Seems ConDems have crashed down south as expected with Labour making pretty big gains. 

Be interesting to see how things pan out in Scotland but presumably given it is STV there won't be any councils where a party has overall control.  Apparently heading for the lowest turnout in years up here but then you'd hardly know there was an election on where I stay.  No posters or billboards and I only got one leaflet through my door which was Tory, which is bizarre given in my ward I'd imagine they'd do well to get even 4th on 1st preference never mind get anywhere near a seat.

 

Don't suppose it means much so far away from a GE but already had Tory MPs demanding Callmedave is more right wing after UKIP success in the south and comedy figure Lebit Opik demanding Nick Clegg resigns as leader of the Lib Dems (but seemingly stay on as Deputy PM).

Also glad to see that so far nobody has voted in favour of Mayors in various English cities. Total waste of time and money and nothing more than a celebrity driven ego trip (see B. Johnston and K. Livingston)

So the £5 million gifted to Farage, was a 'reward' for the brexit campaign.

Farage truly is a man of the people.

🤮🤮

Streeting boxed himself in. Other resignations in his name forced him to have to resign or lose credibility. He gambled on getting the numbers to mount a campaign but chose to sit in the background and wait for the momentum to build and it hasn’t. Well, not enough for him anyway. 
 

Starmar is so pig headed he’s probably going to make a royal shit show of the next few weeks (even more so). He has no awareness of the need to play to the crowd when you are doing all the dull, technocrat style ‘fixes’ in the system. The more people criticise and challenge, the more he gets irritated that nobody understands what he is trying to do and the harder to like and understand he gets. He has a determined arrogance about him that won’t relinquish control or acknowledge error. He has surrounded himself with others in his mould. Streeting and Reeves being classic examples. 
 

I’m not at all convinced that Burnham is the answer from an administrative perspective but he does feel like the best solution from a political figure position. Lewis Goodall’s piece on Miliband on Substack is a decent and interesting read, speculates about him being the clear candidate to come in if AB can’t engineer a seat in time. 
 

 

13 hours ago, Kowalski said:

Streeting has made a total fool of himself. He’s a busted flush.

On to Burnham and this is the seat he’s hoping to stand in:

 

Makerfield has a deliciously apt ring to it. 

I wonder if the guy vacating the seat (a Labour together chap and Mandy fan boy) will end up in the Lords any time soon? You know, the place Labour pledged to bin 

Burnham must be off his tits going for that seat. It’s a trap 

A trap in what way? He’d skoosh it as it will be a referendum on SKS. Greens probably won’t even put a candidate up. 
 

Problem is it’ll take months to organise the whole thing. SKS was crowing a bit yesterday. Wes becoming Was and UK topping G7 on growth.

Edited May 15May 15 by Ajja

I just think there’s safer seats. Always a gamble parachuting someone in, especially in a place as Reformy as there. Half the party, including the guy stepping aside, will not only want him to lose, they need him to lose 

Suppose it’s about speed rather than perfect fit. The time to strike is now so he’s probably got to take what chance he can. 

The other thing is, if he does win, he shows that Reform can be stopped, which I suspect pretty much guarantees him the party leadership.

That said, I imagine there will be all sorts of funny business going on with eg the Tories being desperate to stop him. Definitely a gamble.

Suspect the Tories are impotent in this (and most things). It’ll be all about the right aligning behind reform to try not to let him win, as Mason says. Tories just dilute that effort. 

Not great. @Mason89 I suspect you are possibly correct. 🫣

Edited May 15May 15 by Ajja

35 minutes ago, Ajja said:

Not great. @Mason89 I suspect you are possibly correct. 🫣

England has gone fucking mental 

Makerfield at the last GE, saw a huge swing, basically a straight shift from Tory to Reform. The Labour vote share only dropping by something like .15%.

The result was based on a 52% turnout. 

If Burnham can get out knocking on doors and get people engaged and away from the poison of Reform, then he has a very good chance of keeping it Labour. 

I am sure if he can tap into some of the 48% that didn't vote, he has a good chance of winning the seat, as I don't think someone not voting in the 2024 GE, is suddenly going to vote Reform. 

I don't think there is a seat safe enough, that they can parachute him into at the moment, where a Labour win is 100% guaranteed.  

Nobody has seen our Labour MP since election night, so he would absolutely stroll it up here 

At the risk of sounding like @RicoS321 theres no point anyway. Burnham can’t change anything if he did get in. There’s too many there that could suffer some very real consequences if he did and that will not be allowed to happen. 
 

The folk running the Labour Party would see it die first. Then you’ll still get Luke Akehurst crying it was because they never shifted to the right enough 

7 hours ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

Makerfield at the last GE, saw a huge swing, basically a straight shift from Tory to Reform. The Labour vote share only dropping by something like .15%.

The result was based on a 52% turnout. 

If Burnham can get out knocking on doors and get people engaged and away from the poison of Reform, then he has a very good chance of keeping it Labour. 

I am sure if he can tap into some of the 48% that didn't vote, he has a good chance of winning the seat, as I don't think someone not voting in the 2024 GE, is suddenly going to vote Reform. 

I don't think there is a seat safe enough, that they can parachute him into at the moment, where a Labour win is 100% guaranteed.  

