Europe IV: The Final Hour

[Lebowski]

he needs to give Nick Clegg a ring and discuss how trading in your partys credibility for a bit of power goes

[Neon Ignition]

It says everything that the Torys and Labour do poorly in the local elections and then attribute it to the public wanting them to rush onwards with what they're doing regarding Brexit. It's inconceivable to them that the public could simply disagree with them.

[MartyG]

Of course votes swinging from pro-leave parties to pro-remain parties means people want a No Deal Brexit - how else would you interpret it?

[QualityChimp]

Of course votes swinging from pro-leave parties to pro-remain parties means people want a No Deal Brexit - how else would you interpret it?

[MartyG]

One spoilt ballot doesn't gain you 331 seats.

[QualityChimp]

You asked "how else would you interpret it", I was saying that in addition to some voters moving to Remain parties, there is also a frustration for Leave voters with the main two parties that haven't delivered Brexit and people either voting against them or spoiling their ballot papers.

It's more than one.

->Open Spoiler<-

[Asura]

I'm a bit confused; why do local elections have parties anyway? Aren't they just meant to deal with local issues? Does that really merit party politics?

[Dogg Thang]

It says everything that the Torys and Labour do poorly in the local elections

Unless I've picked things up wrong (possible!), the narrative that the Tories and Labour got hammered doesn't quite seem to be accurate, or at least it's a little misleading on its own. I just saw some numbers and it looks like Labour lost a significant chunk but Tories got obliterated by comparison. Most of the info over the afternoon was selling me a story that implied they got fairly equally hit, or at least failed to mention a pretty huge difference in how badly they got hit.

But I could be misunderstanding the numbers if your local elections work a bit differently to how they do here.

[MartyG]

You asked "how else would you interpret it", I was saying that in addition to some voters moving to Remain parties, there is also a frustration for Leave voters with the main two parties that haven't delivered Brexit and people either voting against them or spoiling their ballot papers.

It's more than one.

If leave voters have been voting for pro-remain parties, then they are truly misinformed.

The number of spoilt ballots is published in the results, but the collated results I've seen aren't listing them. From the council pages with their own results, the number of spoilt ballots are a tiny percentage of the turnout. No doubt it'll be published somewhere at some point.

The MEP elections will be telling as these will include Farage's party and ChangeUK. However, LibDems and Greens gaining huge number of seats whilst UKIP, Cons and Labour are losing theirs, doesn't seem like a championing for a hard Brexit, as some are claiming, to me.

[MartyG]

I'm a bit confused; why do local elections have parties anyway? Aren't they just meant to deal with local issues? Does that really merit party politics?

Everything's political. Yes. No.

[Neon Ignition]

Listening to LBC I think Labour is being cast as a huge failure because they were hopeful of winning 400 seats so to lose a hundred has exposed that Corbyn's game has blown the party's chances of performing well in the GE they keep pursuing. That he's still chasing to partner with May is the kiss of death to him now. Making a deal with a woman who's party wants her out and is also likely to break those terms later. He should have backed that second ref

[Anpanman]

I'm a bit confused; why do local elections have parties anyway? Aren't they just meant to deal with local issues? Does that really merit party politics?

Because town councils are basically arranged like our national government with political parties running the shop.

They should run on local issues but they tend to be a barometer on how the country is feeling about things nationally which is a shame.
Our locals were done on local issues for local people without any shouting and nobody getting burned.

Saw the lovely James Burke on 100 Days last night with an interesting piece, scroll to about 42 minutes;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0004nrn/beyond-100-days-series-1-02052019

[CMcK]

64% voted for Brexit?

->Open Spoiler<-

[Zaki]

64% voted for Brexit?

->Open Spoiler<-

Yep, I read it on the side of a bus, so it has to be true!

[Zaki]

I'm still hearing the fishing argument from pro brexit folk.

I hope all the fish migrate out of our shores along with all the other unwelcome foreigners.