Government to spend...
 

  You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more

[Closed] Government to spend £9 million on EU vote leaflets .

51 Posts
29 Users
0 Reactions
112 Views
Posts: 2645
Free Member
Topic starter
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35984991

Couldn't they just put it on the internet and save all that money ?


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 11:53 am
Posts: 36
Free Member
 

Wrinkled, bilious old people prone to vote out only read junk mail, not online pamphlets, silly boy.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 11:55 am
 Nico
Posts: 4
Free Member
 

Couldn't they just put it on the internet and save all that money ?

Some lame excuse about wanting to reach out to people other than sad men in IT.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 11:56 am
 br
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Pretty efficient if they can only spend £9m and get a leaflet to every household - about 34p each including delivery.

Bet it's nearer £20m.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 11:57 am
Posts: 3450
Full Member
 

There is a real issue of digital illiteracy amongst the UK populus so one level it makes sense

But

Most of the govt systems is heading online...benefits and so on seems out of kilter with that general direction of travel...

Secondly I thought to the referendum was non political vote...so how can the govt use tax payers money for!this?


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:00 pm
Posts: 3450
Full Member
 

Be...whitehall fiqures ...real cost will come out in the FOI or public enquiry


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:01 pm
Posts: 10333
Full Member
 

Government to spend enter amount telling us some stuff which may or may not be true but we'll never really know anything about anything because it politics innit........

Same old political drivel zzzzzzzzzzzzzz


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:02 pm
 jimw
Posts: 3264
Free Member
 

I think I'll send mine when it comes to Liam Fox as he obviously hasn't read and understood the contents

Without a stamp of course


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:03 pm
 DezB
Posts: 54367
Free Member
 

ads678 has it.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:08 pm
Posts: 3427
Full Member
 

Couldn't they just put it on the internet and save all that money ?

An earlier version of that article said £3.4mill of it was on a website version. I'm not quite sure how that much can be spent setting up a website full of conjecture...

EDIT: From [url= http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/06/cameron-to-push-case-remain-eu-with-9m-taxpayer-funded-publicity-blitz ]the Guardian[/url]... My figures were slightly out...

Producing, printing and delivering leaflets would cost £6.4m, No 10 said, while digital promotion and an accompanying website would cost almost £2.9m.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:11 pm
Posts: 36
Free Member
 

If anyone does care about the facts then can I suggest Chipping in to the crowd fund here
https://fullfact.org

I have.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:15 pm
Posts: 91000
Free Member
 

The leave campaign can also spend public money, btw. So most likely will. What will the exiters complain about then?


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:18 pm
Posts: 56564
Full Member
 

Everyone knows that the internet is for people doing naughty things to each other, pictures of kittens and arguing with strangers. Not politics

Anyway... shouldn't that headline just have read: "Government spends money on promoting government policy"?


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:23 pm
Posts: 50252
Free Member
 

Everyone knows that the internet is for people doing naughty things to each other, pictures of kittens and arguing with strangers. Not politics

What about kittens doing naughty things with strangers?


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:25 pm
Posts: 56564
Full Member
 

Has Jammers not turned up yet to tell us why the EU is the root of all evil, and is presently legislating to make eating babies compulsory?

He's slacking

And he's chipped in more than £9 million of his vast fortune to personally fund the outers/xenophobic little England nut-jobs 😀


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:26 pm
Posts: 0
Full Member
 

Funnily enough I had 2 or 3 Brexit junk mail already


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:31 pm
Posts: 293
Free Member
 

I fear that this campaign over the EU is going to be as rough as it comes, really nasty bitey gougey kind of fight.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:33 pm
 br
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

[i]Producing, printing and delivering leaflets would cost £6.4m, No 10 said, while digital promotion and an accompanying website would cost almost £2.9m.[/i]

So it's now only 24p per house 🙂


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:35 pm
Posts: 56564
Full Member
 

I fear that this campaign over the EU is going to be as rough as it comes, really nasty bitey gougey kind of fight.

[url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/tories-regret-joining-party-full-of-horrible-bastards-20160229106680 ]well given that the main protaganists are two halves of the tory party?[/url]

😆


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:36 pm
 jimw
Posts: 3264
Free Member
 

Yes I have also had a couple of Brexist mail drops and they make what I have seen of the one we are getting from the govt. look like Shakespeare -hysterical poorly written twaddle full of grammatical errors is an understatement.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:39 pm
Posts: 0
Full Member
 

jimw + 1


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:42 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

According to R4 news, money spent included website not just pamplets. Amusing to hear Liam Fox trying to get cross about it but not quite succeeding.

