Austerity, Brexit, Covid Lockdown Parties, PPE Scandal, Raw Sewage in UK Waterways & Coastal Areas, Economic Crash, Record Inflation, Record Interest Rates, Cost of Living Crisis, Pensions Decimated, Mortgage Rises, NHS in Crisis, Schools Crumbling, Housing Crisis...
There seems to be something of an inconsistency between what polls are saying with regard to #UKGeneralElection2024 and what the main parties are reported to be doing. I will do my best to outline what I think may be going on. Hope someone will find it interesting.
If one were to make the stylised assumption that any identified #groundgame was 50% effective that would leave the #conservatives with around two hundred and seventy seats and #labour with around two hundred and ninety seats - with the remaining sixty or so seats made up of twenty five #LibDems , about the same number from the #snp and the others making up the remainder.
Here is the (two dimensional) political placing of the parties in the forthcoming UK election from Political Compass....
If you thought you didn't have an awful lot of choice, the fact that all major parties are (on this assessment) siting in the blue (Right/Authoritarian) quadrant will confirm that suspicion
@ChrisMayLA6@melanie@PoliceStateUK It really irritates and annoys me to hear London journalists refer to #Labour and the #LibDems as 'centre left'. Objectively, of course, they're nothing of the sort -- but in the perversely distorted context of English politics, there is some (relative) truth to it.
But it's also really sad, from a Scottish context, so see how far right the #SNP are these days.
I doubt it would actually happen, but if the swing in the Mid Bedfordshire By-Election was repeated across the UK Labour would have a 310 seat majority, the Lib Dems would be the main opposition, and the Tories would be left with twenty seats
"Voters aren’t talking about Brexit, says Lib Dem leader"
The Tweedledee of England's opposition doesn't want to talk about Brexit. Oh no. This follows Tweedledum's fantastic thinking about rewriting the EU withdrawal agreement.
Oh well, at least the Green Party will go into the election with a firm and honest statement on Europe. I should know, as I'm helping write it.
I'm defending #supermarkets as their ability to maintain an #oligopoly over much of the #food market has had a clear detrimental impact on the UK social-economy, but, quoting profits in £ & then complaining they're profiteering misunderstands the size of these firms
They may be be manipulating the market to their ends, but their profit margins (remaining below 5%) are not out-of-line with 'normal profits
The #LibDems should focus on the manipulation, not the profits!
I saw someone saying if the UK had PR 20% of our MPs would be from far right parties. That’s probably correct, but I’d prefer that to the current situation where it’s over 50%
The political parties in the UK in preparation for the coming general election are as follows:
#Conservatives: Evil, but also incompetent; #DUP: Like Conservatives, but also bonkers; #LibDems: Like Conservatives, but also hopeless; #Labour: Like Conservatives, but also useless; #SinnFein: apparently competent and sensible but only in Ireland; #SNP: Like Labour, but Scottish; #Greens: Sensible and possibly competent, but we won't vote for them because we all think no one else will.
For the first time in the 57 years that I have been a political activist the Lib Dems have taken more seats and more councils than the Conservative Party. #ukpolitics#libdems
I see that, following Ed Davey, former LibDem cabinet minister Vince Cable is pleading ignorance of the Post Office Horizon scandal. He claims the issue did not receive sufficient media coverage for it to register on the political agenda.
That is complete bollocks. Private Eye for one was banging the drum continuously for the sub-postmasters, and did a huge amount of investigative journalism throughout. We are talking here of an illustrious organ read by pretty much everyone in the English political establishment. Call it the Oh-fuck-am-I-in-it-this-week? effect.
Ed Davey’s approval rating takes a big hit from the #PostOffice scandal
He is being used by #Labour (Blair and Mandelson's ignoring of warnings over #Horizon) and the #Conservatives (more ministers ‘in charge’ of the PO and ignored it) and he both ignored Bates in his first 2 days in office but also the first minister to meet him. But the LibDumbs did go into coalition and did a great deal of damage to the country. Lie down with dogs and you’ll get fleas.
Today marks the end of my 41st year as a member of Liverpool City Council. I was first elected on 1st May 1975 and served for 9 years. I had 8 years off and have been back on continuously from 1992. I'm now preparing for my biggest challenge. Being Lord Mayor from 15th May.#ukpolitics#libdems
It would be tragic 4 progressive politics & 4 the UK population if #Labour & #Libdems split the progressive vote & let these appalling Tories sneak in. There must be some sort of progressive agreement to rid us of these dreadful #corrupt Tories. https://tinyurl.com/msvwkp75#MidBeds
The Lib Dems have secured a wealthy backer, from a global corporation to help them try to win Sheffield Hallam back from the Labour... and who is this backer you might ask?
Well, its Nick Clegg, whose seat it once was, before he decided to join Meta/Facebook to help them deal with governments (like the one he had just helped push austerity on the UK).
So now the LibDems are led by a Tory Coalition cabinet member & are funded by an architect of that coalition... nothing to see here.
The Liberal Democrats have won more council seats overall than the Conservatives in the local elections, elections expert John Curtice said.
Curtice told the BBC:
The Liberal Democrats now have 520 councillors, and the Conservatives have 508.
This is a simple headline way of underlining the way in which the results of those local elections have indeed been extremely disappointing for the Conservatives.” #libdems#ukpolitics