Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Options

After a disappointing set of results for LAB one figure appears to have bucked the trend – political

1246712

Comments

  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,480
    Ferfuxsake Keir.

    I've already written three threads for tomorrow.

    Don't make me ditch some of my threads.
  • Options
    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,390

    IshmaelZ said:

    Keir Starmer asked for concrete policy changes Labour will now make in response to these election results, tells the BBC that he will "change the things that need changing and that is the change that I will bring about."

    The change will be "him gone this summer" must be shooting up the probability index after sacking Rayner.
    He looks a lay at 5.0 for next pm.
    At this rate, he may be a lay for tomorrow afternoon...
    I've been laying Rishi and Starmer like an absolute mother since Christmas.
  • Options
    StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 14,479

    IshmaelZ said:

    Keir Starmer asked for concrete policy changes Labour will now make in response to these election results, tells the BBC that he will "change the things that need changing and that is the change that I will bring about."

    The change will be "him gone this summer" must be shooting up the probability index after sacking Rayner.
    He looks a lay at 5.0 for next pm.
    At this rate, he may be a lay for tomorrow afternoon...
    @Leon and Mrs @Leon might be pretty disappointed if he turns up as a late replacement for Mark Drakeford.
  • Options
    ChameleonChameleon Posts: 3,886
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Who would you make Labour chair? Who has the best chance of reconnecting to the lost voters?

    Could he persuade Alan Johnson out of retirement?

    Failing that...well, who?

    Binface ?
    They’ve already got loads of rubbish in the shadow cabinet, they don’t need another one.
    Real talk, binface has a higher public profile than the Shadow Home secretary. Shocking state of affairs.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,282

    Angela Rayner is one of the Labour Party’s most authentic communicators, and with a northern accent. Not totally clear tonight how her sacking helps win back the red wall.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1391096514253099010?s=20

    I don't understand it either. Perhaps it is just petulance. A humiliated man - Kir Royale - lashing out.
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,462

    TOPPING said:

    Patrick Maguire
    @patrickkmaguire
    ·
    4m
    Angela Rayner has been sacked as chairman of the Labour Party, source confirms

    ITS ON! "Like Fat Pat's thong"
    Can you please tell me what it all means.
    I was told - by a trusted source who got it from someone unnamed high up (and literally everyone has been to Hartlepool repeatedly campaigning) that Rayner was going to make a push to remove Starmer.

    We all saw that Starmer interview. He would do Whatever It Takes to sort out the Labour Party. That means purges. And apparently the first action is to sack his deputy from her roles as Chair and Campaign Head.

    So lets see what happens next.
    That makes sense. It effectively neutralises that threat, as it will just look like revenge/sour grapes now. I can't see any other good reason.
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    Chameleon said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Who would you make Labour chair? Who has the best chance of reconnecting to the lost voters?

    Could he persuade Alan Johnson out of retirement?

    Failing that...well, who?

    Binface ?
    They’ve already got loads of rubbish in the shadow cabinet, they don’t need another one.
    Real talk, binface has a higher public profile than the Shadow Home secretary. Shocking state of affairs.
    That's no way to talk about Mark Drakeford.
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Ferfuxsake Keir.

    I've already written three threads for tomorrow.

    Don't make me ditch some of my threads.

    This is fucking brilliant, I haven't thought or posted about covid for nearly an hour.
  • Options
    El_CapitanoEl_Capitano Posts: 3,870
    edited May 2021

    If anyone asks, my account was hacked for the next ten minutes.

    I thought you were about to come over all http://bash.org/?5775 for a moment.
  • Options
    Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547

    HYUFD said:

    Not looking like a good result for us LibDems in Scotland - kept our constituency seats but going to struggle on the list. We do get a change around thanks to the SNP winning more constituency seats and votes cast than ever before, so list seats allocated will be different. Had hoped to pick seats up off the Tories, but the big winners on the list seats will be pro-indy Greens.

    I agree, not looking good. I seem to have been continuously depressed for 11 years from the Orange/Yellow viewpoint.
    Annoyingly the Tory list vote looks likely to have held up despite going backwards in constituencies. So the Greens will pick seats up in regions like mine in the NE, but from us not the Tories.

