[Debatewise RRT] Re: General election debates
- From: Harriet Lowe <tehexile@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: debatewiserrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2010 23:30:37 +0000
I'll take
People on job seekers allowance who refuse a job should lose their benefits
On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 7:08 PM, Alex Helling <alex@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Evening all,
>
>
>
> Things are slightly different today. Due to the upcoming elections
> Debatewise will be working with votematch to help give voters an idea as to
> the issues behind the policies of the parties. This means we have rather a
> lot of debates to do and unfortunately the people behind votematch have
> given us very little time in which to do these debates so we need your help
> to create them.
>
>
>
> I have listed all the debates that need doing below (we may get some more
> for Scotland/Wales/NI later) so if you could take them as usual. I have also
> listed some similar debates for reference. Equally for the ones I have been
> doing please add to them and I apologise to those of you whose points I have
> cannibalised in order to create the debates!
>
>
>
> Because we only have the 19th to create these debates if you take one and
> then decide you can’t do it please email me in plenty of time so that we can
> do the debate here at HQ
>
>
>
> And finally could you please put the debates on our election site rather
> than the normal Debatewise site: http://electionuk.debatewise.org/ (you
> can log in with your usual details)
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Alex
>
>
>
> Debates on the site for you to add to:
>
>
> http://electionuk.debatewise.org/debates/1734-an-independent-board-should-allocate-nhs-resources-to-different-parts-of-the-country
>
>
> http://electionuk.debatewise.org/debates/1733-the-cost-of-nhs-administration-should-be-cut-by-one-third
>
>
> http://electionuk.debatewise.org/debates/1735-the-government-should-withdraw-troops-from-afghanistan-with-a-year
>
> * *
>
> * *
>
> *Economy:*
>
>
>
> The Bank of England should have overall responsibility for financial
> oversight
>
> The financial crisis and the recession that have affected us over the last
> few years have shown that we need a change in the regulatory system that
> provides oversight for the city and the banks. The Financial Services
> Authority having failed the Conservatives believe that the Bank of England
> have much more power over the financial sector.
>
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5906113/Sir-James-Sassoon-why-I-told-the-Tories-to-scrap-the-FSA.html
>
> http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.asp?id=12296
>
>
> http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldselect/ldeconaf/101/10108.htm
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/870
>
>
>
> The Government should be compelled by law to cut the deficit by 50% within
> 4 years
>
> The UK is currently running a budget deficit of 12%, that is higher than
> Greece a country that is in particularly hot water due to its fiscal
> imprudence. Everyone agrees that this has to be reduced, but how quickly
> should this be done and how far does it need to be cut? No one really knows.
> Governments do not like making big cuts in services as they are unpopular so
> introducing a law forcing a cut in the deficit within a certain time could
> be useful to whichever party wins the election.
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/07/deficit-fetishism-government-spending
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8514767.stm
>
> http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=ay3jUtAyftac
>
>
>
> All departments should bear the brunt of spending cuts to reduce the
> deficit
>
> Both the Conservatives and the Labour party are promising to ring fence
> some areas from any spending cuts, areas such as international development
> and the NHS. However such ring fencing simply means that the cuts have to be
> bigger elsewhere in order to make up for the inability to cut in some areas.
> This is unequal. The public may say they care most about the NHS but they
> may change their tune when they find that the fire service is drastically
> cut back because their can’t be cuts in other areas.
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/sep/16/public-spending-departments-money-cuts
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/05/financial-crisis-public-spending-tax
>
>
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7034353.ece
>
>
>
> *Employment and Equal Ops:*
>
>
>
> All companies who employ more than 250 people should be forced to publish
> an annual report comparing the average pay of men with the average pay of
> women in the company.
>
> Pay between men and women doing the same job is supposed to be equal, but
> even if and where it is there are many other little inequalities that
> reducing the earning power of women. Having to publish a comparison between
> the average earnings of men and women at companies would show which
> companies are closing the gender gap and which have some way to go. Naming
> and shaming is a way that may encourage firms to voluntarily equalise pay.
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jan/06/equality-bill-pay
>
>
> http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2009-09-14/gender-pay-gap-stays-as-wide-as-ever
>
>
>
> The total hours allowed in a working week should not be decided by the EU
>
> The French and the Europeans generally are stereotyped in Britain and the
> US as being much more fun loving and wishing to work shorter working weeks
> than ‘Anglo-Saxon economies’ such as Britain. However the European Union now
> has a big say over many areas of regulation that were previously the
> preserve of Westminster. The amount of time we work is one of them. The
> working time directive is one of them. It limits us to a working week of 48
> hours, however we are perfectly at liberty to set our own national limits on
> working weeks that are less than 48 hours as several European countries
> have.
