Vocal Voices

She breaks the spirit of the law and calls a general election and pretends it is about Brexit when it was nothing but an opportunistic tactic to boost the Tories.

She is now doing the 'immigration' thing and the media are lapping it up as definite thing that will happen.

So we are back to the "tens of thousands", "important to continue to aim for "sustainable" levels.", ""not about putting numbers on it" but about ensuring Britain had the skilled workers", "important that we do say and continue to say that we do want to bring migration to sustainable levels".

And then this: "Once we leave the EU, we will of course have the opportunity to ensure we have control of our borders. We will be able to establish our rules for people coming from the EU. That is a part of the picture we have not been able to control before."

So, it is important to aim for and to say that we need sustainable numbers just so long as we plebs do not get to know the numbers, which ones are sustainable, and when they will be achieved.

It is all b*llocks, especially the last bit. The UK can close the borders to those from outside the EU, now, today. I will put a number on it: 0. We could also reduce the numbers from the EU as we have always had the right to do by simply enforcing EU rules in the same way the French, Italians, Spanish, Dutch and others have done. We can also use some of our own rules regarding benefits for housing, jobseeking, child credits, and so on. OK we cannot stop all EU citizens from coming, but we can put off a lot of them from making the attempt if we make it known that the streets are not paved of gold.

We are all in for a slow death by soundbite.

Workingman wrote:We are all in for a slow death by soundbite.

Well it could be Sturgeon you're listening to.... On a scale of disingenuous sound bite drivel, May is not even getting into the low 20's compared to Sturgeon....

Reality? We bring in tens of thousands of students every year, they pay shedloads into our Universities. So tens is not going to fly. 100 - 200? Possibly. For me it's the balance. I want the net figures not the weekly, monthly or annual influx. I want to see how many leave and how many come in over a 5 year period. I want the permanent number to be low tens, not the transient number. I want to know how many NI numbers are being issued and how that balances against the numbers coming in (working as opposed to studying or just staying).

But people don't want to think about it, they just want to hear someone say simple things. Well they do say that simple things please simple minds....

It is a very complicated subject on which people want simple answers. Hence it does not make sense. What a surprise.

They are going to win, I fear. I am horribly depressed about the whole damn thing, to be honest

Me too. The more I see and hear of May the less I like her.

Same.

Well I like her and I'm glad she and the Conservatives are going to win.

I don't think it is fair to say she called a general election purely for political motives. I have no doubt she weighed up the options before she made the call. Certainly she will hope to be returned with a far bigger majority, as she is in it to win it just like the leaders of the other parties. She has had a mandate from the country to leave the EU yet she is being undermined by those with genuine concerns and those who want only to make mischief, even from within her own party, so working with such a small majority will definitely weaken her hand in getting the best deal for the UK.. Does she rise above the taunts from Nicola Sturgeon that she has never had a mandate from the public to lead the Conservative Party, or does she see re-election with a large majority as a means of putting these sniping remarks to rest. She has asked for a mandate from the electorate as a means of strengthening her hand, and being a Brexiteer I am happy to give her my vote. She said when she was elected leader of the Conservative Party that she would be looking after every one of us. not just the privileged few, and I hope she keeps that promise. She made a good start by getting rid of George Osborne to the back benches.

Well, at the moment I have faith in May (the woman, not the month!), for the simple
reason that there doesn't seem anything else to have faith in.

At the same time, it does seem to me that we will be very lucky indeed if we manage
to get through leaving the E.U. without serious problems. I fear there will be too much
talking, and not enough action.

Well it's all electioneering and I don't trust any of them, but at the end of the day, you have to take a long hard look at what in general terms each of them stands for, and vote accordingly.

Indeed, you may want to vote against a party or a candidate rather then for them, which is what seems to have happened in France with an anti-Le Pen rather than pro-Macron vote, and indeed, had I still been in Birmingham, I would have voted Tory in the Mayoral election just to ensure that joke of a Labour candidate, Sion Simon, didn't win, and in the General Election I'd have plumped for anyone but the Tory Mr. Plebgate. It really shows you just how far our respect for our politicians has fallen ...

I see in passing the French adopted WM's long-held proposals of allowing and counting Votes Nul (spoiled ballots) and Votes Blanc (no preference shown), and these eventually totalled a fair few million, which was quite interesting .....

It's a shame that people can't see past the candidate and look at the policies! We do not elect a person, we don't have a presidential system here, we elect a party! I'm sick of hearing people say that they don't like Corbyn. Well without him we will have a privatised NHS, further cuts to education and services. Do you realise that many schools are having their funding cut to the tune of around 50k pa next year? Each? Already in some schools parents are being asked to contribute to make up shortfall to buy books. Teachers and medical staff are quitting in their droves. Virgin Care is already taking over a lot of medical care.

I hope Tory voters remember all this five or ten years down the line