    Odd that people are still trying to argue that a leap into the 70s of independence MSPs and a record haul in constituency seats and votes for the SNP after 3 terms in government is somehow a defeat for them and for independence. I'm a federalist (so neither a unionist nor a secessionist) but you can't deny how the votes have stacked up both to give nippy a 4th term and to give a thumping majority for a new referendum.
    52% of Scots have voted against indyref2 and for Unionist parties, only 48% for, even before the 2016 EU referendum the Tories and UKIP won 50% of the vote in 2015
    Got it. A record 72 seats (forecasted) for independence is people voting against independence.

    You really are a tool aren't you.
    Yeah, I find the mental gymnastics demonstrated to try and deny the moral case for a new referendum baffling. My conclusion from these results and other polling is that Sturgeon would be terrified to have her bluff called. And even if I’m wrong and the referendum was lost, why do other Englishmen want Scotland kept in the Union against the will of her people?

    The proper safety valve on referendums is that if they lost the second, the SNP really couldn’t push for a third for many, many years without electoral consequences.
  • Options
    squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,359

    Keir is gunning for the left and wants a public fight

    LOL Rayner is soft left, she’s not Cat Smith or Richard Burgon 🤣
    It’s bonkers. She’s been one of their best media performers since the election. She looks and sounds human.
    You and I have been watching different channels. She is an empty vessel. Did you see Andrew Neil destroy her?
  • Options
    SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 15,589

    Incidentally, it's obvious Count Binface is centre-left (the anti-Boris/Priti, monarchy-sceptic and pro-EU stars etc.) but I don't care.

    He's fun and funny - our politics needs much more of that.

    He's really in the tradition of Lord Sutch, which is not either progressive or conservative, and yes I definitely agree a good thing. 1960s British pantomime.
    Were you also saddened (if not shocked or appalled, that neither John Major nor Tony Blair saw fit to advise the Queen to grant Screaming Lord Sutch a genuine peerage? For services to electoral democracy and the jollification of the nation. Also for the immense good will and positive PR he engendered for his native land.

    Certainly deserved a peerage far more than 90% of the boys & girls actually in the House of Lords.

    He was after all Britain's longest serving party leader. And one of nature's noblemen.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125

    Letter from the PM to Sturgeon.


    I'm sure she can't wait.....
    But I'm sure she can't refuse. Even if it means she is being tied into a UK-wide recovery package....

    Sneaky Boris.
  • Options
    RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,250

    Not looking like a good result for us LibDems in Scotland - kept our constituency seats but going to struggle on the list. We do get a change around thanks to the SNP winning more constituency seats and votes cast than ever before, so list seats allocated will be different. Had hoped to pick seats up off the Tories, but the big winners on the list seats will be pro-indy Greens.

    I agree, not looking good. I seem to have been continuously depressed for 11 years from the Orange/Yellow viewpoint.
    Annoyingly the Tory list vote looks likely to have held up despite going backwards in constituencies. So the Greens will pick seats up in regions like mine in the NE, but from us not the Tories.

    Odd that people are still trying to argue that a leap into the 70s of independence MSPs and a record haul in constituency seats and votes for the SNP after 3 terms in government is somehow a defeat for them and for independence. I'm a federalist (so neither a unionist nor a secessionist) but you can't deny how the votes have stacked up both to give nippy a 4th term and to give a thumping majority for a new referendum.
    Hmm. I think part of the issue was the narrative hyping up an SNP majority, the “both votes snp” strategy. I didn’t expect pro unionist parties to get a higher % of vote share overall.

    Hence the the stalemate..
    There is no stalemate. Various parties have a manifesto pledge to independence, and for the first time since the 2011 parliament we have a majority of MSPs for it. And a record number of MSPs for independence.
    We’re pretty much where we were in 2016.

    How is Sturgeon going to get the vote?
    How are we where we were in 2016? The Greens were not pro-indy in 2016. They ARE pro-indy in 2021 and they are going from 6 seats to 9 seats.
    Of course the greens were pro Indy in 2016..

    Not sure you can argue they weren’t. Pretty clear as to the green view.
    Their position has evolved. In 2016 they were in favour of independence if there was a 2nd referendum - but were't pushing for one. In 2021 they are up front about the need for a referendum.

    Either way, they look to have picked up more seats!
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited May 2021
    BBC...

    Labour sources have confirmed that the deputy leader of the Labour Party, Angela Rayner, has been removed from her roles as party chair and campaign co-ordinator. This isn't expected to effect her role as deputy leader of the party, which is an elected position.

