5 reasons I wont be voting for Ed Miliband...

Following his relaunch as erm, well the same person but trying to be more popular, I thought I'd list some of the reasons I wont be voting for him (the ones that came to mind whilst I was watching it):

1. He bemoans that the next government will start with a deficit.
   
2. He jumps on any bandwagon.
   
3. He is potentially scaring students away from University.
   
4. He was Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change between 2008 and 2010.
   
5. He lets Ed Balls speak.

Explanations:

1. His economic policy is so hypocritical - he's happy to throw the global climate as a mitigating factor for Labour's economic failings (yes it was a contributing factor but not the only factor) yet refuses to recognise Europe's slow growth is a major reason George Osborne isn't hitting his target.  One moment he is complaining that the coalition is bringing down the deficit too quickly (to a level below that which Labour would have left us with in 2015 - especially as their forecasts were based on farcically high growth figures) the next he is complaining that there will still be a deficit in 2015.  He starts talking about the difficult choices that will be made then as if the choices now aren't already.  Their whole policy is to put off the pain for another day, rather than realising that the markets do need this correction (I am certain of it) and it will be hard no matter what, so we might as well get it out of the way rather than bury our heads in the sand and let it hit even worse in 5 or 10 years time.  I'm not saying that if we followed their policies we'd be in the situation Greece finds itself in, however I don't think we'd be far off Italy and I certainly don't think we'd still be AAA.
   
2. There are a few instances that I could cite, but I'm going to just use the one that sticks in my mind, back in December 2010 he was one of the main people calling for Vince Cable to be sacked following his declaration of "war" on Murdoch.  Yet as soon as the phone hacking scandal broke and the sheer outrage obvious amongst the public transpired he wanted to paint himself as the one who "took on Murdoch" - he wasn't doing much taking on when attending Murdoch's garden parties.  I admit that his relationship with Murdoch wasn't as cosy as Cameron's, but I'm willing to bet that if nothing had happened then it would have been fairly close by the time of the next election.
   
3. Ed has been very vocal about the increase in tuition fees and the effect this may have on potential students. Yes the Liberal Democrats said they wouldn't raise fees and many have been complicit in allowing fees to shoot up, however Ed's magical solution of capping fees at £6,000 is totally hypocritical.  As I've pointed out previously not a single student pays fees, only GRADUATES do, and only once they are earning.  The fact that the fee system is in place means they receive more in loans/grants than Scottish students do whilst they are actually studying, therefore giving them money when they need it most.  As the students will have to pay their maintenance loans back and their fees it's only going to be the richest of graduates that benefit from Ed's cap, as those worse off wont end up paying the full amount back anyway.  The people who will benefit from £6k rather than £9k are those who everyone says should be taxed more - and here he is saying they should pay back less for their education (than the current government is) without reducing the contribution the lower earners will make.  Basically this is political opportunism and to me it stinks.
   
4. He talks about the energy sector as if he's never had anything to do with it - pinning all the blame one Chris Hulme for the fact consumers get a raw deal.  If he were a man and admitted his past mistakes in this area in his speeches (I'm man enough to admit he did some good things regarding climate change) then I would have a lot of respect for him, but he doesn't.  In passing he says the former government made some mistakes - but never directly attributes this to himself.  All it would take would be for him to say that he realises that this was an area that he fell down but given his experience he recommends that Chris does *insert solution here* rather than glossing over the fact he didn't do it.
   
5. I think this one is self explanatory, although maybe a bit harsh as I doubt anyone could control him.

(Harsh to include this again I
know, but I just love the photo!)

Now this may make me sound completely anti-Labour, I'm not ashamed to admit I've voted for Labour in the past (granted in a Labour/Tory seat) and wont rule out ever doing so again (though it is fairly inconceivable - would depend on the seat and the candidates).  I am not going to do a similar list for David Cameron because I have never voted Tory, nor will I ever.  However at the moment I am more comfortable with the Liberal Democrats being in coalition with the Tories than Labour - which shows just how much I dislike their current approach.  I am not exactly a floating voter, but should Ed ever want to win me back they would need a radical overhaul.