Anyone in Hartlepool - what on earth is going on

[Purplecatshopaholic]

Genuine question. (Apologies if this is in the wrong place, I don’t post much). I’m Scottish and in Scotland, and I am constantly aware these days of how different the views are of Westminster up here, to across the border sometimes. We also have our own Labour Party leader up here. But really? Is Keir Starmer that bad? Are other parties not available? Who on earth is still voting for Boris…? Any WHY?

@C8H10N4O2

Because the Labour our Grandfathers voted for no longer exists

The country my grandmother voted in no longer exists. Times change.

Is Keir Starmer that bad?

It took Neil Kinnock nine years to drag Labour back to an electable state the last time the it was rendered unelectable by its extreme wing. Members of the shadow cabinet rubbishing their candidate on the media didn't help either.

The Tories on the other hand have scooped up the Brexit votes without which they would have won the seat last time. Tories+brexit last time had an overall majority vote. And the vaccine programme has apparently obliterated memories that this is the same government which spaffed 37billion on the relatively useless track and trace programme and oversaw the worst death rate in Europe.

In a nutshell.

@Lawnpop

In the general election it was a three horse race between Labour, Con and Brexit. Now the Brexit votes have gone to Cons so I’m not surprised at the result

Yup ! Thank you I really do despair of hyperbolic reporting sometimes.

@Lawnpop

But no idea what the appeal of Boris is and why Labour are blamed when it’s the tories that have been in power for so long

The same reason that Labourites still blame Thatcher for everything. Brown/Blair blamed the Tories for everything despite their 13 years in power.

@Lightswitchesoffatnight

I honestly didn't mean to be! said *@SunsetBeetch*

The scale of the Conservative win appears to have surprised many people, so I have plenty of company here in my bubble!

I guess some people just get off on being wise after the event.

A big bubble is still a bubble.

Redtoothbrush and others have explained why it wasn't a surprise to many of us.

I’m not a million miles away from Hartlepool and have lived all my life in the NE.

I always voted Labour, and was a member until a couple of years ago. I also voted Remain, and am one of plenty of northerners who don’t in any way fit the perceived narrative.

Labour has lost my vote until they stop regarding their traditional supporters like a broken down lawnmower. Standing over us scowling, with kicks and curses and threats, is not the way to win allegiance. There are two sides to this dynamic; just maybe, we’re not the ones who are in the wrong?

Oh, and they don’t know what a woman is, so [shrug]

@TrickyD

Thick plebs voting for toffs.

Preferring to be told attractive lies rather than truths they don’t want to hear.

Well that'll sure help eh. Tell people they're stupid for voting the wrong way for you, even though it's the right way/least offensive way for them. I spoiled my ballot is that better or worse than "voting the wrong way"

It just so happens that women (even the ones I dont like) are important to me, I think we deserve and need without question our very few women only spaces. Kier starmer either couldn't or wouldn't stand up and say that so no way could I vote labour. And well lib dems have drunk the kool-aid spectacularly. Even knowing that a man is a woman by some kind of aura. So nope could not vote for them. There were no independents in my area and the last option was boris.

It's not just Hartlepool, it's an emerging pattern all over the country. In my region labour are down -6 and Cons are up +11 seats.

It's time for Labour to accept that they are no longer relevant even as an opposition party, never mind as a potential government. They should dispand and reform. Sort the wheat from the chaff. Same with the Lib Dems.

There are some good pieces in the press considering just this. See eg the Guardian. You will get much better-informed and more rounded analysis than here.

LOL at looking in the Guardian for anything 'well rounded.' Hilarious. The Guardian is the Daily Mail for left wing Remainers.

@Moonstone1234

If you don’t know the answer by now Labour are going to be in the wilderness for years and might even split in the next few years. They are a complete mess and full of a woke agenda. Starmer isn’t as bad as Corbyn but who could be but he isn’t strong enough.

They need to move back to the centre and where is the next Tony Blair?

This! Ordinary people don’t give a shit about Labours ‘woke’ agenda.

I really want the SDP to start making a mark, but their result was pitiful.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Scotland - I'd hoped Labour might win back seats from the SNP but now that looks unlikely.

