Europe IV: The Final Hour

[charlesr]

First thing I saw on FB this morning. Conservative policies may be turning the country to rubbish, but at least we'll get Brexit done now and get away from EU.

[charlesr]

Results by Brexit vote areas suggest basically all that mattered was Brexit.

[vanpeebles]

With the fact that Corbyn hasn't stepped aside, I can see him championing another duff leader.

[MartyG]

If Labour want to bounce back, they're going to need to take a look at more than just the Brexit stance, the hard left policies did not poll well either and Corbyn is not popular amoungst voters. Even now, his step down has been half arsed, remaining as leader half in half out.

I suspect he'll be gone by the end of the month as the recriminations mount. The LibDem took a nose dive pretty much after the announcement that revoke article 50 was a headline manifesto promise, so that clearly didn't go over well either.

Page 48 of the Tory manifesto shows that electorial changes might make it harder for Labour at the next election too, as the Tories promised to introduce voter ID for future elections, to change the constituency boundaries and get rid of the fixed term parliament act (although that last one was a Labour policy too).

Still, at least the Tories have to own Brexit now, and any fallout that generates.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Lets face it, this country is almost overwhelmingly controlled by conservatives through the decades. Following this landslide, we will see the Torys in control for many more elections to come. We are almost an Autocratic state; we technically have elections, but the result is always the same.

[Dogg Thang]

And I think you sum up the problem and I guess the reality here, Marty. What did not lose anyone an election, on the other hand, were lies, xenophobic talk, harsh austerity, poverty, hiding in a fridge and so on. So when you look at what polls well or goes over well, you reach the reality of the situation here - this is what the British public want. Everything that happens now and everything that has happened is what the UK as a country wants, even if not every individual of course.

Because the Tories were so on display this time around, so brazen and with almost a decade of a track record, this election says much more about the British public than it does about Corbyn or Labour or the LibDems or anyone else. And that’s really unfortunate. I kind of feel like I did when Trump got in - it wasn’t so much that others lost it, it’s that he was what enough of the public actively wanted. In this case, people could have voted for any other party. They wanted the Tories. The UK wants this. Everything that’s coming is because the people want it.

[Cepp]

My area's turned blue, cons won by a few hundred votes. This was a working class labour stronghold previously.

[Hirst]

My seat (Wakefield) has lost a very safe Labour seat after 87 years, so instead of a parachute Labour MP we now have a parachute Conservative MP. I'm sure he'll give exactly as much of a toss about my city as the other one did (no tosses) and will live in London for the entire duration.

[Brad]

Tory got 58% of the votes here

[Cepp]

I see Jo Swinson lost her seat. Its well deserved but little consolation.

I'm not sure where Labour go from here. Hopefully it's not installing a Corbyn clone, that is not going to work. Keir Starmer maybe? Seumus Milne needs to **** off.

[Dogg Thang]

I need to read more into the results and check this but, from what I’m seeing on first glance, it looks like the DUP lost seats in NI, including places they would ordinarily be very secure. That is very significant in conjunction with Brexit. I haven’t looked at what is happening in Scotland but, if Johnson gets his Brexit with the Irish Sea divide at the same time as a republican swing in NI, things could get very messy there.

As for Labour, I suspect after the dust is settled that they’ll swing back to a New Labour/Tory-lite form. Which would be a huge shame.

[vanpeebles]

I think in 10 years time only Wales will still be in some form of a union with England. I'd cut the other two loose.

[Neon Ignition]

I'm going to throw two things Labour needs to get its head around out there and they need to grapple with this fast:

-The left is done, stick a fork in it
-They need a personable young leader

Effectively they need the opposite of Corbyn. His and Momentum's stain on the party will be hard to shift and letting him stagnate the party for longer than 5 minutes will be deadly to them, by the time another GE is even a faint notion he and his ilk need to be a distant memory for Labour. The distinct left politics platform just got annihilated so a shift to a more centre left position is effectively mandatory now whether the Corbyn fan element of Labour likes it or not. They made a play and have they're done. Labour needs to try and recreate that Blair moment as well, going for someone younger to stands a decent chance at keeping now disillusioned younger voters engaged with the party and presenting the image of someone capable of going toe to toe with Johnson.

[vanpeebles]

I can't think of anyone they have suitable. Before Corbyn appeared, they would of been better with a Hilary Benn type.

[Neon Ignition]

The joys of Corbyn, he's pretty much gutted the party of the people it now needs in order to survive