out how much all this money that goes to the EU could be used in this country on other things - like on infrastructure.

But as none of the UKIPers have chosen to do so I thought I'd oblige

'Boy George' currently holds the purse strings.  If he (and 'side-kicks') wants to woo voters in the SW for a majority win, then this is his big chance.  Without wishing to sound too mercenary, milk the opportunity folks   Simple as that?!!

Totally agree with you Clive. It's what I've been getting at all along.