The whole Left v Right battle is over

The divide in British politics is now one of values

The Left is now .. woke, identity politics, the right is now the traditional core small “c” conservative voters who value common sense and have no truck with identity politics

Overwhelmingly the normal people are rejecting the “values” of the “new woke” it’s a simple as that

@User135644

They actually care about women's rights in the north east.

This

Because there is no choice of independent newspapers in this country. 90% of people in my village read the Sun or the Daily Mail, and even The Guardian isn't an alternative anymore.

I'm horrified. Coming from the north surely there's nothing worse than voting Tory

@Whitchurch

I think this post demonstrates a huge part of the problem. Labour voters and the party think the best way to oppose the Conservatives is to fault find and insult their supporters. Negative politics is a dodgy route. Instead Labour should be concentrating on what people need and want and what they can do to address that. Clear, sensible and affordable policies that the public can identify.

Exactly this. Labour are just too negative about everything. All they do is complain and argue but don't come up with realistic alternatives/policies of their own. Tony Blair had the right approach back in the 90s, not only did he stand on a platform of new ideas, to actually improve things, he also promised to stay within the Tory finances/spending for the entire first term in office. It was a double whammy. It gave people some hope for change and improvement, but at the same time, it gave confidence to voters that there wasn't going to be an unaffordable spending frenzy (that came later!). It's why Nick Clegg was popular and the Libdems did so well in the 2010 election - again, an upbeat, positive message (yes, ended badly but it's how they won the seats). Labour come across as whinging and complaining, which added to their obsession with minority issues doesn't make them appealing to the masses.

Labour has lost my vote until they stop regarding their traditional supporters like a broken down lawnmower. Standing over us scowling, with kicks and curses and threats, is not the way to win allegiance. There are two sides to this dynamic; just maybe, we’re not the ones who are in the wrong?

I think there are a large proportion of the population who feel like this too.

how will Labour ever start to recover from this? I wish I knew.

The different factions of the party are still slugging it out, from the GE and the Referendum. I can see this at local level (my DH is a member). Things will only get worse, with each side pointing the finger of blame at each other.

It is a terrible thing for a country to have no creditable opposition.

credible not creditable

I'd image that Owen Jones on twitter single-handedly lost Labout thousands of votes, for instance. Not sure what he's up to these days mind you as I'm blocked (and no I was not abusive).

and, as for blaming the Press. Hardly anyone reads a newspaper anymore, so their influence is negligible.

PurpleBiro21, “woke”refers to the Labour party being trendy and throwing women’s rights under the bus by stating that any man can simply claim to identify as a woman and be allowed in to female changing rooms, showers, toilets, refuges, prisons and sports.
They chant the “transwomen are women” nonsense, believe that a penis can be female, and intact male rapists belong in women’s prisons. Even though some have already sexually assaulted women inmates.
Try googling “Karen” White.
They also think people who voted for Brexit did so out of stupidity or racism.
They don’t actually like their core voters and it shows. Now their voters don’t like them much either!

@Looneytune253 Get real, the days are now gone when people voted labour cause their dad/working man's club/shop steward in pit/factory/works told them too. We are seeing the result of this change (i.e Tory party benefiting) in working class communities which has been accelerating more and more.

Well done to Hartlepool. My father's native Bishop Auckland up there is Tory too. Working people have had enough of Labour. It has not won an election since 2005 as socialist and the way Labour is putting it into place is totally out of touch with sensible views of hard working families.

Stamer is just like the rest of them - a posh London man as was Corbyn. Stamer is not a bundle of laughs either. His attempt to pretend he is behind our armed forces is a joke too.

Someone asked what is woke. I find the term unhelpful but it will be part of Labour's problem. It lives in an echo chamber where it thinks everyone shares its views and instead it is out of touch with the reasonable pragmatic views of the nation. Unless it pulls the arrow from its own eye and realises it is wrong on many issues and stops beating up the very non privileged ordinary people of the UK it does not have much of a chance of repeating the 2005 election victory.

@MaxNormal

I'd image that Owen Jones on twitter single-handedly lost Labout thousands of votes, for instance. Not sure what he's up to these days mind you as I'm blocked (and no I was not abusive).

Not sure if he is still allowed to write for The Guardian but he also used to regularly remove comments that were purely critical of his articles.

@6Helen7

Because ordinary working people don't feel that the Labour Party represent them any more. My grandfather would be turning in his grave.

And they feel like Boris does? Are they thick?