UK Elections

[Derec]

Polls will be closing soon. Any thoughts?
It seems neither side will be able to form a government without help from parties they'd rather not have to deal with. UKIP for the Tories, SNP for Labour.
So why not a grand coalition like they have it in Germany?

 

[Archimedes]

Exit polls are currently suggesting that the SNP could take every seat apart from 1 in Scotland, and that Lib Dems might go from 57 to 10 seats!

If those polls are correct, the Tories could still form a majority coalition with the Lib Dems.

 

[bilby]

Exit polls are currently suggesting that the SNP could take every seat apart from 1 in Scotland, and that Lib Dems might go from 57 to 10 seats!

If those polls are correct, the Tories could still form a majority coalition with the Lib Dems.

They didn't do quite that well; With one seat still undeclared, the tally North of the Wall is 1 Lib Dem (The notoriously not-scot Northern Isles); 1 Lab (Edinburgh South), 1Con (with only a 1.5% majority over SNP - could go to a recount) and 55 to the Wildlings SNP.

 

[bilby]

Labour have lost 29 seats overall, but they lost 40 to SNP in Scotland, so outside Scotland, Labour have made a net gain of 11; Conservatives have made a net gain of 20; and LibDems have been annihilated, with a net loss of 38 seats; 6 to SNP in Scotland, and the remainder split approx 2/3 to Con and 1/3 to Lab.

125 seats are still undeclared; as the rural, Conservative-leaning seats tend to declare later than the more compact Labour-leaning seats, the BBC are projecting the Conservatives to fall within one or two seats either side of an overall majority; However there could still be some surprises to come.

 

[Togo]

It's looking like a straight conservative majority

 

[Philos]

Folks,

Quite a ride!

Yes, looks like a Conservative majority, albeit small. The Lib Dems have been annihilated, which might say something about centrist parties in such times. Don't know.

There are now two nationalisms at work in these islands, the SNP and the Tory hard right (empowered by the UKIP effect). We will have the referendum on Europe, and this may well provoke another referendum for the Scots.

I'm expecting to see Miliband and Clegg resign quite soon, possibly even today?

Alex.

 

[Canard DuJour]

Justice has been served, I'd say. The British electorate get the government they deserve, UKIP got 1 seat more than they deserve and the Lib Dems got exactly what they deserve.

 

[whichphilosophy]

Justice has been served, I'd say. The British electorate get the government they deserve, UKIP got 1 seat more than they deserve and the Lib Dems got exactly what they deserve.

Britain does not have a proportional representation system such as in Europe and most democracies. If it did the main parties would all fall short of any majority. In fact the UKIP like it or not would get even more votes as there would be no tactical voting.

 

[Togo]

I'm not sure that's particularly true. Yes UKIP would gain the votes of those who like them but don't vote for them because of tactical voting. But they'd also lose votes from those who could afford to register a protest vote knowing that their vote would have no effect on policy. The result would be a net gain, but not more so for UKIP than it would be for the Greens, the Galloway supporters, and the labour voters in wards dominated by liberals and conservatives.

Frankly, if lots of people support UKIP, they should get more political power. That's democracy. The issue is what we're likely to see with this parliament, where the conservatives may need some cross-bench support (i.e. voting support from MPs outside their own party) to get some of their bills through. Who they turn to, and what that group gets promised in return for a more comfortable majority, is a matter of backroom deals, and isn't particularly democratic.

I think that's the better argument against proportional representation. Not trying to scare people with UKIP. I'd still rather have PR. Or if you want the strengths of both systems, Single Transferable Vote.

 

[Derec]

It was a failure of the pollsters who predicted a close race with no clear winner necessitating exotic, untested pairings like Tory-LD-UKIP or Lab-SNP or even Tory-Lab. In the end we got the usual, boring one party rule, although I am sure Cameron is ecstatic about not having to share power.

UK is an exception to the Duvager's Law which states that first-past-the-post systems favor two party systems. And it is precisely because it is an exception to that rule and has multiple smaller parties that the absurdity of the single district type voting in the modern world dominated by parties is clearly shown. In the Middle Ages, when this system was developed, it made some sense because people rarely traveled outside their constituencies and knew something about their local MP but not much or anything about others. But it is completely anachronistic today. Its absurdity is best captured in the fact that UKIP was able to get 12.6% of the vote but won only one seat and that SNP won 56 seats with only 4.7% of the vote. Even in Scotland SNP got exactly 50% of the vote, yet won 95% of the seats!
And nationally Tories will be able to rule alone even though they got a little over a third of the overall vote (36.9%). ]
All data was taken from the BBC results page.

