Agree with the sentiment but the problem with close calls is that it leaves a lot of people p1ss3d off. And there were so many close calls throughout the UK. Anyway I await: UKIP formally disbanding as a parliamentary party. A conservative leadership battle Chuka Umunna and the new generation pulling Labour together. And the UK just accepting that negotiating with the EU is a waste of time and rushing through a hard Brexit within a week - OK but one can dream
Cant see any Govt from this election lasting long at all.... Thanks the Tory party for giving us two country splitting votes in two years... all because of their own interests... I am sure people will be pretty fed up with em.. Interesting to see the nasty media turning on their own for a change As things stand Corbyn could be elevated to sainthood
Well - the 'natural party of government' really ****ed it up didn't they. That's 2 consecutive Tory leaders who have gambled and lost, and plunged the country into chaos - which comedian is going to be presented to us next - or is TM going to carry on despite having her claws well and truly clipped ? Maybe a bit of recognition is due - Jerry did well didn't he ?
To be fair I'd like Jeremy more if his initials were not those of the messiah John Cleese From what I've read so far it looks although JCorbyn won't need to call for Teresa to go. Some Tories are already sharpening their knives. But more important I think is how can the Labour party get itself into better shape and all singing from at least a similar hymn sheet? There really isn't long for them to get their act together. If they want to negotiate Brexit they need to get an election in the autumn. If not it means waiting till after Brexit and that gives a new Tory leader a chance to claim credit for a good negotiation (The more real a hard Brexit becomes I think we will see more concessions from the EU, So shouldn't be a very hard sell). As for the SNP I think they have no choice but to keep quiet and try to do a better job at managing Scotland. If a Labour government looks on the cards at the next election I can see them thinking last night's losses were small fry. For many of us who live overseas but with our economies in the UK the falling pound is a pain, but a pain I'm happy to suffer in return for last night. But interesting times
The natural party of government are still in power. Labour did well despite the three stooges, Corbyn, Mc Donnell and the ditched Abbott. The poor result for the Tories was primarily down to some own goals by the PM and the unaffordable Labour bribe to students. The Labour Party still has tremendous infighting issues, most of the MP's regard Corbyn as a loser, which he did last night. Clearly with hindsight it would have been better for the Tories to have waited until after the boundary changes to have an election. Hopefully if May resigns we will have a more right wing and Brexit supporting figure. We now know the UK mainly has a two party political system with the other parties almost irrelevant, except maybe for the DUP.
The Tories lost their majority because the public got sick of having serious questions answered only by robotic slogans. The best you will have now is a hastily contrived coalition with the DUP (a party which has absolutely no taste for a hard Brexit) giving a majority of about 2-3 - led by a deeply unpopular PM which involves an Ulster Party helping to govern the whole of the UK. There is no time to replace May - or do you think that the EU. will be prepared to wait for another Tory leadership battle to resolve itself before commencing with negotiations ? I agree that Britain appears to have returned to 2 party politics, and that is regrettable - but I feel many of the supporters that the 2 parties now have are only 'borrowed'. The other parties will also be anything but irrelevant if May fails to put a government together - TM. actually said (prior to the election - when she was still confident) that if she lost just 6 seats then Corbyn would be leading the negotiations in Brussels !!
Is there not a good case for a cross party group to negotiate? No one can claim to have a mandate of any description. And at least that way you would have consistency with no one carrying the can. Simples
Rubbish result for Theresa May. If there were any other credible leader she would be gone already. Before Labour supporters get too happy though they need to realise that before boundary changes which will go against them and with the best election campaign they have had for years and Corbyn looking more Prime Ministerial than May they still ended up well over 50 seats behind the Tories. The Conservative and Unionist Party - the DUP ARE those unionists - will together have 328 MPs. Given that Sinn Fein absent themselves then the Labour opposition even if they get support from every minor party and independent scattered around the UK will only have 315 MPs. A majority of 13 is thin but nowhere near the thinnest a government has had. For the country it is perhaps good as it means the Tories will need to be aware they are not the untouchables May sought to make them.
There is no time for May to leave Ed, with or without a credible alternative. You cannot expect the EU. to wait again for the Tories to sort out their leadership crisis before beginning negotiations. They have had enough delays already. I accept that the Conservatives actually won - although it must appear like a loss to them. Like it or not they are now stuck with a leader who has proved herself an electoral liability - at least for the duration of the Brexit talks. For Labour the defeat feels like a victory - and may actually be better than a victory would have been. Imagine a Labour led coalition tied to having to go ahead with Brexit - far better to let the Tories take the whole can when it goes tits up and then pick up the pieces afterwards - a reluctant Labour and Brexit would be far too vulnerable to attack.
