For me, the economy is the most important factor in my decision making process and the Conservatives are by far the most competent.

Lucy Powell MP was on Sunday Politics today and argued that Labour have a three pronged way of clearing the deficit.

1. 'Fair taxes' - whatever that means. She did admit that one tax rise was to re-introduce the 50p tax rate which best estimates state would bring in £2BN

2. Cuts. She was vague about this and only mentioned a few things, winter fuel allowance, ministerial salaries and capping child benefit at 1% rises. Any savings from these would be minuscule.

3. Higher Wages etc. Then there was some general chatter about ensuring people are paid more to increase the tax take. The usual sound bites about zero hours contracts were trotted out. But she said they would not be abolished.

Then at the end she admitted that there would be more borrowing to the tune of £30BN to fund investment.

I just don't see how Labour have a credible plan to deal with the deficit and the economy.

You should have been watching an hour earlier when IDS was interviewed live by Andrew Marr, he too had no apparent idea of how he would save his targeted £12bn in benefits savings, or at least that was the party line that he had to toe - you could see where his tongue was bleeding from all the biting he was having to do while Marr kept insisting that he must at least have some idea of where the target would be achieved.

Basically in the first Sunday of the election campaign (even though it doesn't start until tomorrow) both the Tories and Labour have refused to give any detail on ANY policy, this is like buying a car and all that the dealer will say is "Its a blue one".

I can sympathise that they don't want to actually go into great detail about [iactual[/i cuts. By its very nature will upset some group of voters which you don't want to do before an election.

But I have more confidence that a conservative government will actually make the necessary cuts and take the difficult decisions rather than Labour who will say they will cut now but when it comes to it and they have the power, they will back out and borrowing and the deficit will spiral.

Neither party will come clean on their deficit reduction plans, they never do.

As at the last election, Labour has the most realistic target for reducing the deficit, the Tories' target is unrealistic. However the Tories are more likely to hit Labour's target than are Labour. Labour cannot achieve its target simply through taxing the rich. Eventually they will have to come up with some cuts that will hurt. But it will take at least two years of internal wrangling and bitter opposition within the party before they can actually start to implement them.

Quite simply there is no debt! There is an intangible concept that people really get upset about but to date the "money " hasn't been seen, just numbers in computers and on prices of paper. To keep people " happy " there are paper and metal representations of Pounds sterling, Euro's and Dollars etc, but to date no one has ever seen them.
A bit like these deity things people chunter on about.
Capitalism and double entry book keeping, the greates ponzi scheme, perpetrated by the human race.

Something for nothing, magic really

Well it looks like I'll be voting for Left Unity - the only anti-austerity party standing in my area.

Far better to wait until after everyone's made their decision and upset them then.

"OK OK, I'll have the blue car. What do you mean there's no engine?"

The most bizarre outcome could be that neither Labour or the Tories will want to form a government. Cameron and Miliband will be to desparate to do a deal in order to keep their job. But behind the scenes there could be more greater reluctance to form what might be a very unstable government. Perhaps better to stay in opposition, change the leader and position the party for the second election. If you were Yvette Cooper or Theresa May, wouldnt that be a more appealing prospect?

It could be a case of "After you". "No, after you"

Yvette Cooper - are you serious? One of Brown's bullies, despised by most at Westminster!!

I've always voted Labour and I've chosen Labour on here, but I have toyed with the idea of voting for the Greens. I don't entirely agree with their stance on energy (I'm pro fracking for example), but other than that their policies are probably the closest to what I believe in.

However the reality is that it's as good as a spoiled ballot and whilst Labour aren't much to shout about they are the only party with a chance of ousting the Tories.

That said I won't lose any sleep regardless of who wins. Unless it's UKIP, in which case I'm moving as far away from this country as possible.

Party politics really doesn't work does it. I'm University educated, I have a Masters, I've worked for some big companies over the past 15 years. Do I consider myself to know enough to make a rational judgement about who to vote for? Can I decipher the myriad of playground jibes and propaganda? Can I balls, I'm as ignorant as everyone else. So how can most people know enough to vote? The truth is they don't. Most have a default colour. Be it Blue, Red or Yellow, they feel they 'should' vote for that party because of their upbringing and the bias imposed by it. They can spew off a list of stereotyped default positions for each party to suit their argument. The Conservatives abuse the poor and working class and destroy/privatise the NHS and help the rich or reward success depending where you stand, Labour stand up for the working class and keep the NHS magnificent and free or reward lazy unemployment as a career. Can they actually list three main policies the party they are voting for are going with this time? Can they reconcile their own beliefs on the welfare state, the economy, taxation or immigration with the most suitable vote? The majority don't even try. So what does voting for a party prove? I voted blue in the poll, if nothing else purely because I've had an argument tonight with the in laws about how their views on how Labour would solve the financial crisis by putting it back to what is was before the Conservatives got in. No real logic behind it, they just would as they are like Robin Hood and they'd take all the money back from the bankers and Pakistanis/Polish that had come and taken it over the last 5 years.

Why are you pro-fracking? Which areas of the country do you feel it would appropriate for? How would you dispose of the waste water?

If someone like you can't understand and decide how to vote, what hope for the rest of us?

Give over. Any person as educated as you are can educate themselves on the issues of the day and form a view, if they want to.

Unfortunately a lot of people are lazy and so listen to headlines taking them as the gospel truth. The spin doctors have worked this out and have long since realised slinging mud even if it is completely untrue works because mud sticks and subsequent denials by the other party are lost in the fog.

If you are telling me you can't spot tactics such as this I don't believe you. If you are not prepared yourself to see if there is any truth behind the headlines/spin that is your problem but the idea you can not "decipher the myriad of playground jibes and propaganda" doesn't wash.