EU elections

Dinahmo, sorry I didn’t make it clear my post was tongue in cheek! I should maybe have said ‘ unelected’ parliament, as it’s used so often by the ‘ leavers’. I’d be interested to know what they think we are voting for!

I think 17 million plus Leavers have to vote for the Brexit Party. I imagine we all agree that the trust in our two major parties is shattered and Parliament is in disarray.

I do hope if we have to vote in the EU elections ALL areas have a Brexit Party candidate.

I’m sure Jura that you know as well I do that MEPs are elected. I feel sure that that you will also be aware that EU Commissioners (current president Jean Paul Juncker) are not elected by the general population but proposed by the government of each country. You will also know I’m sure that the EU Council (current president Donald Tusk) is made up of the Heads of State, Prime Ministers, or leader of each of the 28 countries in the EU. Behind all of these institutions are a mountain of EU civil servants, much like our own civil servants in the U.K. You will no doubt be aware Jura that Jean Claude Juncker’s name was the only name on the ballot paper when he was ‘elected’ by those in the EU, not by you or I. Three levels of government, but only one level of government that is actually elected by the general population of Europe. You may feel this democratic and you may be perfectly happy with this arrangement, but equally many other people are not!

You may feel that we have a similar situation in Britain re The House of Lords. On this I would agree, and it’s high time that The House of Lords was made electable, or done away with altogether.

Jabber there was nothing dodgy about her vote - curfew hours are legitimately changed by agreement to accommodate employment / educational demands ( but not social). I do so wonder why you are not complaining about the vote cast by the white, male, Conservative MP who has been convicted of fraud and is awaiting sentence?

Ah the Brexit Party - the one whose officers have to keep resigning because of their racist online comments?

The new Opinium poll of 2,000 people shows 49% would support a deal being put to a People’s Vote against 30% who would oppose the idea. (If we eliminate the "don't knows" that's 62% in favour, 38% against).

Significantly, Conservative supporters are evenly split, 43% for, 41% against, while Labour supporters show an overwhelming majority of 67 to 10% backing a new vote.

The poll makes grim reading for the main parties: asked about how they planned to vote in European Parliamentary elections on May 23, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party leads the field, narrowly ahead of Labour while the Conservatives are now just 2 per cent ahead of the resurgent Liberal Democrats.

Brexit Party 26
Labour 23
Conservative 13
Liberal Democrat 11
Green 5
SNP 4
UKIP 4
Change UK 2
Plaid Cymru 2
Other 1
Don't Know 10

Meanwhile, insiders at Conservative Campaign Headquarters think they may even come sixth, with no funding being made available for campaigning.

Sam Gyimah MP, the former universities minster, said: “Even if the Government and the Labour Party can agree a customs union deal, it will do nothing to break the spell that Nigel Farage has currently cast on British politics.

“More and more MPs and members of the public are concluding that the only way to secure a stable majority and a lasting settlement is to put this vexed issue back to the people.”

www.peoples-vote.uk/friday_10_may_2019

jura knows maddyone - her comment about WTO voting is just a dig. Best to ignore and don’t rise to the bait.

I’d be happy to have a second referendum. Not on May’s deal which is a dead duck as we all know.

Remain
(at least it would be better terms than anything our Remain negotiations have thrown up so far after nearly 3 torturous years!)

Or

Leave on WTO

A proper IN or OUT without a fudge. I’m not sure Remainers are sure enough of the result that might come out of such a question to take a punt on it though!!

I cannot understand why anyone would vote for Nigel Farage's party if they had seen his appalling behaviour on Question Time last night. He was an outright bully who couldn't answer the question and had the most horrible sneering face. I thought the rest of them were quite dignified despite him. I think I've been fortunate to miss most of his TV appearances.

‘A horrible sneering face’??
He was astounded by Ms Soubry’s duplicitous remarks! He cut in (eventually) and had to say ‘you never listen do you?’ which made the audience (and me at home) cheer in agreement!
And probably Ms Rudd’s faux empathy while she tried to ‘care’ about one of the questioners concerns.
She got let off very lightly as no one mentioned Gideon’s austerity programme.

Go Nige!!

She got let off very lightly as no one mentioned Gideon’s austerity programme.

Oh, do tell us what farage plans to do to revitalise the economy...

Remain
(at least it would be better terms than anything our Remain negotiations have thrown up so far after nearly 3 torturous years!)

What terms were you expecting us to be able to negotiate?

