Ukip can point to number of votes and claim progress, hard to see where Labour and Libs go from here. What price a referendum in 2017 now they have a majority?
There'll be a referendum after 'renegotiation'. Dave will recommend staying in. We'll stay in by a fairly large majority. If we don't Scotland will demand another Indyref and will probably win it.
Sorry don't buy that. He'll go to Brussels with vague intentions to renegotiate and come back waving a piece of paper saying its all sorted. Cameron doesn't want a referendum, he'll wriggle out of it again.
Just have a feeling that the referendum would fail whatever DC does.
Ukip can point to number of votes and claim progress, hard to see where Labour and Libs go from here. What price a referendum in 2017 now they have a majority?
There'll be a referendum after 'renegotiation'. Dave will recommend staying in. We'll stay in by a fairly large majority. If we don't Scotland will demand another Indyref and will probably win it.
Sorry don't buy that. He'll go to Brussels with vague intentions to renegotiate and come back waving a piece of paper saying its all sorted. Cameron doesn't want a referendum, he'll wriggle out of it again.
Galling for the Left, but Blair was right: "Miliband will fight like traditional Labour, and lose like traditional Labour". And so it was.
The trouble is that I think New Labour was a one off where people bought the idea that they could be as competent as the Tories, but with a bit more heart.
After ballsing it up last time I don't think that they can win again by being Tory lite as you may as well vote for the real thing. Plus it would alienate half their support.
I think we can now consign the anti-Tory party to history in England and Wales.
This really has been a game-changing election in so many ways. Almost all the old certainties have been laid to waste.
England has and always will be a small-c consverative country. Blair understood that, that why New labour was needed.
It's a tiny majority, there are still 'awkward squad' tories. No LibDem involvement to restrain them this time. Opposition parties to get new leaders and a new start (except UKIP where Farage is copying his idol Putin).
Assuming that Scotland goes its own way at some point, the Conservative majority in EWNI is forecast to be 70, in England alone 105.
We have seen the unexpected rebirth of Tory England.
PB consensus is that Clegg should have spent less time attacking Tories. But half his 2010 voters quit for Labour and Greens. Were they really going to stay if he had said that the Tories were an amazing bunch of guys who are really nice to Oxfordshire restaurateurs?
Sorry to see Clegg go, he had a tough hand to play and got no thanks for it.
Were it not for his ridiculous U-turn over the boundary changes I might have agreed with you. However, what sort of man makes a speech in favour of something then votes against it when the time comes? Politics will be better for his departure.
I was a teller for most of yesterday. I was amazed how many people entered the polling station and looked at the list of candidates in the entrance hall and discussed which one to support. It was like passers-by looking at the menu in the window of a restaurant. 5-10% of voters really did decide at the last minute IMO. I wonder about the value of all this polling. We need something that helps predict the likely outcome on the day of decision. Perhaps it’s better to look at the critical success factors likely to deliver a vote rather than the daily froth of opinion.
I don't understand why the junior member of a coalition usually ends up taking most of the blame for its unpopularity.
They handled it incredibly badly. They spent most of the 5 years looking thoroughly miserable about being in government, laying into their coalition partners in intemperate terms, and generally giving the strong impression that coalition is a bad idea, in direct contradiction to what they had been telling us for previous 50 years. As a result they didn't get the credit they deserved both for ensuring stability and for the LibDem policies which they did get implemented. They thought they needed to differentiate themselves by implying (and in many cases actually saying) that the Tories were dreadful heartless people interested only in helping the rich - a message which put centre-right voters off, and invited the response from the left "So why are you keeping this dreadful Tory party in government then?"
The needed above all to sell the concept of coalition as a Good Thing. Only in the last few weeks did they begin to get that message right, but by then it was too late.
I'm not sure that's the main reason for the LD collapse. I think it was a lot more due to their support in LD-CON marginal relying on tactical votes from Labour supporters, which disappeared after the coalition "betrayal."
Perhaps Labour should have made more of the fact that the easiest route to a Tory majority was them hovering up the LD seats.
Galling for the Left, but Blair was right: "Miliband will fight like traditional Labour, and lose like traditional Labour". And so it was.
