Westminstenders: Election Special 3

[RedToothBrush]

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With the final seat in St. Ives now declared for the Conservatives, the complete result is in: a Conservative majority of 80, which in practice is 85 once abstentionist MPs and deputy speakers are taken into account.

Looks like the beardy old man with a penchant for red brought us Christmas early this year

Andy burnham I think is good too. He might be wise to stay out the limelight for a decade or so and then try for the top spot.

I meant Labour had a solid presence in London - it's really not a very Tory city. It's all them furriners I expect.

To the Scots among you - can Scotland vote for Independence without the say so of Westminster? Was there not some Treaty which suggested that it might be able to?

Bojo's speech seemed very well pitched (to England and Wales at least).

Porkies about hospitals again, but still. It made me feel slightly optimistic.

I think it's probably right that Corbyn stays a bit longer because a Labour leadership election will detract from the Government and I want no distractions. Everything will be held to account in the next year!

Why would Burnham return to Westminster unless he lost his current job?

Hey! You lot keep your mitts off Andy Burnham. He belongs to Manchester, thank you very much

The Midlands are a bit too close to London to feel Northern, and a bit too close to Manchester to feel Southern. (There is a clue in the name). Well heeled Midlanders can just pop to London to enjoy a bit of culture and thus swerve having to invest locally.

It's also quite internecine, with various areas much more ready to compete than co-operate (Birmingham/Solihull being an example). Which in a FPTP world condemns you to permanent second.

Reaction: shocked to sad to angry.
Thinking about how another 5 years of the Conservatives will affect us; elderly mil already waited 8 weeks for the results of a cancer scan - only looked at after she was admitted to hospital and found to have advanced bowel cancer, issue now with GP appointments and district nurse availability, social care for elderly relatives, school funding for ds and friends, cost of terrible / no public transport for post 16 education, university tuition fees, environmental crisis, local authority cuts to services / my employment.
I was expecting:

• some northern labour seats to go blue but not so many.

- more southern commuter belt areas to vote out the Tories especially to vote for Dominic Grieve and David Gaulke

• I thought a couple of big name horrors cabinet ministers might be voted out.
• there would be more tactical voting successes and fewer near misses e.g Wimbledon down south.
• the Tories win to be much narrower - and was hoping for a hung Parliament

It was not to be. Cat I will be able to vote in the Labour leadership election.

@thecatfromjapan I'm a Labour member. Keeping an open mind on leadership preferences for now.

I'm disappointed but not terribly surprised at the election result. I always figured it'd be a Tory majority, however the scale was more than expected. In some ways, this is good. The government will be stable, business will be able to plan ahead, and the ERG are potentially less relevant.

I am sad that the UK is now certain to leave the EU. My profession (science) will be poorer for it. It's ironic that the UK is the (and I do mean #1, we are way ahead of the USA, the EU, and China) global leader in genomic data sharing for health care and research. It is going to be difficult to maintain and grow that advantage now with the end of freedom of movement and the net loss of research funding.

There is one large stumbling block in the way of a softer Brexit that I haven't seen pointed out here yet, forgive me if I've missed it. If the WA + PD are passed in their current form, which seems highly likely, the PD dictates the direction of the negotiations for the UK towards a bare bones goods only FTA. I suppose they could come back later to pass amending legislation under the guise of minor fixes, but the ball would already be rolling.

I wondered that Peregrina but it's a bit more complicated. There are various Acts to the Union, so despite the lack of a written constitution, laws do have to be recognised. Mind you this didn't stop Ireland getting independence; though I wouldn't suggest for one moment that Scotland follow the same route.

Anyone for a peaceful Scottish political coup?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/boris-johnson-majority-social-liberal-softer-brexit

This has cheered me up a bit ... I'm not sure why though.

@LouiseCollins28

"I am surprised at the scale of the Johnson win and I also want to say to all the people who I've been chatting to on here, most of whom so willed a different outcome, that I hope you are able to take care of yourselves and those you love and that I wish you all well."

Thank you for that very kind comment, just what we need to bring people together again 💐

Although in principal the WA doesn't include a customs union this can be bypassed through further negotiations down the line. I'm convinced that Johnson will do this - the spin on it will be interesting but Johnson does have 5 years to sort it out.

One more reach is the v obvious weakness of non right wing Brexiteers being unable to unite - mainly because Labour had to have a foot in both camps. The vile Cummings was able to predict this and completely outplay the opposition helped by the fact he and the Tories were totally happy to lie.

There's no way 'the north' can be defined as 'north of the Watford Gap' at all. I'm from the East Mids, a 50 minute train ride from St Pancras, and I'm really not northern.

Now I live up north, I get called southern. Nobody wants the Midlands: southerners call us northern and northerners call us southern. We're from the middle (the clue is most definitely in the name)!

Incoherent post. Meant remainers / anti Tories were unable to present a united opposition!

the spin on it will be interesting but Johnson does have 5 years to sort it out.

One thing that was flagged up very quickly last night in pundit land was that a "solid majority" meant there was no pressure on Boris to rush to do anything, and he could afford to play a long game for a better deal. Which makes me wonder if we'll see the pre election WA survive now. For all the elation of the Tory leavers, Johnson is pretty much inviolate now. He's won an election.

PMK

Yes, I too appreciate LouiseCollins28's comments

I think the point about 'northern' is about breaking this idea of London liberal elite.

Much of the Midlands went blue - including places it hasn't before.

It's the small town thing which is poorly described.

Much love for Lisa Nandy, it seems. I like her too. I hope that Rebecca Long Bailey disappears without a trace.

I’m disappointed - but I’m also a natural optimist, so I hope things won’t be as bleak as they might seem now.

Louise I’d also like to thank you for your post earlier. You come across as reasoned, rational and pragmatic.

A thought: I wonder if all the talk about fantastic deals with the EU and the US are a version of ‘oh look! A squirrel!’ Isn’t there a saying ‘follow the money’? Which appears to come from elsewhere.

In other news, I was walking my dogs along the lane earlier. A sheep in a field turned, stared at us, and promptly defecated. It’s probably a metaphor for something...