>
>
> http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timcollard/100007914/the-working-time-directive-the-one-jewel-in-the-eus-plastic-crown/
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/17/eu-work-and-careers
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/818
>
>
>
> People on job seekers allowance who refuse a job should lose their benefits
>
> When there are millions looking for work people should be given every
> incentive they can be to make sure that if they get offered a job they take
> it. It is a simply a drain on the state’s resources if someone refuses a job
> and carries on collecting jobseekers allowance the state should not nanny
> people until they happen to find a job that they like. Job seekers should be
> given the option of either taking the first job they are offered or losing
> their benefits if they wish to turn it down.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7176032.stm
>
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6605850.ece
>
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/1574822/Tories-to-strip-benefits-if-jobless-refuse-work.html
>
> * *
>
> *Immigration and Asylum:*
>
>
>
> Asylum seekers should be allowed to work while waiting for their
> application to be processed
>
> Asylum seekers sitting around doing nothing is of no use to anyone. They
> should instead be doing something productive while waiting to see if their
> asylum application is granted. Not allowing them to work forces them into
> poverty while they wait for our slow system of processing applications to
> pass them through the system. If they are allowed to work and if at the end
> of it all they are rejected at least they will have gained something during
> their stay and contributed to the economy.
>
>
> http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-let-asylumseekers-work-1609199.html
>
>
> http://www.newstatesman.com/global-issues/2007/10/asylum-seekers-work-amnesty
>
>
> http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/campaigns/livingghosts/destituteanddesperate
>
>
>
> ID cards should be compulsory for immigrants and asylum seekers
>
> The Home office keeps getting into difficulties with asylum seekers, either
> through having more than predicted or with failures to deport asylum seekers
> who then go on to commit crimes. Having ID cards compulsory for immigrants
> means that it is much more difficult for the home office to lose people. ID
> cards are meant to reduce the numbers of people working illegally so this
> makes immigrants an obvious target group and they provide a test case for
> any eventual role out for everyone.
>
>
> http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/managingborders/idcardsforforeignnationals/
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1793151.stm
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jun/09/labour-id-cards
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/1
>
>
>
> People committed of crimes who were not born in this country should be
> deported
>
> People who have committed crimes who were not born here should consider
> themselves to have forfeited their right to stay in the UK. While it seems
> obvious that where possible we should deport violent criminals who are not
> native there are many circumstances where it would not be appropriate.
> Should we be deporting everyone convicted for petty crimes? What do we do if
> the country they come from is not safe?
>
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1563890/Foreigners-commit-fifth-of-crime-in-London.html
>
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6211514.ece
>
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/7149720/Failure-to-deport-foreign-criminals-costs-60m-a-year.html
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/691
>
>
>
> *Parliamentary Reform:*
>
>
>
> There should be a referendum on changing the electoral system for General
> Elections in the next Parliament.
>
> The current first past the post electoral system that we have in this
> country no longer interprets the people’s wishes very well. It is very
> possible that the conservatives may get a bigger percent of the votes while
> getting fewer seats than Labour. The Liberal democrats and other small
> parties will almost certainly be even worse off. Although it might not
> include a range of possible electoral systems a referendum would at least
> allow a debate on the issue of electoral reform and it is likely than any
> system decided on would be more representative than our present one.
>
> http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/votingsystems/systems.htm
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/09/bill-define-election-brown-legacy
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8492622.stm
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/155
>
>
>
> The number of MPs should be reduced by 10%
>
> During this parliament many MPs have discredited themselves and the Houses
> of Parliament with their excessive expenses claims. While there have been
> reforms put in place to reduce these claims there are still a total of 646
> MPs in the House of Commons. The House of Representatives in the USA has 435
> congressmen to represent a population almost five times the size.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7294330.stm
>
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6078282.ece
>
>
>
> The Government should legislate for elections to the House of Lords within
> the next Parliament
>
> Labour has been promising an elected House of Lords since they were elected
> in 1997, there has been progress with hereditary peers leaving however there
> has been no movement to having the House of Lords elected rather than
> appointed. If we are going to lecture dictators on the benefits of democracy
> we should show that we believe in them too, an appointed chamber such as we
> have now shows that we do not take democracy seriously. But is legislating
> to create an elected House of Lords really a priority with the economy in
> such a bad state?
>
> http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm41/4183/ref-08.htm
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/20/parliament-reform-house-of-lords
>
> http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/article.php?id=30
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/1223
>
>
>
> *Pensions and Retirement:*
>
>
>
> Pensions should be tied to average earnings in the next Parliament
>
> Margret Thatcher in 1980 abolished the link that there had been between
> pensions and average earnings meaning that the state pension has been
> falling in value relative to earnings in almost every year since. This is
> obviously unfair, however it would be very costly to restore the link and
> the public purse is in no position to foot the bill in the near future.
