General Election in May rumour

[Viviennemary]

I heard this would be a possibility. Then saw an article today right down at the bottom of the topics on the DM website. I don't usually even scroll that far down. Can't see it myself as Tories not very popular. I will be voting Labour. Not that keen on them but certainly won't be voting Tory. Don't much like Greens or Lib Dems.

I think the Tories are relying on students and young people not voting and, let's face it making it necessary to apply for a postal vote/ find out that they can vote in two places is putting an extra step in their way. Hopefully enough people will make sure they register and vote. I suspect a lot of older people won't vote either due to not wanting to vote Tory but not wanting to vote Labour, and some Tory voters will vote Lib Dem or Reform.

Taking responsibility for finding out how to vote is just part of being an adult living in a democracy, not putting an extra barrier in the way of being able to!

I think older people may not vote due to the ID issue more than not wanting to vote Tory. And not all older people vote Tory (even though stats show that many people move to the right as they age).

You'd think a Sumner election might suit the tories. People on holidays. Students abroad too maybe - or away from their constituency. Flu season over , less chaos in NHS . Heating bills lower. But technically they could cling on til Jan next year. More time to fill their trousers and sabotage the Labour government?

Make sure you have valid photo ID. And check all your family and friends know that too.

May is Local Council Elections (the small cycle)
and national Police and Crime Commissioner elections.

A clever government will let all the protest voting happen in May
and then call the General Election for October

(those are the only two real options of dates)

I do agree with this to an extent. I only earn 35k a year, I rent for 900 a month, paid full time childcare so I could continue working, etc. I do get about £100 a month in housing element of UC. I have a friend who left her 35k a year job because she was pregnant from a one night stand and wouldn't be able to afford childcare. Her work coach accepted this. She claimed benefits and still doesn't work even though her child is 3. She earnt the same amount as me but lives off benefits. I don't really know why it was allowed.

There hasn't been an August general election since the 19th century.

It makes me very sad to see so many posts saying that all the parties are the same. It's like everything that happens is just down to luck rather than policies. The general state we are in now after 14 years of Conservative government is largely down to the Conservative party's stance, strategy and policies. It's not a spell of bad luck, not Covid, not anything other than how they choose to run the country. It's been continual decline from start to hopefully finish.

Each party spells out their intentions on their websites and in their manifesto. It's clear to me they are very different and the outcomes very different for us.

I will vote for whichever candidate is most likely to beat the Tory candidate in my area.

Election dates :

February : too late due to legislative deadlines
March : ditto
April : would impact on the Purdah for May
May : would work
June : too soon after May for electoral officers
July : ditto
August : civil servants holidays are set in rules so it could not happen
September : see August
October : would work
November : the last week of the campaign would be during the fallout from the US election
December : energy bills are rising and canvassers find it cold and dark

Or January 2025 !!!

My money’s been on 2 May for ages. Sunak can’t afford another disastrous set of local election results. I think he’s desperate to go, being PM hasn’t been the fabulous gig he thought it would be.

Naptrappedmummy

We spend an enormous and unsustainable amount on out of work benefits. A quarter of working age people don’t work. The reasons are irrelevant the fact is they’re not working while using the public services around them. A lot of benefits aren’t even means tested. We can’t afford it, and this is the main reason the country has little money for improving public services.

First and foremost, a very very high proportion of that percentage of working age people who 'don't work' have pretty fucking good reasons for not doing so. Disability, illness and care make up a large slice of that - but it sounds like you believe too much daily fail - and believe the sick are all shirkers. Do you also not realise how much family carers save the state ? Baring in mind that social care has been decimated under the Tories.