The trouble is that I think New Labour was a one off where people bought the idea that they could be as competent as the Tories, but with a bit more heart.
After ballsing it up last time I don't think that they can win again by being Tory lite as you may as well vote for the real thing. Plus it would alienate half their support.
I also think he was a baby boomer phenomenon, boomers dominated society in that period, that generation leans strongly left, started dying off now.
PB consensus is that Clegg should have spent less time attacking Tories. But half his 2010 voters quit for Labour and Greens. Were they really going to stay if he had said that the Tories were an amazing bunch of guys who are really nice to Oxfordshire restaurateurs?
The Lib Dems were like Napoleon. He fought on two fronts, during a Russian winter. So they lost badly on both fronts.
The Lib Dems should have chosen a stance and stuck with it. They'd have had a bad night then, but not been totally annihilated.
PB consensus is that Clegg should have spent less time attacking Tories. But half his 2010 voters quit for Labour and Greens. Were they really going to stay if he had said that the Tories were an amazing bunch of guys who are really nice to Oxfordshire restaurateurs?
They could have helped keep up the pressure on Labour for being economically incompetent and off themselves.
I think a lot of their problem was being punished by the left leaning media for daring to go into coalition with the Tories.
Farage has just thrown away his reputation - an very obvious device to get round his promise..
Clegg's speech is self serving tripe but at least he has resigned. He has taken some element of responsibility. Both however are much better than Murphy.
No-one but no-one continues when they lose not just their own seat but all but one of their colleagues - having claimed that he would lose none! As long as he stays there can be no recovery whatsoever for Labour in Scotland.
So why's Alex Salmond still there ?
Because he resigned as party leader pdq?
{Might have pressed the flag button in error - too dozy - if so many apologies.]
I think we can now consign the anti-Tory party to history in England and Wales.
This really has been a game-changing election in so many ways. Almost all the old certainties have been laid to waste.
England has and always will be a small-c consverative country. Blair understood that, that why New labour was needed.
It's a tiny majority, there are still 'awkward squad' tories. No LibDem involvement to restrain them this time. Opposition parties to get new leaders and a new start (except UKIP where Farage is copying his idol Putin).
We have seen the unexpected rebirth of Tory England.
Perhaps not quite so unexpected now that Scotland has established itself as a one party state in permanent opposition to all things Tory and English.
They often are. I find him often to be quite impressive. I like him. But he's failed even worse than the hit they thought they could take and build from. History will judge him more kindly than currently despite many big missteps
Sorry to see Clegg go, he had a tough hand to play and got no thanks for it.
Were it not for his ridiculous U-turn over the boundary changes I might have agreed with you. However, what sort of man makes a speech in favour of something then votes against it when the time comes? Politics will be better for his departure.
he could have teamed up with Brown but didn't, for that alone he's a hero.
Sorry to see Clegg go, he had a tough hand to play and got no thanks for it.
Were it not for his ridiculous U-turn over the boundary changes I might have agreed with you. However, what sort of man makes a speech in favour of something then votes against it when the time comes? Politics will be better for his departure.
I disagree. The boundary changes decision was a black mark, but such disagreements happen within political parties all the time, yet alone in coalitions. Clegg and the Lib Dems generally, and yes, with one or two exceptions, dealt with coalition in an admirably professional manner.
It's a shame they've got pounded for it.
I must admit I sneakily half-wanted a Lab-Lib coalition, if only to see how well the two parties would get on. My guess is nowhere near as well.
I think we can now consign the anti-Tory party to history in England and Wales.
This really has been a game-changing election in so many ways. Almost all the old certainties have been laid to waste.
England has and always will be a small-c consverative country. Blair understood that, that why New labour was needed.
It's a tiny majority, there are still 'awkward squad' tories. No LibDem involvement to restrain them this time. Opposition parties to get new leaders and a new start (except UKIP where Farage is copying his idol Putin).
We have seen the unexpected rebirth of Tory England.
Perhaps not quite so unexpected now that Scotland has established itself as a one party state in permanent opposition to all things Tory and English.
If we get EV4EL, or even an English Parliment, what will labour have to do/be to get a majority?
