2012-2013
US Election 2012
The Election in 2012 was foregone, Edwards had spend 3 years reducing poverty through new legislation which fixed social security and medicare making it government run but also putting it in a lockbox so it would only be increased every year. Edwards decided to pass the health act which established the National Health Service in America which made healthcare free at the point of use and though Edwards was attacked for it in 2009 many in 2011 had discovered the benefits of not paying an average of $10,000 a year for their health insurance for liberals the health act had achieved their dream of making sure that those who need healthcare were able to Get it but for those on the right they were getting a tax cut on average $10,000 had helped them but though it required an extra $3,650 in increased taxes to fund the new national health service had allowed the average American to have an extra $6,350 to spend and there was a huge increase in consumer spending which boosted economic growth so in 2011 the economy grew by 5.3% the highest since 1983 but also with the surplus back at $300 billion the Administration had used half of it to pay down the debts, 25% on public spending and 25% on a national investment bank. Edwards had also banned the sale of assault weapons and introduced an optional buy back scheme which gave $3,000 for anyone willing to give up their guns and though the scheme had allowed the US Government to take back 45% of Assult rifles it became Illegal to own an assault weapon but in a huge concession he allowed people to keep their pistols and shotguns.
The Election started with the key issues being Education, The Economy and Foreign Policy, Mitt Romney was nominated as the Republican Nominee and though he was the progressive Republican from Massachusetts who was known for notably introducing Universal Affordable Coverage for Healthcare and the reason this was signficant was because until 2009 this scheme allowed people to healthcare at $120 a month and in return everything would be covered but Edwards as President and Barack Obama as his Vice President had rapidly increased peoples living standards and therefore he had a record to cite in the last 20 years the democrats had ran the country for 12 of them and had created a booming economy and therefore by the time November 6th came around the election was foregone.
It had been a complete landslide, Edwards had won 434 Electoral Votes the biggest victory since 1988 and therefore he knew he had the ability to carry out his policies that he wanted but also some of the states he had won democrats had not won since 1996 but he knew that as a result of this landslide their was a block of voters which will give Barack Obama and the democrats a genuine chance of winning in 4 years time.Budget 2013
The Budget was not a huge give away budget as the revolution had taken place over the last 4 years but more of a solid victory lap for the Labour Party it talked about the national health service which allowed the creation of 35 new hospitals and 50,000 more doctors but equally the budget had allowed an extra £5 billion for education and the biggest policy announcement was the development of a national investment bank which had been announced in 2009 but the bank would have £250 billion instead of £100 billion he announced that from next year British Steel would receive an annual boost of £3 billion. He announced the figures for economic growth which in 2012 was 1.6% which in 2013 would b e 1.8% increasing rapidly to 2.2% in 2014, 2.4% in 2015, 2.6% in 2016 and 2.5% in 2017 the surplus forecasts were higher than expected with £58 billion in 2013,£64 billion in 2014,£71 billion in 2015, £81 billion in 2016 and £86 billion in 2017. These surplus forecasts were strong as therefore by 2015 Britain would be debt free and Corbyn would be allowed to re-change its surplus forecasts which allowed them to put half into a reserve fund, a quarter into public spending and the final 25% in lending to other nations. But this wasn't a giveaway budget.Here We Go
As the Campaign kicked off Labour had a record to be proud off having ran the country for 15 of the last 16 years they knew that the economy was still expanding and the best part was they could shut the tories up by telling them they are the party of economic contempance and prudence because under them the UK had run a budget surplus for the last 16 years which allowed them to pay off the debts by 2015. The Conservative Campaign was fought on a right wing platform Hague knew that whilst he was going to lose he was at least going to try and stick to his principles but he agreed that Cameron and Pickles would get to use some of their charisma and charm to campaign around the country but they agreed they would stick to their policies or would they?
Week One- 13th April 2013
At the end of week one the campaign kicked off with a Labour Party whilst stagnating knew they had power lots of it, with a booming economy and an increasing grip on their power the Labour Party were allowed to talk about how in they first fixed the foundations through funding the NHS and the schools properly and now the nationalisation agenda had worked into reducing prices and making peoples lives better the two of the most popular forms of nationalisation was the railway nationalisation as failing rail companies such as Southern and Northern Rail had been taken over by the government and made into British Rail which allowed prices to be slashed from £22.40 average fare to £15.50 which the government announced that the fares for the next couple of years would be used to modernise the trains eventhough the trains had been adapted for capacity in the context everyone had a seat there was going to be another £2 billion into modernisation. But also Water nationalistion had not only cut the price of water but had cut the percentage of water that was polluted from 5% to 1%.
The Conservatives had ran a campaign based on a right-wing platform, Hague decided to Campaign under the Tebbit trinity which had been used last time and didn't work but though Hague personally disagreed with the idea of running a right-wing campaign he knew that if he courted the votes of the base he could cut Labour's lead and their majority which would then allow Eric Pickles, David Cameron or Peter Lilley to take over and win the next election. Hague was making this election a sort of last hurrah as he knew that he was going on 7th May but also having led the party for nearly a decade he had only led the country for one whole year. But the campaign publicly said they were going to win but privately they said if they won over 220 seats that would be a victory.
