Currently reading: How should motorists vote?
Autocar's full guide to the 2010 general election; all the main parties' transport policies outlined

Britain’s 20 million motorists have a rare chance to influence motoring policy this week when they vote in the general election.

To help that decision, Autocar asked the three main political parties’ transport spokespeople to put forward their vision for making British roads better.

We also put those political comments into context with a run-through of what the main parties have actually done (or not done) for motorists when they’ve won power in the past:

Click here to read Labour's track record on transport, plus a statement from the current transport minister"A Labour government would continue to support motorists while maintaining high standards of road safety and reducing the environmental impact of cars."Lord Adonis, transport minister

Click here to read the Conservatives' track record on transport, plus a statement from its transport spokesperson"We would focus on tackling the worst pinch points on our roads, both by making the most of the capacity we have and, where public funds allow, building new roads."Theresa Villiers, Tory transport spokesperson

Click here to read the Liberal Democrats' track record on transport, plus a statement from its transport spokesperson"We support the introduction of national road charging if, and only if, other taxes on motorists are scrapped so that the average motorist does not pay more in taxes."Norman Baker, Liberal democrat transport spokesperson

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tonym911 6 May 2010

Re: How should motorists vote?

zthomasz wrote:
A one-party state is pretty much the same as a non-party state.
How do you know that? I'm suggesting the binning of the party system – ALL political parties, communist, fascist, liberal, whatever. Replace them with managers. Run the country as a company, not as an extension of 600-odd frustrated media stars' egos. There are no independent candidates to vote for in my constituency btw. Not even a Green. Not sure what you mean by an open primary, sounds good but can't say as I've heard of them. Maybe we don't have them in Wiltshire. I would be very interested to see the results of an election where the attractive-sounding box 'none of the above' is offered. After we've counted those up maybe we could then move on to a system that vaguely reflects life in 2010, not 1610.

zthomasz 6 May 2010

Re: How should motorists vote?

tonym911 wrote:
We then have to vote for people we most probably don't value on any sort of level – personal, or in terms of their abilities – simply because they are affiliated to political structures that are just not relevant any more.

I'd question the definition of 'not relevant anymore'.

You can vote for who you want. You don't have to vote for someone that you 'don't value'.

tonym911 wrote:
And I'd argue that we don't pick our representatives: selection committees do.

Not if you vote for an independent candidate. However, if you must vote for a candidate in one of the 2.5 main parties then you can have an open primary to select that candidate.

tonym911 wrote:
We'll never know how well a meritocratic, non-party system will work (or might have worked over those hundreds of years) if we never try it.

It hasn't worked particularly well in china or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. A one-party state is pretty much the same as a non-party state.

tonym911 wrote:
Can it really be any worse?

Yes

EA666 6 May 2010

Re: How should motorists vote?

whoever wins we all end up paying more.... i recall the last fuel strike which happened... the price when down and over a few months it when back to the same.