UK Politics Thread

In saying that, all he has really done here is take his UKIP vote with him. He also doesn’t even know when his party was formed or have a single policy outside Brexit!

The thrust of this is why I feel Sinn Fein’s Electoral luck sorta ran out this weekend. After 10 years of success, the people who vote for you want to see action, and taking responsibility. Mid term elections like this provide a chance to offer a reminder that support cannot be taken for granted. Especially with the likes of the Greens and the Social Democrats offering alternatives, and I feel that somebody like Catherine Murphy would have no difficulty negotiating a programme for government, and would ultimately be anxious to do so for the Soc Dems. Hence why the assorted affiliated trots lost seats and votes over the weekend as did Sinn Fein. Terminal opposition becomes tiresome and pointless.

Ditto “being all things to all people”. Labour started that in 2016, with the half arsed campaign, when they needed to be particularly proactive in areas where they have always had the ears of the voters. The Tories have totally lost the plot, but it started by offering the damn referendum as a sop to UKIP voters in 2014 and 2015, believing that it would never pass. It did, they lost their majority, and now nothing can be achieved, and that allows a new party, under somebody like Farage to make genuine inroads, where Parlimentary Seats could potentially be taken from both Labour and the Tories. Both the Tories and Labour can take the plaudits for that.

For Labour, the difficulty is they can’t afford not to, as they are just not currently on course to win a general election, and given that coalition would ultimately necessitate a deal with the likes of Plaid, the LDs, the Greens or the SNP, they would need to commit to a firm policy of remain, or to run a second vote for them to come on board. And that doesn’t even consider the fact that the SNP fish in the same pond as Labour for seats, and the LDs are still smarting from previous coalition. But their current approach, which includes the leader and deputy leader at odds over Brexit won’t put them near Downing Street.

I think it is impossible to say who is on course for what in a GE. While the turnout was higher than expected, it was still over 30% short of the last GE and it was a single-issue election here. 

There is no way the Liberals would get near that vote in a GE. When you say that about the Brexit Party it seems obvious, but bizarrely not about a party who are now a single-issue party themselves. At least the Greens have other drums to beat!

I also don’t buy the Labour attitude as ‘wishy-washy’, they have been attempting to find compromise in a difficult situation that has been terribly managed. If Labour had gone all out for a second referendum the UK would have left by now. I think in the long term the strategy is correct, although I feel a little bit more coherence and honesty is needed regarding it. There is too much fear in saying anything, but it would be reckless to completely back one side or the other. It is either lose the old Labour heartlands that voted leave, or lose the media sympathetic to Labour, but rarely Corbyn, and the remain at all costs brigade. I think Labour’s policy will hold up as sensible when this has been finalised, even if it doesn’t now, especially to people who steadfastly want to remain.

It will still be Labour v Tory, but the LDs, the Greens and the Brexit Party could all snare seats off the top two which could make a majority almost an impossible outcome.