The 2024 UK General Election - news, speculation and updates

[ska invita]

I'm not not keen, I would like to see Führage crushed under a five figure Labour majority in Clacton - but the truth is that it's not Labour that will beat Frog King, it's the Tories.

A nameless Tory MP is better than Falange. Being in parliament would give him a platform and a legitimacy the like of which he's never had - this one, unfortunately, is about choices: a poor option, which might turn into a bad one, or a really bad one, which might turn into a devastating one.

I would have preferred it if Lab had absolutely avalached resources into Clacton - not least because I understand that the left and centre ceeding ground to the right only makes the right stronger - but with less than a week to go, that ship has sailed. You work with what you've got, not what you should have got 6 weeks ago.

i dont think this is what is happening here....

Labour are triangulating with the tory and far right vote, theyre whistling for the dogs as best they can.
The only time Starmer has said anything against Farage is challenging his comments on Ukraine/Russia. Other than that Farage is treated as an acceptable part of the political class.

What has triggered this incident in Clacton is that the Labour candidate stood up, in person, eye to eye, with Farage and challenged him. This went viral. he has been shut down and booted across the coutnry for this action. Labour Party HQ dont like that one bit. The whole campaign is based on looking like a BNP and anything that breaks that image has to be squashed.

Its disgusting and is the classic Professional Managerial Class (Labour style) being the handmaidens of 'fascism' (Reform stye) in redux.
What is desperately needed is a full-throated condemnation of Reform based on ideological grounds. Jovan swayed into that territory and has been exiled for his troubles by Labour HQ.

 

[Pickman's model]

I'm not not keen, I would like to see Führage crushed under a five figure Labour majority in Clacton - but the truth is that it's not Labour that will beat Frog King, it's the Tories.

A nameless Tory MP is better than Falange. Being in parliament would give him a platform and a legitimacy the like of which he's never had - this one, unfortunately, is about choices: a poor option, which might turn into a bad one, or a really bad one, which might turn into a devastating one.

I would have preferred it if Lab had absolutely avalached resources into Clacton - not least because I understand that the left and centre ceeding ground to the right only makes the right stronger - but with less than a week to go, that ship has sailed. You work with what you've got, not what you should have got 6 weeks ago.

the message given out though is that change doesn't really extend to the electors of clacton. that the labour party will spend more than a million pounds on shammer's constituency, where he has a vast majority, but won't expend much effort on winning the argument with the radical right if not far-right forces of reform in a constituency whose result is eagerly anticipated by people up and down the land. it's political expediency above and beyond the call of duty. and it undermines the chances of labour ever winning that seat, if they make their candidate campaign for labour elsewhere than the town he's standing in. frankly it will serve labour right if farage wins the seat and is a thorn in the side of a prospective labour government. anyway, we've seen in the past the labour party in government adopt far-right slogans such as

not to mention

 

[JimW]

Lib Dem candidate in Stockport doing their bit for the Merseyside vote drive:

https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2024-06-26/lib-dem-candidate-asks-liverpool-woman-if-shed-been-nicking-stuff

 

[PR1Berske]

Lib Dem candidate in Stockport doing their bit for the Merseyside vote drive:

https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2024-06-26/lib-dem-candidate-asks-liverpool-woman-if-shed-been-nicking-stuff

 

[Pickman's model]

Lib Dem candidate in Stockport doing their bit for the Merseyside vote drive:

https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2024-06-26/lib-dem-candidate-asks-liverpool-woman-if-shed-been-nicking-stuff

Tbh I'm shocked anyone would think that let alone say it

 

[JimW]

Tbh I'm shocked anyone would think that let alone say it

Suppose she might have been attempting the dreaded "banter" based on the tired trope but spectacularly stupid at best if not downright bigotry.
ETA Video wouldn't play here, is that how it comes across?

 

[Pickman's model]

Suppose she might have been attempting the dreaded "banter" based on the tired trope but spectacularly stupid at best if not downright bigotry.
ETA Video wouldn't play here, is that how it comes across?

not watched the video. but accusing someone whose vote you want of nicking stuff is mindblowingly stupid. once more the famous dictum that the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits is proved.

