The 2015 UK General Election thread

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Re Scotland, worth saying that it's probably not just England where the SNP threat worked.

Tories did very well in LAB-CON marginals in Wales, winning two of them and defending all their seats easily. They duly gobbled up Brecon and Radnor as well.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

E10 Rifle wrote: Are there any Tory "wets" left that might conceivably kibosh some of the more openly nasty legislation that's coming our way?

I'm guessing the answer is "not really".

Not really, but the new fiscal plans are so extreme, there is bound to be some dissent over them. A closed hospital can piss away a constituency (Enfield North) and there are a fair few bombshells like that implied by the plans.

What's better now is that there can't be the same focus on the Coalition dynamics. So more on the issues themselves.

[San Bernardhinault]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

British elections are better watched from thousands of miles away.

Among the most depressing things is that, for the first time since 1959, the genuine right (assuming that the Liberals, Lib Dems and SDP are centrists) got a majority of the vote in the UK. Tories + UKIP + DUP at over 50%. Even the PR proponents who've always talked of a natural center-left majority that's been screwed by FPTP don't have any comeback this time.

Ugh.

If Britain votes to leave the EU, do we get a choice of which citizenship we retain?

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Lots of that is the ageing population.

Not to say that pensioners are all well-off or anything, but taken as a whole they've done OK out of the Coalition. Pensions protected with a "triple lock".

The Minister behind this was the smug Lib Dem Steve Webb, touted as one of their "successes of the Coalition".

He's duly been voted out.

[Mumpo]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Tubby Isaacs wrote: Tories did very well in LAB-CON marginals, winning two of them and defending all their seats easily

Except for Lancaster and Fleetwood, of course.

[E10 Rifle]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

And Ilford North and Enfield North

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Mumpo wrote:

Tories did very well in LAB-CON marginals, winning two of them and defending all their seats easily

Except for Lancaster and Fleetwood, of course.

Which have moved to Wales?

[Mumpo]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Sorry, wasn't reading previous posts.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

You didn't misread anything. I left out the words "in Wales".

By the look of it, I wasn't reading the previous 5 years.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

We wouldn't be here now if there's been a small CON majority last time.

Aside from the BBC's complete bias, I think it made a difference to have two sides arguing the government point against one opposition. In the 90s, Major (even with a majority and when being relatively moderate) looked beleaguered with two opposition parties arguing against him.

[NHH]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Mumpo wrote:

Labour leftie Cat Smith gains Fleetwood from the Tories with a 7% swing.

An untypical and welcome result - ie outside the cities

Lancaster and Fleetwood, if you don't mind! And I have mentioned it already a couple of times.

I know, it's been a long night.

First time _ever_ the seat has had a Labour MP under a Tory Government. How about that?

[MsD]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

We won Hornsey and Wood Green, where I was helping.

Woohoo.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

We got 61% in Bethnal Green and Bow.

[Duncan Gardner]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Evening all, just back from the locals count. Finished with 21% (1288 votes ) behind Labour and UKIP but ahead of Tory.

Urgent message for Peter Robinson. Fuck off to Florida, you bigoted cunt.

Caroline Lucas's team has just invited me to their piss-up. In a spirit of cross-party co-operation I encourage Messrs NHH and TonTon to have the beers in my stead.

Meantime, off for a curry.

[Bored Of Education]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

You've just reminded me that my final bit of hope was, bizarrely, that the Tories would need the DUP for a majority as their red lines were getting rid of the bedroom tax and welfare cuts. Obviously, even that came to naught in the end.

[Elvis Wilbury takes a turn]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

Home Secretary Theresa May says what voters were concentrating on towards the end of the election was the "clear choice on the economy."

Probably likely.

That's my take. I'm not surprised at the result. I was always skeptical of the polls. If the incumbent party has improved the economy, or seen to, they usually get re-elected. That's the rule of thumb. It's not rocket science. Still, their thin majority is not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Will the SNP's 58 seats be much use to anyone other than themselves? They were elected to vote for Scottish interests, so fair enough. But any formal alliances with the Sassenachs will make for uneasy bedfellows I should think.

Poor hapless Ed, I do feel bad for the man. Top bloke by all accounts but he just couldn't cut it. Of all the field generals he's the one I'd be happy lifting a pint with. Oh well, he'll always have the Red Sox to cheer. If brother Dave hadn't flounced off the stage he might now be the next Labor leader. What an ironic plot twist that would have turned out to be.

For all the ballyhoo, Farage couldn't win a seat and UKIP couldn't score more seats than the Greens so it's not all doom and gloom. I'm optimistic Britain will vote to stay in the EU.

Sterling's up on the news, which is a bugger for me.

[/Speaking as a neutral.

[Calvert]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Brain dead Loyalist 'community worker', ahem, Jim Wilson celebrating the overthrow of the impressive Naomi Long, declared the victory of the Deeply Unpleasant Party candidate as a victory for working-class Loyalism.

Good man, Jim. Let's see how poorer members of your community will enjoy having to eat their [/I]flegs [I] over the next five years.

In other news, that Luke R is a bit of a cunt, isn't he?

[Calvert]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Oh, wait
That's not really news.
We knew that already

[Come along, Min]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

I consider myself well and truly zinged

[Nocturnal Submission]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Luke R wrote: I consider myself well and truly zinged

There are some right old arseholes on this board.

Just ignore them.

[ursus arctos]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

Final figure for @LibDemDeposits

One hundred seventy thousand pounds sterling

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

The local elections are awful as well.

Tories have gained 18 councils.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

David Cameron has anointed George Osborne as his natural successor by reappointing his closest cabinet ally as chancellor and promoting him to the position of first secretary of state.

The chancellor will step into the shoes of his mentor William Hague as Cameron’s deputy, which will see the chancellor play a key role in the prime minister’s renegotiation of Britain’s EU membership terms.

[tuckwat]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

MsD wrote: We won Hornsey and Wood Green, where I was helping.

Woohoo.

First time I voted I was living in Wood Green in 1987. Voted for the Ecology party and the tory romped home.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The 2015 UK General Election thread

tuckwat wrote:

We won Hornsey and Wood Green, where I was helping.

Woohoo.

First time I voted I was living in Wood Green in 1987. Voted for the Ecology party and the tory romped home.

London was awful in that election.

Lots of Labour councils raised the rates a lot to make up for central government cuts. Labour lost Walthamstow in that election.