Reform UK going from strength to strength.

[Jacksgranda]

2 hours ago, Artie said:

Any guess on how many Conservatives will switch before the next GE?

Could be the beginning of the end for Tory domination at the next GE and for the future if the Conservatives really do have their core support split, not just UK but in England. The more voters transition to Reform UK the bigger the advantage Labour will have. Labour could be clear large majority winners at the next GE and going forward the UK could see a Labour government in power for many years to come completely unchallenged, thanks to Reform UK.

In Scotland Reform have pledged to (as everywhere else) have a candidate stand for every seat at the next election, it will be interesting to see if this takes root in Scotland after years of Tory failure and the usual one horse race every election. In Scotland I doubt any candidate will come anywhere near the top five for any seat, they will struggle here since we don't seem get a lot of overloaded small boats from France. Its an English problem, why should it concern us?

 

I doubt it very much.

[Salt n Vinegar]

With the pro-indy vote split between 3 parties, I'm not in the least bothered that the pro-union vote might be split across 4.

[Steelly]

2 hours ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

@Steelly has to be Oaksoft.

Really

[Johnny Martin]

6 hours ago, Artie said:

Any guess on how many Conservatives will switch before the next GE?

Could be the beginning of the end for Tory domination at the next GE and for the future if the Conservatives really do have their core support split, not just UK but in England. The more voters transition to Reform UK the bigger the advantage Labour will have. Labour could be clear large majority winners at the next GE and going forward the UK could see a Labour government in power for many years to come completely unchallenged, thanks to Reform UK.

In Scotland Reform have pledged to (as everywhere else) have a candidate stand for every seat at the next election, it will be interesting to see if this takes root in Scotland after years of Tory failure and the usual one horse race every election. In Scotland I doubt any candidate will come anywhere near the top five for any seat, they will struggle here since we don't seem get a lot of overloaded small boats from France. Its an English problem, why should it concern us?

 

I think they'll get trounced in the next GE then do a bit of soul searching.

Good chance they'll start leaning further to the right and co-opting Reform's policies, or at least ramp up the rhetoric.  The membership, who are more right-leaning than the MPs, would lap it up.

They could appoint Braverman or someone similar as leader.

[Billy Jean King]

Who knew there was a MOst Banned Odious Sockpuppet awards show aka the MOBOS ?

[ICTChris]

There is a Reform UK MSP!

[oneteaminglasgow]

8 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

There is a Reform UK MSP!

Was, surely? Ballantyne lost her deposit at the last election

[Artie]

11 hours ago, Johnny Martin said:

I think they'll get trounced in the next GE then do a bit of soul searching.

Good chance they'll start leaning further to the right and co-opting Reform's policies, or at least ramp up the rhetoric.  The membership, who are more right-leaning than the MPs, would lap it up.

They could appoint Braverman or someone similar as leader.

Policies and ideas like promising young football players for small teams/parties getting snatched up by the bigger team/party keeps the same order as they are in the political football league. The bigger political parties tend to be more reactionary and less flexible in behaviour than the smaller ones who can come up with more radical ideas. If these ideas gain traction with big party's target support and media allies then someone from the two main parties is always going to step in and take it for themselves to boost their own standing and ambition within the party. Usually you always know when a politician is a try hard or not.

Boris Johnson had been cherry picking green policies and ideas for sometime before becoming PM, had a lot of enthusiasm for swapping out fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions.

Remember when 'leave' was just an idea that had been bouncing around for a few decades being regarded as straight up bat shit crazy even though there were a number of Eurosceptics in the Conservative Party over the years including PM Margaret Thatcher. Wasn't it part of the BNP manifesto originally? Incredible and disturbing at the same time how it gained such traction in a very short period to end up as a 51% vote. Even to contradict the idea of reactionism in the Conservative Party the shift further to the right has been quick in terms of time scale as well, it's quite a radical shift for the Party, biggest shift since the Thatcher years. Are the traditional Tories just ageing out now?

[MEADOWXI]

21 hours ago, Artie said:

Any guess on how many Conservatives will switch before the next GE?

Could be the beginning of the end for Tory domination at the next GE and for the future if the Conservatives really do have their core support split, not just UK but in England. The more voters transition to Reform UK the bigger the advantage Labour will have. Labour could be clear large majority winners at the next GE and going forward the UK could see a Labour government in power for many years to come completely unchallenged, thanks to Reform UK.