PB consensus is that Clegg should have spent less time attacking Tories. But half his 2010 voters quit for Labour and Greens. Were they really going to stay if he had said that the Tories were an amazing bunch of guys who are really nice to Oxfordshire restaurateurs?
They could have helped keep up the pressure on Labour for being economically incompetent and off themselves.
I think a lot of their problem was being punished by the left leaning media for daring to go into coalition with the Tories.
But Labour were already suffering the pressure of being economically incompetent. That's why the Tories made so many gains from them. That didn't help the Lib Dems at all, though.
Salmond pursued a master class in resignation. He resigned when no-one expected it the day after the referendum and propelled the SNP into an opinion poll lead seizing the moment to pin Cameron for his bad faith.
Salmond left the leadership with the SNP poll rating at 52 per cent (Ipsos MORI 22-29 October) and having had a positive personal rating for 7 and a half years. Not even Blair managed that.
Read Salmond's resignation speech and see the difference between a real politician and the Westminster second raters.
Farage has just thrown away his reputation - an very obvious device to get round his promise..
Clegg's speech is self serving tripe but at least he has resigned. He has taken some element of responsibility. Both however are much better than Murphy.
No-one but no-one continues when they lose not just their own seat but all but one of their colleagues - having claimed that he would lose none! As long as he stays there can be no recovery whatsoever for Labour in Scotland.
So why's Alex Salmond still there ?
Because he resigned as party leader pdq?
{Might have pressed the flag button in error - too dozy - if so many apologies.]
You've obviously misses the key quote from Natwit
"No-one but no-one continues when they lose "
He lost yet continues
We were, to be sure, talking about resignations as party leader. But I must go and get my National now ...
Galling for the Left, but Blair was right: "Miliband will fight like traditional Labour, and lose like traditional Labour". And so it was.
The trouble is that I think New Labour was a one off where people bought the idea that they could be as competent as the Tories, but with a bit more heart.
After ballsing it up last time I don't think that they can win again by being Tory lite as you may as well vote for the real thing. Plus it would alienate half their support.
Sometimes you have to create a new future by looking past the arguments of the past. For all his many faults Miliband recognised that, which is why he compared himself to Thatcher, who was the last person to reinvent the politics of their party. I don't count Blair in that, because his politics of triangulation is wholly derivative.
Labour need something that will transcend the old arguments, and reshape the country to tackle the major problems it faces. Miliband identified some of those problems, which is a start. The next leader needs to do better, but harking back to the past - whether New labour or Old - isn't going to cut it.
I hope there's a free vote, but I also hope that Cameron doesn't waste too much political capital on it.
The original ban was a hideous waste of parliament's time for very little effect; a law that was based more in class war than any animal welfare concerns.
Let parliament decide, unwhipped, and let that be the end of it.
PB consensus is that Clegg should have spent less time attacking Tories. But half his 2010 voters quit for Labour and Greens. Were they really going to stay if he had said that the Tories were an amazing bunch of guys who are really nice to Oxfordshire restaurateurs?
They could have helped keep up the pressure on Labour for being economically incompetent and off themselves.
I think a lot of their problem was being punished by the left leaning media for daring to go into coalition with the Tories.
The left-leaning media being the overwhelmingly Tory press or the Tory-run BBC or the Murdoch-run Sky?
Salmond pursued a master class in resignation. He resigned when no-one expected it the day after the referendum and propelled the SNP into an opinion poll lead seizing the moment to pin Cameron for his bad faith.
Salmond left the leadership with the SNP poll rating at 52 per cent (Ipsos MORI 22-29 October) and having had a positive personal rating for 7 and a half years. Not even Blair managed that.
Read Salmond's resignation speech and see the difference between a real politician and the Westminster second raters.
Yeah so one rule for Salmond and the SNP and another for everyone else. Plus ca change
Hard luck npxmp. Shame you couldn't buck the trends.
I am also very disappointed to continue my own record of backing losing candidates. I had been very dismissive of the Tories chances on here but he managed to beat Steve Webb in Thornbury as per the initial exit poll. Well done Luke Hall.
I hope there's a free vote, but I also hope that Cameron doesn't waste too much political capital on it.
The original ban was a hideous waste of parliament's time for very little effect; a law that was based more in class war than any animal welfare concerns.
Let parliament decide, unwhipped, and let that be the end of it.
I would prefer not full repeal (labour or a future left-wing government will just ban it again) but the proposal of a sensible, moderate amendment to the act that passes the reasonableness test to regulate it, and then a free vote on that.
PPA(Poll Porn Addiction)- The route to Maturbational Insanity
EICIPM- TickTock Syndrome
The LD incumbency bonus- Can only be Smithson Syndrome
The Voice of Sanity- The noxious blast from Jack W ARSE
Wise after the event? Nope,hit seat numbers on the nose in the LAB/CON battleground,underestimated Tories by 2 in Wales,overestimated Tories by 2 in England. No bad as they say in Bannie Scootland.
Night,night everyone off to bed after TV Marathon, and thanks to everyone for making the site the delight that it is
Bets on turnout looking good - I sold at 69.7 on SPIN and also bet on 65% to 70% - currently the Beeb are reporting 66.1% with 9 seats still to declare
PB consensus is that Clegg should have spent less time attacking Tories. But half his 2010 voters quit for Labour and Greens. Were they really going to stay if he had said that the Tories were an amazing bunch of guys who are really nice to Oxfordshire restaurateurs?
Clegg and the LibDems needed to fight hard to convince those who departed that Labour did NOT have the answers, that it would trash the country as it had every time before.
There was a place for a party of the left based on sensible economic management.
Even some very dry Tory MPs, such as John Redwood, are in favour of maintaining the 2004 Act. The SNP might abstain, as the issue has no implications for Scotland.
I think we can now consign the anti-Tory party to history in England and Wales.
This really has been a game-changing election in so many ways. Almost all the old certainties have been laid to waste.
England has and always will be a small-c consverative country. Blair understood that, that why New labour was needed.
It's a tiny majority, there are still 'awkward squad' tories. No LibDem involvement to restrain them this time. Opposition parties to get new leaders and a new start (except UKIP where Farage is copying his idol Putin).
We have seen the unexpected rebirth of Tory England.
Perhaps not quite so unexpected now that Scotland has established itself as a one party state in permanent opposition to all things Tory and English.
If we get EV4EL, or even an English Parliment, what will labour have to do/be to get a majority?
Remind me what the Tory manifesto said about EVFEL? We now have a nationalist socialist magic money tree hate the English Scotland and a Tory England with an overall UK majority. Scotland vs England is going to become a running sore theme for the next 5 years or more. A federal UK is coming. Or a split. Either one screws Labour for a long, long time.
Anyone else filling up at Nick C's speech? Surprisingly, I genuinely am. :-(
He is fundamentally right. There was a campaign full of nothingness and bordering on dishonesty about the huge fiscal costs of the next five years, and English and Scottish nationalism filled the gap. Easy answers: when you have a great people, who needs a liberal alternative to challenge the nation-state of that people? Why risk being governed by Scottish people when you can vote Tory instead and shaft the Scots?
PB consensus is that Clegg should have spent less time attacking Tories. But half his 2010 voters quit for Labour and Greens. Were they really going to stay if he had said that the Tories were an amazing bunch of guys who are really nice to Oxfordshire restaurateurs?
If seperation was the answer then he needed to exit Govt at least 6 months before. By staying, the LDs wasted their chance of getting Conservative support in the approx 40% of marginals where they faced a non-Tory and a more favourable view from the Tories in the 60% of the rest. Worst of both worlds. Actually appropriate for the Janus party.
I owe you a £20 donation (to RNLI as I recall) and a bottle of single malt.
Can you message me with an address for delivery.
Hopefully a small consolation for the kipper result. You and isam are my favourite PB kippers, both of you show the positive side of your party. Best wishes.
To what extent did it boil down, at the last minute, to whether English people wanted Scots in government. They liked Nicola. They knew she was good. But they didn't want her in charge, so they went with the party that would for all intents and purposes exclude Scots from the government.
