UK XI: Please Sir... May I Have Some More?

[Nu-Eclipse]

I should be happy that all the polls are saying that Labour will take over, but I'm now a bit worried that Reform will take a massive chunk of seats.

Despite me loathing him and everything he stands for, I understand that Farage is a fantastic speaker and the electorate like a "character".
However, one man doesn't make a party. If Reform become the opposition, who'll be the Shadow Education Secretary or Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer?
It's like fielding Ronaldo and a team of 10 players that have never played football before.

Our tubby local Reform candidate looks like he hasn't seen his feet since 1997, so not sure how he'd tie his shoelaces, let alone run a constituency.
His Facebook advert sees him struggling to string a sentence together, but people think they're voting for Farage to take over, rather than the reality of someone with a very narrow political vision running our area.

In other news, is anyone planning on staying up to watch it all unfold?

I'd be stunned if Reform become outright opposition after tomorrow - no polling has consistently shown this to be likely, but they obviously look like they'll do better than they have done before.

I'd still expect The Tories or the Lib-Dems to be official opposition.

Won't be watching it unfold overnight but will have BBC Radio 4 and/or World Service on overnight as I have done in recent elections/by-elections gone by.

[QualityChimp]

I'd love for the Lib Dems to be the opposition, but also accept that there needs to be a better way to challenge the government than clever pre-written snipes at PMQs.
Imagine if it was a mature discussion on issues that need addressing? I can dream, dammit!

[Nu-Eclipse]

I'd love for the Lib Dems to be the opposition

I was just about to add...

For people who really do want change in this country after Thursday and are still unsure about Labour's agenda, they need to think smart about all of this. If Labour get into power as expected with a majority and the Lib-Dems are official opposition then the Tories are on the backbenches as the third party and are wholly irrelevant for the next five years, meaning that the Lib-Dems can properly hold Labour to account on all of the issues, especially the elephant in the room that is Brexit - the true key to reversing some of the big issues facing the country and enacting real change, whether Brexiteers want to admit it or not.

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[QualityChimp]

I'm just ready to move to a more mature era of politics.
Nobody's perfect and every party is made up of fallible humans, but it'd be nice to have a time where it's not all about point-scoring, but improving the country.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I'm just ready to move to a more mature era of politics.
Nobody's perfect and every party is made up of fallible humans, but it'd be nice to have a time where it's not all about point-scoring, but improving the country.

I agree. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I see that time coming anytime soon. Hope I'm wrong though.

[QualityChimp]

"Why do you hate the Tories so much?"

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[CMcK]

Realistically what can an “Offical Opposition” actually do to upset a majority government’s plans? And why do people seemingly think a majority government is a good idea anyway? Loads of other countries have coalition governments. Surely it’s a truer reflection of how the electorate actually voted.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Realistically what can an “Offical Opposition” actually do to upset a majority government’s plans? And why do people seemingly think a majority government is a good idea anyway? Loads of other countries have coalition governments. Surely it’s a truer reflection of how the electorate actually voted.

I'm pretty sure that I've always called for PR to replace FPTP voting in this thread if you wanna go back and look.

Opposition, in theory, should be able to hold Government to some sort of account regarding the things they do/don't do - precisely why the opposition have a Shadow Cabinet to mirror the real one and show what they themselves would/wouldn't do. That said, I accept that the practice hasn't matched the theory in recent times.

The last time we had a Coalition Government in the UK...remind me how well that worked out?

[Protocol Penguin]

Writing off coalitions entirely because of our recent experience with that awful one, that’s not rational. The trouble with the 2010 coalition was that it was unexpected, and as we don’t have a tradition of coalition governments, there was no prior expectation of who would agree to share power with whom. Where coalitions are the norm, it’s usually established which parties are prepared to govern with certain others (sometimes to the extent that allied parties share electoral lists and manifestos, as is the case with e.g. the Dutch Labour and Green parties). That would also likely be the case here were coalitions a regular occurrence.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jul/03/uk-general-election-2024-live-updates-tories-labour-polls-boris-johnson?page=with:block-668560958f08115751de215b#block-668560958f08115751de215b

Sunaks says he'll take full responsibility if the Tories lose. The one time and it isn't all his fault.

[fishbowlhead]

"Why do you hate the Tories so much?"

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Its funny because its true, but also really, really, sad and depressing.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/03/britain-will-not-rejoin-eu-in-my-lifetime-says-starmer

The Sun announces it is switching its support to Labour on eve of election | General election 2024 | The Guardian

[egparadigm]

Realistically what can an “Offical Opposition” actually do to upset a majority government’s plans? And why do people seemingly think a majority government is a good idea anyway? Loads of other countries have coalition governments. Surely it’s a truer reflection of how the electorate actually voted.

They get funding, access to civil service, PMQs priority. It would be a big deal if they came 3rd. Even at this stage it seems very unlikely, but here’s hoping!

[fishbowlhead]

I think Labour is secure to be honest but would like to see LibDem as opposition as well, so I’ll be voting for them.

[QualityChimp]

I think it's an outrage if you're voting Conservative, you get the whole of Friday to vote, but all the other parties have to be voted for today.

So, if you're voting Conservative, remember to vote tomorrow, not today.