To be absolutely looking forward to this Tory wipeout

[Viviennemary]

It isn't just me I'm sure but I am totally gleeful at this anticipated annihilation of the Tory party. I did vote Tory last time. But absolutely can't wait to see them routed. They've been awful. How could they have Liz Truss happen. She should have been chucked out the party.

I could not agree more. I’ve been fighting cancer and not able to work. During this time the cost of Energy had almost finished us. It really was a case of eat or heat. I will never forgive the tories for not stepping in and restricting huge profits for the Energy giants while we struggled.

@CelesteCunningham I look forward to Starmer as PM, I think he'll be good at it. Not a miracle worker, but I believe he's intelligent, capable, serious and in it for the right reasons (as well as his own ambition of course, I'm not stupid). It's been a while since we've had an intelligent, capable, serious PM.

er ......... the man who changes his mind every time he's asked to give an opinion, in case it's not popular with everyone?
The man who thinks that 1% of women have a penis?
The man who has scaled back drastically on his flagship Green net zero carbon emissions plan.

The man who has U-turned on university tuition fees.
The man who campaigned for Labour Party leadership on the platform of public ownership of rail, mail, energy and water - now reduced to just public ownership of rail (and some of us can remember the shambles the railways were in under public ownership)
The man who dialled back on his belief in 'free movement' following Brexit

......... etc

Keit Starmer is not being given the chance to be the new Prime Minister because of his brave new ideas, or his fabulous leadership style, or his vision for Britain - he's the favourite because the country's fed up with the Tories.
And the Tories won the election in 2010 because the country was fed up with Labour

@TooBigForMyBoots I think Reform could take some votes from Labour but not enough to change anything. There are right and traditionally left wing areas that protest vote. Brexit clearly was this and they definitely were not all Tory! Eg North East at that time. Red Wall will go back to Labour (Red Wall) but the Reform vote will still be there. It will be UKIP again. Millions of votes but no seats. That’s FPTP but wait for the disgruntled to start shouting about taxation with no representation. Heard that before?

I won't be voting Tory, and I don't think they'll get in this time, but I have to admit I'll be surprised if they get quite as few seats as some of the media reports are saying (I think they'll get more than 53; the "just over a hundred" predictions possibly a bit nearer the mark).

I'm in a seat that was once described by a former independent candidate as somewhere that the Tories could send a donkey and it would get in (that was in 2017). We have had Lib Dem MPs before when Labour were in power, but it's been pretty safe Tory since David Cameron's time. Some predictions have Labour as being a lot closer this time but the Tories still clinging on, some have Labour actually taking the seat. I don't know what impact Reform will have (they're standing this time, but we had a sitting Tory last time so our Reform candidate was one of the ones withdrawn).

So yeah, looking forward to a wipeout, just wish I knew how much of one it was really going to be.

Is Sunak so different? he is very right wing.

Sunak backs Brexit, backs taking us out of the ECHR, wants retirement age to be 70 plus, slash disable benefits, force young people to do nat serv by taking away driving licences and access to finance..... what a xxxx.

Sunak had quite a love in with Meloni, Italy's far right leader but he is more to the right than her or le Pen/RN.

People are supporting Reform because the Tories have screwed them over cost of living/nhs/roads/immigration and taxation..... they aren't voting Reform because they are fascists but because (mistakenly) they believe Farage will address their concerns.

I think the gambling scandal will guarantee a Tory wipeout and surge for support to Reform, thats purely down to Tory greed... something they show us all the time.

Snake is also of Indian descent and the right wingers don't like brown skin. So no matter how right wing his policies are, he is the wrong sort of right-winger for Farage & Meloni. He isn't white and Farage took great pleasure in reminding people subtlety during the TV debate after the D day memorial events.

I’m just hoping a load of big names like Sunak and JRM lose their seats. Penny Mordant and Braverman as well

Well, Meloni had no problem with his overtures, you'd have thought she was his partner judging by the body language.

I just think its more that Sunak is incompetent, rather than the wrong colour, look at the gambling fiasco?

Sunak has no control over his party and traditional Tory voters now this.

I disagree that it's to do with Sunak's skin colour, tiny minority of genuine bigots aside (who're more likely to be BNP types than Tory).

