Eastleigh ....

[miasmum]

because I have always voted Lib Dem and I still believe they would be good as a party in power without having to cowtail to the Conservatives.

I still believe that if people had voted for what they wanted in the General Election instead of voting for what they didn't want, trying to be smart, the Lib Dems would have stood a chance of being the party in power.

The Lib Dems were full of promises, but they ARE NOT the party in power, so no they can't deliver

[KateLMead]

Farage has made a few million since engulfing himself in the EU, just look at the cut of the cloth on all of them.. Yes inspite of his gained wealth I would vote UKIP... anything to keep the Libs, the Conservatives (inspite of their mad cap ideas supposedly to get this country on track when at the same time agreeing to England being open house to everyone and anyone, thanks to the damned EU, and I would vote for the Loony party, anything to stop the totally irresponsible Labour party getting back in power, who when they were in encouraged millions of foreigners to enter these Isles, no medical check up's and obviously no criminal records checked, a massive percentage of these individuals are bleeding this country dry at our expense..We have the workers, but we have a greater percentage who should never be here, and there is more to come...
Lib Democrats Never! what a bunch!! we even have Clegg's wife and her overseas dodgy business deals, all kept very quiet.. And I would NEVER vote Labour...
We never learn in this country, shout all we like, but we do nothing, the English are now the minority in so many towns and cities, many are no go areas, we have become third rate citizens in our own country where our opinions amount to nothing.. Whoever we vote for this country of ours has had it. we need a REVOLUTION..

[Kaz]

because I have always voted Lib Dem

I have too Shell but am unsure these days - I was very disappointed when they got into bed with the Tories I feel very torn these days as to how I will vote in future

[Oojamaflip]

These days because they are all the same as each other, I vote on one issue alone: whoever promises to get us out of the clutches of the EU and allows us once again to be politically/economically autonomous.

[Workingman]

I voted for the LibDems fully expecting a coalition to be formed, however, I hoped for a lot more from them than they are delivering. They have been a huge disappointment. I expected a lot more horse trading from them and for them to walk away from some of the more divisive Tory policies.

God only knows who I will go for next time, I feel a NOTA vote coming on because the parties are becoming (have become) indistinguishable from each other.

[cromwell]

Disaster? Humiliation?
These are the terms being bandied about by the media on the Tories not winning Eastleigh.
They came within 2,000 votes of winning - is that a disaster?
It does seem to me that a script has been written and the media are sticking to it, regardless of whether the facts fit or not.

[Suff]

We talk about them all being the same nowadays. Interestingly, thinking about this, I guess the only surprise is the Tory party and then if you think further it's not that much of a surprise really.

Labour and the Lib Dems. Where do they come from? The Whigs, Liberals and Labour (of which I class the Dems), are both of a type. Social justice, rights for employees, not just employers, social services etc.

Fine so we have social justice, we have social services, we have rights for employees (perhaps a tad too many rights but that depends on interpretation).

So what do they have left? Nothing. We have what they stood for and now what do they do? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But they keep on trying to F it all the time. Constantly playing games to "prove" that they still have a job to do.

Whereas the Tories stand for the economy and business growth and stability. Their role has not changed since they first started. But they have to change because the other parties have expended so much effort convincing us that there are still things to change.

End result?

All parties trying to hold the middle ground.
All parties with the same message
All parties with no real difference

But if you think about it, there is a difference. The Tories have a job to do and the rest are just playing games. Now when we talk about the biggest business in the country (namely the economy of the country), who do you really want running it? People who are playing games or people who are getting a job done?

Well that's my take anyway. That is also why I like single issue parties. They should get the job done and then hand power back to those parties who don't have the guts to do the job themselves.... Not that it really happens that way. They tend to get themselves too firmly into the trough and don't want to go back to working for a living.

I feel Cromwell is also right. This was not a disaster for either the Tories or the Lib Dems. It may have been a strong surge for UKIP, however if it has been a disaster for anyone it has been a disaster for them. They should have taken this seat and they didn't. When will they get a better opportunity to get a platform in Westminster? I commend them not parachuting Farage in, however it might have been the better option for them rather than integrity at this stage.