Would you approve of an “rainbow” coalition of progressive parties?

[SweetBoraeline]

Based on current polling, the most likely outcome of a general election would be Reform largest party, but no majority. In those circumstances, would you approve of Labour / Green / Lib Dem / possibly SNP coalition if they had enough seats to reach a majority?

The optics of a coalition of smaller parties shutting out the largest would be ... interesting.

Totally legitimate, of course (because what isn't forbidden is allowed). And it's not like we are serious about democracy anyway. But this could be considered bad form.

Good god I would rather have Farage and Tice than Galloway, Sultana, Corbyn, Mothin Ali et al.

This is the thing though. We are all bloody allowing ourselves to be disorientated, divided and depressed at the moment. We allow the media to label a party a left or right leaning party but they don't really look at policy. That's what tells you where their priorities lie.

We all bloody want the same things really, better services, secure homes for our children and grandchildren, sensible immigration policies and safe streets. The biggest con is pitting everyone against each other when none of the parties are actually doing anything about the above or intend to.

This is what pisses me off really. We just let this persist because we somehow think someone in a different coloured rosette would do better in three years time.

That's just not true anymore. Whilst there is only one MRP poll in June which allows reform to come in with an overall majority, many others are in striking distance.

There has been a catastrophic collapse in support for both Labour and Conservatives. Unless the population is in a forgiving mood in four years time the usual rules about the fptp system keeping out the interlopers will be turned on its head.

That lot? Absolutely no way!

No. Nothing left if centre needs to be binned.

Yes, Gordon Brown tried it back in 2010 though it was very quickly clear he didn’t have a chance. Technically he was still PM until he tendered his resignation so had the right to form a government under him if he could.

Realistically, if Labour and any allied parties had enough seats to form a Government, Reform wouldn’t (and vice versa) so it’s a moot point.

You may hate Trump, but Americans still have their rights!

😆👏

And many seem to be very happy with him as President. He didn’t just appear as President- he was voted in. Just as Reform would be if they were to take power. They don’t appear by magic.

I can’t even work out what rights people would think they would lose if Reform were voted in.

I find it astonishing that anyone would describe a bunch of parties that wish to revoke women’s sex-based rights and protections as ‘progressive’. Even more so because they’re leaning into homophobic and misogynistic narratives to justify that position.

They’re a shower of clueless, self-promoting shits, every last one of them. Not one single good idea between them, and not one single principle that can’t be bent or broken as they run around like headless chickens trying to gain or cling onto power at any cost.

Like a pp upthread, I’m politically homeless, and feel sad to my core that there’s not one single party or politician that’s worth even the ink it would take to vote for them.

You clearly haven’t seen the polls since the start of the year. Presuming that nothing fundamentally has changed is a big mistake. Like it or not, Reform’s support has reached a tipping point compared to other parties where FPTP helps them, rather than hinders them.

I wish the one-nation Tories of Major, Clarke and Heseltine would return… a sensible centre-right not in thrall to the woke agenda who were pragmatic and actually had values (unlike Starmer who’s just an Aaron Burr clone for those who’ve seen Hamilton).

I think there’d be quite a desire for that (“sensible” Tories were in power for most of the post-war period), and Badenoch should just give up on the completely futile attempt to oust Reform from their turf…

If you look at the markets you’ll see that is an unlikely outcome.

It is currently around 6 times more likely for Reform to be the largest party than it is for Labour to win another majority.

You could make a fortune if you were right though and were willing to bet on the outcome.

In may next year, we in Scotland have an election for our parliament. We have a form of proportional representation so watch us.

As regards the independent candidates, are they the ones who campaigned on a Vote for Gaza, not the red wall labour candidate? Reform on a different guise.

I wouldn't vote for anyone who thinks (or pretends to think) that womanhood is no more than a feeling in a man's head.

Unfortunately most Labour / Lib Dem / Green / SNP candidates don't seem to have a clue this is why they're losing votes -- they think (or pretend to think) it's because voters have been "taken in by right wing propaganda".

My local Labour MP (Tracy Gilbert) is pretty good on this stuff, otherwise I would be voting Tory for the first time in my life.

Likewise, an MP who's number 1 priority is an airport in Pakistan or Gaza.

Exactly this. Any mp who stands up and says they're in it for gaza, instantly turns me off. They will not get my vote. I do care about what's happening there, but things that are happening thousands of miles away are not affecting the daily lives of brits, so why stand on that platform? If this were a well functioning society with great public services, jobs housing, money in the pot for all to live well, great,until then absolutely not. Emily thornberry has just out her hat in the ring for deputy leader, and has announced her too priority is Gaza!

But the talk of a 'rainbow coalition' especially one where Labour throw their hat into the ring with that bunch of clowns will make a Reform government even more likely. None of the Left seem to be able to see this or even care. Half of the MPs are trying to collapse the government. If that happens in the next 6 months, Reform are definitely in. History is littered with the Left messing about thinking once they've gotten rid of people they don't like all the stupid uneducated people who dont agree with them will suddenly throw off the chains of their oppression and realise they were right all along. They don't.

No. None of them are progressive and more crucially - none of them know how to collaborate.

We need a strong, new party with a deliverable manifesto which focuses on rebuilding the country not soundbites and polls, headed by a powerful, honourable, clear-sighted leader, preferably with a good speaking voice (I don't mean RP just pleasant on the ear.)

Not on your nelly.

I have absolutely no desire to vote for a coalition of parties that indulges in luxury beliefs (not knowing what a woman is/trans privileges, prioritising Gaza etc) - it does not bode well for their grip on reality and it shows how woefully out of step they are with the majority of people in this country, on both ends of the political spectrum.

God, no, the Greens are a basket case, the LDs have rendered themselves negligible, and left wing Labour are nuts too.

If we could have a centrist coalition of sensible realist social democratic internationalist progressive non-racist parties that would be amazing, but those ideas seem to have exited British politics some time ago.

FFS Labour - how can you be in this position? Even Johnson managed to do better than this!

I may be being unfair, but many Labour MPs strike me as those annoying hacks who ran their uni’s Student’s Union, and never really matured past that.

You are being more than fair. So true.