General Election 2024

[BFTD]

No doubt it was mentioned further back in the thread, but that turnout should be ringing alarm bells everywhere except at REFUK HQ. A good 10%+ of regular voters took one look at what was offered and thought, "nah".

This is exactly how those c***s dominated the European Elections while working to get us removed from them.

[btb]

Just saw Johnny Mercer lost his seat yesterday - that'll save him from having to stand down at the next GE!

[The Other Foot]

1 hour ago, TxRover said:

So nice to have a distraction from the house being on fire already over here, as it looks like some smoke at your place.

Is that you Grimbo?

[Jedi2]

1 hour ago, coprolite said:

Corbyn was box office compared to Starmer. But he mobilised and galvanised the opposition as much as his own side. 

If Starmer had had half of Corbyn's manifesto, he would have had all the friction from the media, vested interests lined up against him and might have kept tories voting tory.

No way would turnout be as low. And he'd probably not enthuse the left as much as corbyn did. 

He won by being a blank slate for people to project their own hopes onto while never thrratening the sratus quo. I doubt he could have won with anything controversial. 

Would largely agree with this.

Another couple of factors: Ironically had Farage not 'returned' just a few weeks ago, don't think Reform would have done anything like as well as they did. For probably 90% of their voters he is the 'face' they need to back them, odious though he is. That would have meant the Tories traditional vote holding up better and a smaller Lab majority.

You are right that, had Starmer set out a more 'Corbyn like' offer, the right wing media would have been all over it. Given that we have only ever had 7 Labour PMs it is incredibly difficult to win with a more left leaning manifesto.

However, despite the point above about the Tory vote holding up better had Farage not intervened, after Truss they were never going to 'win' this election..once their economic credibility was shot...even their traditionalists will put up with Johnson's antics but when they crash the economy they are done.

So, Starmer could probably have been bolder...not Corbyn bolder,no, but still...and seem come out with a working majority.

[Miguel Sanchez]

A poor night for content on P&B, all in.

[TxRover]

37 minutes ago, The Other Foot said:

Is that you Grimbo?

Nah, it’s just nice to finally get to point and laugh.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

1 hour ago, Todd_is_God said:

And yet here you are. Staying where you are rather than go be millionaires.

Because we believe in the nhs and the wider public sector….

[Todd_is_God]

2 minutes ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Because we believe in the nhs and the wider public sector….

Ok mate, keep telling yourself that.

[Suspect Device]

Might have been already posted.

 

 

[AyrshireTon]

4 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Northern Ireland election results 2024 | Constituency map - BBC News

Interesting to look at Northern Ireland where headline is Sinn Fein finishing top... but in reality the seat balance remains the same as last time, with 9x Republican, 8x Unionist and 1x cross-community. DUP lost 3 seats to smaller unionists.

Republican share grew by just 0.2%... and including the Independent Unionist who beat the Alliance in North Down the Unionist vote also actually grew by 0.4% (indeed the Alliance vote fell by 1.8% across Ulster).

Unionist basic problem is having their votes split across DUP on 172,000 and UUP on 95,000 and TUV on 49,000 and the independent on 21,000 (total = 337,000); whereas the Republicans are concentrated into only Sinn Fein on 211,000 and SDLP on 89,000 with their only real drag being Aontu on 7,000 (total = 307,000).

The folk who vote SF will always vote SF.

Those who move to Northern Ireland for work etc will not necessarily be the staunch types and may not buy into the default voting tendencies, which may explain the split in that side's votes.

[Granny Danger]

10 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

Ok mate, keep telling yourself that.

^^^ There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.

[Freedom Farter]

3 hours ago, BFTD said:

I was a bit amazed to read that Islington North was "too close to call" in the weeks before the election. Corbyn's been their MP for, what, forty years, and I don't think anybody's ever said that he's been anything other than a good MP. He's also yet another Labour MP who has been expelled from the workers' party for being too socialist, so it seemed patently obvious that he would get a big return.

Shouldn't matter to Labour anyway, as he'll vote with them on most things and they don't need him anyway, but I assume there was a bit of pressure put on the press to pretend he might lose in the hope that it affected the outcome somehow.

Twitter's worst were full of characteristic hubris before that one...

But ended up disappointed.

Edit: Just saw this now too. 

 

Edited Friday at 17:51 by Freedom Farter

[Sonam]

One of the things I am noticing in Kashmir, my 2nd visit (last time 2003) is just how amazing the roads are. No potholes in sight. Superb, massive tunnels well built.

Then in Scotland & England, the roads are a total disgrace. Dangerous for cyclists & drivers. Maybe get some work visa 6 months / 1 year for the Indian specialists perhaps. But suppose Tory &: Reform wouldn't want that...

[Monkey Tennis]

3 hours ago, coprolite said:

Corbyn was box office compared to Starmer. But he mobilised and galvanised the opposition as much as his own side. 

If Starmer had had half of Corbyn's manifesto, he would have had all the friction from the media, vested interests lined up against him and might have kept tories voting tory.

No way would turnout be as low. And he'd probably not enthuse the left as much as corbyn did. 

He won by being a blank slate for people to project their own hopes onto while never thrratening the sratus quo. I doubt he could have won with anything controversial. 

I'm struggling to see past this, because it's largely true.

I found Labour's timidity vastly frustrating in and before this campaign.  The terror of being portrayed as vaguely leftist was real though.  I know it's absurd and I know that an argument for a more courageous/honest approach exists.

However, being this bland has got them into power, and I welcome it, even if the 'Red Tories' charge has some truth to accompany its inherent laziness. 

[Cheese]

3 minutes ago, Sonam said:

One of the things I am noticing in Kashmir, my 2nd visit (last time 2003) is just how amazing the roads are. No potholes in sight. Superb, massive tunnels well built.

Then in Scotland & England, the roads are a total disgrace. Dangerous for cyclists & drivers. Maybe get some work visa 6 months / 1 year for the Indian specialists perhaps. But suppose Tory &: Reform wouldn't want that...

Are you in Kashmir mate ? You've kept that quiet

[Lex]

Drew Hendry conceded that he’s got the Lib Dem boot out of Inverness, Sky and West Ross-shire. 
SNP will finish on nine seats (9). That’s worse than the worst case scenario predicted by even the most pessimistic nationalists. 
Even the exit poll which had them on 10 seats has proved to be too optimistic. 
That’s a truly remarkable set of results from the Scottish electorate, no one seen this scale of change coming.

[Monkey Tennis]

I worry that the pressure for independence has inevitably eased here, just as the need for it becomes more urgent.  

In some respects, self government seems less necessary if we have a Labour government at Westminster.  However, that's debatable in itself before we look at the Reform surge.  

If the Westminster opposition becomes more wildly right wing to accommodate these twats, then the thought of independence being dead as an option is not a jolly one.

[MazzyStar]

31 minutes ago, Sonam said:

One of the things I am noticing in Kashmir, my 2nd visit (last time 2003) is just how amazing the roads are. No potholes in sight. Superb, massive tunnels well built.

Then in Scotland & England, the roads are a total disgrace. Dangerous for cyclists & drivers. Maybe get some work visa 6 months / 1 year for the Indian specialists perhaps. But suppose Tory &: Reform wouldn't want that...

Kashmir- India or Pakistan? 

[ICTChris]

They need decent roads to send the armoured personnel carriers along for the next war.

[bluearmyfaction]

Not sure if it's been mentioned here yet, but there are more Scottish League teams represented by Conservative MPs than English.  (New bugs Bromley are the only club with a Tory MP south of the border.)