Tory apocalypse

[fragment]

How you doing, UK folks?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Jope rn:

[fragment]

Declared seats rn

Lab: 347
Tory: 76
Lib Dem: 46
Others: 29

lol

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Canada 1993 was more hilarious, but resulted in a rightward highjack that led to the fuckery we see today.

[fragment]

Y'all should go proportional already ffs.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Voted down decisively in every referendum I’ve been in.

[ceptimus]

In total, Reform got many more votes than the Liberal Democrats, but Reform have only four seats, compared to the Liberal Democrats seventy. Plaid Cymru (the Welsh Nationalist party) has the same number of MPs as Reform, with only 5% of Reform's total votes.

Sir Keir Starmer has his huge Labour majority on a very low share of the vote - lower than that of any previous non-coalition government, including those with small majorities such as Mrs May's.

Things would look very different if we had a proportional representation system. Only one other country in Europe shares the same, first-past-the-post, electoral system as us: that country is Belarus - the country run by Putin's friend.

[fragment]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Voted down decisively in every referendum I’ve been in.

Any thoughts on why? Here we switched largely because of widespread disgust after both major parties had undertaken massive controversial neoliberal reforms that neither had campaigned on.

Originally Posted by ceptimus

Things would look very different if we had a proportional representation system.

True, but both voting behaviour and party campaigning also change with PR. Tactical voting, for example, has limited application depending on the details of the PR system.

[slimshady2357]

Originally Posted by ceptimus

In total, Reform got many more votes than the Liberal Democrats, but Reform have only four seats, compared to the Liberal Democrats seventy. Plaid Cymru (the Welsh Nationalist party) has the same number of MPs as Reform, with only 5% of Reform's total votes.

Sir Keir Starmer has his huge Labour majority on a very low share of the vote - lower than that of any previous non-coalition government, including those with small majorities such as Mrs May's.

Things would look very different if we had a proportional representation system. Only one other country in Europe shares the same, first-past-the-post, electoral system as us: that country is Belarus - the country run by Putin's friend.

We live in one of the 4 reforms seats

People around here will be moaning about Reform only getting 4 seats, but they will also have voted in droves to turn down PR.

Usually only the left is fractured, but now the right is seeing how shit first past the post can feel.

Nigel Farage won his seat, double

I wonder if he'll just no-show pretty much the entire time like he did for his MEP seat. Fucking wankstick arsehole.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by fragment

Any thoughts on why? Here we switched largely because of widespread disgust after both major parties had undertaken massive controversial neoliberal reforms that neither had campaigned on.

”I don’t understand how that works.” Unspoken: “And you can’t make me learn.”

“(FPTP) is how we’ve always done it/how it is supposed to work because that is the right way to do it.” People couldn’t get past the idea of geographical area gets one seat. Anything else drew blank stares then the indignation, “How dare you make me feel like a fool, you’re an asshole.”

And the last one I was in was provincial. Two questions:
1. Do you want PR?
2. Rank these three PR methods.

It was bewildering, confusing, and I suspect deliberately so.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Jope rn:

[JoeP]

The country put at end to this:

2024 Election Specials. 4. The Conservatives -...

It's a pretty good rant.

[JoeP]

Using formatting from some busy dude on social media, updated by me with latest counts

🔴 Labour: 411 (+213)
🔵 Conservatives: 119 (-250)
🟠 Liberal Democrats: 71 (+63)
🟡 SNP: 9 (-37)
🇮🇪 Sinn Fein: 7 (=)
⚫ Independents: 7 (+4)
🇬🇧 DUP: 5 (-3)
⚪ Reform UK: 4 (+4)
🟢 Greens: 4 (+3)
🌻 Plaid Cymru: 4 (+2)
🟤 SDLP: 2 (=)
🤝 Alliance: 1 (=)
🟣 UUP: 1 (+1)

Wherein, in case you're not full up to speed with UK politics:

Some of these parties are specific to one nation within the UK:
SNP is the Scottish Nationalist Party. They've had some scandals.
Sinn Fein, DUP, SDLP, Alliance and UUP are all in Northern Ireland.
Plaid Cymru is Welsh.

Although this is a fucking (technical term) landslide for Labour, it's not really a great endorsement of them or grey lawyer Keir Starmer, the new Prime Minister. They definitely lost a few seats (to independents) because of their pro-Israel stance.

It is first and foremost a massive kick in the teeth for the Tories. A lot of Labour seats were to get the Tories out - but so were the Liberal Democrats' successes (their best result for decades) and the 300% increase in Green seats (best ever) - and the sickening success of Reform, the party for people who didn't think the Tories were xenophobic and fascist enough.

[ceptimus]

I'm in what was the sixteenth safest Conservative seat in the country, so as the Tories have won over a hundred seats, you would have assumed they would have retained it.

But it's fallen to the Liberal Democrats. Partly because the previous Tory MP was particularly corrupt - he ran one of Boris's campaigns, and briefly was Chancelor and other top ministerial jobs in the chaotic period at the end of Boris's time and during Liz Truss's brief period in charge. Famously, he claimed on expenses for the central heating of his horses' stables. He insisted he would stand again, right up till he was forced not to.

I actually had the prospective Liberal Democrat candidate ( and now our MP) knock on my door and discuss her campaign with me a week ago! Not a campaigner - the MP herself! This was a first for me: living in what was a safe seat, none of the parties used to bother to campaign here. She is a tiny woman of Asian heritage. I wished her good luck, and I hope she'll stand up for our constituency. Certainly, it's impossible to imagine her being worse than the previous crooked chancer.

[ceptimus]

The constituency where I live, Stratford-upon-Avon, was previously always a Tory constituency since 1909.

I always thought that my vote would never count for anything, but thanks to the hugely corrupt previous incumbent, and the Reform candidate luring away a big chunk of the Tory vote, the Liberal Democrat candidate was able to slip through the resulting split, to a famous victory.

[viscousmemories]

All this time I have believed Labour was the equivalent of the US liberal Democrats, and now I learn you also have a party called Liberal Democrats.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Using formatting from some busy dude on social media, updated by me with latest counts

🔴 Labour: 411 (+213)
🔵 Conservatives: 119 (-250)
🟠 Liberal Democrats: 71 (+63)
🟡 SNP: 9 (-37)
🇮🇪 Sinn Fein: 7 (=)
⚫ Independents: 7 (+4)
🇬🇧 DUP: 5 (-3)
⚪ Reform UK: 4 (+4)
🟢 Greens: 4 (+3)
🌻 Plaid Cymru: 4 (+2)
🟤 SDLP: 2 (=)
🤝 Alliance: 1 (=)
🟣 UUP: 1 (+1)

@Fragment: Related to this it will be interesting to see in a year if LD's calls for Proportional Rep disappear now that FPTP is working for them... this cycle.

[Ari]

After the announcement there were hours of fireworks here in the US.
On the downside Farage won a seat, on the upside he was just about to campaign for Trump here in the US and I presume he'll be busy planning his embezzlements and eventual scandals.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

All this time I have believed Labour was the equivalent of the US liberal Democrats, and now I learn you also have a party called Liberal Democrats.

Our Liberal Democrats may be roughly the equivalent of your liberal Democrats, without the years in power and presidential success.

Our Labour Party is traditionally the equivalent of your Communists.

(Except not under Starmer)

[fragment]

Originally Posted by JoeP

(Except not under Starmer or Blair)

[viscousmemories]

After I posted here I watched John Oliver's latest show, which happens to be a nice primer on UK party politics over the past 15 years.

UK Elections: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) - YouTube