UK General Election, 2017

[Pragma]

Let's be honest, you're talking shit here. If you really wanted to know the costing of the policy, its referenced in the article. That's evidently not the case, you want to score nonsense political points to distract from the substantive issues: i.e. the Tories have slashed police funding and the result has been a rise in crime.

The crime rates in the UK are in many ways down. The figures are here. In fact, crime has not spiked (nor have hospital deaths or suicides as labour supporters have claimed). The highest rate of hospital deaths was actually during the late 2000s, when Labour led hospitals were totally dirty and diseases were rife. The scaremongering about the conservatives is shocking often.

http://www.ukcrimestats.com/

If you listen to the interview in full, it's obvious she was struggling and she gave an impression of not being fully on top of her brief. A Shadow Home Secretary ought really to have been better prepared than this, especially given she was talking about Labour's policy commitments during a General Election campaign.

Dianne Abbot is an awful orator, and is only in parliament because she represents a constituency filled to the brim with immigrants who have been sold the lie that all but Labour are dirty racists who wish to deport them. She is the worst person labour could send out to the press.

[Adithya]

Will the Labour Parties recently released manifesto help boost the parties popularity?

I think it might help improve their position in the opinion polls by 1 or 2%

[Pragma]

Will the Labour Parties recently released manifesto help boost the parties popularity?

I think it might help improve their position in the opinion polls by 1 or 2%

It's not a massively popular manifesto outside of with Corbyn's clique. There are parts of it which are not popular with most people in the UK. Manifestos very rarely have real, long-term impact - unless it's like 1982 were it is exceptionally out of line with people's views.

[Adithya]

Oh,what about the tory manifesto?I didn't take a look at it,Is it popular?

In my country manifestos are considered very important and has even decided elections at times as swing voters generally go by it and it also fires up the core base of the parties

[jamescfm]

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[Pragma]

I'm not sure what you're basing that opinion but I'm pretty sure it's inaccurate. Polling shows that the major parts of the manifesto (e.g. free school meals, retaining triple lock and nationalising the railways) are supported by the majority of the population. Also, there was no manifesto in 1982, it was 1983.

Well the 1983 thing was a genuine slip up.

Free school meals and the triple lock are very popular. But the latter has also been supported by the Tories. Nationalization is quite a fractious issue, and for many people is not actually that important when it regards the railways (which most people don;t use regularly). Corbyn's manifesto was 'popular' in the sense it has popular policies in it, but not popular enough to change people's images of him. He's messed up badly in some areas - mainly in who he's chosen as his front bench - that he simply has more to do before he can win an election.

[jamescfm]

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[Aquinas]

Will the Labour Parties recently released manifesto help boost the parties popularity?

I think it might help improve their position in the opinion polls by 1 or 2%

The opinion poll data so far suggests you are pretty much spot on. To quote from Metro:

According to a Britain Elects poll at the start of the week, the Conservatives had a 17 point lead, with 46.8% of the vote, while Labour trailed in second with 29.8%.

But following the manifesto, Labour have managed to close the gap by three points, putting them on 33% compared to the Tories at 47%, according to a Panelbase poll released yesterday.

A PA poll of polls also put the party ahead but at 31%.

The change appears to suggest the Labour vote is continuing to trend upwards as election day looms.

But Theresa May still seems to be on course to become elected prime minister when the country votes on June 8.

However, I would say that in itself, the small opinion poll boost is not particularly interesting or surprising. If you looked at previous British General Election campaigns, I think you would usually see each party gaining a small boost when it released its manifesto, as a result of the ensuing media coverage.

Polling shows that the major parts of the manifesto (e.g. free school meals, retaining triple lock and nationalising the railways) are supported by the majority of the population.

This is true. Overall, public opinion has never been that keen on, for example, privatisation of the railways, energy companies and water companies, so Labour's policies on those issues are in tune with public opinion.

It's not a massively popular manifesto outside of with Corbyn's clique.

Well, at least on the surface, the opinion poll data would seem to disagree with you - at least on quite a few issues, anyway. However, I wonder whether "under the surface", as it were, you might be right. What I mean is, for example, I suspect a lot of the people who told opinion pollsters they want to nationalise rail, energy & water actually believe (reluctantly) that those proposals would be too impractical/expensive. Similarly, I suspect a lot of voters who tell pollsters they want higher taxes and higher spending actually believe (reluctantly) that that might not be the best idea after all. In other words, what I'm getting at is that people don't always tell the truth to pollsters. There is all sorts of psychology involved.

Corbyn's manifesto was 'popular' in the sense it has popular policies in it, but not popular enough to change people's images of him. He's messed up badly in some areas - mainly in who he's chosen as his front bench - that he simply has more to do before he can win an election

I personally agree with your reservations about Corbyn and his front bench, but I've got to ask...how much is Corbyn's unpopularity with the public due to Corbyn himself, and how much of it is due to the fact a large part of the Labour Party (including most of his parliamentary colleagues) are not very supportive of him? The thing is, the public like "strong leaders" and "united parties". Maybe if Labour was more united around Corbyn, he'd have a better chance with the electorate?

Also, there was no manifesto in 1982, it was 1983.

Talking of Labour's 1983 manifesto, I've actually seen a real copy of it, at my former university's library. It's MASSIVE! Most manifestos are relatively slim, but Labour's 1983 manifesto is big...Kauffman called it "the longest suicide note in history"...

[Adithya]

And also,Why wouldn't Ms.May and Mr.Corbyn take part in the debates?I heard that ITV held a debate without Them

I agree with some points mentioned in the Labour Manifesto such as the Free Meals Scheme which is already in place in Public Schools in my nation and has helped many poor children

[jamescfm]

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