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Vote for your Progressive Alliance candidate. Both Greens and Lib Dems have signed up to this and will hopefully put forward one agreed candidate locally in you

by awjr 10y ago

Vote for your Progressive Alliance candidate. Both Greens and Lib Dems have signed up to this and will hopefully put forward one agreed candidate locally in your area. Basically you are voting for an Anti-Brexit and pro proportional representation candidate. This is not about party allegiance, this is all about brexit.

johnlbevan2 10y ago
Related link: https://action.greenparty.org.uk/progressive-alliance https://action.greenparty.org.uk/progressive-alliance
Silhouette 10y ago
This is not about party allegiance, this is all about brexit. Which, frankly, is scary in itself. Brexit, in whatever form, is far the only thing that matters in government. We also have significant and immediate concerns about the NHS, the education system at several different levels, our transport and communications infrastructure, our energy infrastructure, the environment and natural resources, the changing nature of work and employment, over-centralisation around London, the erosion of civil liberties, and other issues. Many of these could have far greater effects on the average citizen than anything to do with Brexit is likely to cause, even over the next few years and certainly in the long term, but they're being drowned out by an issue that is, in the big picture, simply not that big a deal.
- awjr 10y ago
  When 40% of your NHS workforce are potentially at risk due to Brexit, or when farming as we know it will collapse, then it very very much is a big deal. However you are right that what should be happening is that the current intended prosecutions for electoral fraud should be completed (report due 12th of June) before any election is considered. The opposition parties should not be voting for to enact an election.
  - Silhouette 10y ago
    The 40% figure you mentioned is far higher than I've seen previously, for example here: https://fullfact.org/immigration/immigration-and-nhs-staff/ https://fullfact.org/immigration/immigration-and-nhs-staff/ That dates from last year, but suggests only 5% of NHS staff overall and 10% of doctors at that time were immigrants from elsewhere in the EU, and that this was a lower proportion than immigrants from non-EU nations. Talk of farming collapsing also seems rather extreme. There are some important subsidies from the EU that do support genuine farming, but there is a lot more in the CAP that really doesn't. I'm far more worried about not just underfunding but morale in the NHS, and in those who are leaving it or who might consider working within it in the future. For example, the figures for doctors planning leaving the profession in the near future compared to those starting to train to become doctors are not comfortable reading next to our predicted national demographics in the future. I'm also far more worried about the kinds of conditions that make genuine farming need hand-outs to be viable. If that is the case then it seems likely that market forces and/or national resilience strategies have failed catastrophically already and those problems need to be addressed in their own right. It's not that Brexit couldn't affect these things, I just think some of our existing problems are significantly bigger and their effects longer-lasting than any likely changes due to post-Brexit arrangements.

by awjr 10y ago

johnlbevan2 10y ago

Related link: https://action.greenparty.org.uk/progressive-alliance https://action.greenparty.org.uk/progressive-alliance

Silhouette 10y ago

This is not about party allegiance, this is all about brexit. Which, frankly, is scary in itself. Brexit, in whatever form, is far the only thing that matters in government. We also have significant and immediate concerns about the NHS, the education system at several different levels, our transport and communications infrastructure, our energy infrastructure, the environment and natural resources, the changing nature of work and employment, over-centralisation around London, the erosion of civil liberties, and other issues. Many of these could have far greater effects on the average citizen than anything to do with Brexit is likely to cause, even over the next few years and certainly in the long term, but they're being drowned out by an issue that is, in the big picture, simply not that big a deal.

awjr 10y ago
When 40% of your NHS workforce are potentially at risk due to Brexit, or when farming as we know it will collapse, then it very very much is a big deal. However you are right that what should be happening is that the current intended prosecutions for electoral fraud should be completed (report due 12th of June) before any election is considered. The opposition parties should not be voting for to enact an election.
- Silhouette 10y ago
  The 40% figure you mentioned is far higher than I've seen previously, for example here: https://fullfact.org/immigration/immigration-and-nhs-staff/ https://fullfact.org/immigration/immigration-and-nhs-staff/ That dates from last year, but suggests only 5% of NHS staff overall and 10% of doctors at that time were immigrants from elsewhere in the EU, and that this was a lower proportion than immigrants from non-EU nations. Talk of farming collapsing also seems rather extreme. There are some important subsidies from the EU that do support genuine farming, but there is a lot more in the CAP that really doesn't. I'm far more worried about not just underfunding but morale in the NHS, and in those who are leaving it or who might consider working within it in the future. For example, the figures for doctors planning leaving the profession in the near future compared to those starting to train to become doctors are not comfortable reading next to our predicted national demographics in the future. I'm also far more worried about the kinds of conditions that make genuine farming need hand-outs to be viable. If that is the case then it seems likely that market forces and/or national resilience strategies have failed catastrophically already and those problems need to be addressed in their own right. It's not that Brexit couldn't affect these things, I just think some of our existing problems are significantly bigger and their effects longer-lasting than any likely changes due to post-Brexit arrangements.