    Not sure how that one works out...be some tension in the meetings.
  • Options
    nico679nico679 Posts: 4,842
    So Cameron in 2015 scraped a majority on 37% of the vote which included a promise to hold an EU ref . The SNP and Greens will command close to 50% and a bigger relative majority on a promise to hold a second Indy ref and yet they should be denied that . The Tories in here need to stop embarrassing themselves and stop defending the indefensible.
  • Options
    RazedabodeRazedabode Posts: 2,977

    HYUFD said:

    Not looking like a good result for us LibDems in Scotland - kept our constituency seats but going to struggle on the list. We do get a change around thanks to the SNP winning more constituency seats and votes cast than ever before, so list seats allocated will be different. Had hoped to pick seats up off the Tories, but the big winners on the list seats will be pro-indy Greens.

    I agree, not looking good. I seem to have been continuously depressed for 11 years from the Orange/Yellow viewpoint.
    Annoyingly the Tory list vote looks likely to have held up despite going backwards in constituencies. So the Greens will pick seats up in regions like mine in the NE, but from us not the Tories.

    Odd that people are still trying to argue that a leap into the 70s of independence MSPs and a record haul in constituency seats and votes for the SNP after 3 terms in government is somehow a defeat for them and for independence. I'm a federalist (so neither a unionist nor a secessionist) but you can't deny how the votes have stacked up both to give nippy a 4th term and to give a thumping majority for a new referendum.
    52% of Scots have voted against indyref2 and for Unionist parties, only 48% for, even before the 2016 EU referendum the Tories and UKIP won 50% of the vote in 2015
    Got it. A record 72 seats (forecasted) for independence is people voting against independence.

    You really are a tool aren't you.
    Yeah, I find the mental gymnastics demonstrated to try and deny the moral case for a new referendum baffling. My conclusion from these results and other polling is that Sturgeon would be terrified to have her bluff called. And even if I’m wrong and the referendum was lost, why do other Englishmen want Scotland kept in the Union against the will of her people?

    The proper safety valve on referendums is that if they lost the second, the SNP really couldn’t push for a third for many, many years without electoral consequences.
    The SNP would push for a 3rd, and a 4th. It is all consuming.
  • Options
    squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,359
    edited May 2021
    https://youtu.be/sqTxfzCvItw

    Angela Rayner talking nonsense...
  • Options
    AndreaParma_82AndreaParma_82 Posts: 4,714

    Are West Midlands PCC and West Midlands mayoral boundaries coterminous?

    yes
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,022
    nico679 said:

    So Cameron in 2015 scraped a majority on 37% of the vote which included a promise to hold an EU ref . The SNP and Greens will command close to 50% and a bigger relative majority on a promise to hold a second Indy ref and yet they should be denied that . The Tories in here need to stop embarrassing themselves and stop defending the indefensible.

    Misleading, the Tories and UKIP got a 50% voteshare combined in 2015 on an EUref platform, the SNP and Greens currently only have 48% of the Holyrood vote for indyref2
  • Options
    SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 15,589
    Chameleon said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Who would you make Labour chair? Who has the best chance of reconnecting to the lost voters?

    Could he persuade Alan Johnson out of retirement?

    Failing that...well, who?

    Binface ?
    They’ve already got loads of rubbish in the shadow cabinet, they don’t need another one.
    Real talk, binface has a higher public profile than the Shadow Home secretary. Shocking state of affairs.
    As yours truly pointed out earlier, the Shadow Cabinet lurks in the shadows alright.

    They've perfected both the Cloak of Invisibility AND the Cone of Silence.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloak_of_invisibility

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_of_Silence_(Get_Smart)
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,703
    Leon said:

    Angela Rayner is one of the Labour Party’s most authentic communicators, and with a northern accent. Not totally clear tonight how her sacking helps win back the red wall.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1391096514253099010?s=20

    I don't understand it either. Perhaps it is just petulance. A humiliated man - Kir Royale - lashing out.
    SKYNews suggesting Starmer is trying to protect the people most at fault his aides
  • Options
    glwglw Posts: 9,549
    Chameleon said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Who would you make Labour chair? Who has the best chance of reconnecting to the lost voters?

    Could he persuade Alan Johnson out of retirement?

    Failing that...well, who?

