General Election 2024

[carpetmonster]

Just now, Suspect Device said:

Is the rest of Scotland on holiday in that week? My bairn's school doesn't finish until the Friday after the election. I assumed we were all the same.

From what I’ve read, Aberdeen and the Shire are the only bits still in by then. 

[Shannon]

From Politics UK so don't know if a reliable source but this seems absolutely mad that this is even a thing MPs in a democratic country could be able to do to call off an election?! The election should be set dates every 4 or 5 years (preferably normal Thursday in May date) as most other normal countries so no picking the best time by incumbent Government.

 

"BREAKING: Tory MPs are working on a plot tonight to CALL OFF the general election by replacing Rishi Sunak before Parliament is dissolved next Thursday

 

Several letters of no confidence are going into the 1922 committee "

https://twitter.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1793381779669156305?t=taSZ9urXyacpuhj9iNrF_Q&s=19

[Salt n Vinegar]

Just now, carpetmonster said:

From what I’ve read, Aberdeen and the Shire are the only bits still in by then. 

It's not only the 'schools on holiday for huge parts of the country' issue ... Councils tend to have recess periods over the summer (IIRC Edinburgh's is in July?) so a huge proportion of staff in the central admin departments will have booked holidays leaving minimum staff cover levels for at least the election week.

(Just curious - do Aberdeenshire schools finish later because of later harvests as it's further north?  As I understand it harvests have a big historical influence on holiday periods.)

[Salt n Vinegar]

6 minutes ago, Shannon said:

From Politics UK so don't know if a reliable source but this seems absolutely mad that this is even a thing MPs in a democratic country could be able to do to call off an election?! The election should be set dates every 4 or 5 years (preferably normal Thursday in May date) as most other normal countries so no picking the best time by incumbent Government.

"BREAKING: Tory MPs are working on a plot tonight to CALL OFF the general election by replacing Rishi Sunak before Parliament is dissolved next Thursday

Several letters of no confidence are going into the 1922 committee "

https://twitter.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1793381779669156305?t=taSZ9urXyacpuhj9iNrF_Q&s=19

Can that happen?  I thought that His Majesty Jar Jar Binks Lugs had already authorised the dissolution of Parliament?

Mind you, it would be one of the most curious things ever seen in politics if the Tories had to have a leadership contest during a general election campaign!

Edited May 22 by Salt n Vinegar

[Salt n Vinegar]

Will I be able to watch the election results coming in when I am on holiday in Crete?

 

[GordonS]

Just now, Salt n Vinegar said:

Will I be able to watch the election results coming in when I am on holiday in Crete?

I'm still going to be in Germany, we're staying until after the quarter finals cos, y'know, delusion. 

[Salt n Vinegar]

4 minutes ago, GordonS said:

I'm still going to be in Germany, we're staying until after the quarter finals cos, y'know, delusion. 

Still trying to work out which combination of progress is better for the SNP - Scotland doing well is fine, but what if England are there too... or if we are out, and "British" media is full of "Ing-il-und, Ing-il-und, Ing-il-und" the scunner factor might result in a "get it right up yies" to London focussed parties... so many questions...

[GordonS]

19 minutes ago, Shannon said:

 The election should be set dates every 4 or 5 years (preferably normal Thursday in May date) as most other normal countries so no picking the best time by incumbent Government.

We don't have this because we don't have a formal constitution. Cameron's first government passed the Fixed-term Parliaments Act in 2011, setting general elections on the first Thursday in May every five years unless there was a two-thirds majority vote in the Commons for one sooner. The 2015 was the first election under it, and the 2017 election followed a two-thirds majority as Corbyn's Labour voted for it, with bring-it-on bravado.

However, as we don't have a formal constitution no Act is any more important than any other and they can all be repealed or amended by a simple majority in Parliament. The Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 was fast-tracked through in two days for the last election, though it also had Labour support.

In 2022 both of the above Acts were repealed by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act, restoring the power of the prime minister to request an election from the monarch whenever they please. Only nerds noticed and it was barely reported.

The only way to fix the term for elections and put it out of reach of the politicians is to have a formal constitution. The same goes for things like devolution, which 326 MPs could abolish any time they feel like it. But we'll never have a real constitution because only nerds care about it and nobody else understands why it matters.

