The Defence Secretary has given a clear indication to Sky's Adam Boulton that the General Election will be held on May 6.
"I think the British public will wake up and rue the day if they wind up with a Conservative government in charge of this country after May 6," Bob Ainsworth said.
Bookmaker Coral suspended betting on date of the election.
Spokesman David Stevens said: "The month of May had been the odds-on favourite prior to Bob Ainsworth's comments on Sky News, and his mention of May 6th as the crucial date was enough for us to close the book."
Mr Ainsworth is not the first minister to appear to give away the date of the election.
Earlier this month Europe Minister Chris Bryant told diplomats discussing recent tensions between Britain and countries including Venezuela: "I hope that by the time of the general election on May 6, relations will have improved."
Later, he told Sky News that he had "no idea" when the election would be.
Sky's political correspondent Joey Jones said: "It's the sort of mistake all ministers are hoping to avoid at present.
"Of course they are aware the likely date of the election is the 6th May, but the final decision rests with Gordon Brown on this one, and Bob Ainsworth is as aware of that as anyone else."
The last possible date the General Election can be held is June 3. However, the Tories are preparing for one as early as March.
Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove told Adam Boulton it was a decision for the Prime Minister but added: "The sooner the better, as far as I'm concerned."
I'm not sure about voting this year.
It may be a good idea for me to stay out of this. Politics never were my cup of tea.
Labour have destroyed this country. Gordon Brown seriously needs to sort his priorities out. But he won't be in much longer anyway if my guess is right. I'd be interested to see how things would change under Cameron's leadership. He seems to promise great things. But so did Barack Obama and you don't hear much of him any more these days, do you? It appears to be his wife who gets more coverage in the papers.
Are you voting this year Lewis? Do you want to?
It's time someone put this country back on its feet. I think the pound has already gone below the Euro, but I'm not sure of the current situation on that at the moment. Britain is losing its strength and Gordon Brown's inept leadership put us in an economic depression which we are still yet to fully escape from. What went wrong?
But I guess that anybody who becomes PM is bound to end up hated by the whole country eventually. Guaranteed. Not a nice job at all. All those people relying on your word whom you are bound to let down...
May 6 is still a few months off. I believe I may have changed my mind on this by then and I may throw in a vote. I'll help keep this thread alive... me, you, Skul and our new member Wibberley seem to be the only Brits on here at the moment.
i_like_1981 wrote:I'm not sure about voting this year.
It may be a good idea for me to stay out of this. Politics never were my cup of tea.
Labour have destroyed this country. Gordon Brown seriously needs to sort his priorities out. But he won't be in much longer anyway if my guess is right. I'd be interested to see how things would change under Cameron's leadership. He seems to promise great things. But so did Barack Obama and you don't hear much of him any more these days, do you? It appears to be his wife who gets more coverage in the papers.
Are you voting this year Lewis? Do you want to?
It's time someone put this country back on its feet. I think the pound has already gone below the Euro, but I'm not sure of the current situation on that at the moment. Britain is losing its strength and Gordon Brown's inept leadership put us in an economic depression which we are still yet to fully escape from. What went wrong?
But I guess that anybody who becomes PM is bound to end up hated by the whole country eventually. Guaranteed. Not a nice job at all. All those people relying on your word whom you are bound to let down...
May 6 is still a few months off. I believe I may have changed my mind on this by then and I may throw in a vote. I'll help keep this thread alive... me, you, Skul and our new member Wibberley seem to be the only Brits on here at the moment.
Best regards, i_like_1981
I have to register first, but I am a bit cynical about the parties. I do think cuts are needed to help reduce the debt, but Brown appears to be in dream world about our money problems. I just hope things improve.
Gordon Brown gives backing to voting reform referendum
Gordon Brown today announced a referendum on a new voting system by October next year.
The Prime Minister finally committed Labour to ditch the traditional first-past-the-post system in favour of one where voters rank their preferences in order.
â??If the people decide to back this system, it offers voters increased choice with the chance to express preferences for as many candidates as they wish,â? he said.
The Alternative Vote system planned is similar to that used to elect London's Mayor. Voters put a â??1â? by their favourite and can rank the rest in order.
If nobody gets an overall majority, the second preferences of the bottom candidate are counted, and so on until an overall winner emerges.
The change would be a modest boost to the Liberal Democrats as all votes would count. But Nick Clegg has called the idea â??worthlessâ? because it falls short of his goal of a proportionate system.
Mr Brown secured Cabinet agreement this morning and has taken soundings among Labour MPs, who are divided on the issue.
Lib-Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: â??The Alternative Vote is a small step in the right direction, but it is not a proportional system and it does not give voters real power over both the party and the person elected as MP.â?
