Off Topic The QPR Not 606 Rolling Election Poll

Yep, and Ed Balls is on his way to obscurity (possibly house-husband of the future labour leader)

 

no unemployed English brickies for a while

 

con 315
lab 228

 

20 seats to go

 

All in England, primarily in the Midlands and the South West, and therefore most likely to turn blue - the alternative is to stay yellow, and that really isn't happening...

 

torys need 11 to win

 

Now 9 (effectively 7 with Sinn Fein remaining absent).

 

who won hammersmith and Fulham
is this the first green mp

 

LAB HOLD

 

cheers

 

wife and child now bored with bbc world
no doubt next time I see the news millibrand will have resigned

 

Stunning result, no need to ever believe an election opinion poll again. Chukka Umunanana already phoning round building a Labour leadership bid. If he gets in I reckon a Labour collapse next time of Lib Dem proportions, a totally valueless chancer. Balls out, Cable out, my bank balance probably marginally better off with a Tory win (though briefly I fear), my conscience a little less comfortable. Let's see where the cuts fall, if tax dodgers really do suffer etc.

Questions now are can Cameron and Sturgeon be grown up and statesman/woman like and figure out how a totally split country can go forward (give them devo max in return for abstension on England only votes Dave)? Can Cameron keep the leash on the Tory right wing - good chance of this up until the EU referendum? Then all hell breaks loose. If we stay in on little or no renegotiation, Tories become deeply split. If we vote no firstly our friends the markets hammer us and secondly, if, as likely, the Scots vote to stay in, the move to a second independence referendum is inevitable.

 

Unless the SNP make a complete mess of Tartan government, I could see Scotland being a one party nation for the foreseeable future. Labour are now essentially a party restricted to metropolitan areas, London, Manchester, Liverpool etc. I ask myself whether they'll get back into the power, while the SNP is there in force in Westminster, with its agenda of self interest. Bizarrely, Labour's best hope may be if Scotland votes to leave the Union. Bizarre, because it wasn't long ago that the Tories were in that position. Now it seems, the SNP may help keep the Tories in power.

The Election result does put into perspective all those select BBC audiences early in the parties' campaigns that were audibly so opposed to what the Conservatives were offering ( a camber the BBC have been forced to redress more recently). Sorry, Stan, but I couldn't resist making this point! Well done for opening this Election thread. Been informative and entertaining, conducted with maturity and good will by all (...this is sounding like Ed Balls losing speech...) even if not a happy ending for all.

 

Bye bye Nigel....

 

You wouldn't let it lie would you Goldie? Fair enough, the quality of reporting from the BBC was doing my head in, but sadly I can't find any alternatives at the moment. I bet we all watched the BBC coverage last night, just like we all used to watch the Cup Final on BBC when it was broadcast by both them and ITV.

You're 'self interest' jibe at the SNP doesn't stack up though. The SNP is an opportunist organisation, they won because both the Tories (over decades) and Labour (over the last 15 years) left a vacuum for them to fill. They have only one core objective, the left wing ideology is just borrowed to get them to independence. They have a massive mandate to push for extra stuff for Scotland, its obviously what the people of Scotland want. No other party now has any right to speak for the people of Scotland. It's not a given that they will try to be a wrecking ball to get it though. Still makes electoral sense for the Tories to wave goodbye to Scotland, just takes one seat from them, Labour and Lib Dems, but would give them a 50 seat majority in a smaller House of Commons.

It will be interesting to see what the demographic of the UKIP vote is. Farage just lost, lets see if he keeps his promise to piss off........back to Brussels, of course.

My constituency will be one of the last to declare, they only started counting this morning. Tory hold.

I've enjoyed the thread too, quite surprised we behaved just well enough to keep it open so long.

 

Waking up to a quite likely conservative majority is not one of the favourite experiences in my life

In fact, it's an awful experience. It actually pains me. I don't know how we can cope with another five years of it.

 

The COLSTER was correct. The SNP have delivered the Conservatives back into power. On the one hand they annihilated Labour in Scotland and on the other they drove English Labour voters into the hands of the Tories, fearful of what the SNP would do in Government. Well done Sweaty's

I'm now in the strange position of praying the Conservatives get an overall majority. If they don't they could go in with the DUP who have a rather bizarre wishlist, one of which is a law allowing organisations to march where they want. You can imagine the EDL/BNP rubbing their hands together at this prospect as they plan some marches through the most Muslim neighbourhoods they can find. Lovely

 

I thought the BBC coverage last night was good, Stan (perhaps after political editors were chastened by the exit poll)

I don't think the SNP will be deliberately destructive in Westminster, although Alex Salmond will try his best to be a thorn in the Tory side. But at every step, the SNP will try to get extra advantages for the Scottish people, and will be entirely indifferent to the cost to the rest of the UK population. Plaid Cymru would love to do the same for Wales. The English are no mugs and are waking up to this.

Love him or hate him, in some senses Farage has been successful, but despite getting 4 million votes, UKIP just have one seat. The Greens may have a similar complaint. There needs to be electoral reform.

 

I agree with you, Swords. I don't think we want more extreme right in Government if it can be helped. I actually thought the last Coalition worked pretty well and I'm sorry to see people like Danny Alexander go (never like Vince though). I think the Lib Dems did do well for the country and it's political harshness that they've been decimated. I never thought it helped their cause though, when they started to give away confidences between coalition colleagues in an attempt to gain a electoral advantage. One indiscretion - that Cameron confessed to Clegg that the Tories would not get a majority - has turned and bitten them on the arse.

 

Having a bad day at work, then I hear Farage looses, then resigns. At least I have a reason to be happy today