 

[Wilf]

Suppose she might have been attempting the dreaded "banter" based on the tired trope but spectacularly stupid at best if not downright bigotry.
ETA Video wouldn't play here, is that how it comes across?

Said in a tone of 'dry humour' though, from the clip, she's as likely to succeed in stand up comedy as she is in politics.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

got my postal vote pack today, so suppose i will have to make a decision who to vote for / what to draw on the paper in the next day or two.

got another lib dem thing through the door (3 so far this week), one from refuck which basically says 'immigration immigration immigration' and one from labour which doesn't really say much at all (this isn't really a labour seat)

meh

 

[Silas Loom]

There’s a worthwhile article about the impact Ring doorbells are having on canvassing here.

Ding dong drama: Video doorbells have UK election campaigners spooked

British political campaigners are being caught out on the doorstep — and fear a new tech trend could usher in an era of abuse and scandal.

www.politico.eu

In Kingston and Surbiton, two Conservative canvassers were recorded chatting as they approached the door of local resident Aaron Thakar.

The video, seen by POLITICO, appears to show one canvasser telling the other: “There is a lot more immigrants on this street than the one we just saw, and they don’t reveal anything,” an apparent reference to residents’ unwillingness to divulge their voting intentions.

“If they come from India they sort of keep it close to their chest.”

It also says that people tell Tories to fuck off, emboldened by talking to them over the ether rather than face-to-face. Which I’d been doing long before Ring doorbells existed.

 

[planetgeli]

not watched the video. but accusing someone whose vote you want of nicking stuff is mindblowingly stupid.

This is the thing though. She only says it after the resident has told them she doesn't vote in Liverpool. If it was even a joke, it was badly done. And she really didn't have to say it, it came out of nowhere really. Bizarre.

 

[DotCommunist]

If farage manages to take clacton because Mr 'labour is the party of remain' and his betroot beria decided to pull the candidate away from the area then I might begin to doubt he ever gave a shit about brexit except as a tool to fuck the party left over and split the labour vote imagine my surprise etc

 

[Kaka Tim]

espcailly that fuckwit ReFuk candidate who was arguing that "The Russian invasion was the fault of NATO/The EU" and that Ukraine should do a deal with Vlad. His name escapes me though ...

 

[Calamity1971]

Tbh I'm shocked anyone would think that let alone say it

I get it all the time in Durham. ' watch ya wheels marra ya car will be on bricks' etc etc. soo fucking original, I just pity the ignorant dullards.

 

[Artaxerxes]

espcailly that fuckwit ReFuk candidate who was arguing that "The Russian invasion was the fault of NATO/The EU" and that Ukraine should do a deal with Vlad. His name escapes me though ...

Does he post on urban

 

[Dystopiary]

This is the thing though. She only says it after the resident has told them she doesn't vote in Liverpool. If it was even a joke, it was badly done. And she really didn't have to say it, it came out of nowhere really. Bizarre.

Well she said she voted in Liverpool, not Stockport. But it was horrible, no need for it at all.

 

[BusLanes]

Apparently the British people love fire and rehire.

 

[Wilf]

Apparently the British people love fire and rehire.

If only!

Fuck me, is this where the Tory party has ended up? Trying to make people afraid that Labour will introduce things that the people want introduced.

 

[Silas Loom]

Their social media stuff has been unbelievably bad. There was that tweet that just repeated the word tax a million times. Really looking forward to finding out how all this happened in the post-mortem account of their campaign.

 

[brogdale]

Good grief...

 

[Kaka Tim]

Apparently the British people love fire and rehire.

Wow! women with working class women accent saying stuff that cunitish bosses might not like!!! Not sure thats much of a scare tactic for people who arent cuntish bosses.

 

[Wilf]

Wow! women with working class women saying stuff that cunitish bosses might not like!!! Not sure thats much of a scare tactic for people who arent cuntish bosses.

