Local election results

[KenAdams]

Is anyone following the local election results?

It's not looking good for the Tories is it?

I have a question if anyone can answer it for me - NW Leicestershire has been declared "hung" due to no majority. However, Labour have 18 seats and the Conservatives 12. How is that not considered a majority?

@Shade17 I could have said the same here when the Tory's were in charge (just) lots of seriously iffy backhanders going on. vastly improved I feel with a Lib Dem council- we already have a Lib Dem MP.

You know when the Tory's were busy telling everyone 'the mess left by the last labour government' and persisted for year upon year- well the worm has turned. Personally I feel the Lib Dem's are a better bet at local level.

I so want PR and the total destruction of the Tory party that it's heartening to see a Lib Dem breakthrough and a bit of a brake on Labour - Labour Party supporter that I am. Sir Keir is an important weapon with his dullness to getting to that possible outcome.

I’m older but would find this a bit patronising if I were a younger voter, tbh.

I am 75.

I know that politics is like the sea. It has tides, waves and currents that affect how it looks at any time.

Labour lost the country in the 1970's, for well documented reasons. The UK is on the whole now right of centre. Blair came along in the mid 90's against a backdrop of political ineptitude and scandals (dark choppy waves) within the Conservative party. Even Major could not save them. Parts of the press traditionally on the side of the Tories switched to Labour. Even Thatcher said Blair was the best Conservative who never joined the party. Blair was charismatic and despite being at odds with Brown, they made a complimentary leadership. The international undercurrent of emerging low inflation and cheap money heralded in a new era of Big State. Brown had money to spend. Every nation did. then the bubble burst, the tide turned, and the Conservatives came back to power.

It was not just the UK that ran out of money. Many nations did. Look at Spain and look at Greece (even now).

Like aging a tree by counting its rings, you can tell when the Conservatives came back into power by the juxtaposed lines of new and old buildings on super-hospital sites. Everything stopped, except HS2 but in fact that was a Labour invention not the Conservatives.

When new money became available under QE2 everything started again. More money pumped out by central banks and everything looked rosy for a few years 2012 (God bless the Olympics) until we hit 2016. Then Covid.

What every voter should be asking themselves is not whether Starmer is charismatic enough to do a 'Blair' (he is not and the press will back Sunak next year) they should not be asking where was the money gone.

Voters only need to ask where is the money going?

Quite simply, our taxes are going up all round and have done for the last seven years under a Conservative government, but we are actually getting fewer and fewer services.

So, where is all the money going? Can a Conservative government really claim to be the best to run our economy?

Labour were in power until 2010. The tories can't claim any success for the 2012 Olympics.

Austerity implemented by the con/Lib coalition began to break the country and destroy public services. Swiftly followed by Cameron allowing the brexit vote. The country hasn't recovered from austerity let alone Brexit.

Yeah @MaisieMay23 I'm in my fifty's and remember when Labour were last in power and I had never been so much better off . My Husband in the armed forces actually got a pay rise that was worth having . Things got better under Labour .

We know where the money is going. And where it isn't. More billionaires than ever. Massive profits to global companies. May I fetch you another yacht, Sir Philip? The cost of living crisis means nothing at the top other than opportunity to further exploit ready income streams. Your new hospital has been sacrificed to enable whoever it was to heat his bloody stables. Absolutely sickening bunch of asset stripping parasites.

The economy was growing and recovering from the banking crisis under Gordon Brown and the Toriesalmost immediately turned it into a recession with their austerity. Then there was the economic act of self harm that was Brexit and national debt as a % of GDP is much higher than it was when the Tories took charge.
They’ve introduced shit loads of changes that have cost more money than they saved (universal credit) and screwed over businesses. That’s not to mention all the money that’s gone god knows where.

They shouldn’t be trusted with the economy again.

I'm 64 and remember how much hope there was under the last Labour government. And how much better the NHS was.

Austerity implemented by the con/Lib coalition began to break the country and destroy public services. Swiftly followed by Cameron allowing the brexit vote. The country hasn't recovered from austerity let alone Brexit.

💯

Exactly , around the time Labour won I was living in Oxford and I just remember the optimism that was everywhere , everyone seemed so happy and confident of our futures .

I just woke up. Not sure what is going on but from what I've heard from BBC labour are doing worse than expected and the conservatives are doing less bad than expected. Most of the losses are due to the war in Ukraine? As a conservative voter*, I am pleasantly surprised.

The country hasn't recovered from austerity let alone Brexit

Did austerity ever end? Was it a blink and you’ll miss it kind of thing.

I did enjoy Kiers quip at PMQ when Rishi tried to pull a zinger line (with badly disguised smugness) over the legendary treasury note, he told them this lot would need a bigger note.

How would they know what most of the losses are over? I’ve heard very different reasons tabled (corruption, tanking the economy before a lettuce could rot, racism or failure to stop boat crossings depending on which view you take, both are massive failures)

Yesterday wasn’t a Labour out and out victory but to paint it as any kind of success for tories is deluded.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.

64, staunch Labour but would hope for a change of Leader before next election.
it has long been a myth that the Tories are more fiscally competent, this was Thatcher’s claim. In fact if you care to take a look at the figures , we have ended every Tory government since the war financially screwed to a greater or lesser degree.

The economy was growing and recovering from the banking crisis under Gordon Brown

Why do people always try to implicate Brown for the global banking crisis? If anything he was the one who saved us from further damage.

If Labour get more power they will implement the policies that will promote self id, no sex segregated (safe) spaces for women and the Munchausens by proxy that is transing preadolescent children.
The current batch of Tories are indeed unprincipled asset stripping parasites.

We are up shit creek.

Odd that it seems to be replicated across the country then. South Kesteven is now now hung, 16 Tories lost their seats - that’s Thatcher’s birthplace, by the way.

Quite simply, our taxes are going up all round and have done for the last seven years under a Conservative government, but we are actually getting fewer and fewer services.

So, where is all the money going? Can a Conservative government really claim to be the best to run our economy?

I don't think the Tory have run the national economy well - I don't think welsh labour are great either but we have an aging population and that does tend to mean ever increasing pension and health spending and a lower working age population to raise money from.

Demographically it's tough for a few decades though austerity and Brexit without doubt made difficult situations much worse.

I remember optimism of Blare early years but economically and demographically we are in a very different place still biggest trick they pulled was looking like a government in waiting a safe bet before the election.

Somebody was watching Greg Hands on TV this morning 🤣

https://twitter.com/MichaelTakeMP/status/1654397213517266944?s=20

but we have an aging population and that does tend to mean ever increasing pension and health spending and a lower working age population to raise money from

Pensioners continue to pay income tax and many are now paying for private healthcare rather than sit on interminable waiting lists. That excuse doesn’t wash.

I remember this too, I was in my 20s and it seemed like such a bright and different future ahead. My kids are now a similar age to what I was then and really, I feel they're fucked.