    Binface ?
    They’ve already got loads of rubbish in the shadow cabinet, they don’t need another one.
    Real talk, binface has a higher public profile than the Shadow Home secretary. Shocking state of affairs.
    There was a member of the Shadow cabinet on the radio this morning, listening I thought "How come I haven't heard of them before?" I can't even recall their name and role now, which may be down to my memory, but I think is equally likely down to the complete lack of impact their time on the air had on me. I don't mind Starmer, but he is surrounded by nonentities.
  • Options
    WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,503
    edited May 2021

    Incidentally, it's obvious Count Binface is centre-left (the anti-Boris/Priti, monarchy-sceptic and pro-EU stars etc.) but I don't care.

    He's fun and funny - our politics needs much more of that.

    He's really in the tradition of Lord Sutch, which is not either progressive or conservative, and yes I definitely agree a good thing. 1960s British pantomime.
    Were you also saddened (if not shocked or appalled, that neither John Major nor Tony Blair saw fit to advise the Queen to grant Screaming Lord Sutch a genuine peerage? For services to electoral democracy and the jollification of the nation. Also for the immense good will and positive PR he engendered for his native land.

    Certainly deserved a peerage far more than 90% of the boys & girls actually in the House of Lords.

    He was after all Britain's longest serving party leader. And one of nature's noblemen.
    He did die just at the time when honours were changing a bit - he could have got a gong for cultural services if he'd lived just a bit longer, I think. As mentioned in the previous thread, he really was woven into the fabric of the British 60's, with Mick Jagger imitating him, and almost a sort of radical-reactionary mascot of the time. Definitely added something very unique, which has become permanent.
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,979

    Ferfuxsake Keir.

    I've already written three threads for tomorrow.

    Don't make me ditch some of my threads.

    How many of them are on his exit date?
  • Options
    AnExileinD4AnExileinD4 Posts: 337
    Andy Burnham -

    if he had been elected and performed as Labour leader then there wouldn’t have been an election in 2017. That election was called only because May and her advisors believed that Corbyn would be beaten to a pulp. If he was elected and failed to perform, why would the result be any different on the upside?

    Either way, Burnham would not have won in 2017 in the way that’s being suggested here. That’s incredibly lazy thinking.
  • Options
    Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547

    Keir is gunning for the left and wants a public fight

    LOL Rayner is soft left, she’s not Cat Smith or Richard Burgon 🤣
    It’s bonkers. She’s been one of their best media performers since the election. She looks and sounds human.
    You and I have been watching different channels. She is an empty vessel. Did you see Andrew Neil destroy her?
    No, but I do think she slapped the PM around more at the PMQs she did than Starmer ever has.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125

    Looks like in Batley and Spen wards Lab and Con were tied at 39.something

    Fun by-election then!
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,703
    With Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer, reminded of Gordon Brown's quote about Damian McBride: “I take full responsibility for what happened. That's why the person who was responsible went immediately.”

    https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1391097672291991553?s=20
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    IshmaelZ said:

    Keir Starmer asked for concrete policy changes Labour will now make in response to these election results, tells the BBC that he will "change the things that need changing and that is the change that I will bring about."

    The change will be "him gone this summer" must be shooting up the probability index after sacking Rayner.
    He looks a lay at 5.0 for next pm.
    At this rate, he may be a lay for tomorrow afternoon...
    Keir today, gone tomorrow.
  • Options
    SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 15,589

    HYUFD said:

    Not looking like a good result for us LibDems in Scotland - kept our constituency seats but going to struggle on the list. We do get a change around thanks to the SNP winning more constituency seats and votes cast than ever before, so list seats allocated will be different. Had hoped to pick seats up off the Tories, but the big winners on the list seats will be pro-indy Greens.

    I agree, not looking good. I seem to have been continuously depressed for 11 years from the Orange/Yellow viewpoint.
    Annoyingly the Tory list vote looks likely to have held up despite going backwards in constituencies. So the Greens will pick seats up in regions like mine in the NE, but from us not the Tories.

    Odd that people are still trying to argue that a leap into the 70s of independence MSPs and a record haul in constituency seats and votes for the SNP after 3 terms in government is somehow a defeat for them and for independence. I'm a federalist (so neither a unionist nor a secessionist) but you can't deny how the votes have stacked up both to give nippy a 4th term and to give a thumping majority for a new referendum.
    52% of Scots have voted against indyref2 and for Unionist parties, only 48% for, even before the 2016 EU referendum the Tories and UKIP won 50% of the vote in 2015
    Got it. A record 72 seats (forecasted) for independence is people voting against independence.