Tried immotive words like propaganda, but compared with the constant flow of out-an-out lies coming out of the outers, this is a bit misplaced. He could always start a petition I suppose...


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:42 pm
Posts: 33980
Full Member
 

binners - Member
Has Jammers not turned up yet to tell us why the EU is the root of all evil, and is presently legislating to make eating babies compulsory?

what, a brexiter with a reputation for using completely made up facts to support their argument?

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

I simply dont believe it


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:43 pm
Posts: 13741
Full Member
 

[quote=molgrips ]The leave campaign can also spend public money, btw. So most likely will. What will the exiters complain about then?

The official designated Leave and Remain campaigns will get public funding to issue their own leaflets to voters during the campaign proper, and will get a page each in a further leaflet the Electoral Commission watchdog will send every household.

But the cost of the Government leaflet and a linked website is still more than the £7million spending limit which the two official campaigns will each be permitted once they are designated, to spend in the last 10 weeks of the referendum campaign.

[url= https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/658797/EU-referendrum-Fury-PM-10-million-proBrussels-leaflets ]https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/658797/EU-referendrum-Fury-PM-10-million-proBrussels-leaflets[/url]

and the gov blow another £9-10M on biased info.

mind boggling amounts spent in these austere times


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:49 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Farrage was on the news last night complaining about the oppo making things up - he did have a nice tin of spray starch in his hand though, so probably ok


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:50 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

@stoner me too

Leaflet and mailing is £6m plus £3m spent on "targeted digital advertising"

From what I understand there will be 3 more, one for official Remain/Leave and one reminder. Note full budget for Remain/Leave is set at £7m so this government mailing already exceeds the total budget each campaign will have


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:53 pm
Posts: 33980
Full Member
Posts: 56564
Full Member
 

From what I understand there will be 3 more, one for official Remain/Leave and one reminder. Note full budget for Remain/Leave is set at £7m so this government mailing already exceeds the total budget each campaign will have

Even worse than that though is the fact that all the countries media, and its megalomaniac owners, are all so fanatically pro-EU, and are almost evangelical about honestly and calmly pointing out all the advantages of membership

Its just, like SOOOOOOO not fair!


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:55 pm
Posts: 1706
Full Member
 

....but they wouldn't need to print the leaflets if the out campaigners didn't demand a referendum in the first place.....so it's actually GO's fault, right?


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 12:58 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

mind boggling amounts spent in these austere times

Not really it peanuts, and presumably mostly goes to the leaflet printer and Postoffice. It's a one off cost and hardly like they are sending them out every week.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 1:01 pm
Posts: 7100
Free Member
 

Not really it peanuts,

I know where you're coming from, but £9m is still £9m. There must be loads of this type of thing, written off as 'peanuts' that add up to quite a lot.

Think how many people's total annual tax contribution you need in order to raise £9m.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 1:27 pm
 jimw
Posts: 3264
Free Member
 

When you compare it to the amount wasted on trying to set up the Universal Credit system £700m spent so far of which £130m has already been written off on that one................for 140,000 claimants


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 1:48 pm
Posts: 33980
Full Member
 

Think how many people's total annual tax contribution you need in order to raise £9m

depends which people....

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/07/ex-hsbc-boss-michael-geoghegan-panama-papers-tried-to-avoid-tax-kensington-house


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 3:46 pm
Posts: 33325
Full Member
 

andeh - Member
....but they wouldn't need to print the leaflets if the [s]out campaigners didn't demand[/s] in campaigners hadn't promised a referendum in the first place.....so it's actually GO's fault, right?

FTFY
Oh, and I'll be crossing out my name and address and writing RTS on it and sticking it back in the post box.
It would be nice if every other recipient did the same thing...


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 7:19 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

34p per household for the leaflet. That's 17p each in my household (and my wife isn't eligible to vote in the referendum).

14 pages of stuff telling me why I should vote to stay for 17p of my money is completely fine with me. I am also completely happy with paying another 17p to have the same from the leave campaign. Then I would have info from both sides so I can make a decision either way.

Given how important this vote could be, I would happily see more of my taxes go towards informing me. Far rather this than seeing it disappear to some private sector company rinsing me.

