By-election results

[dylanisabaddog 4,924]

Labour won both by-elections but both Sky and BBC are reporting that they only won Kingswood because Conservative voters defected to Reform. Is this true? I suspect that Reform voters are simple folk from both sides of the political divide but perhaps I'm wrong. 

https://news.sky.com/story/kingswood-by-election-result-another-defeat-for-rishi-sunak-as-labour-wins-seat-13071412

[Naturalcynic 631]

55 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Labour won both by-elections but both Sky and BBC are reporting that they only won Kingswood because Conservative voters defected to Reform. Is this true? I suspect that Reform voters are simple folk from both sides of the political divide but perhaps I'm wrong. 

https://news.sky.com/story/kingswood-by-election-result-another-defeat-for-rishi-sunak-as-labour-wins-seat-13071412

That’s rather sneeringly elitist of you.  I suspect there are many “simple folk” who vote for all parties.  

[Herman 9,767]

The results. Labour won both, with large swings, help from Reform and sensible voting from the LibDems.

 

[dylanisabaddog 4,924]

17 minutes ago, Naturalcynic said:

That’s rather sneeringly elitist of you.  I suspect there are many “simple folk” who vote for all parties.  

A recent survey of Reform voters found that the majority favoured a switch to an Australian points system. Most were surprised to find that's what we already have and several refused to believe it. Pardon me for sneering. 

[Herman 9,767]

1 minute ago, dylanisabaddog said:

A recent survey of Reform voters found that the majority favoured a switch to an Australian points system. Most were surprised to find that's what we already have and several refused to believe it. Pardon me for sneering. 

I would have been ruder.😂

[Naturalcynic 631]

46 minutes ago, Herman said:

I would have been ruder.😂

Are you and Dylan related to Emily Thornberry by any chance?

[Herman 9,767]

1 minute ago, Naturalcynic said:

Are you and Dylan related to Emily Thornberry by any chance?

No. I just dislike people that don't pay attention. 

[dylanisabaddog 4,924]

6 minutes ago, Naturalcynic said:

Are you and Dylan related to Emily Thornberry by any chance?

No

[A Load of Squit 5,164]

John Curtice (I think it was him) just said on the radio that it looks like for every Tory voter who voted for Reform there was one that voted for Labour.

Then they JRM on doing some comedy about it was a bad night for Labour.

 

Edited February 16 by A Load of Squit

[horsefly 4,300]

The Wellingborough result was an astonishing victory for Labour. The very strong Brexit voting constituency saw a drop of 37.6% in the Tory vote, and a 28% swing to Labour. The combined right-wing vote of the Tories and Reform still got nowhere near the Labour total. That strongly suggests people are sick and tired of gaslighting right-wing bigotry and culture wars, the corruption and utter incompetence of 14-years of Tory government, and the dreadful failure of Brexit. 

The Kingswood result saw a massive 16.4% swing to Labour. Reform UK, who pumped huge amounts of money and effort into their campaign, came a poor 3rd having performed worse than UKIP in 2015. What is clear is that Reform UK will not win a single seat at the next general election, and the Tories are going to get their ar*ses well and truly kicked.

For the record; I am Emily Thornberry.

[dylanisabaddog 4,924]

14 minutes ago, horsefly said:

 

For the record; I am Emily Thornberry.

Morning Em. Would you like a nice cup of tea? 

[horsefly 4,300]

1 minute ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Morning Em. Would you like a nice cup of tea? 

Thanks son, that would be lovely.

[ricardo 7,395]

Europe in recession so incumbent governments suffer. UK moves left, Europe moves right.

[Nuff Said 5,141]

5 hours ago, horsefly said:

The Wellingborough result was an astonishing victory for Labour. The very strong Brexit voting constituency saw a drop of 37.6% in the Tory vote, and a 28% swing to Labour. The combined right-wing vote of the Tories and Reform still got nowhere near the Labour total. That strongly suggests people are sick and tired of gaslighting right-wing bigotry and culture wars, the corruption and utter incompetence of 14-years of Tory government, and the dreadful failure of Brexit. 

The Kingswood result saw a massive 16.4% swing to Labour. Reform UK, who pumped huge amounts of money and effort into their campaign, came a poor 3rd having performed worse than UKIP in 2015. What is clear is that Reform UK will not win a single seat at the next general election, and the Tories are going to get their ar*ses well and truly kicked.

For the record; I am Emily Thornberry.

I KNEW IT! It’s so obvious, this would be the first place she would come to let off steam by taking the **** out of some right-wing trolls on a message board.

[Nuff Said 5,141]

2 hours ago, ricardo said:

Europe in recession so incumbent governments suffer. UK moves left, Europe moves right.

TBF, it’s hardly a move left by the UK, the Tories are tacking so hard to the right in their desperation. More a reversion to the centre, especially as Kier sheds policies to protect his lead.

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

10 minutes ago, Nuff Said said:

TBF, it’s hardly a move left by the UK, the Tories are tacking so hard to the right in their desperation. More a reversion to the centre, especially as Kier sheds policies to protect his lead.

What planet are you living on?

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

6 hours ago, A Load of Squit said:

John Curtice (I think it was him) just said on the radio that it looks like for every Tory voter who voted for Reform there was one that voted for Labour.

Then they JRM on doing some comedy about it was a bad night for Labour.

 

Why would you call them Tory voters if they voted for Labour? The correct term is 'floating voter'.

[Yellow Fever 3,786]

Sounds like somebody has gotten out of the wrong side of the bed this morning RTB?