As for the Liberal Democrats it was an interesting campaign though Vince Cable was popular and his Deputy Leader Charles Kennedy was liked, the image of the coalition had not been eradicated and the speeches made by David Laws had regularly irritated core voters but they could talk about how they had supported Labour in Scotland and Wales, therefore having been a mediating influence on the Labour Party.
Labour Party Manifesto 16-4-2020
The manifesto was not as radical as 2009 but that was the peak of its radicalism but equally, Labour decided to promise a series of promises which were radical and therefore the following pledges included:
- A fixed increase in spending on front line services every year by at the minimum 3.5%
- NHS Spending will remain fixed at 12% of GDP
- 10,000 more police officers
- Raising of Mainatanance Grants at £9,000 by 2017
- To improve standards in the context of water and gas
- To cut rail fares on the nationalised railways by at least 10%
- To cut the prices nationalised industries by at least 15%
- NO Referendum on the EU
- Striking of a free trade deal with America
- Raising Child Benefit to £30 a week
- Abolishing the Council Tax in favour of the rates
- To Give the 150,000 former miners upto £10,000 In compensation for the way they were treated.
- Re-Establsihing the Greater London Council
- Tax credits to rise to £2,500 by 2016
- Allow Scottish and Welsh Parliaments to become tax raising parliaments
- The Publication of the Electoral Reform Report and to have a Referundum on the electoral formula as proposed by the report.
- Legalising the sale of Cannabis and making sure that those who have drugs for the first time don't go to prison.
- Establishing a Supreme Court by the end of the year
- The Increasing of the northern regeneration fund to £65 billion and to expand the free training schemes
- Using the next G20 Summit to encourage worldwide nuclear DIsaremerment
- Full Employment by 2015
- To have 700 MPs in the 2021 General Election
YouGov Poll- 18-04-13
Labour 45%
Conservative 34%
Lib Dem 18%
Others 3%
Conservative Manifesto 21.4.13
The slogan Firm Action For a Fair Britain had come to define what the party had become a party that was not willing to duck the hard actions the manifesto promised the following things.
- 20,000 more police officers
- £8 billion to be dedicated to build 40 hospitals which will be done through PFI deals
- Cutting the basic rate of tax to 15% and the top rate to 40%
- To support the retention of the 'Zero Tolerance' against bullying policy but abolish the appeals panel
- Cutting the numbers of immigrants to below 50,000
- Privatising Water,Electricity,Gas, Rail and Telecoms
- Looking into the idea of Repatriation of Immigrants
- Allowing Local referendums
- To cut £10 billion over 5 Years
- To not have a Referundum on electoral reform
- To cut the number of MPs to 585
YouGov-23.4.13
Labour 41%
Conservative 36%
Lib Dems 20%
Others 3%
Lib Dem Manifesto 26.4.13
The Manifesto was very much of the centre ground whilst admitting Labour have done some good things they need to improve themselves and therefore the manifesto was very much of the centre it pledged the following things:
- Raising the Persanol Tax Free Allowance to £15,000 by the end of parliament
- Cut Primary School class sizes to 20
- Adopting Labour's drug polcies
- To support Legislation against the erosion of Civil Liberties
- Raising the state pension to £160 a week by 2018
- Abolishing the Council Tax and replacing it with the rates.
- To update the Northern Regeneration Fund to £80 billion
- To have a Referundum on the European Union and Re-Joining the EU
- Supporting the government in ending VAT on Fuel
ComRes Poll
Labour 42%
Conservative 34%
Lib Dems 22%
Election Debate
The campaign had one three way debate with the issues being health, education,welfare,defence and Immigration . The Opening statements began with Dennis Skinner talking about how we must face the decision of our time which requires cool steady and calm leadership. Hague decided to talk about the radical change Britain needs and requires but Cable talked about the Lib Dems being the Head to Labour and the heart of the conservatives.
When the debate started on the issue of Healthcare this was Labour's strong point they knew that on health they had acres of victory laps the fact that when they came to power in 1997 they were at the bottom of the EU In spending and now they were at the top, how since 1977 195 new hospitals have been built, since 1997 there were 126,000 new doctors. Hague couldn't argue with the substance he knew that he supported the NHS spending in government so therefore he talked about his passionate belief in the private sector taking and advisory role but he was subsequently shouted at by skinner saying he and his party hates the NHS and the Lib Dems decided to take the high ground by talking about their fully costed plan to fund the NHS which would give the NHS an extra £6 billion funded by a 1% rise on the basic rate of income tax.
Education was also a key victory for Labour because they could talk about how their education reforms had seen Britain rise to the top 5 nations the world for attainment in English and Maths in the context of secondary school levels. Skinner could also talk about how students have been able to improve as for the first time since 1945 they had made some genuine changes to Education which has allowed students to be at ease while they study and has radically reduced the attainment gap. Skinner publicly promised to not abolish private schools. The pledge allowed Skinner to talk about his reforms but Hague decided to talk about the role for the private sector within the public services which allowed Skinner to Jibe 'Your just a bloody anarchist' which then forced Hague to defend the role of the state which would defy his core objective of playing well to the base.