Ah yes, the old "Ashes to Ashes" advertising campaign. I would most definitely support a party that could take Britain back to the 1980's. That poster has only convinced me to vote Conservative now! Though the chances of Gordon Brown surviving through this election are thin. Very thin. I don't think it's helped his cause presenting one of his opponents as a TV hero. That's only likely to boost the prestige of your "target"!
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed that the UK general election will be held on 6 May.
Flanked by his entire cabinet, Mr Brown said it was the "least well-kept secret of recent years".
He said Britain was on the "road to recovery" and urged voters not to put it "at risk".
But David Cameron said the Conservative Party offered a "fresh start", while Lib Dem Nick Clegg said only his party offered "real change".
Mr Brown made the announcement outside Downing Street, after a 20-minute meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace to seek the dissolution of Parliament.
'Ordinary background'
The prime minister - who faces his first election as Labour leader - said he wanted a "clear and straightforward mandate" to continue the work of economic recovery.
He said he would be travelling the country telling voters: "Britain is on the road to recovery and nothing we do should put that recovery at risk."
And he added: "We will not allow 13 years of investment and reform in our public services, to build up the future of these great services, to be put at risk."
He also said he would produce a plan to make politics more transparent and accountable.
Stressing his "ordinary middle-class background" he said Labour would "fight for fairness at all times".
Mr Brown said: "We will say to the British people: 'Our cause is your cause'," before adding: "Let's go to it."
But Mr Cameron said he offered a "modern Conservative alternative" and his party offered "hope, optimism and change" and a "fresh start".
"It's the most important general election for a generation. It comes down to this. You don't have to put up with another five years of Gordon Brown."
He criticised 13 years of Labour's "big government" and said it was time for the Tories' "big society" instead. He pledged to work for the "great ignored", who he described as "honest hard-working people" who "do the right thing".
"Let's get off this road to ruin and instead get on the path to prosperity and progress," he said.
Lib Dem leader Mr Clegg said the election campaign would not be a "two-horse race" between the two biggest parties, and people were "crying out for something different".
"All bets are off," he said.
"This is a choice now between the old politics of the two old parties and something new, something different, which the Liberal Democrats offer."
It will be the first time that all three have led their respective parties into a general election - none was a party leader at the last one in 2005.
Hung Parliament
It will also be the first campaign to feature live television debates between the three main party leaders.
BBC, Sky and ITV announced the first 90-minute debates would be on ITV on Thursday 15 April, the next on Sky on 22 April and the last on the BBC on 29 April.
After the announcement, Mr Brown headed to St Pancras station to take a train to Kent to begin campaigning. He will start by meeting voters at a supermarket.
Mr Cameron will head to Yorkshire and Birmingham, and Mr Clegg will start his campaign in Watford.
The three main parties - along with a host of other smaller parties - will be fighting for 650 seats, four more than currently exist because of constituency boundary changes.
SNP leader Alex Salmond, the first minister of Scotland, hopes his party will win 20 seats at Westminster. He told the BBC the other parties had "blown the gaffe" by outlining plans for deep cuts.
"In these circumstances the need for Scotland to have national champions in the SNP is greater than ever before," he said.
'Old politics'
Meanwhile Plaid Cymru's director of elections, Helen Mary Jones, said it was time for the "worn-out government" to go: "We're asking the people of Wales to think about it this time.
"Do they really want more of the same old politics of boys yelling at each other, or do they really want a representative that can really listen to them?"
Both parties say they could end up holding the balance of power, if there is a hung parliament.
To secure an overall majority, a party must win at least 326 seats. If no party succeeds in doing so, the result will be a hung Parliament.
After 13 years in power, Labour enters the election with a notional majority of 48 seats, meaning that a loss of 24 seats would see them lose their overall majority.
Whatever the result, the make-up of the House of Commons will change significantly following the election, with 144 MPs so far having announced that they will stand down.
Parliament will not be officially dissolved until Monday 12 April - MPs will spend this week getting remaining legislation, that the parties can agree on, through Parliament - a process known as the "wash-up".
MPs will not return until Tuesday 18 May - later than the traditional start date of the week after the election - after a modernisation committee recommended there should be 12 days between the events, to allow for a proper induction for new MPs.
Opinion polls timed to coincide with the announcement all suggest a Conservative lead over Labour, by differing margins.
An ICM survey for the Guardian indicates the Tory lead has dropped to just four points, with the Conservatives on 37%, Labour on 33% and the Lib Dems on 21%.
However a YouGov poll in the Sun and another by Opinium for the Daily Express suggest the Tories have opened up a 10% lead - the margin David Cameron is likely to need in order to win an outright majority on 6 May. The Sun has the Tories on 41%, Labour on 31% and the Lib Dems on 18%. The Express reports a 39/29/17 split.