If the Tories wanted TM out - she would go. They are a ruthless party and would not care a jot about anything else. TM could remain a figurehead until a successor was appointed and they would do that fast. David Davies could commence EU negotiations - there is plenty he could do with Cabinet backing. However there is nobody I can think of to replace her - not Gove or Johnson. Rudd? - based on one TV stand in and with a wafer thin majority of her own? She cannot though lead them into another election so if the unofficial coalition with the DUP does not work they will have to replace her. Labour will be spared the acrimony and blame over brexit negotiations which could be good for them but five years is a long time for them - how old would JC be then?
She has to be one of the biggest disasters to hold high office that the country has seen for a long time. If she had done her job properly as Home Secretary and controlled immigration that she had the tools to do, but didn't for whatever reason, then it is quite likely that there would not have been the referendum that split the country. She called this election to satisfy her own purposes, some might think that her ego needed a massage, ran an awful campaign, and made JC seem like a statesman by comparison. This has cost the country £130M, and for what? Will she say sorry and get her husband to write out a cheque? Of course not, it doesn't work like that, but judging by her comments she seems not to understand that she chose to make this all about her, and she was rejected. Has she brought the country together at all? No, she has just driven even larger wedges between sections of the population. How long can she last? The common view is that she will never be allowed to lead the party into another election, but will the knife go in quickly for a fast kill, or will she linger on fatally wounded for months?
Can agree with most of that OFH but it always annoys me about the cost. The money gets spent broadly across the country. Much of it goes to UK small companies. Some on hiring halls. Some on design, computer graphics, Cups of tea, travel, ..................................... Lots of overtime of for example police gets paid. Printers and rosette makers get paid. And thousands will get a few days wages by manning polling stations and counting. Many who receive that money pay tax. Many pay out VAT which cannot be reclaimed. Much of that money goes from party coffers to HMRC coffers. Basically it is like a massive stimulus package. In many ways it spreads money of the rich to the less well off. Of course there is a cost, but some of it is rich donors contributions spread throughout the community. Is that a bad thing? Certainly the country is not £130 million less well off.
Maybe my years looking after council budgets has influenced my thoughts. The village I lived in wanted to increase the play equipment for the younger children and provide better sports facilities for the teenagers and anyone else who wanted to use them. Our annual budget for everything we did was £10,500, and the up graded facilities would have cost around £25,000. With various grants available we worked it out that for a one year only increase of 2p on the parish rate the work could start quickly. As the council was a very democratic bunch it was thought that a proper referendum should be held to see if the people would agree to it. Discussions with the District Council knocked that idea on the head when they said yes it could happen, but would cost £8,500, three-quarters of our annual budget. We did carry out our own survey, but found that many simply took the attitude, if we have to pay we will, without even considering if the project was of value. Sometimes you wonder if democracy is such a good idea.
I haven't all the figures for all parties to hand, but surely you need to factor in EVEL - neither DUP nor the Tories from Scotland will be allowed a vote. I wouldn't put it past Sinn Fein to change their minds - any 'concessions' made by the Tories to DUP will doubtless adversely affect them...
Life at the coal face. I saw this in my village in Hampshire. Where could the scout hut and other use facility be put. Never seen such fighting and not only over cost. And then they went for a village referendum. I think about 300 people voted. To be fair that didn't cost more than a few hundred quid. My brother, he is a bit unconventional to be fair, noted his council buying rubbish bins from overseas. Twice the price than the equivalent in the UK. Then due to the change of size new vehicles were needed to do the collection. And then there was the cost of disposing of the old bins. My brother stood outside a council meeting giving his side of the story to anyone he could demonstrate his annoyance to. The councillors tried to get the law involved but as my brother was for several years clerk of a court he was more than able to stand his ground. For sure he could of gone about it in a better way and in the end he only embarrassed a few councillors in the local press and on the local radio, but he didn't stop the money being spent. As you say OFH you do wonder
Maybe we should do a little reading up on the DUP, and see exactly who TM is throwing her hat in with in a desparate attempt to hold power. Climate deniers, anti abortion, with a touch of creationist thinking around the fringes - founded by Ian Paisley and supported by the 3 main loyalist paramilitary groups in Ulster. Basically characterized as a political version of the Orange Lodge in their thinking (and actually have lodge members as MPs). These are the people who are shortly to become part of Britain's government - yet still people will harp on about some of the people Corbyn has met.
