I've only heard the bit about freezing energy prices for... was it 20 months?... if they win the election. Sounds like madness to me. Good old fashioned Looney Left attempts at artificial price fixing, combined with a frankly insane combination of trying to lower prices and cut carbon at the same time.

As for the others... "Vote for us and we will make the NHS better" is the sort of thing every party always says and is almost entirely meaningless. Repealing the SBS is pretty small beer. The land developing plans are worthy of a closer look though.

You're right price fixing definitely comes out of left field. Energy companies will try and put prices up prior to the freeze and unless global energy costs stabilise during the freeze period then companies could be put at risk of ruin, or main policy promise will risk being broken. This is an interesting policy as I'm pretty sure all responsible commentators will see huge problems with it, but it will be popular and easy to understand by electorate.

Bedroom tax will likely be repealed before election if Tories have any sense.

Possibly. In all honesty, bad press aside, the idea behind it isn't a bad one. In terms af selling the idea the Tories have made a hash of it, and they've not thought it through as well as they should have, but at the end of the day the people who see it as a major issue almost certainly wouldn't have voted Tory anyway.

He wouldn't freeze the prices for energy but he would use it as a bargaining chip to get more transparency and accountability. The reason why he won't freeze is because he would say he wants more renewable and alternative energy and the energy companies would put together a plan to do something 'green' but the deal would be as long as prices were not fixed. They would sort something out.
Read my lips: No new energy price freezes.

The deal breaker for any party would be making the unemployed work/train for 16-20 hours a week.
Firstly all the people who are working would have to stop claiming.
Secondly would have something to do with our returning war veterans, getting them running Social Enterprises that train up the unemployed, give them some focus and self-respect and start some worthwhile community projects, from renovating derelict land and buildings for use by the homeless, cleaning up the street scene, tree planting projects, cleaning the rivers and canals, even a team processing immigration claims which the Border Agency seem completely unable to manage.
There is the election winner on a plate, it's not rocket science. Add to this military style training for young offenders and bringing back genuine apprenticeships, where the govt pays tradesmen to teach skills rather than pay people to live on the dole.

@ Nigs

Of course he won't fix any prices. That's because he won't get elected

Labour might not get elected up against Charismatic Cameron, the housewives favourite

When even Labour supporters like yourself are convinced that Ed's speech is little more than smoke and mirrors then it's no surprise that Cameron commands greater respect.

As fun as your plan to make the unemployed work is, Nigs, what exactly would you do with those who refuse? Slash their benefits to nothing and starve them into work? Throw them in jail? Do tell.

Popularist. I'm forming my own political party

Oct - If they refuse I would get them to turn up at a hall for 16 hours a week and sit there picking their nose, and if they didn't show up, then I would cut their dole.

@octavious calling any election this far out is crazy. So much can happen between now and then. The Tories should be complacent though, a lot depends on how UKIP and the lib/dems do. If UKIP do take votes from Tories in midlands and lib dem marginals go to labour then labour could easily be the biggest party.

"Good old fashioned Looney Left attempts at artificial price fixing"

You haven't read the policy speech but you know enough to start questioning the sanity of your political opponents. Maybe this has something to with private energy companies being caught engaging in price manipulation, something you would think Tories would be opposed to.

Putin - I'm pro-labour but can't see how this policy can work. I'd like some examples of where price control, other than rent control, has worked. I'm concerned that the policy will mean a reduction in taxes levied on energy companies to compensate them for their loss of profit when wholesale prices go up. If so this is, in effect, a subsidy and a spending commitment. Money could be better targeted at those most affected by high energy prices.

PS - we already have laws to stop cartels fixing prices.

@ Putin

No, I listened to the speech (at least the part concerning energy). There were some parts I instinctively agreed with. The market doesn't seem to be working as it should, and splitting the production and retail businesses is, at first glance anyway, a good idea. The whole price fixing bit, however, does hark back to the bad old days and sends out a rather scary message. As far as sanity goes, do try to learn the language of the common man old chap. I am not questioning his mental health :p.

It will never happen but it's got them all excited ... it's a great way to get a bit of cooperation though

@Maniac

Not crazy. I can't speak with any certainty, of course, but I am really struggling to see how Ed can win unless things go absolutely tits up for the Tories. He is using tried and failed rhetoric, hasn't won the hearts or minds of anywhere like enough of the public, and his party is still at a very low ebb. A bit optimistic perhaps, but not crazy.. :).

https://twitter.com/PplsChoiceParty
www.peopleschoiceparty.org

More info coming later, but Nigee you might be interested in this

Canadian price controls of drugs seem to be working quite well.