One rule (of mine) stayed true Labour only have 35% of the UK councillor seats and no party in more than 40 years has gained power starting with less than 40% of councillor seats and not having more Cllrs than the main Govt party. The Cons still have 40%. One rule of mine gone. At every GE after Labour loses power, the Labour vote drops still further.
Bets on turnout looking good - I sold at 69.7 on SPIN and also bet on 65% to 70% - currently the Beeb are reporting 66.1% with 9 seats still to declare
Polly Toynbee has moved from being stuck in the seventies to being stuck in the nineties. There is no great division on Europe in the party - we'll have a referendum. Let the people decide.
I think they'll decide by two to one to stay in and David Cameron will then retire as the man who won two elections (second outright) and two referendums (AV and Europe).
Quite exciting to think of the laws a Maj CON govt can now bring in, without a problem. Withdraw from EHRA. Boundary Changes. EVEL. Fiscal autonomy for Scotland. Legalisation of bear baiting. Invade Ireland and burn down their Papist altars.
Bets on turnout looking good - I sold at 69.7 on SPIN and also bet on 65% to 70% - currently the Beeb are reporting 66.1% with 9 seats still to declare
Polly plugging for Rachel Reeves to succeed Ed. Lol! Rachel Reeves is just Ed in a fright wig. Exactly not what Labour need. Just my friendly advice. We told you Ed was a dud. You might want to consult more widely on what constitutes a decent leader.
Labour were very brave and enlightened in choosing a Leader with a speech disability. Having done that once, they do not need to repeat it but if so....
Quite exciting to think of the laws a Maj CON govt can now bring in, without a problem. Withdraw from EHRA. Boundary Changes. EVEL. Fiscal autonomy for Scotland. Legalisation of bear baiting. Invade Ireland and burn down their Papist altars.
Suddenly a world of opportunity opens up.
Legalising baby eating, the shooting of pensioners and the burning of NHS hospitals will come in as well.
PB consensus is that Clegg should have spent less time attacking Tories. But half his 2010 voters quit for Labour and Greens. Were they really going to stay if he had said that the Tories were an amazing bunch of guys who are really nice to Oxfordshire restaurateurs?
Clegg and the LibDems needed to fight hard to convince those who departed that Labour did NOT have the answers, that it would trash the country as it had every time before.
There was a place for a party of the left based on sensible economic management.
It seems that in almost all seats of all sorts, in Labour-Tory marginals, in Scotland, in Wales, voters did indeed believe this. So I find it difficult to believe that it was only in Lib Dem seats, facing opponents from all parties, that people did not believe in the poverty of Labour's alternative. Thus, I suspect instead that people still had doubts about Labour, but preferred them to the Lib Dems. And that can be best explained by the residual anti-Tory nature of the majority in Britain.
Quite exciting to think of the laws a Maj CON govt can now bring in, without a problem. Withdraw from EHRA. Boundary Changes. EVEL. Fiscal autonomy for Scotland. Legalisation of bear baiting. Invade Ireland and burn down their Papist altars.
Suddenly a world of opportunity opens up.
Legalising baby eating, the shooting of pensioners and the burning of NHS hospitals will come in as well.
Why would be burn the hospitals when we are going to sell them all to Serco?
Polly Toynbee has moved from being stuck in the seventies to being stuck in the nineties. There is no great division on Europe in the party - we'll have a referendum. Let the people decide.
I think they'll decide by two to one to stay in and David Cameron will then retire as the man who won two elections (second outright) and two referendums (AV and Europe).
blackburn The deal is he will go to Brussels..negotiate..come back with the deal he gets.. ..then ... read this slowly..we all get to vote on it..
I guess its pointless discussing what may or may not happen 2 years hence, my point being that Cameron and senior tories such as Major, Clarke and Heseltine dont want a referendum, nor do Labour, SNP or the Libs. He'll bat away Carswell and a few angry backbenchers.
Eurosceptics and kippers (me) are royally shafted.
Quite exciting to think of the laws a Maj CON govt can now bring in, without a problem. Withdraw from EHRA. Boundary Changes. EVEL. Fiscal autonomy for Scotland. Legalisation of bear baiting. Invade Ireland and burn down their Papist altars.
Suddenly a world of opportunity opens up.
Legalising baby eating, the shooting of pensioners and the burning of NHS hospitals will come in as well.
