Is Ed Miliband living on borrowed time?

First topic message reminder :

Tonight’s YouGov poll for the Sun has topline figures of CON 41%, LAB 39%, LDEM 10%, Others 10%. This is the first time that YouGov have shown a Conservative lead since December 2010. It certainly looks as though the Conservatives have recieved a boost from David Cameron’s veto at the European summit. There is also a new ComRes poll out tonight for the Independent which has topline figures of CON 38%(+1), LAB 38%(-1), LDEM 12%(+2) – also showing the two main parties effectively neck-and-neck. How is it that the tories can be level or ahead in the polls when they are having to make some very difficult and painfull decisions to try and bring down the deficit, the umemployment figures are the worst for 17 years. We have had strikes, pension reforms, VAT rises and the veto in Europe etc.......

It looks like Ed Millaband is not liked or trusted by many of the elecorate. In my opinion he looks weak, sounds weak and has no policies to speak of....Everytime he tries to get the better of Cameron in PMQ'S he ends looking like a fool with Cameron destroying him. Ed Balls is no better...he comes across as an odious man with no substance, who would probably stab his own wife in the back if it meant he gained more power.

Labour missed a trick in not voting in Eds brother David into the leadership role. David would have given Cameron a better run for his money and I believe he is a better politician than Ed too. With the two Eds at the helm I believe Labour are not a viable opposition right now and one or both could be dispatched by the party sooner rather than later

Phil Hornby wrote:Having seen the increasing tetchiness and desperation of Salmond during the past few days it would be of no surprise to me if he had a few heavies on hand here and there to 'enforce' his will to quieten the opposition.

it would indeed be good to see his recent confident insistence that "next Thursday Scotland will vote 'yes' " rammed back down his throat...

You have worked out the truth about Salmond PH, I would not trust him as far as I could throw him, and I am expecting trouble at the polling stations on Thursday if what the yes campaigners did to Jim Murphy Labour MP businesses that has came out against the yes vote are been threatened by a day of reckoning. This type of thuggery no matter what Salmond or Sturgeon say the OK for this came from the top of the SNP party.

I am hoping that the NO campaign wins even by 1-2% will love to see his face on Friday morning I think it will be as long as a fiddle, I just hope the Tories do not do anything to Scotland if we vote NO.

Redflag.
I want what is best for Scotland, for the people I know up there and the people from there on here.
But in my heart of hearts I cannot see it happening, IMHO I can only see an increased yes vote, and more seats/percentage for Salmond.
You know as much as myself REDFLAG that I only vote labour, if my life depended on it.

Meanwhile, back in somnolent England ....

"Labour has moved into an eight-point opinion poll lead, according to the latest survey of voters.

Research by Opinium for The Observer put Ed Miliband's Opposition up one point over the last fortnight to 37%, while the Tories slipped back one to 29%.

Ukip maintain a solid hold on third place, gaining three points to 19% - with the Liberal Democrats stalled at 7%.

Mr Miliband still lags behind Prime Minister David Cameron on personal approval ratings however by 25% to 37%.

Opinium Research carried out an online survey of 1,960 British adults from September 9 to 11."

http://news.uk.msn.com/labour-pulls-out-eight-point-lead-2

Really can't understand how Cameron can be in the lead on personal approval - can't people see he's just a glove puppet- and not even a very good one - can't even control his temper.

"[i] Really can't understand how Cameron can be in the lead on personal approval..."

The answer can be summed up in a single word : 'Miliband'...

Whatever have you got against Milliband, Phil?
At least what that would stand up against the offensive oiliness and duplicity of Cameron?
To me, there's no comparison, and I'm just grateful that an apparently decent chap is willing to offer his services as Prime Minister in place of the monster of complacency and dishonesty that is the current incumbent.

Whoever manages to replace this gang of thieves will need to conserve his energy for the backbreaking work of trying to undo all the wreckage.

IMHO the Tories will get in at the next election, as they have no opposition as such I'm afraid.

stuart torr wrote:Redflag.
I want what is best for Scotland, for the people I know up there and the people from there on here.
But in my heart of hearts I cannot see it happening, IMHO I can only see an increased yes vote, and more seats/percentage for Salmond.
You know as much as myself REDFLAG that I only vote labour, if my life depended on it.

Stuart If it was anybody else that was asking me to vote for an Independent Scotland providing they answered most of the questions like pensions jobs etc, my problem is I cannot trust Salmond or the SNP. Just take a look at what Salmond is telling England Wales & Northeern Ireland in regards to the Currency Union, he is saying they MUST allow the BoE to be the Bank of Last Resort for Scotland just after we have told them to EFF Off, Salmond wants his cake and eat it too maybe he knows it will all go tits up here in Scotland.

