General Discussion

Please can any dyed in the wool, wouldn't dream of voting anything else, Liberal Democrats who read this post give those of us who are not Liberal Democrats but who voted for you in 2010, reasons why we should vote for the Lib Dems again in 2015.

Over to you LDs.

@Lynne

I suggest you refer to the glossy leaflet that was pushed through my door today. I presume it will be delivered to all households, not just mine.

Ive not had 1 leaflet yet!!!! do you think they are trying to tell me something

I've seen a copy of Alan Connett's "Village Voice" leaflet. In a nutshell he's saying "vote LibDem as we don't mind being your second choice and we're so desperate we'll jump on any bandwagon to get your vote and hope you forget that we supported the Tory destruction of our public services". He also claims that Richard Younger-Ross is responsible for solving everything up to and including world poverty. 

I thought RYR was an ok type of MP , I also think the same of Adrian Saunders. I do not want the tories to remain in power and I know the Lib Dems were all part of the conspiracy, so I am going to vote tactically even tho its against what I believe. Just hope that the tories can be overcome on TDC as well

I see the blue rosettes are out in force in the town centre today - looks like the Lib Dems are being taken seriously by someone!

Surely nothing to get too excited about.  Is it so surprising they're campaigning in one of their most marginal seats?   

Thanks for the stats, Dorian. Time to dust off the old swing-o-meter!

Psephology.  The original zero hour contract. 

Alternatively, forget about the turn-coat Lib Dems and their opportune alliance with the Tories and vote Green for a party that truly cares about political and economic change.

In the words of the Green Party candidate: "My priorities are Social and Environmental Justice.  I am working for a fairer, more equal society: to build a successful, sustainable green economy; to bring an end to austerity; to reverse privatisation and decline in the NHS; and to return public assets to public hands".

Voting for the currently smaller minority parties, especially the Green Party in England, will break the stranglehold of the 2-party system and give the country a chance to rejuvenate itself for the 21st century.

Aren't the Lib Dems one of those smaller minority parties?

A question for the Lib Dems. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that we all wake up on May 8th and the LDs have enough seats to be involved in coalition talks with either the Lab party or the Conservatives.

If it is the Lib Dem stance that their preferred party is the one that the people have given the greatest mandate to, how will the LDs determine that mandate? By the number of seats the Labour party or Conservative party respectively have won, or the number of votes, overall, cast for the Lab and Con parties nationally.

I ask 'cos the number of seats won by a party vis-a-vis the number of votes cast for that same party can be way out of sync with each other.    

So the rosette team drew a blank looking for flag waving Tories for today's high profile visit to Dawlish then! 

As rare as LibDem local election candidates...

Implicitly blowing the trumpet for the The Conservative Party Candidates, Mrs C?

But it is not the number of candidates that is worth crowing about - but the number of winning candidates.

Game on!

SoD - it's comments like that that would deter me from voting tactically for the Lib Dems.   Up your game. 

I had an e-mail yesterday from an organisation saying that if I typed in my postal code they could tell me who was likely to be elected as my MP.

So out of curiosity I did just that. The result?

They got back to me saying this constituency (Newton Abbot) is a marginal seat and that the result is too close to call.

So SoD it doesn't at all worry you that so few LibDemmers are willing to put themselves forward as candidates - especially in a town/district like this that is so marginal?!

Point taken, Mcjrpc. A little less hyperbole and a liitle more humility is in order.

Mrs C makes a valid point - and although we believe our policies, our political positioning and our people will all help us win seats, we do have a few gaps in the field at local level.

I would add at ths point that although the last 5 years in office in coalition have been a bruising experience, it has shown the public that we have the competence to govern. It has also been a learning experience in the art of the possible - and while some will forever damn us on the issue of tuition fees, others will see that the Lib Dems have helped bring much needed balance to the government during the long recovery.

This is work that - with the support of the public on 7th May - we very much hope to continue.