Sunak to make an announcement in Downing Street at 17.40

[Westfacing]

Beth Rigby of Sky News says they've been reliably informed it's not going to be about a General Election, so what will it be?

If one can legislate to say that a particular country is safe on the basis of no evidence, could one equally legislate to say particular marches involve extremists on the basis of no evidence?

Asking for a friend.

The speech/announcement seemed odd. With an election looming, I can't think of any other reason for it.

Surely for everyone’s safety he should be naming these groups…? I would expect the government to be more informed about them if they’re presenting such a grave threat to the country…? Or is the government just not that bothered or are they just making things up?

Both Hunt and Sunak should focus on not removing even more money from the tax pot, because we do need it to support the country's basic services. Somebody should kindly inform them of that.
Maybe we should choose a representative to read a speech in front of 10 Downing Street explaining to them where the taxes are spent, how the system is struggling, how we actually need proper leadership and management of said services, and more money, which does not grow in trees. Because they do not seem to get the concept if they are seriously thinking of reducing taxes. Actually, I would gain a lot of respect for them if they go with abolishing the non-dom tax rules. That would be quite a moment!
I can imagine the wording from Braverman, Truss and so on if they do it!
And the wave of relief and happiness spreading through the country!

Yes odd timing. The Batley school teacher has been in hiding for 3 years. The scuffed Koran incident in Wakefield with the mother begging for her autistic son's life with the police looking on like a nodding Churchill dog was a year ago. He could have come out then with his Down With This Sort of Thing speech, but chose not to.

I can only only assume the shinanegans in the Rochdale by election was the straw that broke the camel's back, but it's all too late. The genie, as they say, is out of the bottle. Sectarian voting on the mainland is now real, and here to stay.

I can help you with that I think, not a comphrehensive list.

There are the:

National Conservatives (NatCs for short)
Conservative Nationalists
Progressive Conservatives
Conservative progressives
Popular Conservatives
Conservative Populists
Reform
UKIP
Reclaim

Collectively they are known for ease of reference as Unpopular Tories.

The Tories didn’t seem bothered by the treatment of various MPs by the mobs outside Parliament (plus online death threats) during the attempts to pass the Brexit bill.

Sectarian voting on the mainland is now real, and here to stay

What exactly do you mean? Labour, Tories and Lib dems don't align themselves with a particular religion.

I'm surprised you can't see it. I would say Galloway has been the most explicit in his alignment.

Galloway is not a mainstream politician.

Which religions do the each of the three main parties align themselves with?

I guess Tories have traditionally aligned with Church of England, but that is not really so apparent these days.

So we can only comment if we're referring to " mainstream politicians " in your words. Sorry. Maybe you should have phrased your question differently as you clearly already know what answer your angling for.

Equally Labour have historically aligned themselves very closely with the Roman Catholic Church.
Is it the Presbyterian church that the SNP align with?

It was a genuine question to the poster who said we now have sectarian voting. George Galloway's election does not mean we now have sectarian voting, so I wanted that poster to explain more.

Ok. Hopefully the poster will be back to comment more. I took it as a reference to Galloway s win.

They were more than happy to have judges labelled as "ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE" in national newspapers.

Tories can fuck right off. They could have stopped this, but thought they were being clever when the wind was blowing it away. However, like all fires, it's changed direction and they are all quaky boots and loose bottoms.

Candidates - either from "mainstream" parties, or independents - courting the muslim vote. Some will be more blatant than others of course, and Galloway was the most extreme example. You'd think the people of Rochdale would be more concerned about local matters directly affecting their day to day life, but evidently not.

That's exactly what I meant, but you already knew that.

Caroline Lucas has written a good article in The Guardian.

I’m still reeling from Rishi Sunak’s shameless, dangerous speech | Caroline Lucas | The Guardian

Some of them may have relatives in Palestine you know. Some of them may feel their voice is unheard and crave representation. Thry may feel only Galloway does this and feel abandoned by Labour.

Also, GG has campaigned about Rochdale FC, and other local issues.

That's not the same as sectarianism.

And wtf is 'the Muslim vote'? ?

I hoped that wasn't what you meant.

So Muslim people are not allowed to vote for the candidate they think best represents their interests?

Exactly, I think it’s worth reminding/informing people that there are Palestinian Christians that are also at major risk of becoming ‘extinct’, but showing any kind of compassion to innocent Palestinians seems to imply extremism 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's basically out of the Farage dogwhistle playbook (almost a direct quote in fact) to say there is a 'Muslim vote' and this is sectarian (to frighten people by using a word associated with NI politics). If Labour had won, doubtless Farage and Co would accuse Labour of being sectarian.

I'm wondering what issues the Reform candidate campaigned on?

I am a little puzzled by someone knowing in a secret ballot that all of those of a particular religion voted the same way.

It was clearly an inspiring message that they put across, to attract 1700 votes. It was presumably based on important local issues, such as Brexit not being the right sort and the Tories have messsed it up and Starmaggeddon.

Common sense policies really.