Agreed. The Burnham effect would swing things significantly. As I said, many would see it as a chance to stick the knife into SKS too. 
 

It’s possible that it wouldn’t take a huge shift in the rhetoric, narrative, approach etc for people to reduce the need for blood with regards Labour. A few publicly curated wins, some slightly healthier economic metrics and some sweet talking, AB could potentially stabilise things. Then from a more rebust position start going to town on Farage and his £5m (it’s for security….er…I mean a reward for Brexit….and….er…..I just bought a massive house….) gift from international crypto billionaires. OK, so I might be fantasising a little there…

If he loses the by election it will be absolutely hilarious. So hopefully that's what happens.

10 hours ago, Ajja said:

Suspect the Tories are impotent in this (and most things). It’ll be all about the right aligning behind reform to try not to let him win, as Mason says. Tories just dilute that effort. 

That was kind of my point. Tories might either not not up a candidate or just not bother campaigning.

45 minutes ago, Don Julio said:

That was kind of my point. Tories might either not not up a candidate or just not bother campaigning.

Apologies, misunderstood. 🫡

I'm maybe a bit over skeptical but I never really warmed to Burnham when he was getting himself stuck in to the Hillsborough stuff.

Reminded me of those paedo-hunter youtubers, the end result was positive but something just not right about their original motives.

47 minutes ago, mondo_notion said:

I'm maybe a bit over skeptical but I never really warmed to Burnham when he was getting himself stuck in to the Hillsborough stuff.

Reminded me of those paedo-hunter youtubers, the end result was positive but something just not right about their original motives.

The public voted for a shameless opportunist in the last election, so out of respect for that vote, that should be maintained. Burnham a perfect choice.

Brexit or more importantly the potential reversal of Brexit is coming up a lot more now with the Labour leader hopefuls setting out their stalls.

Personally I wish we had never left the EU and would quite happily see us back in but when it comes down to it.... do we even deserve to be allowed back in after all the arsing about?  

And what's not to say if a few years after we are resubmitted in to the EU we find ourselves with another euro-sceptic government who want us to reverse the reverse Brexit?  Where does it end?  Do we need a timeframe after a referendum where we can't have another one?  How long would that be?

Thoughts?

39 minutes ago, mondo_notion said:

Brexit or more importantly the potential reversal of Brexit is coming up a lot more now with the Labour leader hopefuls setting out their stalls.

Personally I wish we had never left the EU and would quite happily see us back in but when it comes down to it.... do we even deserve to be allowed back in after all the arsing about?  

And what's not to say if a few years after we are resubmitted in to the EU we find ourselves with another euro-sceptic government who want us to reverse the reverse Brexit?  Where does it end?  Do we need a timeframe after a referendum where we can't have another one?  How long would that be?

Thoughts?

People need to take a test before a referendum with one simple question - explain in fewer than 500 words what we are voting for.

Fail that, you're not voting.

Actually, there should be a screen in the voting booth (for all elections and referendums etc.) where you either

- match the policy to the candidate, and if you get less than 80% you don't get taken to the voting screen, or

- select the policies that resonate with you, and it matches your answers to the relevant candidate.

I might need to give these options some real thought before airing them any more.

With a by-election coming up, I feel they should save the rejoin the EU talk for a little while. Gives Reform all the fuel they need to take Makerfield.

Edited May 18May 18 by CurlsLikeTattie

There’s a lack of honesty with politicians when it comes to Brexit. Somebody should just come out and say it. If you still believe in Brexit you’re a dildo 

48 minutes ago, Mason89 said:

There’s a lack of honesty with politicians when it comes to Brexit. Somebody should just come out and say it. If you still believe in Brexit you’re a dildo 

Shouldn't that be "if you ever believed in Brexit you're a dildo"?

2 hours ago, mondo_notion said:

Brexit or more importantly the potential reversal of Brexit is coming up a lot more now with the Labour leader hopefuls setting out their stalls.

Personally I wish we had never left the EU and would quite happily see us back in but when it comes down to it.... do we even deserve to be allowed back in after all the arsing about?  

And what's not to say if a few years after we are resubmitted in to the EU we find ourselves with another euro-sceptic government who want us to reverse the reverse Brexit?  Where does it end?  Do we need a timeframe after a referendum where we can't have another one?  How long would that be?

Thoughts?

Aye we should go back in, but few have the appetite for the shitshow that would come with it.

Best left alone for the foreseeable, but suspect it will happen in the next 20-30 years

2 hours ago, CurlsLikeTattie said:

People need to take a test before a referendum with one simple question - explain in fewer than 500 words what we are voting for.

Fail that, you're not voting.

Actually, there should be a screen in the voting booth (for all elections and referendums etc.) where you either

- match the policy to the candidate, and if you get less than 80% you don't get taken to the voting screen, or

- select the policies that resonate with you, and it matches your answers to the relevant candidate.

I might need to give these options some real thought before airing them any more.

With a by-election coming up, I feel they should save the rejoin the EU talk for a little while. Gives Reform all the fuel they need to take Makerfield.

How about explaining in more than 500 words what you don't get to vote on? That'd be far more meaningful.