I just hope Scots vote NO on Thuarsday, all it is with Salmond is the title he will claim if we vote Yes instead of being first Minister it will not be long before Salmond claims First President of Scotland.

Redflag.
I too hope like hell for Scotland, that they vote a massive no on Thursday, one to deny him that glory.

.... but I'm looking forward to keeping the clocks at the same time all year round.

What time all year round OW? 9pm?

You did ask for that one, ow...

Or a President...?

Phil, I really do hope not, but I think he is going to shock everybody!!

Like Cameron is going to get in at the next Elections, IMHO.

I mean Phil does Ed Miliband actually sound like a Prime Ministers name?
Is there time to change him before the election comes and get the new guy popular prior to them?

No, Stuart - it's Ed who will seek to remove Cameron from Number Ten and it's far too late to change horses.

In all honesty, none of it will make much difference to me, but I would like to see a bit more social justice for the people who are less lucky than so many of us.

Miliband should have been harassing Cameron at every turn, but he has failed to do so effectively. Heaven help 'the poor' after May 2015, when there is every chance that they will become 'the poorer'...

Exactly Phil, I have just heard that my money is going down in the future, I have to wait for them to contact me, then go for another medical by a government specialist this time.
Then await their decision? then await to see if they start sending me looking for jobs again after I was given a life time off invalidity?

I also agree with you Phil, that Miliband should have been "harassing" Cameron at every turn he could, but where has he been? hardly anywhere in sight, which does not give the Labour voters much confidence does it?

stuart torr wrote:Redflag.
I too hope like hell for Scotland, that they vote a massive no on Thursday, one to deny him that glory.

I am sitting at home bricking it just in case the people of Scotland believe the EFFING LIES that is coming out of the gobs of Salmond and his SNP MSP, because if they vote yes little do they know what the will be voting for the Tories will not give Salmond a currency Union although Salmond keeps telling the people of Scotland that they will just after telling England Wales & Northern Ireland to EFF OFF we want a divorce but we will be keeping the joint bank account, I think this will be decided by a referendum which Cameron will have to offer the rest of the UK.

Have a drink mate, relax there is nothing you can do except vote is there? cannot blame you alone if it goes the wrong way can they Redflag.

stuart torr wrote:Have a drink mate, relax there is nothing you can do except vote is there? cannot blame you alone if it goes the wrong way can they Redflag.

Stuart there is two things you need to know about me first I am female secondly I am orginally from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and still have family living there and if Scots vote yes I will be moving back to Newcastle as quite a few others here in Scotland have said they will be doing and leaving Salmond and his nationalist to it. They are equivilant to the BNP party in England stuart but a lot more nastier.

Being female changes nothing really love, I will still talk to you the same?
I would not blame you at all for moving back home so to speak, you say it as though it is wrong? it isn't Redflag, keep smiling.

stuart torr wrote:Being female changes nothing really love, I will still talk to you the same?
I would not blame you at all for moving back home so to speak, you say it as though it is wrong? it isn't Redflag, keep smiling.

Thank you Stuart I know it would not be wrong me moving back home, but to think that a little piece of CRAP like Salmond would force my hand to move makes me sick. I have been bricking it for the last couple of days because of this bloody vote and the next 24 hours are going to be hell until the results come in then I will know how to go forward, I want to go down south to help the Labour MPs stuff envelopes or campaign to make sure we get a Labour gov't in 2015 and kick the Tories to the kerb for a very long time, I went down to Eastleigh for the by-election in 2013 and had a bloody ball and made some good friends when I was down there and keep in touch via e-mail.

Good for you Redflag.
But should it not be a large piece of crap though as he is hardly little is he?

Good way of making friends too, helping at election times is it not?

So the Scots regard Miliband (and therefore the Labour PARTY ) as an irrelevance.

Umm....

OW. Who says "the scots regard miliband and therefore the labour party as an irrelevance?"
If they did that, would they not vote more tories into seats?

stuart torr wrote:OW. Who says "the scots regard miliband and therefore the labour party as an irrelevance?"
If they did that, would they not vote more tories into seats?

Traditional Labour strongholds - Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, West Dumbartonshire and Dundee all voted yes?

Ironically these are the areas that the Labour Party big guns visited in the last few days.

Incidentally, if the Tories are so hated in Scotland why do they have so many seats in the Scottish Parliament?

K.O.
When you post keen, I cannot always tell if you are labour or tory supporter?
So which are you if you don't mind me asking?

Cameron thinks he has painted the Labour Party into a corner by proposing greater independence now also for England, within the Union.  By which he principally means "no more Jocks voting on English affairs."  With Labour's 40 or so MPs who represent Scottish constituencies penned into something not unlike the Strangers' Gallery for debates on English matters, the next Election could place Labour in Office but not in power.

