Is Corbyn a far left politician?

[unbeliever]

 

Yet nobody seems to want to ask where Osborne's magic money tree is. He's spending like its going out of fashion. No chancellor has ever spent or borrowed more.

 

Ah I see. We're talking about the Conservative spending so we'll do it in cash shall we. Next week when we're talking about spending it'll be in fractions of GDP.

Your massaging of the figures aside, the deficit is being gradually reduced so that public spending does not have to be savaged.

[Eric Arthur]

Corbyn is left of centre, but he is not a Marxist, Trotskyite, hardliner, or anything else extreme.

 

Out of interest, since almost everyone else considers Corbyn to be far left, what would he have to do or say for you to think so too?

[unbeliever]

I have also voted for no-hopers. It doesn't matter how many votes they get, (UKIP's 4,000,000,) under the present system, if they don't get a seat in parliament, they will have no influence whatsoever, and your vote will be wasted.

 

I disagree. I do not consider my vote "wasted" and my preferred candidate lost by a long way. Political parties are influenced by votes. People voting Green drove the main parties to adopt some of their policies. People voting UKIP drove the main parties to adopt some of their policies.

It's far better to vote for a loser than to vote for somebody you don't agree with. It sends the right message to our leaders. It also strengthens the party you support giving them more chance of getting MPs next time around.

[JFKvsNixon]

I disagree. I do not consider my vote "wasted" and my preferred candidate lost by a long way. Political parties are influenced by votes. People voting Green drove the main parties to adopt some of their policies. People voting UKIP drove the main parties to adopt some of their policies.

It's far better to vote for a loser than to vote for somebody you don't agree with. It sends the right message to our leaders. It also strengthens the party you support giving them more chance of getting MPs next time around.

 

I have always struggled with the concept of a wasted vote. A vote should be the representation of your opinion, not a deciding factor in an election.

[I1L2T3]

Ah I see. We're talking about the Conservative spending so we'll do it in cash shall we. Next week when we're talking about spending it'll be in fractions of GDP.

Your massaging of the figures aside, the deficit is being gradually reduced so that public spending does not have to be savaged.

 

We can do it however you want. The record is still not good from any of the last three governments.

 

Osborne never planned to reduce the deficit gradually.

[JFKvsNixon]

We can do it however you want. The record is still not good from any of the last three governments.

 

Osborne never planned to reduce the deficit gradually.

 

Recently I've started to believe, and I have no evidence to back this belief up, that when Osbourne was talking about attacking our deficit aggressively, he was doing so to send a message to the markets and calm them over our levels of debt.

[unbeliever]

Recently I've started to believe, and I have no evidence to back this belief up, that when Osbourne was talking about attacking our deficit aggressively, he was doing so to send a message to the markets and calm them over our levels of debt.

 

I think that was a big part of it.

I think that on a budget to budget basis, he reduced spending as a fraction of GDP as slowly as he could get away with without upsetting the markets.

 

It's nice when arguing on these matters to be able to keep pointing out that spending has risen continuously after correcting for inflation.

[JFKvsNixon]

I think that was a big part of it.

I think that on a budget to budget basis, he reduced spending as a fraction of GDP as slowly as he could get away with without upsetting the markets.

 

It's nice when arguing on these matters to be able to keep pointing out that spending has risen continuously after correcting for inflation.

 

Spending should rise beyond inflation with a growing economy and a rising working population.

[unbeliever]

Spending should rise beyond inflation with a growing economy and a rising working population.

 

It is doing.

 

Do you think it should fall with a shrinking economy?

[JFKvsNixon]

It is doing.

 

Do you think it should fall with a shrinking economy?

 

It depends upon why the economy is shrinking. If it is shrinking due to a shrinking population then yes, if it is shrinking due to a loss of confidence then no.