Is it a foregone conclusion now that labour will win?

It’s not a forgone conclusion op. The truth of the matter is no one knows who will win.

So to answer your question- what you really want to know is will Labour turn their policies into reality.

So in order to make their policies reality some things need to happen.

They need to either win the election outright or do well enough that with another party they can govern.

If they need another party to govern because they didn't win outright then usually the negotiations are around which policies will be kept and which won't.

So in that case they are unlikely to be able to make all their policies reality.

If they win outright, then they have to decide which ones are most important. Some policies will be simple to implement while others might need a change in the law.

If a policy needs a change in the law then they have to go through the process of doing that which involves the House of Commons and is slow.

A government once it has won an election will look at its policies and basically decide which are most important. Those will get done first.

Sometimes they run out of time to turn their policies into reality before the next election,

I shall have a look, it is interesting. I recall reading am article by the guy who did labour campaigns when Milliband was in the chair and he asked whether any of the shadow cabinet had ongoing relationships with anyone from the demographic they were supposed to represent. Not a one of them did.

I don't doubt that there is more science / effort than I give credit to, however I lost interest in the campaigns when they started with the chicken / headless chicken suits. 1997 I think. It has all been downhill from there really.

Remember the Sheffield Victory Rally - still, it would take something seismic for Labour not to be the largest party and, I suspect, to have a majority.

There is quite a lot of research and writing on the campaign machine behind these elections and it just is impressive. In some cases the competition was actually quite strong, eg Jeremy Corbyn did seem he would do far better than he did. Boris winning seats in red wall areas which had never voted Tory was a testament to the campaign.

it’s fine we can agree to disagree but there are a couple of very interesting books on this topic.

The trouble is, the further right the right go, the further right the left have to go to capture the disenfranchised middle voters that the right piss off by going further right. And they have to do it without pissing off the left voters in the process.

JC was always unelectable. He's the best thing that ever happened to the Conservative party. The amount of young people who started talking politics was incredible though, and I have to concede that this is a good thing.

Never say never.

Just because there was a winner doesn't mean the campaigning was especially good.

I remember watching JC at Glastonbury and thinking he'd be PM by this election once that age bracket of people became dominant voters. Amazing how it changed almost overnight and shows labour still have a job to sit themselves in the correct spot between left of centre and far left.

I think LibDem came close to overtaking the Labour party in the early 1980s! (But the Tories were way ahead of both).

As long as we have FPTP voting then minority parties don't stand much of a chance. Proportional Representation is the most common form of voting across the world which favours smaller parties, allowing coalitions to form.

Our local labour candidate is utterly useless so I'll be voting tactfully. I'm afraid I'm not a labour fan since Blair got my vote over scrapping tuition fees then reneged on it! I actually feel quite lost on who to vote for.

the election results disagree with you

Same thing - the tories campaign was better whether it was 3/10 or 9/10. Whilst I dislike we've started leaning towards the American style "vote for the person rather than the policies" situation the point still stands (again) that the conservatives get average politicians elected. That's what labour need to be mindful of.

I don’t think anyone can tell you that. It would depend on who they formed a coalition with. We will just have to wait and see what happens.

Ironically, I think Corbyn's campaigning was pretty good (though those words stick in my keyboard throat). He tapped into the young people more than anyone else.

Also Farsge. For someone who has never actually been an MP, he has a surprising amount of clout. Unfortunately.

Or that they were the least crap at the time. Politics has been dire for a long while. None of them have been good, just less bad.

omg I’d pay good money to see that 😂

It will mean that they will have to get the agreement of whoever they form the coalition with. That will mean negotiating and that some of the policies of the partner will get through as well.

I don't think campaigning has been impressive for decades I'm afraid.

Maybe labour will surprise us all and form a coalition with reform 🤣

Nope don’t think so.

it’ll be a nightmare but the Tory’s and the Labour will never form a coalition. I’m not really sure how it works tbh, I suspect it’ll be more infighting more unrest. I don’t want a Labour government but I’d prefer that over a high parliament

I think it's excellent that so many people are talking Labour down. Complacency is the enemy, and all this negging may well bring more people out to vote. Keep it up!

Meh. I thought the Brexit referendum would go the other way. I thought there was no chance Trump would get in. If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that anything can happen.

I pray to God not

Thank you! This is the point I was making. It’s hard to see Rishi achieve the same but in general they are excellent at winning elections from unexpected places.