 

[TSwizzle]

At least that jew baiting cunt Galloway got booted out. What a despicable piece of shit that guy is. He must have really pissed off a clan or two that would allow a woman to get the seat.

 

[Canard DuJour]

An indispensable part of the Tory victory is, I'm afraid, the fact that Ed Milliband just didn't look and sound right. He has a speech impediment and his face is (as Sandi Toksvig put it) like his name : too long and with the is ("eyes") too close together. He couldn't help but sound as posh as David Cameron who looks way more anglo-saxon.The same campaign from David Miliband or, indeed, Nicola Sturgeon might have kept the Tories out and possibly won a Labour majority.

Not really his fault. Though to the right of me, I quite liked the guy..

 

[Derec]

Or perhaps it had to with that talentless hack Russel Brand shilling for Labour/Milibrand.

 

[Canard DuJour]

Meh, didn't help.

 

[Philos]

An indispensable part of the Tory victory is, I'm afraid, the fact that Ed Milliband just didn't look and sound right. He has a speech impediment and his face is (as Sandi Toksvig put it) like his name : too long and with the is ("eyes") too close together. He couldn't help but sound as posh as David Cameron who looks way more anglo-saxon.The same campaign from David Miliband or, indeed, Nicola Sturgeon might have kept the Tories out and possibly won a Labour majority.

Not really his fault. Though to the right of me, I quite liked the guy..

View attachment 2951

Canard,

Have to agree. I quite liked him once he got going, but the negatives you mention were still there. The real problem is that I was trying to give him a break, and that's a luxury that most voters were not offering.

Alex.

 

[fromderinside]

An indispensable part of the Tory victory is, I'm afraid, the fact that Ed Milliband just didn't look and sound right. He has a speech impediment and his face is (as Sandi Toksvig put it) like his name : too long and with the is ("eyes") too close together. He couldn't help but sound as posh as David Cameron who looks way more anglo-saxon.The same campaign from David Miliband or, indeed, Nicola Sturgeon might have kept the Tories out and possibly won a Labour majority.

Not really his fault. Though to the right of me, I quite liked the guy..

View attachment 2951

Canard,

Have to agree. I quite liked him once he got going, but the negatives you mention were still there. The real problem is that I was trying to give him a break, and that's a luxury that most voters were not offering.

Alex.

Is everybody missing the point? It may be a big haystack but the clue for finding the needle is right before us. The conservatives offer to submit EU membership to a vote in two years. hmmmnnn what's not to like in that by the voter. No not the economist, the statesman, the businessman, but, the voter like those who voted for keeping out immigrants and fear their liberties and way of life is being sacrificed to the god of internationalism. Sheesh. But hey, pollsters could have corrected their models if only they hadn't take the Cool Aid of a good story about outsiders coming to the rescue.

 

[whichphilosophy]

At least that jew baiting cunt Galloway got booted out. What a despicable piece of shit that guy is. He must have really pissed off a clan or two that would allow a woman to get the seat.

Anti-Zionist does not mean anti-Jewish. Clearly you must have only read edited accounts of him. A lot of women have parliamentary seats in the UK and are leaders of parties.

 

[Philos]

Labour have lost 29 seats overall, but they lost 40 to SNP in Scotland, so outside Scotland, Labour have made a net gain of 11; Conservatives have made a net gain of 20; and LibDems have been annihilated, with a net loss of 38 seats; 6 to SNP in Scotland, and the remainder split approx 2/3 to Con and 1/3 to Lab.

125 seats are still undeclared; as the rural, Conservative-leaning seats tend to declare later than the more compact Labour-leaning seats, the BBC are projecting the Conservatives to fall within one or two seats either side of an overall majority; However there could still be some surprises to come.

hi bilby,

I'm preparing for another 10 years in Thatcher's Britain (oops, England) and a Conservative news cycle on the radio and TV every day.

Feels like a good time to develop some new interests

Alex.

 

[barbos]

Who in the world approved this photo?

 

[EricK]

At least that jew baiting cunt Galloway got booted out. What a despicable piece of shit that guy is. He must have really pissed off a clan or two that would allow a woman to get the seat.

Anti-Zionist does not mean anti-Jewish. Clearly you must have only read edited accounts of him. A lot of women have parliamentary seats in the UK and are leaders of parties.

I suspect you are right. Somebody using such relatively mild terms to describe George Galloway will only have read edited accounts of him.