[BFTD]

33 minutes ago, Shannon said:

From Politics UK so don't know if a reliable source but this seems absolutely mad that this is even a thing MPs in a democratic country could be able to do to call off an election?! The election should be set dates every 4 or 5 years (preferably normal Thursday in May date) as most other normal countries so no picking the best time by incumbent Government.

"BREAKING: Tory MPs are working on a plot tonight to CALL OFF the general election by replacing Rishi Sunak before Parliament is dissolved next Thursday

Several letters of no confidence are going into the 1922 committee "

https://twitter.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1793381779669156305?t=taSZ9urXyacpuhj9iNrF_Q&s=19

The most mental part is that apparently a bunch of them think that sacking their leader to put off throwing an election for a few more months might somehow save their jobs.

I assume that's the idea. Obviously they worship money, but surely they're not all that desperate for a few months' extra pay.

[Boo Khaki]

27 minutes ago, GordonS said:

I'm still going to be in Germany, we're staying until after the quarter finals cos, y'know, delusion. 

Are you England fans?

[Salt n Vinegar]

I'll be voting SNP.

I hope the Tories get electorally annihilated in Scotland.  They or their fellow travellers haven't won a majority of Scottish seats since 1955 but as long as we are tied to the Westminster cesspit, we are never more than 1 election away from risking them coming back like an unflushable jobby and governing Scotland. 

Labour will be too tied to an increasingly right wing London Labour policy framework. Remember Foulkes and his criticism of the Scottish government making things better in Scotland "but they're doing it deliberately".

London Labour need to try to be 'Tory-lite" to win in England, and they just can't be seen to want to improve Scotland because of the comparisons that will be made with Scotland and what the nutterocity complain about over Scottish public expenditure/Barnett consequentials.

Sarwar might think that a Starmer government would back him up, but he's more likely IMO to be given his orders about tuition fees, prescriptions, concessionary travel, baby boxes, child supplement etc. These total cnuts are more likely to regard any Scottish differences in public services north and south of the border as being 'divisive' or some such Horlicks. 

My father was an office bearer in an organisation affiliated to the Labour party in Glasgow the 1960s and 1970s but chucked them as a shower of chancers. I don't trust Labour any more than I trust the Tories when it comes to Scotland.

A Westminster government will NEVER give Scotland's interests even PARITY with England's and it's time we realised that.

[Soapy FFC]

9 minutes ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

Sarwar might think that a Starmer government would back him up, but he's more likely IMO to be given his orders about tuition fees, prescriptions, concessionary travel, baby boxes, child supplement etc. These total cnuts are more likely to regard any Scottish differences in public services north and south of the border as being 'divisive' or some such Horlicks. 

 

This

[GordonS]

10 minutes ago, Boo Khaki said:

Are you England fans?

[HTG]

11 minutes ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

I'll be voting SNP.

I don't trust Labour any more than I trust the Tories when it comes to Scotland.

Aye - jobby/shite, shite/jobby 

[Soapy FFC]

Is it possible to do this before the election, or did he just lie to the mother?

[Bully Wee Villa]

7 hours ago, The Master said:

Things can only get wetter.

Congratulations on the new job.

 

[Zetterlund]

There was a clip doing the rounds on Twitter last week of an interview with renowned normal one Andrew Bridgen MP, who claimed Sunak would imminently call an early election as he wanted out before Britain formally declares we're at war with Russia later this summer. Apparently the Russian ambassador to the UK told him his country already considers us to be at war as it's UK personnel lobbing our bombs at them.

I didn't give it much thought at the time given who it was making the claims, but he got the first bit right at least. Nice knowing you all.

[scottsdad]

Balanced BBC coverage, interviewing 2 lifelong Tory voters.

[JS_FFC]

 Various suggestions that Jeremy Corbyn (as an independent) and Nigel Farage (Reform) will join the race today.

[Aufc]

9 hours ago, BFTD said:

Ironic if the fash vote decamping to REFUK causes some of their heroes to lose their seats  

There's something comforting in the fact that, even when faced with the national celebration of a Tory bloodletting at the ballot box, some people's first thought will always be SNP BAD!

To be fair, the SNP are also absolutely terrible.