[Yellow Fever 3,786]

22 minutes ago, Nuff Said said:

TBF, it’s hardly a move left by the UK, the Tories are tacking so hard to the right in their desperation. More a reversion to the centre, especially as Kier sheds policies to protect his lead.

That's quite inciteful  and certainly true. The old maxim is you win elections from the centre - something the Tories have long forget.

[littleyellowbirdie 2,550]

6 minutes ago, Yellow Fever said:

That's quite inciteful  and certainly true. The old maxim is you win elections from the centre - something the Tories have long forget.

To be fair, it has taken labour a fair while to remember it.

[Barbe bleu 826]

2 minutes ago, Yellow Fever said:

That's quite inciteful  and certainly true. The old maxim is you win elections from the centre - something the Tories have long forget.

Under starmer Labour seem to be whatever the tories are, but "more competent" at whatever that is.

I'm disappointed that the Greens didn't pick up at these elections. Their non appearance after Labour ditched the £28 billion committment means that Labour will feel it safe not to make green pledges and that's going to be bad for us all.

We need the Green party to really push the environmental agenda and to appeal across the spectrum, rather than be a socialist party with green bits. We need the greens to push the next government on environmental issues in the same way that Reform and UKIP have pushed the last few on Europe etc.

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

37 minutes ago, Yellow Fever said:

Sounds like somebody has gotten out of the wrong side of the bed this morning RTB?

It feels like correcting so much homework that's been done in the five minutes before morning assembly.

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

25 minutes ago, Barbe bleu said:

Under starmer Labour seem to be whatever the tories are, but "more competent" at whatever that is.

I'm disappointed that the Greens didn't pick up at these elections. Their non appearance after Labour ditched the £28 billion committment means that Labour will feel it safe not to make green pledges and that's going to be bad for us all.

We need the Green party to really push the environmental agenda and to appeal across the spectrum, rather than be a socialist party with green bits. We need the greens to push the next government on environmental issues in the same way that Reform and UKIP have pushed the last few on Europe etc.

Why? The Greens will stop any form of economic growth and millions will be out of work as a result.

[Herman 9,767]

Calm down Rocky. You may win the next by election. Something to look forward to. 😁

[canarydan23 4,060]

1 hour ago, Rock The Boat said:

A recent survey of Labour MPs found the majority were anti-Semitic supporters of Hamas, favoured child mutilation, and a few even lobbied to legitimise paedophilia. Pardon me for puking.

Completely and utterly bonkers.

[dylanisabaddog 4,924]

1 hour ago, Rock The Boat said:

A recent survey of Labour MPs found the majority were anti-Semitic supporters of Hamas, favoured child mutilation, and a few even lobbied to legitimise paedophilia. Pardon me for puking.

Would you happen to have a link for that? 

I seem to remember your hero Boris using Parliamentary privilege to make similar false accusations about Starmer. 

You have hit the bottom. Did it hurt? 

[Yellow Fever 3,786]

1 hour ago, Barbe bleu said:

Under starmer Labour seem to be whatever the tories are, but "more competent" at whatever that is.

I'm disappointed that the Greens didn't pick up at these elections. Their non appearance after Labour ditched the £28 billion committment means that Labour will feel it safe not to make green pledges and that's going to be bad for us all.

We need the Green party to really push the environmental agenda and to appeal across the spectrum, rather than be a socialist party with green bits. We need the greens to push the next government on environmental issues in the same way that Reform and UKIP have pushed the last few on Europe etc.

I disagree. Competent yes. 

The simple underlying fact is where you want to go as and when the means and funds are available. A direction of travel.

SKS clearly wants to do the 'green' things, a more fair society, sort out public services, an industrial policy, cost of living etc.

What passes for the Tories these days are more interested in culture wars, immigrant (illegal or otherwise) blaming and pandering to niche interests (triple lock, inheritance tax by example) or the hard of thinking. 

The current 'Green's and their associates have rather overplayed their hand with Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil and so on (and no we aren't all going to cycle and eat lentils) letting the 'perfect' become the enemy of the good.

[Yellow Fever 3,786]

20 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Would you happen to have a link for that? 

I seem to remember your hero Boris using Parliamentary privilege to make similar false accusations about Starmer. 

You have hit the bottom. Did it hurt? 

Its was clearly a libellous and actionable comment. Guess he trying to get this thread taken down now.

Edited February 16 by Yellow Fever

[Yellow Fever 3,786]

5 hours ago, ricardo said:

Europe in recession so incumbent governments suffer. UK moves left, Europe moves right.

Undoubtedly generally true Ricardo.

That said, it really rather undermines any notion that democracies are rational or even make sensible policy. I suppose Trump is a good example of that! We would need a better informed, rational electorate to counter this else it just become a beauty contest, a race to the bottom as we now clearly see - exacerbated by our 'social media' alternative facts age.

I rather suspect that China is somewhat smiling at your observation and its longer term implications! 

Edited February 16 by Yellow Fever

[Barbe bleu 826]

1 hour ago, Rock The Boat said:

Why? The Greens will stop any form of economic growth and millions will be out of work as a result.

The green party has become a lefty fad party when it should be a limited issue pressure group that exerts influence across the board and is able to get us to take bolder steps towards solving the single biggest challenge we face.

Labour has abandoned what I see as a massive issue and is able to do it without penalty because 'blue man bad' is enough for people to think 'direction of travel' is an appropriate substitute for an actual policy.

I'm  beginning to wonder what the point of the next election is.  DIABD  once said it was the most important election since the Tme of the Lamps or something, but in reality the blue suits will change to grey suits and that's about it.