Westminstenders: Lets get on with...

[RedToothBrush]

Admitting the mandate for leaving has expired.

The newspapers today are full of Talk of both Corbyn and May panicking that Brexit is destroying their parties, so after nearly 3 years of party politics they have decided that actually they can agree on something in the next week or so. Not because it's in the national interest but because they don't fancy mutual self assured destruction.

If they do manage to cobble something together then it with be rushed and shite.

If they don't they will be punished at the Euro elections by a Remain / Leave pincer action.

They can spin it all they like from their local election disaster that it was people wanting to get on with Brexit. It certainly does not change the reality that those people who were most likely to vote are fed up with the pair of them. And that there is a strong indication that the most motivated voters are remain leaning. Perhaps its true that leavers stayed home in protest. If they did, what will they do if the Brexit Party stand candidates at a general election? Maybe they will vote, but you can't argue that they view voting itself as an important act. Spoilt ballots were up, but not that up. If the pair do manage a deal, then we have Brexited which might satisfy some. The trouble is the underlying issues are not to do with the European Union. And even if we leave with a deal that does not resolve our future trading relationship. The poison that is Brexit won't end. And the voters will realise that soon enough. Leaving even with a deal will harm the economy, and that's only going to fuel discontent.

It's therefore hard to see where either party go from here. Not when they are effectively split internally. The poison is here to stay.

Spinning it as 'it shows the public want us to get on with Brexit' isn't going to help their cause with voters who still think leaving is a national disaster. Those voters will still think its a national disaster and will be even more pissed at being ignored and dismissed once again.

Where is the incentive to return to voting Labour or Conservative?

The Euro Elections, if they go ahead, will therefore be about one thing and one thing only: turnout. Even if the Brexit Party do relatively well, it will be about how many turnout in comparison to the locals and in comparison to the last EU elections. Whilst they might not admit the reality of things, ultimately all Labour and Conservatives really care about is securing the vote of people who will vote because voting intention doesn't win them seats if people don't turnout.

Where I am in Scotland, only the man of the house is receiving addressed literature from the Brexit party. Apparently that's the case for every household around here. I must ask him which way he's voting so I know who to vote for

delurking to say there are another 3 x LD voters in Yorks/Humber in this household

Delurking too life long labour voter in the East Midlands voting Lib Dem DH too.

I have posted this before but think it’s worth showing again

The Guardian says that the Tories might come 6th in the Euro elections. That would be justice IMO, given the damage their stupid Referendum has inflicted on the country.

So someone give me reasons for voting LD rather than CUK in the West Midlands

I don't feel comfortable voting for such a new party at such short notice. LDs are well established and for better or worse, their overall direction of travel is well known and tolerable.

I have no idea what CHUKs/whatevers full agenda is, and having been bitten once voting Labour and being told it meant a vote for Brexit, I am not going to vote for another party and discover that I also voted to return fox-hunting, Blakes 7, and Watneys Red Barrel.

I also feel the LDs need some love after being the fall-guys for the Tories and victims of an immature electorate.

Lib Dems have been very consistent about Europe.
I wish more campaigning were to happen for the European elections though. I tempted to go and stand at a polling station with a rosette on just to show presence.

I am not going to vote for another party and discover that I also voted to return fox-hunting, Blakes 7, and Watneys Red Barrel.

😆

I feel the same I’m going LD. Better the devil you know.

From the Guardian article:
Surveys suggest around three in five members are planning to vote for Nigel Farage’s Brexit party.

Yes, but how many members does the party have? How many have left because of its rightward lurch?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/09/tories-fear-dismal-results-in-european-elections-meps-say?CMP=share_btn_tw
European elections: Tories could come sixth, officials fear
Candidates say the party is ‘almost in denial’ over vote and will not publish manifesto

Another Conservative source said internal data showed the party could do worse than the Brexit party, Labour, the Lib Dems, Change UK and even potentially the Greens, with support at less than 10%. That would translate to only a handful of seats, down from the current 22.