When it came to Welfare the Labour and the Lib Dems were fairly united on the approach of having a decent humane welfare system that would allow people to be cared for but it would still incentivise work. Labour set out it's plan to increase child benefit and the working tax credits but also set out it's plan to raise the minimum wage to £15 an hour and said this would first start in the nationalised industries and then would try to extend it into the private sector, Hague talked about reducing the minimum wage to £7 an hour in order to give businesses a welcomed break and was swiftly condemned.
On Defence it was a conservative win by a mile, Skinner had been a life long uninatralist meaning he wanted to disarm the UK nuclear weapons which allowed Hague to call Skinner a threat but equally the Labour Party got to talk about their core policy of creating a new peaceful society where nuclear weapons would be peremernantly eridacted once and for all. But the Lib Dems midly attacked the Labour policy so he could keep the right but in his heart of hearts he knew that Nuclear Disarmerment would be good.
When Immigration was debated Hague knew he had to brace himself for what would be a huge attacking for the Labour Party and the Lib Dems Hague knew he had to defend a policy which was just about hated by every single person his policy to repatriate immigrants had severely disgusted many swing voters which allowed Skinner to brand Hague as the 'Intolerant Baldy' the truth is Skinner knew he was going to win the election.
Post Debate Poll
Who won the Debate?
Dennis Skinner 43%
Vince Cable 31%
William Hague 30%
The debate had given Skinner a comfortable victory he decided to fight the election on his traditional message of hope and better days lying ahead, Vince Cable had been able to position himself on the centre ground and take control of the centre ground.
Opnium Poll 30.4.13
Labour 41%
Conservatives 33%
Lib Dems 22%
Media Endorsements
| Labour Newspapers | Conservative Newspapers | Lib Dem Papers |
| Daily Mirror The Sun The Times Morning Star The Independent The Sunday People The Guardian | Daily Expres Daily Mail The Observer The Telegraph The Sunday Telegraph | Financial Times The Guardian |
Eve of Poll
On the eve of poll, Labour were still comfortably ahead by 6% in the polls but Skinner knew he was going to win an Overall Majority, The Labour campaign had been focused on the message it's time to decide on the successes of the Labour Party or to return to the failures of the conservatives. Hague knew that he would lose as he had ran a campaign on the hard right but equally he knew that the campaign had been given some momentum with the help of Eric Pickles doing his famous rally for compassion the intresting part was he headed the banner under the name of reform, he talked about democratic reform within the Conservative party, Though the Liberal Democrats had a lot of momentum they knew they wouldn't gain many seats as the target list was low.
Opnium Poll
Labour 42%
Conservatives 32%
Lib Dems 23%
Election Night 2013
DD-David Dimbebly
LK-Laura Kunessberg
JV- Jeremy Vine
EM- Emily Matlis
JP- Jeremy Paxman
DD- Good Evening and welcome to Election night here on The BBC the campaign began as a two horse race and it finishes with with three people at the gates, Will it be Dennis Skinner being returned to Downing Street, Will William Hague stun the country in coming back to office or will Vince Cable hold the balance, Jeremy Paxman will be interviewing the politicans
JP- Well Up here I will be asking the politicians what went right what went wrong and where do we go from here
DD- David Dimbleby, Jeremy Vine will be displaying his graphics and showing his graphics.
JV- Thank you David in my world of graphics I will be able to show you the Battlegrounds for all the parties their target and defence seats but also I will take you outside Downing Street to show you the paving stones and who will win the election.
DD- And thank you and Laura Kunessberg will be here with me to anylyse the results as they come in
LK- Well David this will be a truly fascinating night if Labour are going to win the second term with a landslide then they will be able to lock down power and hold power for another four years but if the conservatives have come back to win the election despite what the polls say then he will have made a stunning comeback but also can Vince cable do well and we will know in 30 seconds time.
DD- And here is our exit poll, Another Labour landslide Labour will have secured 373 seats, the Conservative 186 MPs, the Lib Dems will get 60 seats this will secure Labour another four or five years in power with a commanding majority of 96.
LK- Well David whilst Labour's majority has been cut by just under a half there is still a comfartable majority for the Labour Party and the conservatives have come no where near there goal of winning or their private goal of 226 seats but the Lib Dems have had an ok night by getting 60 seats they will gain 9 MPs but Labour have won.
Election Result as of 6.31 pm on 8th May 2013
Labour 379 MPs 43.1% 14,213,463
Conservatives 182 MPs 31.8% 9,131,296
Lib Dems 60 MPs 22.8% 6,231,781
Labour Majority of 108
UP NextMore Domestic reforms\
Tory leadership contest
Voting reform
Economic Reforms
2015 Senate Election
2017 General Election
And much more
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