The leave campaign should stop moaning and get on with their own leaflet.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 7:28 pm
Posts: 91000
Free Member
 

The leave campaign should stop moaning

😆


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 8:21 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

The marketing company that wrote the blurb is registered in British Virgin Islands, managed by Deloite, Camerons brother in law is a director of the business and his wife owns shares in a third company which in turn has shares in the business.

The UK printers made a loss from the deal but the BVI.co managed to turn a few quid which will be banked and put the someones off spring through Eton so they can go on to lead our great country, clamp down on scoundrels with spare bedrooms and reward hard working families..sort of...well saying they are whilst pissing up their backs and skimming the top. Bad weather out init.


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 8:36 pm
Posts: 4899
Full Member
 

I suppose the brexiters point is that this is 9million pounds of government money not Remain money. I suppose the Leave campaign doesn't have that kind of money. What's really funny is listening to all the wailing about it not being fair


 
Posted : 07/04/2016 10:19 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Exactly @gordi. Got a mailing earlier from Boris/Leave - each official campaign can spend £11.7m - except the govt just spent an extra £9.3m so hardly a level playing field. Also there is no limit on govt campaign spending nor on the EU itself


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 12:58 am
 br
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

[i]The marketing company that wrote the blurb is registered in British Virgin Islands, managed by Deloite, Camerons brother in law is a director of the business and his wife owns shares in a third company which in turn has shares in the business. [/i]

Is this true, if so a link would be good - ta.


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 7:30 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Very amusing point made on Sky's Paper Review programme last night. The Leave campaign should just point out how the 1975 Referendum leaflet talked about the Common Market and the EEC not being a political project 😳

From Harold Wilson and of course no longer true with majority voting

[i] Fact No. 2. No important new policy can be decided in Brussels or anywhere else without the consent of a British Minister answerable to a British Government and British Parliament.
[/i]

Also this sounds dreadfully familiar

[i]We explain why the Government, after long, hard negotiations, are recommending to the British people that we should remain a member of the European Community.

We do not pretend, and never have pretended, that we got everything we wanted in these negotiations. But we did get big and significant improvements on the previous terms.[/i]

The last time we got a direct say the EEC consisted of

UK, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Italy and Denmark - 9 members - not even Spain


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 11:52 am
Posts: 56564
Full Member
 

Come on Jammers. Its miles better now we're all one big happy family though....


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 12:06 pm
Posts: 5559
Free Member
 

The Leave campaign should just point out how the 1975 Referendum leaflet talked about the Common Market and the EEC not being a political project

Wow so things change over time

Who knew?


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 12:09 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

100,000 plus signature petition against this been submitted.


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 12:14 pm
Posts: 56564
Full Member
 

Mad as **** eh?

Jammers are you seriously trying to tell me that now I'm in my mid 40's, things are a bit different to how they were before I started primary school?

Apart from the EU set up, has anything else changed significantly in the world that I should know about? Hows Elvis? I couldn't bear it if anything had happened to him.


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 12:16 pm
Posts: 56564
Full Member
 

100,000 plus signature petition against this been submitted.

That'll sort it! Nothing moves mountains like an internet petition.


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 12:17 pm
Posts: 50252
Free Member
 

That'll sort it! Nothing moves mountains like an internet petition.

Needs a hash tag as well.


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 12:21 pm
Posts: 8819
Free Member
 

Yes, quite right, they should unspend all that money right away and give it to hard working orphans.


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 12:23 pm
Posts: 3943
Free Member
 

What Boris and the leave campaign seems to have forgotten is that as Cabinet Ministers they signed off on the Governments official position of remain. So all the government is doing is sending a leaflet about a government policy THEY signed up to.


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 12:28 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Indeed they do JY so you'd think we'd be asked what we think more than once in every 40 years or at least when major changes are made

Binners I am seeing Elvis on his Detour - getting rave reviews in the US and I prefer the solo shows.

FWIW I didn't sign the internet portion - waste of time. I did donate to Leave and FactCheck though


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 12:45 pm
Posts: 33980
Full Member
 

Needs a hash tag as well.

such as top trending...

#resigncameron
https://twitter.com/hashtag/resigncameron?vertical=news

which is a bit silly
https://twitter.com/hashtag/CurseDavidCameron?src=hash
was better


 
Posted : 08/04/2016 1:01 pm
 DezB
Posts: 54367
Free Member
 

Leaflet? Just handed to me by the postie and it is more like a book. (Ok, a pamphlet.) OTT though.
Shows how well the internet petitions work.


 
Posted : 11/04/2016 10:24 am

6 DAYS LEFT
We are currently at 95% of our target!