Results like these at a general election would mean Tory annihilation

[noblegiraffe]

Says a BBC headline this morning.

Anyone else stockpiling popcorn?

Please stop patronising us with facts. Much obliged.

And let us not forget that the spike at the end of the Labour years was in substantial part due to the GLOBAL (because Tories so like to forget that part) financial crisis.

Sorry 😞

@BIossomtoes Your graphs seem to contradict your argument.

The graph shows debt rising in most years under Blair/Brown!

Not really. Borrowing meandered along at around during the £40/50 billion mark until the economic crisis in 2007. From 2010 it’s been on a steep upward trajectory. Not really comparable, is it?

Appears a lot of people who vote labour talk about voting labour but people who vote conservative don’t. So it appears like labour might be in which a chance each time. Then come voting time the clearly silent majority win. Seen it at work where people start conversations assuming everyone votes labour and it’s the same on here.

A lot of hope seems to rest on those shy Tories.

@Dice3 may I respectfully point you towards Electoral Calculus, the aggregate poll that has correctly predicted 7 out of the last 8 elections? It isn't saying what Tories would like, and it hasn't shifted for a year. Maybe accept that short of an economic miracle and Keir Starmer caught shagging a goat, the pendulum is going to swing?

It depends where it swings. If in Labour seats, it’s of no consequence. I think it will be closer than predicted. Scotland could make a huge difference if SNP drop off.

Thatcher is still blamed for lots of things! Just read this thread. Of course the blame game goes on for decades. Borrowing is high. Therefore we need economic growth. We need voters to actually understand what it is. Brexit put up barriers. We don’t look like a place that wants to attract investment. We want improved services but lower tax. Business is not attracted by high tax. There’s no incentive to be in the uk.

Blair didn’t have COVID but had the huge issue of the banking crisis. Debt wax enormous after that and gets worse. Starmer needs to attract business and get people working and paying tax.

I also tend to agree that the left operates in an echo chamber. Many Cons won’t change their voting pattern. What matters is if enough do in the marginals and target seats. They may well do but I’m not so sure about a landslide. Plus, landslides are rarely good for democracy.

True can't blame for everything but we can for 90% of the issues they have caused, NHS, Roads, infrastructure investment, schools, collapse of public services, massive rises in council tax whilst at the same time crap council services.

Covid fraud is one thing but failure to correct it, giving away billions to crooks is unforgiveable.

13 years is long enough & all Govts have issues to confront.

Yes Starmer will face huge problems but i think he'll have a far closer relationship with the EU, boosting trade and co operation & Unions have some excellent experience in industrial relations, just as much as employer organisations, look at how German Govts work with both?

I just want a government with some integrity.

Same.

And competence.

Giving a shot about our country and the people in it would be nice too.

Is that what happened in the Tamworth and mid-Beds by elections?

Perhaps rather than relying on work colleagues as your gauge of electoral intentions you could instead take a look at the predictions of experts?

https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction_main.html

Which banking crisis occured during Tony Blair's time as Prime Minister? I seem to have forgotten it. I remember the one whilst Gordon Brown was Prime Minister?

This

At least he accepted some responsibility rather than just blaming it on the previous government

Well, quite. And the Conservatives would have done no better; they opposed further regulation of the banks, suggesting they didn't see the crisis coming either.

Brexit was a clusterfuck of enormous proportions. Not only because of Brexit itself... although I think that's a disaster...but because of the footballisation (is that a word?) of politics. Any hope of collaboration or compromise or nuance has gone. Replaced with 'you lost, get over it' type discourse and the election of horrors like Gullis an Lee Anderson.

Thank you for the link. It shows a former Prime Minister taking responsibility for something that happened after he left office. Have Cameron, May, Johnson or Truss done the same at any point.

It is also clear from the article you have provided that Blair was a former Prime Minister by that point, so I would like to ask you again which banking crisis occured during Blair's time as Prime Minister that he had to deal with?

Makes a refreshing change to see a politician not try to blame someone else.

I agree I've been saying for ages politics has become like football teams. A blind love for one team and yes, get cross when they have a bad game but never admit they aren't the best team.

That's why PR would be so much better - you'd have a genuinely diverse political landscape in which parties emerged, succeeded, faded etc. according to what the electorate is actually looking for. We might even end up with a decent replacement for the Tory party.

I read somewhere that Vote Leave targeted fans of perpetually losing football teams.

Make of that what you will

Competence?

Braverman calls in Mark Rowley, head of the Met and asks : "Why didn't you arrest pro Hamas demonstrators?"

Rowley "Err because they broke no laws"

Turns out the Tories, in 2020, were advised the law needed changing in light of new emerging threats.... the Govt ignored and did nothing, had they acted, these people would have been arrested and charged.