    You really are a tool aren't you.
    HYUFD has a point here - for all my ridiculing of him in the past. Had the SNP got an outright majority, hard to deny a referendum. Both sides will argue this both ways - hence, stalemate
    Which suits both sides - for the time being.
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,462

    Letter from the PM to Sturgeon.


    I'm sure she can't wait.....
    But I'm sure she can't refuse. Even if it means she is being tied into a UK-wide recovery package....

    Sneaky Boris.
    Yep. And it will be all this way now. SNP embraced to the warm bossom of Mother Britannia at every opportunity, no longer able to pick fights with the UK Government and have the UK Government obediently play their part in a UK vs. Scotland spat. Thank goodness.
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,703
    With ratings like his.....


  • Options
    SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 15,589
    edited May 2021

    Looks like in Batley and Spen wards Lab and Con were tied at 39.something

    Whenever I see "Batley and Spen" my first thought is they are an old-school British comedy duo.

    Like Laurel and Hardy this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific).
  • Options
    Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547

    HYUFD said:

    Not looking like a good result for us LibDems in Scotland - kept our constituency seats but going to struggle on the list. We do get a change around thanks to the SNP winning more constituency seats and votes cast than ever before, so list seats allocated will be different. Had hoped to pick seats up off the Tories, but the big winners on the list seats will be pro-indy Greens.

    I agree, not looking good. I seem to have been continuously depressed for 11 years from the Orange/Yellow viewpoint.
    Annoyingly the Tory list vote looks likely to have held up despite going backwards in constituencies. So the Greens will pick seats up in regions like mine in the NE, but from us not the Tories.

    Odd that people are still trying to argue that a leap into the 70s of independence MSPs and a record haul in constituency seats and votes for the SNP after 3 terms in government is somehow a defeat for them and for independence. I'm a federalist (so neither a unionist nor a secessionist) but you can't deny how the votes have stacked up both to give nippy a 4th term and to give a thumping majority for a new referendum.
    52% of Scots have voted against indyref2 and for Unionist parties, only 48% for, even before the 2016 EU referendum the Tories and UKIP won 50% of the vote in 2015
    Got it. A record 72 seats (forecasted) for independence is people voting against independence.

    You really are a tool aren't you.
    Yeah, I find the mental gymnastics demonstrated to try and deny the moral case for a new referendum baffling. My conclusion from these results and other polling is that Sturgeon would be terrified to have her bluff called. And even if I’m wrong and the referendum was lost, why do other Englishmen want Scotland kept in the Union against the will of her people?

    The proper safety valve on referendums is that if they lost the second, the SNP really couldn’t push for a third for many, many years without electoral consequences.
    The SNP would push for a 3rd, and a 4th. It is all consuming.
    Yes, and with majorities they would have every right to. But the public would get bored. The don’t like being asked the same question repeatedly. That’s the electoral risk they’d be taking.
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,703
    One Starmer ally offers this version of events: "She is not being sacked. She is being used differently in the team because of her working class appeal." Stresses Rayner is still deputy leader and will get a new shadow cabinet role. "She is not being sacked from the team."

    https://twitter.com/patrickkmaguire/status/1391098005521055744?s=20

    If that was the case you'd announce her new role before announcing she'd lost her old one...
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285

    With Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer, reminded of Gordon Brown's quote about Damian McBride: “I take full responsibility for what happened. That's why the person who was responsible went immediately.”

    https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1391097672291991553?s=20

    Classic quote.
  • Options
    RazedabodeRazedabode Posts: 2,977

    HYUFD said:

    Not looking like a good result for us LibDems in Scotland - kept our constituency seats but going to struggle on the list. We do get a change around thanks to the SNP winning more constituency seats and votes cast than ever before, so list seats allocated will be different. Had hoped to pick seats up off the Tories, but the big winners on the list seats will be pro-indy Greens.

    I agree, not looking good. I seem to have been continuously depressed for 11 years from the Orange/Yellow viewpoint.
    Annoyingly the Tory list vote looks likely to have held up despite going backwards in constituencies. So the Greens will pick seats up in regions like mine in the NE, but from us not the Tories.

    Odd that people are still trying to argue that a leap into the 70s of independence MSPs and a record haul in constituency seats and votes for the SNP after 3 terms in government is somehow a defeat for them and for independence. I'm a federalist (so neither a unionist nor a secessionist) but you can't deny how the votes have stacked up both to give nippy a 4th term and to give a thumping majority for a new referendum.
    52% of Scots have voted against indyref2 and for Unionist parties, only 48% for, even before the 2016 EU referendum the Tories and UKIP won 50% of the vote in 2015
    Got it. A record 72 seats (forecasted) for independence is people voting against independence.

    You really are a tool aren't you.
    HYUFD has a point here - for all my ridiculing of him in the past. Had the SNP got an outright majority, hard to deny a referendum. Both sides will argue this both ways - hence, stalemate
    Which suits both sides - for the time being.
    Exactly. It is of mutual benefit.
  • Options
    eekeek Posts: 24,983
    edited May 2021

    Looks like in Batley and Spen wards Lab and Con were tied at 39.something

    Fun by-election then!
    Yep and SKS now has no one to blame when Labour loses that by-election as they will.
  • Options
    BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556
    IshmaelZ said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Keir Starmer asked for concrete policy changes Labour will now make in response to these election results, tells the BBC that he will "change the things that need changing and that is the change that I will bring about."

    The change will be "him gone this summer" must be shooting up the probability index after sacking Rayner.
    He looks a lay at 5.0 for next pm.
    At this rate, he may be a lay for tomorrow afternoon...
    Keir today, gone tomorrow.
    I'm beginning to see your point about not wanting to trounce Sir Keir so badly that he actually leaves his post prematurely. Maybe the Government can arrange a quick gaffe to take the heat off him for now.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125
    edited May 2021
    Labour is a failed state.

    It is the Somalia of modern politics.

    EDIT: On reflection, that is rather harsh. On Somalia. Which has at least been trying to get its shit together in recent years.
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,703
    Nobody does Civil Wars quite like Labour:

    NEW: Rayner ally leaks this email in which David Evans invites colleagues to election post-mortem Zoom led by him and Starmer. Rayner notably nowhere, which, they say, is curious given her role as campaigns coordinator - and more evidence she had "nothing" to do with the campaign

    https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1391099806500675590?s=20
  • Options
    Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,315
    nico679 said:

    So Cameron in 2015 scraped a majority on 37% of the vote which included a promise to hold an EU ref . The SNP and Greens will command close to 50% and a bigger relative majority on a promise to hold a second Indy ref and yet they should be denied that . The Tories in here need to stop embarrassing themselves and stop defending the indefensible.

    You do know labour and lib dems oppose indyref2 as well

  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,074

    With Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer, reminded of Gordon Brown's quote about Damian McBride: “I take full responsibility for what happened. That's why the person who was responsible went immediately.”

    https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1391097672291991553?s=20

    Starmer could reuse some of Brown's other famous lines: "People want me to get on with the job, and I'm getting on with the job of supporting the government on the vaccine rollout, reopening, levelling up..."
  • Options
    ChameleonChameleon Posts: 3,886

    Looks like in Batley and Spen wards Lab and Con were tied at 39.something

    Fun by-election then!
    If Kier's very lucky she may not win - awkward by-election averted!
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    Sky News absolutely love Andy Burnham.
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,703
    Brussels is reopening.....

    https://twitter.com/quatremer/status/1391100468936511491?s=20

    Given they've only just started vaccinating the 60+ not entirely clear that's wise....
  • Options
    AndreaParma_82AndreaParma_82 Posts: 4,714

    Sky News absolutely love Andy Burnham.

    Indeed.

    It is also not helping that they usually repeat the same footage and pieces of interviews 300 times during half a day. So I am seeing the same bits of Burnham on and on and on
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,797
    sarissa said:

    SNP + Green combined = 65 already!

    You must have missed the memo - only absolute majorities count, apparently.
    No, but it provides an at least arguable pretext, compared to what might have been even less.
  • Options
    RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,250

    HYUFD said:

    Not looking like a good result for us LibDems in Scotland - kept our constituency seats but going to struggle on the list. We do get a change around thanks to the SNP winning more constituency seats and votes cast than ever before, so list seats allocated will be different. Had hoped to pick seats up off the Tories, but the big winners on the list seats will be pro-indy Greens.

    I agree, not looking good. I seem to have been continuously depressed for 11 years from the Orange/Yellow viewpoint.
    Annoyingly the Tory list vote looks likely to have held up despite going backwards in constituencies. So the Greens will pick seats up in regions like mine in the NE, but from us not the Tories.