A second CCHQ source said the outlook was “absolutely dire” and worse even than the public pollsters were predicting because the party was planning to put in no effort whatsoever, apart from a free mailshot.

Worse than that: A free mailshot that will arrive AFTER many have recieved their postal vote and have already returned it.

What's wrong with Watney's Red Barrel, the solace of my teenage years? Don't say

I also feel the LDs need some love after being the fall-guys for the Tories and victims of an immature electorate

Much of that was Clegg’s fault I feel. Far too chummy with Cam/Os/BoJo and really naive about the iniquity of the Tories. And far too rich to be affected by increased uni fees.

I think they’ve done their time. They need more exciting MPs, but hey ho they’re #anythingbutToriesorLabour.

The Guardian says that the Tories might come 6th in the Euro elections.

Cosmic justice.

I think the problem for the Tories goes waaaaaaay deeper too. Just earwigging at my local swim session, it seems that this shower of twatliners has managed to do something that even Heath couldn't manage, and permanently alienate their hardcore support base.

I think we are entering a new phase of UK politics. In the same way that PCs are dead, and smartphone/tablet sales have peaked there is no going back. Despite what Gartner or anyone else says. We've hit peak Tory. From this point in, they will struggle to stay still.

It's interesting to speculate whether this would have happened anyway and to think that rather than being the cause of Tory decline, UKIP are a symptom of it. ??????

As a strategist, I am reminded that vinyls sales were falling before CDs were extant.

If that is the case (I feel safer with strategy than politics ..) then the currently unfolding splintering parties is going to become a feature of 21st century life. And we'll discover just how unfit for purpose FPTP as we get unstable minority government after unstable minority government, all locked into a 5 year parliament that can't be broken because the numbers won't be there. Making Brexit look like a sideshow.

Nothing wrong with Blake’s 7 either.

I got a Brexit Party mailshot yesterday. Took great pleasure in ripping it in to small pieces on my doorstep and throwing in the recycling. I don't want that in my house. Gross.

I'm in SW region. Molly Scott Cato, obvs, but then I think mostly LD?

Much of that was Clegg’s fault I feel. Far too chummy with Cam/Os/BoJo and really naive about the iniquity of the Tories. And far too rich to be affected by increased uni fees.

Whatever peoples view, the LDs were completely aware before going into coalition that it was a massive risk to their standing with the more fickle less aware voters. And because of the way they work, they put it to a vote and as a party felt obliged to put country first and avoid an unstable government. Something the past 2 years have show was absolutely the right decision now we see how undemocratic, opaque, and open to abuse a C&S arrangement is.

Say what you will about the coalition - it was based on a published document and worked in the open.

Also the LDs are committed to the HRA and ECHR - which currently seems to mark them out.

What's wrong with Watney's Red Barrel, the solace of my teenage years?

The six pack of my teenage years has become the Party 7 of my middle age.

{The six pack of my teenage years has become the Party 7 of my middle age.}

Just keep an eye out for it turning into a full keg!

We have a good LD MEP in our area - she actually turns up and debates. Better than the shysters associated with Farage and his ilk. Why stand for election to an institution you fundamentally don’t believe in?

Whatever peoples view, the LDs were completely aware before going into coalition that it was a massive risk to their standing with the more fickle less aware voters. And because of the way they work, they put it to a vote and as a party felt obliged to put country first and avoid an unstable government.

I think the Leadership was a bit naive in not realising just how the Tories would treat their junior partners. Most of the things Cameron regarded as successes were LibDem policies, but you would never know, and the LibDems got blamed for everything which went wrong.

{Why stand for election to an institution you fundamentally don’t believe in?}
Farage wants to encourage chaos, he makes money from it. Achieving a decent outcome for anyone else is not his concern.

{Most of the things Cameron regarded as successes were LibDem policies, but you would never know, and the LibDems got blamed for everything which went wrong}

So much for 'honourable members'.

Euro NW seat. Stuck between LDs and Greens. Am another Labour voter lost to Labour.

NW voter here, so Lib Dem best bet do you think?