>
>
> http://colineldridge.org.uk/news/000025/bring_back_link_between_pensions_and_earnings_say_lib_dems.html
>
>
>
> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-target-state-pension-in-battle-to-balance-books-1787328.html
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/790
>
>
>
> The retirement age should be scrapped
>
> Scrapping the retirement age would potentially solve numerous current and
> future problems. It could help reduce our budget deficit if the state
> retirement age is increased meaning less is paid out while if more people
> are working then there will be more money coming in to the treasury. So long
> as there is a retirement age it is easy for companies to pressurise people
> who want to work into retirement. In the future having no retirement age
> would help combat the problems of an ageing population such as a shrinking
> workforce and their being less people to pay for pensioners pensions.
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jan/25/retirement-age-scrapped-equality-commission
>
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/7309292/State-pension-age-should-be-70-PwC-says.html
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/848
>
> * *
>
> *Sovereignty and Devolution: *
>
> * *
>
> There should be an English Parliament
>
> We have a Scottish Parliament, a Welsh Assembly and a Assembly at Stormont
> for Northern Ireland that has just voted to have policing and justice powers
> devolved to them. This leaves England, with most of the British population
> without its own parliament. In many cases the MPs for Wales, Scotland and
> Northern Ireland can vote on laws that can only affect England while English
> MPs have very little say over what happens in those areas with their own
> assemblies, this represents a democratic deficit that has to be sorted out.
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/18/devolution-england-pseudo-democracy
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8558466.stm
>
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/philipjohnston/7396040/David-Cameron-will-have-to-finally-address-English-resentment-over-devolution.html
> http://debatewise.org/debates/1246
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/3
>
>
>
> There should be a referendum on the UK’s continued membership of the
> European Union.
>
> We were denied a vote on the Lisbon treaty that many wanted, although so
> far the results of the treaty have been less than spectacular. The UK has
> however had a referendum on its membership and voted to become a member of
> the EEC, so should a referendum simply be on the changes that have taken
> place since then? There is very little in the way of referendums in Britain,
> so such a referendum on leaving the EU should only occur if a party that has
> promised one in its election manifesto wins the election. Many would like to
> have a referendum on the continued membership of the EU so putting aside
> questions about what do we do if we leave the EU should we get to vote?
>
>
> http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/9238909/Would_Britain_vote_to_leave_the_EU/
>
>
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1225053/A-referendum-Mr-Cameron-COULD-people.html
>
>
> http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23763500-tories-set-to-retreat-on-eu-referendum-pledge.do
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/846
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/784
>
>
>
>
>
> *Tax:*
>
>
>
> Marriage should be incentivised through the tax system.
>
> David Cameron has proposed a that marriage should be incentivised, although
> he rapidly had to retreat due to not having the proposal all costed. The
> Conservative proposals would have a transferrable tax allowance for all
> married couples costing £3.2 billion. The tax system is regularly used to
> incentivise or punish behaviour such as smoking or drinking. So it should
> incentivise things that are good for us such as marriage which provides for
> more stability, particularly for children.
>
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7005840/Marriage-is-good-for-us-its-time-to-support-it.html
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/18/family-marriage-tax-cameron-labour
>
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6992961.ece
>
>
>
> Estates less than £1million pounds should not be liable for Inheritance Tax
>
> Inheritance tax, often portrayed as the ‘death tax’ by its opponents.
> Everyone dislikes having to pay tax, but why should we be bothered about
> paying taxes on unearned wealth. An inheritance is a windfall so it makes no
> difference to those gaining the windfall if the taxman shares in the gain.
> Does it make a difference if it is a relatively small amount?
>
>
> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/clarke-back-in-line-on-inheritance-tax-cut-policy-1652601.html
>
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/alicethomson/3554424/Ive-changed-my-mind-on-inheritance-tax.html
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/1182
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/333
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/1052
>
>
>
> People earning less than £10,000 pounds a year should not have to pay
> Income tax
>
> Income tax for an income below £10,000 seems like a pointless excercise.
> The treasury is not likely to get much money out of the tax and at the same
> time will be encouraging those people who earn such small amounts to stay on
> welfare payments instead of spending their time working in return for their
> pittance. However even if they do pay income tax the chances are they will
> be able to get as much back in benefits and means tested allowances. They
> still use the free services of the state such as the NHS and the education
> system so should they not pay for it?
>
>
> http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/alexsingleton/8046867/Its_inefficient_and_unfair_to_make_poor_people_pay_income_tax/
>
> http://debatewise.org/debates/1013
>
>
>
>
>
> Use Revisewise @ http://revisewise.debatewise.com/
>
>
>
Other related posts:
