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So Moggsy admits that voter ID WAS Tory gerrynandering – politicalbetting.com
So Moggsy admits that voter ID WAS Tory gerrynandering – politicalbetting.com
Don’t want to go over the top, but this is absolutely jaw-dropping. Someone who was in the cabinet when legislation on voter ID was agreed and went through parliament acknowledges it WAS an attempt to gerrymander the elections https://t.co/onD8iPUsJO
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https://www.gov.uk/government/news/extending-the-deadline-to-register-to-vote-for-the-eu-referendum-statement
Minister for Cabinet Office, Matt Hancock, said:
Following discussions with the Electoral Commission and strong cross-party support expressed in the House of Commons, we will introduce secondary legislation to extend the deadline for voter registration until midnight tomorrow.
Having taken the decision today, we think it is right to extend to 23.59 on Thursday 9 June, to allow people who have not yet registered, the time to get the message that registration is still open and get themselves registered.
And what if the punishment is short of the 10days and recall petition, a mere slap on the knuckles for the getting it wrong Boris already admitted to? Atonement?
Seen to survive blows that don’t finish you in politics, just leaves you looking strong and in place to strike back doesn’t it? It could play out like Lua being released from jail.
I'm sure I read and posted some other research on this a couple of weeks back which suggested that the rigging scheme was likely to disproportionately affect low income voters who were more likely to back Labour. Tories who think it backfired may be forming that opinion through hearing the complaints of small numbers of wealthy older people - the population segment that accounts for the bulk of their party membership, and the only group (save for the very rich) that they either listen to or care about.
Some PBers will be along in a moment pleading with plod to investigate Starmer's suggestion that the voting age could be lowered after consultation.
You would think though the first place to get things scrapped is behind the scenes? To do this in public makes me think voices raised behind the scenes have been met with much opposition and over ruled by the majority, or most senior people who want to keep it in place. If I was betting I would back the Tories keeping it in place for the general election.
“If Labour wins a big majority at the next election they will reduce the voting age to 16, they will abolish voter ID, and they will introduce proportional representation making it almost impossible for the Conservative Party to win an outright majority in the future,”
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/
In fact skilled white working class voters were the most likely to vote Tory on May 4th, indeed the few councils the Tories held then like Dartford, Harlow, Braintree, Basildon, Walsall and Dudley were filled with such voters. However the ID requirement would have made them much less likely to vote, while Nimby OAPs protest voting LD or Residents were not affected as they mainly voted by post.
So Jacob is right, what might have been a 'cunning plan' by the Tories for the general election, ended up a Baldrick style 'cunning plan' disaster at the local elections as they lost control of councils across the Home Counties especially and over 1000 Tory councillors were gone
JRM, Sunak et al have knowingly misused or abused their power or authority and willingly acted to cause harm to an individual or group.
Theory Two (possibly overthinking): NatCon isn't for 2023/4, it's rolling the pitch to take over the Conservatives after they lose. In which case, the more discredited the government is, the better.
Ran over the poor thing.
Before this video, it was debatable which it was. JRW gives us an indication it was utter gerrymandering.
The only (slight) issue I have is that I think JRW is a mendacious piece of excrement. If you don't think he tells the truth at the best of times, why now? But given the egregious voter ID scheme, I can set that issue to one side.
(*) To reduce fraud.
Rees-Mogg’s moronic musings are worth nothing legally
His idiocy might well cost the Tories further in their polling and their election chances, but there’s no way time will be wasted pursuing it to any court
ETA obviously Jolyon might, but then QED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cAIHJ6f6zQ
So does he really believe his own claim? Or does he have an ulterior motive, if so what on earth is it?
Still, in terms of an admission of guilt it's very good of him to let the cat out of the bag.
Nothing to see here, not at all......Boris smirking in the background.
See line 371 cols AJ to AT for GE and LE effects.
If the Conservatives do decide to go full on tonto in '25, I trust that the main effect will be to give Labour the 2029 election as a freebie. Which may be necessary, because the UK's problems are going to take time to fix.
It's probably killed her with the Conservative Right, but these things happen. They happen quite a lot, actually.