Cameron is equally disliked, and Truss too. Yes she was chosen over Sunak but I noticed most Tory members and supporters wanted neither Sunak nor Truss. Many wanted Boris to stay, others favoured candidate was Kemi Badenoch (who's not white).

Also before Boris was ousted, Sunak was originally quite popular with Tory voters (and his largely white constituency voted for him as their MP).

He used to be referred to as 'Dishy Rishi".

It's his record as PM that's made him unpopular with the Tory faithful.

Hunt, please 🤞

As a staunch Labour voter ( never voted any differently, well bar the corbyn years!), I am strangely unexcited about this election. I've watched all of the debates and keep waiting patiently for kier to say something inspiring, noteworthy or just plain, hopeful. But it never comes. I really like him as a man - he's honest, trustworthy and ' for the people ', but as a leader he doesn't give me any confidence. He's lacking in vision maybe, or is simply ineffectual in getting his point across. Either or, I couldn't tell you what Labour's plans actually are. We have the bullet points but there's no actual meat on the bones. I don't want the soundbites, or the ' politics For dummies' light version; give me the real facts as hard and unsavoury as they may be. For those floating voters I'm not sure he's done enough to win anyone over, if people like myself are left with more questions than answers.

You're not wrong, and it's interesting that "partygate" and a lot of other revelations from Covid happened over summer 2022, with Labour's ongoing 20 point lead starting in late summer that year

Many tend to blame it on Truss, but I'm not so sure - it seems to me that their choices over Covid spelled the end as much as anything else

Agree with this too

In my 60s I'm one of those boring centrist swing voters, and remember that there's usually been a certain amount of argy-bargy between the parties in the run up.
This time, however, it's almost as if the Tories can't be bothered, and what they'll do with their party once the election's over is anyone's guess

My children still bring this up unprompted and they were young at the time. It was a deep betrayal and I think they deserve the loss of voters they get as a result.

@Puzzledandpissedoff - me too. I tend to describe myself as a woolly liberal. There is no way I would ever vote Tory, and I was raised by two old fashioned socialists, but I do believe that the centre ground is where we should be.

That said, I am in Scotland, and the candidate with the best chance of defeating the SNP in my constituency is the Labour candidate, so I will probably be voting for them. I can't agree fully with any of the parties, but this seems like the least worst option to me, sad though that sounds.

^ This .. sadly.

The best result we can hope for is a hung parliament to put a rocket up the lot of them in the vain hope someone decent comes along.

Sadly politics is now about what someone can get rather than give.

There should be a law against anyone standing as an MP unless they have 20 years in a proper job and no politics degree.

I agree. The Labour candidate for my constituency is a 21 year old student activist. She needs to get some proper work (and life) experience.

This will happen though I assume people are ok with it and the policies they’ll go for.

Actually I disagree.
I think it's really important we have some young people in parliament. Parliament needs to be representative of the country as a whole. We need young people with lived experience of what it's like to be young now, and the challenges they face, not only what it was like to be young 30 years ago (although we need them as well).

I quite liked him at first. As he seemed a decent caring kind of guy. That was before I found out his wife was a multi billionaire and doing all she could to avoid paying tax. Registering as a non dom. I was disgusted.

I'm keeping everything crossed

My DD was just 22 when she started work in Derriford Hospital, would you have told her to Fcuk off, if you were struggling to breath?

If someone in their early 20s is good enough to work in healthcare at a high level, then a 21 yo is good enough to be an MP.

Age doesn't make anyone superior.

No. A 21 year old is not good enough to be an MP! This is a job needing life experience and it’s a phenomenal workload. These people are legislators and need to bring far more to the table than student politics. Thousands of 22 year olds work in the NHS. My DM worked in London as a nurse in WW2 at 18. People do jobs they are trained to do. Doctors don’t get to be consultants at 22. So MPs need at least this maturity and experience. This is one of the reasons we have poor legislation. MPs aren’t good enough!

They’re not good enough because anyone with any genuine talent, intelligence and competence wouldn’t touch politics with a barge pole. There are exceptions but they’re a vanishing bunch.

@Gakpo. Absolutely. A women going into politics has to be crazy! My DD once flirted with the idea. Now she earns 3 times what a mp does for less effort. So definitely not doing it now. Her colleague at work was an mp. She did 4 years. Then stood down. However we are getting followers, not leaders, and no one with ideas to radically improve anything. Politics stifles good ideas and parties stifle good people - plus the pay is crap.