Results like these at a general election would mean Tory annihilation

[noblegiraffe]

Says a BBC headline this morning.

Anyone else stockpiling popcorn?

Obviously everything points to a Labour win in a GE but extrapolating by-election results strictly to a GE situation doesn’t make much sense. People vote differently in by-elections when the choice of government is not on the table. LDs always do really well, for example and the incumbent gov always do really badly. I expect the GE will be bad for the Tories but I dint think it’s reasonable to expect it to be that bad.

i agree, my view is by not voting (which spoiling your paper basically is) your simply giving backing to the worst option. Best to use your vote on the best of a bad bunch.

I really hope so. God it would be so depressing if the Tories get in again.

How many by elections to the Tories need to lose because their standing MPs keep doing something reprehensible? How many of the frankly inadequate replacements they can find to stand need to lose- before people will accept the current Tory party has lost all gravitas, authority and credibility?

I agree with this. I'd like to actually see some commitments from Starmer. He just equivocates and sits on the fence. Doesn't promise to do anything different from the current rabble.

I'm just sad that Prince Ankit Love Emperor didn't win.

Mid-Beds is my 'home' constituency i.e. where I grew up, where the family home still is, although I now live in a nearby constituency. I'm not sure what to make of this result or what it will mean for the future. I am very much a floating voter, and have voted Conservative in the past, but have never ever done so when I was living at home, because I despise Nadine's particular brand of politics. I could never understand why she always got such a large majority, other than it was simply a Blue vote no matter who was standing.

Nadine has pissed off so many mid-Beds voters that I knew she would never get in again, but I did think that the Tory candidate would still get in.. he's the current Bedfordshire PCC so is a known name locally. So for the swing to be that big, I don't think a Tory wipeout in the next election can be discounted.

Perhaps there's just a lot of apathy out there at the moment.. my dad was going to be away so I offered to place a proxy vote for him, if he wanted to arrange it - his response was that he has decided he is never going to vote again!

Of course I have. and I have also lived probably a lot longer than you and seen this before. were you around for Kinnock and that debacle? He literally threw it away the night before!

Your comment the tories are finished - well that right there is exactly why they are not. The minute Labour voters become complacent and think its a done deal is when they stop turning out to vote because well Labour have it in the bag anyway so my vote wont count. Sirky is well aware of that and that is why he is being so cautious and rightly so. He knows his history!

Sunak wont call a GE and from a Labour point of view they will be glad of this because the longer it limps on the more chance they have of winning providing they dont get either complacent or fuck it up.

The best chance the tories have now is if Labour supporters like you start saying they are finished because that will both galvanise the tories to get out and vote and mean many labour supporters just dont bother to turn out because there is no need. Just dont go there if you want Labour to win.

For those that want to get into more detail or get a bit more to grips with what is going on politically, not just the headlines, then I’d recommend two podcasts which, regardless of what you think of the individuals concerned, do try to offer view points from both sides of the political divide:

The Rest is Politics with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart

Political Currency with George Osborne and Ed Balls

That no such thing as society thing has been misunderstood https://www.ei-ie.org/index.php/en/item/21332:there-is-no-such-thing-as-society she meant people should take responsibility for themselves and not rely on the state unless they need to (eg disabled). There are 5m people on out of work benefits now which is one of the reasons spending is so high. And if you read my post again I said that tories have carried on not investing in infrastructure just as labour did - they are both awful and ill be spoiling my ballot just to make the point that my disgust with both parties is not apathy.

Anyone remember the 87 election when Kinnochio was convinced he would win? 🤣
The only saving grace in 2019 was that the terrorist hugging atrocity Corbyn didn't win 😉

What's your alternative? Throw them out on the streets and let them starve? Bring back the workhouse?
A huge proportion of people on benefits are in work. Wage stagnation is the real problem, that and Jeremy Hunt's fiscal drag which is making us all poorer.

I remember Thatcher saying ‘There’s no such thing as society’ it horrified people.

As for infrastructure. Blair came to power on the slogan ‘education, education, education’ I taught under Major, l taught under Blair, l taught under the current shamble. The similarity to Major is uncanny. No money at all, huge class sizes, no support, no materials.

Under Blair we had equipment refreshes, small class sizes, lots of SEND support. I left teaching 3 years ago. It had become an impossible job.

Weird how Labour didn’t invest in infrastructure when the NHS was voted the best in the world under them, that education was properly resourced, that we had doctors and dentists. Because they didn’t invest at all obviously. What about SureStart?

I just with they could force an election now. We could have another 14 or so months of 'Doctor Death' and his cronies (loving that headline) destroying everything in their path. I still can't believe he's just allowed to sell off all the HS2 land on a whim.
I just want to live long enough to see Jacob Rees Mogg lose his seat. Please God.
As someone brilliantly said, he's Bertie Wooster written by Stephen King.

Rally round = turn up to vote.

It may be that Tory voters had not expected such a bloody nose and might turn up on GE day.

Totally agree. A spoiled vote or not bothering to turn up is a vote for the status quo.

Only 67.3% of eligible voters turned out in 2019, had the other 32.7% turned up the results could have been very different.

https://votingcounts.org.uk/what-happens-if-you-do-not-vote

I remember it very well. This is nothing like 1987 for many reasons. 2024 won't be a repeat of it.

You can tell when Tory supporters are getting desperate. They start But Corbyn-ing. Or But Wales-ing.

The problem we have is that the poor want money provided by everyone else.

Actually plenty of poor people would be happy to earn a living wage themselves.

Absolutely. Labour particularly turned around cancer services, with waiting times introduced and massive investment in cancer drugs. All that progress now being pissed up against the wall by the Tories.

Worth noting that Reform cost the Conservatives both of these by-elections last night.

Labour vote isn't up - Tories stayed at home.

Why can't people understand there is NO money left. Tories have tripled the debt, interest payments are huge. Most people are net takers due to low wages. It is nothing like Blairs time when he was left a golden economy by the tories and could afford to spend on schools and hospitals. If you are expecting that under labour you will be disappointed (and yes Tories just as bad).

I'm mid Beds and amazed! People would vote for a wheelie bin with a blue rosette here usually

He’s in a difficult position because of our awful right wing press. Basically anything he says will be taken down and used against him.

Don’t crow to much, Labour are no better, as is evidenced by history and Wales. LibDem and coalitions don’t work as evidenced by history

the whole system is a shitfest with no party any better than the other.

The tax system is well known for making us all poorer. The latest report from the ifs this week says that (again). We are penalising the highest rate tax payers out of being productive which means less for everyone. How do labour plan to solve this? Last time I checked than planned on making the highlighted problems worse.

Women or parents of daughters shouldn't cheer Labour getting any kind of power.