As far as I could see 100% of the people commentating thought the Tories were idiots highlighting this and entirely in favour of what Rayner is saying. I don't take twitter respondents as representative, but it is a reminder of how fair, in this unlosable election, Labour could have pushed mildly redistributive policies. And probably how far the moment will be lost with the election of that monster Starmer.

 

[kebabking]

As far as I could see 100% of the people commentating thought the Tories were idiots highlighting this and entirely in favour of what Rayner is saying. I don't take twitter respondents as representative, but it is a reminder of how fair, in this unlosable election, Labour could have pushed mildly redistributive policies. And probably how far the moment will be lost with the election of that monster Starmer.

Nah, not convinced - I think the size of the majority, and the flexing of MP's within that majority, and the obsession with focus groups, and that simply not one of the MP's electected will feel from canvassing during the election that they are there purely because of a wave of love and admiration for Starmer, will mean that there will be a 'push left'. I don't think it'll be in week one, but I don't think it'll be long coming.

It's not - sadly - going to be 2017 manifesto left, which I think could easily be done within the current Labour party coalition, but I think it's going to go further left than the manifesto/messaging.

 

[Hotel Chocolate]

Apparently the British people love fire and rehire.

Angela terrifies the Tories!

 

[Karl Masks]

the kids are all right

 

[not a trot]

Angela terrifies the Tories!

Yeah, those ex council estate dwellers can be be a right handful.

 

[Elpenor]

Out walking today I saw 3 Labour posters in windows, and a car with a Lib Dem poster. No Tory ones. It’s probably a toss up between Tory and Lib Dem here

 

[Wilf]

Nah, not convinced - I think the size of the majority, and the flexing of MP's within that majority, and the obsession with focus groups, and that simply not one of the MP's electected will feel from canvassing during the election that they are there purely because of a wave of love and admiration for Starmer, will mean that there will be a 'push left'. I don't think it'll be in week one, but I don't think it'll be long coming.

It's not - sadly - going to be 2017 manifesto left, which I think could easily be done within the current Labour party coalition, but I think it's going to go further left than the manifesto/messaging.

I don't see that being the dynamic at all. Starmer's whole project was about crushing anything to do with Corbyn and that has been mirrored in the policy realm. And the one thing he has been successful at is securing control. The message for new Labour MPs is 'you're here because of me'. I imagine the new PLP will be not only made up of more centre right MPs but also less likely to rebel than even in the Blair years. The unions will be key, though they have much less influence in the party, financially and otherwise. Basically, Starmer will have a massive 'success', even if as we've said victory would have been assured with more social democratic policies, and control over the party itself.

I do suspect 'something' will emerge from this, maybe in response to the rise of right populism, but who knows. At the moment the prospects for the left inside and outside of Labour, are pretty poor.

 

[brogdale]

I don't see that being the dynamic at all. Starmer's whole project was about crushing anything to do with Corbyn and that has been mirrored in the policy realm. And the one thing he has been successful at is securing control. The message for new Labour MPs is 'you're here because of me'. I imagine the new PLP will be not only made up of more centre right MPs but also less likely to rebel than even in the Blair years. The unions will be key, though they have much less influence in the party, financially and otherwise. Basically, Starmer will have a massive 'success', even if as we've said victory would have been assured with more social democratic policies, and control over the party itself.

I do suspect 'something' will emerge from this, maybe in response to the rise of right populism, but who knows. At the moment the prospects for the left inside and outside of Labour, are pretty poor.

Reducing financial dependence on organised labour is central to the Starmer project; the asset management and private finance corporations that stand to benefit from the administration will ensure that the party does not rely on union funding.

 

[Wilf]

Reducing financial dependence on organised labour is central to the Starmer project; the asset management and private finance corporations that stand to benefit from the administration will ensure that the party does not rely on union funding.

Another reason why Starmer is taking Labour so far away from it's traditional identity (and I say that not being a Labour fan or misty eyed about Labour in power). Very soon we'll be at the point where the party should/could split, if we lived in a PR system.