On Tuesday, Miliband has to give his keynote speech to the Labour Party Annual Conference in Manchester.  It will need to be be a good one.

keenobserver1 wrote:

stuart torr wrote:OW. Who says "the scots regard miliband and therefore the labour party as an irrelevance?"
If they did that, would they not vote more tories into seats?

Traditional Labour strongholds - Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, West Dumbartonshire and Dundee all voted yes?

Ironically these are the areas that the Labour Party big guns visited in the last few days.

Incidentally, if the Tories are so hated in Scotland why do they have so many seats in the Scottish Parliament?

The Tories only have ONE seat in the Scottish Parliament OW, the few others they have are off the list we have the PR system for electing MSP the leader of the Scottish Tories is one of those that got into Parliament via the list. With the UK HOC we only have one Tory MP sent here from Scotland as I have been telling the forum for ages Scotland does not vote Tory, if you look at the numbers Cameron has 305 Tory MPs in the HOC only one comes from Scotland that leaves 304 that where voted into the HOC by the people in England.

Red - The Scottish Conservatives hold 15 seats at Holyrood(note labour have 37 seats), 1 from the first past the post system and the rest via the list(PR). You get one constituency vote and one party vote.

It doen't matter if the seat is won on first past the post or PR it is still a seat out of the 129 available. Of which you need 65 seats to form a majority, which the SNP hold.

keenobserver1 wrote:Red - The Scottish Conservatives hold 15 seats at Holyrood(note labour have 37 seats), 1 from the first past the post system and the rest via the list(PR). You get one constituency vote and one party vote.

It doen't matter if the seat is won on first past the post or PR it is still a seat out of the 129 available. Of which you need 65 seats to form a majority, which the SNP hold.

That recalls the joke about the MSP confronted at Holyrood by a belligerent voter, "Are youse a Tory or Labour?"
To which he replied, "I'm a Member of the Scottish National Party - the SNP."
"Aye, but are youse a Tory SNP or a Labour SNP?"

Nearly right really OW, as they must support one party or the other blue or red SNP.

No, Ed Miliband isn’t slick and he doesn’t pose in the pub with a pint in his hand. So what?

From an article by Bonnie Greer:-

Miliband’s appeal ought to be that he’s not slick. Like most people. Most of us aren’t coached, trained in PR, cleaned up. That we want that from our politicians is tragic and dangerous. Coupled with a climate where we now have political journalists dressing up in silly costumes on TV, engaging in puerile Twitter vendettas and crushes. Politics is rapidly becoming what Americans call “show business for ugly people”. This “infotainment” can end up cheapening the democratic process – and the free press itself, in an era where both are under threat.

He reminds me a lot of the boys I used to teach in primary school – brainy, laughed at, but really happy to play alone. What counted was that in the end, these guys always had the correct answers, and in time, the other kids came to respect them. The popular dummies may have achieved more air time, but the smart kid won. And he didn’t change himself one iota. He was in school to learn, to work. That weird kid had a purpose and a supreme self-confidence. He was on the job.

Essentially Miliband is out to do this: turn the country around in the way that he sees it, make it fairer, more productive, and keep it within the major trading bloc in which it is an important player. He has a big brain and a big mind. The guy thinks and he actually talks. What he wants to do won’t easily fit into 24-hour rolling news, or 140 characters on Twitter. I’ve studied the Labour leader close up and he’s got the makings of a great prime minister.

For the whole article:-
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/no-ed-miliband-isnt-slick-and-he-doesnt-pose-in-the-pub-with-a-pint-in-his-hand-so-what-9756317.html

All well and good.

But he has to get elected, and to do that he somehow, sometime has to be able to convince those 'ugly people' - however unpalatable and shallow that may be.

Not much good being the best Prime Minister who never got to Downing Street...

Phil Hornby wrote:All well and good.

But he has to get elected, and to do that he somehow, sometime has to be able to convince those 'ugly people' - however unpalatable and shallow that may be.

Not much good being the best Prime Minister who never got to Downing Street...

Prophetic as always Mr Hornby......

And after last weeks events in the north I'm afraid it's the Labour Party that is somewhat unpalatable, having sided with Unionists Ed has fueled Nationalist passions in what would have been traditional labour supporters. SNP membership has grown in remarkable numbers in less than a week to now have the third largest membership in the whole of the UK(62,870), this has been assisted by Tommy Sheridan encouraging all nationalist's to galvanize their support behind the SNP to rid Scotland of all the Unionist Parties.

If the offers that were being promised last week aren't fulfilled it is Labour who will face the backlash, the Tories and Lib Dems have nothing to loss in the situation and actually a lot more to gain.

So while Ed is asking for more time to show the Scottish people what Labour can deliver, the time is now or it will be another 5 years in the political wilderness.