I cant decide how to register my disgust at having to have these gravy train elections.

I dont want or need an MEP -they haven't done me any good so far. I dont want to waste even more money on these elections when I voted to LEAVE - fully understanding what I was voting for and wondering why I am not getting it

Worth repeating Teetime

I feel exactly the same way. I am sure many of us do. That we are having to elect people to the EU parliament 3 years after deciding to cast of that crumbling (and expensive) institution, is a joke. It makes me very angry.

If I do vote, it will be for a Brexit Party candidate, should one be served up in my region.

I am angry that we are still paying MEPs. It IS a gravy train. Ask the man in the street who is MEP is and he is unlikely to know. Ask him what purpose the MEP serves and what his MEP has done for him and he is likely to be completely stumped.

Another very valid reason why we should not be part of the EU. We are pouring billions of taxpayers money into it - to pay MEPs fat wages and glorious pensions, apart from anything else.

Urmston I am disappointed that you couldn't see that or that he spoke over people all the time and was extremely rude. Whatever you think of Brexit I would have expected you to appreciate what an ill-mannered person he was last night.

Day6 I clearly don't know the same 'man in the street' as you. I know people who appreciate the employment laws we have as a result of being in the EU even if they don't fully understand the other benefits.

The man is full of arrogance , with an ego bigger than himself, Of course he appeals to people , he is a good story teller, doesn’t trouble himself with facts, figures, or truth a bully & bullish & he couldn’t give a toss about ‘ the electorate.

apart from all the other htings saida bout him here he's a hypocrite of the highest rank..a man who SAYS he wants out of the EU ,yet who not only has been taking money and massive expenses from there ...and will take a pension...and of course HIS family all hav egerman passports so they will still benefit from the EU .Why would any sane person think hes worth voting for or even listening to?

DH and I have postal votes which we have filled in and posted.

We have both voted for the Brexit party to demonstrate our disgust with the Tory infighting. I imagine a lot of Labour leavers will do the same.

Nigel Farage was quite correct in distancing himself from the now very racist UKIP and forming his own party.

I hope the polls predicting them to do well are correct.

A big vote for the so-called brexit party is hardly likely to make the UK less of a laughing stock

Farage distanced himself from UKIP because he didn't get his own way The one man band that is the Brexit party is totally undemocratic with no membership and no voting rights. Sounds a bit familiar. Anyone noticed how much he looks like Homer Simpson?

* I know people who appreciate the employment laws we have as a result of being in the EU*

This is another tactic and a complete red herring.

Do you really think we would have draconian working practice if it were not for Brussels and the EU?

Really?

Come on.

We are not a backward third world country, and our present government, like it or not has raised the minimum wage and given tax cuts to the lowest earners. If sweat shops exist they do so under the radar. (All over the world)

EU working conditions and laws allow a mobile workforce to travel from country to country, accepting the lowest wages, doing the dirtiest of jobs and having no real job security . Why? Because those workers cannot be unionised. They have no rights - and greedy employers love it and make profits/get wealthy off their hard-working backs.

Go and look at what the late Union man, Bob Crow had to say about EU working practices!

It's about time we stopped seeing the EU as the saviours of civilised life! It's complete rot.

We are transferring all EU legislation that serves us over anyway, (for when we finally leave) and you know that.

As I understand it we go into the polling booth with a list of names and number them in order of preference. Can anyone explain to me whether I should number one from each of the Remain parties or all for the same party? Or should I just number 3 of them? What is the best way to vote Remain?

The one man band that is the Brexit party is totally undemocratic with no membership and no voting rights

As you know, in its present form the Brexit Party is a one issue party designed to contest the EU elections. As for backers, candidates and people willing to support it and pay £25 membership - well the incredible numbers since it's inception have the two main parties running scared.

But we know this.

Day6 didn't I read somewhere that the Brexit party is a company rather than a party? Not sure where I read it.

Supporters pay £25, but NOT for membership. They have no say in policy, candidates, leadership or anything else. They give their money to liar Farage to do what he likes and some of them think they are actually members of a political party. You can certainly fool a lot of the people for some of the time.

Nonnie I don't think that's how the EU elections work. Under the D'Hondt system of voting you can only chose a party and depending on the number of votes that party gets in your constituency, you may help elect 1 or more candidates or none. If two were to be elected, it will be the the top two from the party list.

You only have one vote so you cannot vote, say for the LibDems with the Greens as second choice (as in other PR voting systems).