2024 General Election Thread
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Nice to see such a big majority for the Tories to lose by.
Not so great to see that cunt Farage become an MP. I know a couple of guys who unfortunately voted Reform. And because they're decent people I tried to explain to them that Reform is all right-wing bluster and bullshit but they seem to believe all the shit that Farage spouts.
Not so great to see that cunt Farage become an MP. I know a couple of guys who unfortunately voted Reform. And because they're decent people I tried to explain to them that Reform is all right-wing bluster and bullshit but they seem to believe all the shit that Farage spouts.
jlo
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I've wondered about this a lot, and wonder if a preferential vote in an FPTP system is something to look into. Just like Mayoral elections were until recently.
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Yep - Humble, gracious & honest.....all the bastard things he hasn't been before now. So, you know fuck him.
The kind of speech you would expect from a departing PM - Can only imagine the mad ramblings from Boris if he had lost in this manner
Derby Wolf
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Don't know what's worse round my way, the fact I've had to support a Baggy, I've got 8500 racist cunts for neighbours or 5000 listen to the mad ramblings of fucking Williamson.
Derby Wolf
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Derby Wolf
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Literally just read this before seeing your post.
Running the country while choosing the curtains: how new PMs move in to No 10
Compared with other countries, the speed at which Downing Street changes hands is unusual – and can be brutal
Tony Towner
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I don't think we are. The last 2 elections have been fought on single issues 'Getting Brexit done' and fucking the Tories off. If they were to fix themselves whatever that looks like then I think you go back to the 2 Party state
Paddingtonwolf
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Paddingtonwolf
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Labour picked its battles and used votes efficiently to topple vulnerable tories who only had small majorities because the 2019 election was a bit of an oddity.
We are definitely looking like more than 2 parties, and FPTP is handling it just fine and dandy. Vote percentage isn't the be all and end all.
jlo
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Not saying we should, just replying to the thread. But you don't need referendums for everything anyway, Tories got rid of this system in mayoral elections without asking. I'd probably start with putting it back on for those, then maybe locals, then consider national.
Paddingtonwolf
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I think changing the national voting decision is so fundamental it might need some form of approval from the voters. In terms of Constitutional Law I don't think it is a definite need though.
Walshes Wolves
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It appears that Labour got around 34%. Is that the lowest ever percentage for a party that wins a UK general election, with an overall majority?
Nah what those elections did was temporarily stop and partially reverse the longer-term trend going back to 1983, when the SDP-Liberal alliance created a three-way split that gave Thatcher her first landslide. Ever since the shares of the vote won by the top two parties has steadily decreased, and turnout too, while minor parties of all stripes have become more and more appealing for voters, which in turn has broken long-term loyalties that led to many of the "stonking" seat majorities we're traditionally used to in the UK.
FPTP only really works in two-party systems. We're now in a situation where there are two regional parties (the SNP being particularly strong), and five national (ex-NI) parties attracting millions of votes each across the political spectrum. Without the binary polarisation of the Brexit years the trend has been restored, and this might be the system entering a particularly vicious circle: people voting against the top two parties for a variety of reasons but one of those parties being rewarded by the lopsided electoral system with power, which they then fail to use to satisfy those dissatisfied people, increasing the probability that they then get even more people specifically voting against them.
Like we're now in a situation where there aren't really any safe seats for any party. This is a 1997-sized landslide won with a third of the popular vote. Labour only have to lose a couple more points in the popular vote and things start to get extremely unstable in terms of how the other parties start bubbling up to replace them - and they're not going to be able to be all things to all people within their new coalition, most of their MPs are defending thin majorities but for radically different kinds of constituencies. Starmer's going to have a nightmare trying to hold his party together if things start to dip at any point and the panic pulls in lots of different directions.
The only other election that comes close is 2005, when Blair won with 36%.
Historically, 34% is the kind of vote share that means you've suffered a landslide loss. All things are relative, of course, but the disconnect between popularity and seat share is so stark here as to be an unavoidable issue, and it's no surprise that the mood in the party is clearly less jubilant than in 1997. I think that Ming vase strategy isn't going anywhere.