This has been American definition of the word, invented in USA and named after an American politico for his contribution to the practice, for over 200 hundred years.
WHY our British cousins have decided to expand meaning of gerrymander, to include (it seems) ANY manipulation of electoral process, is beyond me.
Do any of you have a clue?
My guess is quasi-ignorance combined with unalloyed laziness; that is, mis-users have heard of the word, but NOT what it actually means - and haven't bothered to find out.
Indeed I would argue in the current economic climate and with the culture wars and immigration debates the Nationalist right is more of a threat to the social democratic left than the libertarian right, maybe even than the traditional centre right
It's interesting how often people rail against these changes though. It is usually a hiding to nothing.
I'm all for remembering the history of usage and etymology though.
If anybody's interested, I came across this article by John Hayes on Conservative Home. Scary stuff, I think. Even the Tory commenters mostly seem to think he's as mad as a box of frogs.
https://conservativehome.com/2023/05/15/john-hayes-national-conservatism-can-help-the-government-deliver-on-the-promises-of-2019/
So these were Extinct Rebellion shouting and yelling about fascism and in favour of open borders and against immigration restrictions?
What PB didn’t take into account when you lost the argument against me on the policing of coronation protests, these “take it too far” hot heads could be members of more than one thing, couldn’t they? Republican protestors you support on Saturday, M25 sniffers you are screaming at on Monday when you are waiting hours for them to be cut from the road, picketing abortion clinics Wednesday, head glued to Grand National fences a few days later.
Take the guy arrested for handing out personal alarms on the day of the coronation. What if he was ALSO in extinct rebellion too, and extinct rebellion forums were talking up using these alarms to frighten the kings horses? Still naff policing to keep a check on him that day?
In the real world things are more nuanced, than many on PB trying to spin a point. So you are lucky to have me, slapping the cheeks of spin, and bringing forth the juices of nuance for the benefit of all. 😇
But, yes, in the long run, could a nationalist, right-wing populist Conservative Party win an election in the UK at some point? Yes. I don’t think we’re the same as the US, Israel, Turkey, Austria or Italy. I like to think the populist right would find it harder in the UK, but maybe it would just have a different flavour (like a Pim Fortuyn rather than an Erdogan)? It is not an impossibility.
Just the sort of thing Twitter would go into a delightful frenzy over.
Could you explain what part of this article you are scared about?
Reserve it for geographical fiddling, I say! AND note I'm the 21st-century Funk & Wagnalls . . .
The first few years after a defeat is when the nutters start pushing the "We weren't pure enough" agenda and keep taking more and more crazy policy positions
Situation Normal....
Much as Labour too drifted ever further left culminating in Corbynism after Brown's defeat in 2010 before finally returning to the centre with Sir Keir, the seeds of which developed in opposition to the Iraq War and New Labour so the populist Conservative right is ready to start to take over the party as soon as the party goes into opposition fuelled by Brexit and culture wars
“People yearned for a self-confident, common-sense government that put the interests of hard-working, law-abiding patriots first.” <- putting the interests of “patriots” first means criminalising dissent and is incompatible with democracy.
Isn’t the Conservative MPs upset the government don’t have house building plans, they will lose their seats because Labour are the only party intent to build homes for people to buy?
Royal Mail is facing an investigation by the industry watchdog after it failed to meet its delivery targets over the past year.
Ofcom said it would consider whether any "exceptional events" explained why Royal Mail fell short.
But if there were no "satisfactory explanation", the regulator said it would consider imposing a fine.
The postal service delivered only 73.7% of First Class mail within a day - far short of the 93% target.
Ofcom said the impact of Covid was no longer "an excuse for poor delivery performance".
If Royal Mail is fined, it would be its second penalty since 2019 when it paid out £1.5m for failing to deliver first class letters on time.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65601117
"Would Cyclefree have written this article if it were a transgender writer being "discriminated against"?"
And the answer is yes. Because I did write such an article, based on that very assumption, from which my header was an excerpt. See here - https://www.cyclefree.co.uk/whose-free-speech/.
I think there is much wisdom in this saying of JS Mill - "He who knows only his side of the case knows little of that."
https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/full-list-postcodes-hit-dpd-28722885