Thread 38 Sunak: Soooo, square one is an option then?

[AdamRyan]

Thanks to @cornettoninja For the epic title!

"To borrow his phrase, he and Tice are two cheeks of the same backside."

Yup.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus

To all my fellow Welsh people🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Just listening to Galloway's speech. The man is delusional.

What a mess. And someone on a by election thread is of course blaming Starmer for Gallowsway winning.

I don't know why my phone is autocorrecting him to Gallowsway. That's not even a real word but it feels kind of apt.

Well I do think its shit that Labour didn't have a candidate and I hope they learn from this. Better now than in the election I suppose.

That said I dont think it is quite the massive disaster it is being portrayed as - there will be a lot of sound and fury and Galloway will continue to be the unprincipled grifter he's shown himself to be in the past.

I am quite interested in what David Tully brought to the campaign. He clearly offered something people were interested in.
Did Reform lose their deposit?

Rochdale is where the MP Ali was planned to stand for Labour isn’t it? I’m not entirely sure how they could have planned any differently to stand a candidate

Well I wondered how well their vetting was done.

Fair comment @Notonthestairs, it’s still dealing with people and what ever falls out of their mouth.

True. & who'd have expected Bridgen to be calling for the death penalty for doctors?
(Can't stop thinking how appalling it is that he said that in Parliament (or anywhere)).

I didn't bother staying up last night, this by election as I didn't feel this one was important in the grand scheme of things.

Low turn out ab Galloway met my expectation of the result. There was no labour candidate so Labour supporters stayed home. I don't think he'll do anything positive in parliament, he's a disruptor among other disruptor, and it should only be for a few months.

Lewis Goodall's take on Rochdale

https://x.com/lewis_goodall/status/1763454082516222259?s=20

What does the Galloway victory mean?

For the general election, very little. This was a unique by election and little is transferable. But it does change politics before the election and possibly tells us something about the shape of politics after it as well. 1/

But this is a story which is basically about Labour mismanagement. A complete car crash.

Yes, that is the one good thing. His tenure should be short.

Charlie Stayt: The government's plans to send migrants to Rwanda will cost nearly £400m according to the National Audit Office... & Labour have described the cost as a national scandal.

x.com/haggis_uk/status/1763470994679730196?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

Snippet from BBC breakfast outlining costs - absolutely shocking. I can see why they've avoided spelling out how much it is all costing.

Am not sure I heard correctly but seemed to suggest that there is £370 million for a "development fund" irrespective of how many refugees are sent there.

I think you heard right

https://bylinetimes.com/2024/03/01/unlawful-rwanda-scheme-set-to-cost-uk-staggering-500-million-national-audit-office-reveals/

According to its findings, the economic partnership signed by the UK with Rwanda would see £330 million phased in as an initial payment. The aim would be Rwanda accepting 300 asylum seekers in exchange for money for the economic development of the country from the UK.

Once 300 asylum seekers have been deported under the scheme, the Government is committed to giving Rwanda another £120 million and negotiating more deportations until 2028.

That’s just appalling. Think of what that money could have achieved properly spent. They really have lost the plot - and any credibility for fiscal responsibility.

Neal's evidence before the committee was scheduled during the Post Office hearing, the reports are released on by-election day

No coincidence for a government that promised integrity, professionalism, accountability at all level

It seems like they've written a blank cheque - they'll pay anything to get this off the ground.

But this is a story which is basically about Labour mismanagement. A complete car crash.

I just don't think I agree with this. Yes, they could have acted faster but they acted faster than the Tories ever do when their MPs screw up.

It also clearly isn't about the antisemitic comments of Ali.

The Rwanda costings are ridiculous and, I think, still mired in legality of Human RIghts? I simply cannot imagine any Brexit supporter is going to want that money going on "immigrants" when they voted to have it go to the NHS 'cos the bus told them it would.

I think the point is that it was a foolish plan call antisemitism and pull their candidate. I'd like to vote Labour but their idea that a woman can have a penis and this idiocy about ignoring voters who want to help Palestinians is causing a huge turn in opinion.

I think most people don't care about the penis thing. They are more concerned about the NHS, heating their homes, feeding their family etc.

Also, what Ali said was anti semitic. I think Starmer did the right thing, even though we have ended up with Galloway. Who certainly knows what a woman is, btw. They are the ones who don't need to give consent before every "insertion".

Sorry if I sound slightly abrasive, I loathe Galloway!

Staggering.

I don't know much about Galloway but I do think this was a win by proxy of Labour's choice to pull their candidate.

This tells you a bit about the nature of the man:

www.theguardian.com/media/2012/aug/20/george-galloway-julian-assange-rape#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17092871315929&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmedia%2F2012%2Faug%2F20%2Fgeorge-galloway-julian-assange-rape