Dave wrote:On most polls lib dep have about 8% of the vote. Ukip have around 14%. While that doesn't translate to seats, lib dems popularity has massively sunk and they will lose a sh1tload of seats. Getting into bed with the tories was massively unpopular amongst their voters.
Always will happen to a small party who get into bed with one of the big boys when the economic outlook is bleak....or more correctly when the current economic climate is bleak. The UK is carrying over 1.5 trillion in official national debt and you could add at least the same again for pensions and public service compensation to get the realistic debt figure. That , official number, is over 90% of 2014 GDP and is coming dangerously close to unmanageable levels - For comparison Ireland is at about 98% now, having been over 120% - bad now but was a nightmare situation, especially for low-middle income earners who make up the majority of the electorate. The UK public must be aware of the impending hands in their pockets, to go with the hands already there for the last few years.
Most folk however like the status quo and do not really mind how bad the major two parties are at executing their core functions and deliverables, which in UK terms means having either Cons or Lab as the biggest party and close to an overall majority. Their support levels will fluctuate of course and they will change places every so often but small parties can be demolished easily enough and can spend 10-15 years or more trying to recover, or just shut up shop.
Naturally folk like the KBE and Snipe are immune, to a large extent, from the pickpocketing, though not fully so when it comes to pension entitlements. Govt stealing one's pension is a very annoying thing. Down here we've been going through that for a few years with the pension levy. Tax is legalised robbery to a large extent though you do get some levels of public service in return. Private Pension levy is out and out theft. Any party wishing to steal your private pension should be opposed. Of course you have folk here who think the state should not be allowed to touch their state pension. That's a bit of a laugh when those same folk think it should be open season on other welfare allowances. But folk vote selfishly as much as stupidly. Most folk haven't a notion about politics, never mind economics.