Why would be burn the hospitals when we are going to sell them all to Serco?
You burn the hospitals to make a barbecue for all the babies, silly!
Polly Toynbee has moved from being stuck in the seventies to being stuck in the nineties. There is no great division on Europe in the party - we'll have a referendum. Let the people decide.
I think they'll decide by two to one to stay in and David Cameron will then retire as the man who won two elections (second outright) and two referendums (AV and Europe).
A late good morning to all PBers and many thanks for the (mostly ) kind comments coming the way of my ARSE.
Particular thanks to Mike and Robert Smithson and team for keeping the good ship PB en route over the campaign.
I'll be making some further considered comments in the afternoon.
Well done Jack. .. Especially the late advice that people should hold their nerve.
Consider my cap doffed
The contrast between the consistency of the products of your ARSE, and the flatlining of YouGov over the last months is an interesting one. I am a bit disappointed that the ARSE underestimated the LDs. On my own party my worst fears were exceeded.
I hope that your ARSE can take a well earned rest in a comfy chair while considering whether to re emerge as a Euro-ARSE for next year.
I'm looking at some of these SNP majorities and my mind is being blown. I was one of the most SNP bullish people on this site but even for me the size of majorities is jaw dropping.
Places that I had as too close to call we see majorities in the thousands, In places where I was predicting majorities of 5,000 we are seeing 10,000. Once this is all in nice easy to slurp tables I'd love to see how this matches up to SMAPS.
Yes - Labour's Liverpool redoubt - hope they can find a seat for her PDQ - or might Cameron bring her into the Lords? She only lost narrowly.....
Way to do it would be to vote out the Speaker. Let her have Bercow's seat after he gets moved out.... Everybody happy except a small chap with a gobby wife.
Quite exciting to think of the laws a Maj CON govt can now bring in, without a problem. Withdraw from EHRA. Boundary Changes. EVEL. Fiscal autonomy for Scotland. Legalisation of bear baiting. Invade Ireland and burn down their Papist altars.
Suddenly a world of opportunity opens up.
Legalising baby eating, the shooting of pensioners and the burning of NHS hospitals will come in as well.
Why would be burn the hospitals when we are going to sell them all to Serco?
Privatising the NHS is Labour's job. Set up a special department for Burnham, as the Guest Minister for Hospital Sales.
Polly Toynbee has moved from being stuck in the seventies to being stuck in the nineties. There is no great division on Europe in the party - we'll have a referendum. Let the people decide.
I think they'll decide by two to one to stay in and David Cameron will then retire as the man who won two elections (second outright) and two referendums (AV and Europe).
blackburn The deal is he will go to Brussels..negotiate..come back with the deal he gets.. ..then ... read this slowly..we all get to vote on it..
I guess its pointless discussing what may or may not happen 2 years hence, my point being that Cameron and senior tories such as Major, Clarke and Heseltine dont want a referendum, nor do Labour, SNP or the Libs. He'll bat away Carswell and a few angry backbenchers.
Eurosceptics and kippers (me) are royally shafted.
If Cameron says no to a referendum, he gets sacked and Hammond sweeps in. Major, Clarke and Heseltine - how many divisions do they have?
Comments
"I will not become prime minster unless I can guarantee that we can hold that referendum," Cameron told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/11/david-cameron-european-union-referendum-pledge
After ballsing it up last time I don't think that they can win again by being Tory lite as you may as well vote for the real thing. Plus it would alienate half their support.
We have seen the unexpected rebirth of Tory England.
Perhaps Labour should have made more of the fact that the easiest route to a Tory majority was them hovering up the LD seats.
Says he should have given Govt jobs to more experienced LDs - like Ming, Beith.
The Lib Dems should have chosen a stance and stuck with it. They'd have had a bad night then, but not been totally annihilated.
I think a lot of their problem was being punished by the left leaning media for daring to go into coalition with the Tories.
Particular thanks to Mike and Robert Smithson and team for keeping the good ship PB en route over the campaign.
I'll be making some further considered comments in the afternoon.
"No-one but no-one continues when they lose "
He lost yet continues
It's a shame they've got pounded for it.