    Odd that people are still trying to argue that a leap into the 70s of independence MSPs and a record haul in constituency seats and votes for the SNP after 3 terms in government is somehow a defeat for them and for independence. I'm a federalist (so neither a unionist nor a secessionist) but you can't deny how the votes have stacked up both to give nippy a 4th term and to give a thumping majority for a new referendum.
    52% of Scots have voted against indyref2 and for Unionist parties, only 48% for, even before the 2016 EU referendum the Tories and UKIP won 50% of the vote in 2015
    Got it. A record 72 seats (forecasted) for independence is people voting against independence.

    You really are a tool aren't you.
    Yeah, I find the mental gymnastics demonstrated to try and deny the moral case for a new referendum baffling. My conclusion from these results and other polling is that Sturgeon would be terrified to have her bluff called. And even if I’m wrong and the referendum was lost, why do other Englishmen want Scotland kept in the Union against the will of her people?

    The proper safety valve on referendums is that if they lost the second, the SNP really couldn’t push for a third for many, many years without electoral consequences.
    The way forward is simple. The Scottish government will publish a bill for an independence referendum. It will pass thanks to the record majority for independence in Holyrood.

    Westminster then has 4 weeks to make a choice.

    1 Strike down the bill by a Section 35 order
    2 Refer the bill to the Supreme Court with a Section 33 order expecting them to strike it down
    3 Do nothing and let it become an act of the Scottish parliament

    Whether they use S33 or S35, if Westminster overrules the Scottish Parliament who are acting on the express elected mandate from the Scottish people, then Yes will see a big spike in support that will never go away.

    As other posters have said, I expect that a referendum held in the next few years would be a win for No. If Westminster overrules the electorate then independence is guaranteed.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125
    eek said:

    Looks like in Batley and Spen wards Lab and Con were tied at 39.something

    Fun by-election then!
    Yep and SKS now has no one to blame when Labour loses that by-election as they will.
    Everyone there will want a non-social distanced photo with Boris and his Blimp....
  • Options
    RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,250

    Leon said:

    Angela Rayner is one of the Labour Party’s most authentic communicators, and with a northern accent. Not totally clear tonight how her sacking helps win back the red wall.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1391096514253099010?s=20

    I don't understand it either. Perhaps it is just petulance. A humiliated man - Kir Royale - lashing out.
    SKYNews suggesting Starmer is trying to protect the people most at fault his aides
    Perhaps he will promote Baroness Jenny Chapman - who is responsible for the Paul Williams debacle.
  • Options
    Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547

    eek said:

    Looks like in Batley and Spen wards Lab and Con were tied at 39.something

    Fun by-election then!
    Yep and SKS now has no one to blame when Labour loses that by-election as they will.
    Everyone there will want a non-social distanced photo with Boris and his Blimp....
    Do we know when it would likely be? September/October?
  • Options
    AndreaParma_82AndreaParma_82 Posts: 4,714
    It looks like that even the good people of Tower Hamlets have almost finished counting the mayoral ballots
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,074

    One Starmer ally offers this version of events: "She is not being sacked. She is being used differently in the team because of her working class appeal." Stresses Rayner is still deputy leader and will get a new shadow cabinet role. "She is not being sacked from the team."

    https://twitter.com/patrickkmaguire/status/1391098005521055744?s=20

    If that was the case you'd announce her new role before announcing she'd lost her old one...

    “Being used differently”. Lol.
    "Do we really need the token Northern woman to be in all these meetings?"
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,797

    Keir is gunning for the left and wants a public fight

    Wasn't he supposed to be on the left only a year ago?

    I'd assume Keir wants to pick a fight now, which he can win, rather than save up even more trouble for later.
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969

    It looks like that even the good people of Tower Hamlets have almost finished counting the mayoral ballots

    California, this is how it's done.
  • Options
    algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,543

    HYUFD said:

    Not looking like a good result for us LibDems in Scotland - kept our constituency seats but going to struggle on the list. We do get a change around thanks to the SNP winning more constituency seats and votes cast than ever before, so list seats allocated will be different. Had hoped to pick seats up off the Tories, but the big winners on the list seats will be pro-indy Greens.

    I agree, not looking good. I seem to have been continuously depressed for 11 years from the Orange/Yellow viewpoint.
    Annoyingly the Tory list vote looks likely to have held up despite going backwards in constituencies. So the Greens will pick seats up in regions like mine in the NE, but from us not the Tories.