Only nine days to go before the General Election and I have decided not to vote. I'm sorry, I just don't see much point in this anymore. As much as people here hate Brown and make fun of him (largely due to the fact he was not voted into power by the population), the same tends to happen with most prime ministers of this country. People don't realise how stressful a position it really is to be in - 60 million people all looking to you to make the right decisions, and your reputation at risk of going down the toilet permanently for making the wrong one. Gordon Brown is a subject of mockery but so was Tony Blair towards the end of his time in office. Who's to say our next PM won't end up the same way despite all the things he's promising now? I strongly doubt Labour will win this election, but part of me hopes they do. If Gordon Brown apparently started all these problems then he can come and end them. Or land the country in even more of a mess. Who knows? But I do know one thing about politics - all those who were once great tend to end up becoming disliked. Such is the fickle nature of the voting population. I shall make sure to watch the next (and final) Prime Ministerial debate on Thursday evening. This is an important moment for our country and voting or not, we're all involved in it to some extent.
They're having presidential election back in the Philippines sometime this year. How long are terms in the UK? Apparently presidential terms in the Philippines are quite long if only longer than US presidents.
"We believe in Vader, the Darth almighty, destroyer of Alderaan and the Sith. We believe in Luke, his only son, our Jedi. He was concieved by the power of the Force, and born of the senator Padme. Suffered under Darth Sidius, electrocuted, survived and partied with Ewoks. He descended to the Death Star, on the third hour he flew out in an Imperial ship and landed on Endor. He is seated on the right hand of Obi-Wan's ghost. He will come again to train Leia to be a Jedi. We believe? in Yoda.........
Indurrago wrote:They're having presidential election back in the Philippines sometime this year. How long are terms in the UK? Apparently presidential terms in the Philippines are quite long if only longer than US presidents.
There is a maximum 5 year term in the UK before the PM has to call for an election (Brown has now just reached the end of that 5 year period), though the PM can call for an election at any time within that 5 year period (Wilson did this when he called the 1966 election 2 years after the 1964 election)
i_like_1981 wrote:Only nine days to go before the General Election and I have decided not to vote. I'm sorry, I just don't see much point in this anymore. As much as people here hate Brown and make fun of him (largely due to the fact he was not voted into power by the population), the same tends to happen with most prime ministers of this country. People don't realise how stressful a position it really is to be in - 60 million people all looking to you to make the right decisions, and your reputation at risk of going down the toilet permanently for making the wrong one. Gordon Brown is a subject of mockery but so was Tony Blair towards the end of his time in office. Who's to say our next PM won't end up the same way despite all the things he's promising now? I strongly doubt Labour will win this election, but part of me hopes they do. If Gordon Brown apparently started all these problems then he can come and end them. Or land the country in even more of a mess. Who knows? But I do know one thing about politics - all those who were once great tend to end up becoming disliked. Such is the fickle nature of the voting population. I shall make sure to watch the next (and final) Prime Ministerial debate on Thursday evening. This is an important moment for our country and voting or not, we're all involved in it to some extent.
Best regards, i_like_1981
I forgot to register, so I am unable to vote .
It's beginning to look like this election is a poisoned chalice.
It's also your birthday as well, Lewis. What a coincidence. It would have been interesting for you to vote on your birthday... by the time mine comes round in 30 days we'll be getting used to our new Prime Minister. (I don't expect Brown will be serving another term after his comments last week.) So, I am under the impression that voting is still on and the polling stations are open until 10:00pm tonight. I myself have of course decided not to vote. I'll probably end up regretting it but I think I have more than a slight inkling on who is going to win this anyway. Let's just hope we don't have a hung parliament. This country needs solid leadership now; the people don't need any more messing around.
And sure as anything else, we end of having a hung parliament. Well, how on earth did I guess that? I thought the Conservatives had this one easy but Labour just aren't going to let go, are they? 13 years of power just ain't enough - now they have to stay to cause more damage! Well, I expect Gordon Brown may stand down soon, but we're going to have to wait and find out how things progress.
Well, it looks as though David Cameron is now our new Prime Minister and has been for 48 hours now. Well, it was time for a change. I kinda knew this was going to be the time Brown would have to stand down, and now he's done it far sooner than planned. I'm not surprised with all the shit he got given by people. I don't expect Cameron will be in a much different situation after he's been in power for a while but let's just see where it all goes.
Well, it was an interesting election, this 2010 one. But it looks as now, the major changes have happened and there is nothing left to predict. Goodbye, Brown, and good luck to you, Cameron. You're going to need it...
Congratulations with your new prime minister. Or should I say, good luck with your new prime minister. I suppose it depends on your views of him.
"Mensa membership conceding, tell my why and how are all the stupid people breeding?" - The Idiots Are Taking Over - NOFX
"Basis of change: educate - derived from discussion, not hate, not myth, not muscle, not etiquette" - Hate, Myth, Muscle, Etiquette - Propagandhi
"We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Superbowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair" - Barack Obama
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