In Scotland Reform have pledged to (as everywhere else) have a candidate stand for every seat at the next election, it will be interesting to see if this takes root in Scotland after years of Tory failure and the usual one horse race every election. In Scotland I doubt any candidate will come anywhere near the top five for any seat, they will struggle here since we don't seem get a lot of overloaded small boats from France. Its an English problem, why should it concern us?

 

They are not the first and probably won't be the last to pledge this. As the deposit is £500 a seat that's £325K before they've printed a leaflet or done anything. and they have to find 650 candidates, and get 10 registered voters in that area to sign as nominees to get someone on the ballot. 

As they need 5% of the vote in a seat to get their deposit back they are looking at a mountain of work to spunk £325K up the wall.

It bluster and if they have more than 200 candidates, and only a handful of them in Scotland I will be amazed.

[Artie]

18 minutes ago, MEADOWXI said:

They are not the first and probably won't be the last to pledge this. As the deposit is £500 a seat that's £325K before they've printed a leaflet or done anything. and they have to find 650 candidates, and get 10 registered voters in that area to sign as nominees to get someone on the ballot. 

As they need 5% of the vote in a seat to get their deposit back they are looking at a mountain of work to spunk £325K up the wall.

It bluster and if they have more than 200 candidates, and only a handful of them in Scotland I will be amazed.

I looked and currently they have 15 candidates out of the 57 required for their full hand including one for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. I have my doubts the boats from France will ever reach that far north, but you never know.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

Given that large swathes of the Highlands have a declining population, you have to be incredibly simple to vote for an anti-immigration party up here.

[awnawawnaw]

2 hours ago, Artie said:

I looked and currently they have 15 candidates out of the 57 required for their full hand including one for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. I have my doubts the boats from France will ever reach that far north, but you never know.

Do you honestly believe that? In this day with social media every where!

[awnawawnaw]

1 hour ago, Sherrif John Bunnell said:

Given that large swathes of the Highlands have a declining population, you have to be incredibly simple to vote for an anti-immigration party up here.

Most people will not want their wages put under the stress of fighting for jobs.

[carpetmonster]

7 minutes ago, awnawawnaw said:

Most people will not want their wages put under the stress of fighting for jobs.

As far as I knew the main issue in the Highlands is finding anyone to do the jobs in the first place. 

[Salt n Vinegar]

19 minutes ago, carpetmonster said:

As far as I knew the main issue in the Highlands is finding anyone to do the jobs in the first place. 

Exactly this.  In the middle of last year a group of us were trying to arrange accommodation for the National Mod in Oban being held there this October. (3 or 4 years notice of the venue and dates). Some hotels couldn't even conform that they'd be open because they weren't confident they'd have enough staff. That's Oban. Hardly a backwater unused to tourism.

[Artie]

1 hour ago, awnawawnaw said:

Do you honestly believe that? In this day with social media every where!

How does social media help power a small outboard motor, send likes???

[sparky88]

5 hours ago, MEADOWXI said:

They are not the first and probably won't be the last to pledge this. As the deposit is £500 a seat that's £325K before they've printed a leaflet or done anything. and they have to find 650 candidates, and get 10 registered voters in that area to sign as nominees to get someone on the ballot. 

As they need 5% of the vote in a seat to get their deposit back they are looking at a mountain of work to spunk £325K up the wall.

It bluster and if they have more than 200 candidates, and only a handful of them in Scotland I will be amazed.

Reform have no intention of standing in all seats. They'll wave the white flag to help the Tories before the election, just like last time. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

2 hours ago, carpetmonster said:

As far as I knew the main issue in the Highlands is finding anyone to do the jobs in the first place. 

Aye, but the one c**t left living there in 50 years will be extremely well paid somehow. 

[awnawawnaw]

1 hour ago, Artie said:

How does social media help power a small outboard motor, send likes???

 

but you were referring to the good folk of caithness being cut off from civilisation and wouldn't know about life in the far south

i haven't noticed anybody walking around staring into an outboard motor.

[Artie]

45 minutes ago, awnawawnaw said:

 

but you were referring to the good folk of caithness being cut off from civilisation and wouldn't know about life in the far south

i haven't noticed anybody walking around staring into an outboard motor.

Did I trick you into replying?

I think you've confused yourself.

From what you have said so far about the Highlands, you don't stay up here and you have no idea what you are talking about and yes I have seen some folks staring at outboard motors for minutes, usually while sighing and shaking their head in disappointment. Staring at beetroot jars in supermarkets is also a very popular pass time up here.