I must admit I sneakily half-wanted a Lab-Lib coalition, if only to see how well the two parties would get on. My guess is nowhere near as well.
Because he was elected.
Salmond pursued a master class in resignation. He resigned when no-one expected it the day after the referendum and propelled the SNP into an opinion poll lead seizing the moment to pin Cameron for his bad faith.
Salmond left the leadership with the SNP poll rating at 52 per cent (Ipsos MORI 22-29 October) and having had a positive personal rating for 7 and a half years. Not even Blair managed that.
Read Salmond's resignation speech and see the difference between a real politician and the Westminster second raters.
Labour need something that will transcend the old arguments, and reshape the country to tackle the major problems it faces. Miliband identified some of those problems, which is a start. The next leader needs to do better, but harking back to the past - whether New labour or Old - isn't going to cut it.
The original ban was a hideous waste of parliament's time for very little effect; a law that was based more in class war than any animal welfare concerns.
Let parliament decide, unwhipped, and let that be the end of it.
Consider my cap doffed
The left-leaning media being the overwhelmingly Tory press or the Tory-run BBC or the Murdoch-run Sky?
I am also very disappointed to continue my own record of backing losing candidates. I had been very dismissive of the Tories chances on here but he managed to beat Steve Webb in Thornbury as per the initial exit poll. Well done Luke Hall.
https://twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/status/596622267846635521/photo/1
My favourite delusional disorders-
PPA(Poll Porn Addiction)- The route to Maturbational Insanity
EICIPM- TickTock Syndrome
The LD incumbency bonus- Can only be Smithson Syndrome
The Voice of Sanity- The noxious blast from Jack W ARSE
Wise after the event? Nope,hit seat numbers on the nose in the LAB/CON battleground,underestimated Tories by 2 in Wales,overestimated Tories by 2 in England. No bad as they say in Bannie Scootland.
Night,night everyone off to bed after TV Marathon, and thanks to everyone for making the site the delight that it is
There was a place for a party of the left based on sensible economic management.
Worse than 2010
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/election-2015-32610187
Respect
By staying, the LDs wasted their chance of getting Conservative support in the approx 40% of marginals where they faced a non-Tory and a more favourable view from the Tories in the 60% of the rest. Worst of both worlds. Actually appropriate for the Janus party.
I owe you a £20 donation (to RNLI as I recall) and a bottle of single malt.
Can you message me with an address for delivery.
Hopefully a small consolation for the kipper result. You and isam are my favourite PB kippers, both of you show the positive side of your party. Best wishes.
Rachel Reeves is just Ed in a fright wig. Exactly not what Labour need.
Just my friendly advice. We told you Ed was a dud. You might want to consult more widely on what constitutes a decent leader.
It's cost me a fortune, but so be it.
Onwards and forwards.....
Labour only have 35% of the UK councillor seats and no party in more than 40 years has gained power starting with less than 40% of councillor seats and not having more Cllrs than the main Govt party. The Cons still have 40%.
One rule of mine gone.
At every GE after Labour loses power, the Labour vote drops still further.
Votes at 16 for starters.
I think they'll decide by two to one to stay in and David Cameron will then retire as the man who won two elections (second outright) and two referendums (AV and Europe).
Bliss
Same can't be said for betting Ukip to win constituencies... Maybe the cash out button isn't for mugs after all
Eurosceptics and kippers (me) are royally shafted.
Hope they got the champagne on sale or return.
"A dismal night for Labour – extraordinary to lose more seats than Gordon Brown lost last time."
Er no, Miliband lost so far 48 (net 26) and Brown a net 97 loss.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/08/general-election-forget-neck-and-neck-this-was-a-terrible-trouncing
I hope that your ARSE can take a well earned rest in a comfy chair while considering whether to re emerge as a Euro-ARSE for next year.
Places that I had as too close to call we see majorities in the thousands, In places where I was predicting majorities of 5,000 we are seeing 10,000. Once this is all in nice easy to slurp tables I'd love to see how this matches up to SMAPS.
56 out of 59. Get used to it. The NATS won huge and Salmond's back virtue of the people of Gordon. Ho Ho Ho.