'A lot of these benefits are not means tested' . This demonstrates a fundamental lack of knowledge regarding benefits. The benefits that are not means tested (ESA C, JSA C ) are so because they are paid for (and paid out by) NI contributions by those claiming them. You cannot get them if you haven't worked and paid NI contributions in the previous 2 tax years. You pay in, you get out . In the EXACT same way private insurance works.
The other non means tested benefits are for very specific circumstances like widowed parents allowance, and and the vast majority are time limited to 6 months with the exception of ESA which is only continuously paid if you have jumped through the DWP hoops of 'proving yourself to be extremely unwell' . Last but not least there is PIP/DLA but to qualify you have to be unable to walk or virtually unable to walk and/or in need of care for substantial periods throughout the day to help with daily living tasks . Or would you expect people in this category to just 'get a job' ?

As for the final assertion that our public services have no money because of all the benefits paid to the lazy and undeserving, this is beyond deluded. The REASON this country has little money for public services is because of a deliberate and systematic underfunding of public services by this appalling, corrupt, incompetent bunch of grifters masquerading as a government. Too busy lining their own and their friends pockets.

They have starved local authorities of sufficient funds to finance the sort of public services they see no value in, as 'they' will never need them. All cunningly disguised as 'austerity' . Yet the austerity only applied to the masses not themselves.

Do you honestly believe that a single Tory minister would ever have cause to be on a council waiting list for ANYTHING ? Housing ? Care ? Schools ? etc . No of course not. They simply pay for that stuff because they can and care fuck all about those who can't.

My money is on an early October election. Late enough to maximise grifting opportunities, warm enough still to get the elderly vote out and the right time of year for 'Jonty and TIggy Chumleigh - Trustfund, to be back from Tuscany.

@canttellyouwhereorwhatido What an amazing summing up of the Tory situation. Spot on.

My head says November 14 for the election day. If Trump looks like he’s going to win - Rishi will have another good argument why people should vote for him. However I also wouldn’t be surprised if they went in May. Warmer days, people’s energy bills will have gone down, more of a feel good vibe. It might limit the seat loss.

If Trump looks like he’s going to win - Rishi will have another good argument why people should vote for him.

I fail to see the logic of that. What’s the argument?

I’m interested in the answer too.

The argument is that the Tories have not openly condemned Trump, while the Labour foreign sec has.
The Tories could claim a closer relationship could open the doors to a UK-US trade deal - which would be huge. Not saying I agree or that I would vote for them because of this but some would I suspect.

And that Labour contender who apologised over incredibly offensive Israel comments definitely showed both

@EasternStandard he’s wrong and should be deselected. But the Tories don’t exactly have the moral high ground do they. He’s a bad apple like Peter Bone for example. Then again their supporters are scrabbling for anything to do the dirt on the opposition. Their record in government is appalling. God knows why you’re always on these threads defending them.

The changes to constituency boundaries mean I'll be in a constituency which only ever elects tories, going forward. I'm gutted as I've never lived somewhere where it was utterly hopeless and a waste of a vote to cast one before. It has to have been done to shore up tory votes; where we live has common factors with places around us, but now we're in a constituency as a random "added on the end" section to make up numbers. Dreadful.

Perfectly put.

My money is on May 2nd. I think Sunak intimating an election in the latter part of the year is a red herring. They are in full on electioneering mode now.

This is right.

I won't vote as nobody I could vote for is honest and competent.

There needs to be a "none of the above" box.

If you consider a major issue, such as the NHS, both conservative and labour say that they want to fix it, nurture it, prioritise it (or whatever shite they come out with). So what is the difference? They are both saying the same thing. But the NHS has got worse under both.

I mean Bojo ran his brexit campaign with that rubbish on the side of the bus about the NHS! Blair introduced NHS targets that ended up preventing people from booking doctor's appointments unless they were in the next 48 hrs. I remember a member of the public or a journalist or someone put this to him when he was somewhere taking questions - he had no idea that this was the unintended effect of his policy.

It amazes me that anyone would vote conservative or labour (or any of the others). They are all a bunch of cunts.

or you can vote by post if don't I think?

Govie was heard this morning spouting about the housing issue disenfranchising young people.
Maybe Tories will come out with magic pixie dust to ‘solve’ the housing probs then call an election to get the votes.

I cannot stand LP or CP. Labour will get in next & everyone will see they’re just as shit as tories.

Theres no one in the running that will make any great changes.