    Odd that people are still trying to argue that a leap into the 70s of independence MSPs and a record haul in constituency seats and votes for the SNP after 3 terms in government is somehow a defeat for them and for independence. I'm a federalist (so neither a unionist nor a secessionist) but you can't deny how the votes have stacked up both to give nippy a 4th term and to give a thumping majority for a new referendum.
    52% of Scots have voted against indyref2 and for Unionist parties, only 48% for, even before the 2016 EU referendum the Tories and UKIP won 50% of the vote in 2015
    Got it. A record 72 seats (forecasted) for independence is people voting against independence.

    You really are a tool aren't you.
    Yeah, I find the mental gymnastics demonstrated to try and deny the moral case for a new referendum baffling. My conclusion from these results and other polling is that Sturgeon would be terrified to have her bluff called. And even if I’m wrong and the referendum was lost, why do other Englishmen want Scotland kept in the Union against the will of her people?

    The proper safety valve on referendums is that if they lost the second, the SNP really couldn’t push for a third for many, many years without electoral consequences.
    The SNP would push for a 3rd, and a 4th. It is all consuming.
    Yes, and with majorities they would have every right to. But the public would get bored. The don’t like being asked the same question repeatedly. That’s the electoral risk they’d be taking.
    Nicola's little speech today was noteworthy for one thing: she is already accusing the government of declining a request she hasn't made and wishes to defer. The current tactic seems to be to pretend that it is for Westminster to agree with something. It isn't, it is for the Scottish parliament to legislate.

    Boris at the moment holds the cards as long as he is careful not to get cornered.

  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125

    One Starmer ally offers this version of events: "She is not being sacked. She is being used differently in the team because of her working class appeal." Stresses Rayner is still deputy leader and will get a new shadow cabinet role. "She is not being sacked from the team."

    https://twitter.com/patrickkmaguire/status/1391098005521055744?s=20

    If that was the case you'd announce her new role before announcing she'd lost her old one...

    “Being used differently”. Lol.
    Labour currently has 293 former councillors now "being used differently"!
  • Options
    Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547

    One Starmer ally offers this version of events: "She is not being sacked. She is being used differently in the team because of her working class appeal." Stresses Rayner is still deputy leader and will get a new shadow cabinet role. "She is not being sacked from the team."

    https://twitter.com/patrickkmaguire/status/1391098005521055744?s=20

    If that was the case you'd announce her new role before announcing she'd lost her old one...

    “Being used differently”. Lol.
    "Do we really need the token Northern woman to be in all these meetings?"
    “We’ve done the sums, and we are sure that what Labour really needs is more white middle class men from North London”.
  • Options
    Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,979
    Just spoke to a source who suggests rumours of impending demotion for Lisa Nandy by Keir Starmer are true. Even though the pair still speak four or five times a week. Not a good day for northern women it would seem.
    https://twitter.com/lmharpin/status/1391100732380745732
  • Options
    AndreaParma_82AndreaParma_82 Posts: 4,714
    Mid Scotland and Fife

    4 Con
    2 Lab
    1 Green

    same as 2016
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,797

    It looks like that even the good people of Tower Hamlets have almost finished counting the mayoral ballots

    From the last election?
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,977
    algarkirk said:

    Whether Labour knows how to win Manchester is very much of the same importance as whether the Tories know how to win South Holland. And if Burnham had got 99.5% of the vote Labour's problem would be unchanged.

    More significant are other questions. Would he have won Hartlepool? Would he be willing to stand in such a seat? Does he know how to begin winning 125 extra seats, nearly all in England?

    The Tories can win without the big cities voting for them. Can Labour win without a winning level of seats in middle England?

    You're ignoring the fact that GM contains several deprived towns. Not too dissimilar to Hartlepool. It also contains several Tory seats easily describable as Middle England.
    It is not just a big urban centre.
  • Options
    Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547

    It looks like that even the good people of Tower Hamlets have almost finished counting the mayoral ballots

    All 45m write in ballots for the Tower Hamlets mayor?
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,703
    Fingers being pointed at Baroness Jenny Chapman. One senior Labour MP, tongue firmly in cheek, tells me: “She’s showing the political deftness that she’s demonstrated with every intervention in recent weeks”.

    https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1391101273592717316?s=20
  • Options
    algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,543
    kle4 said:

    Keir is gunning for the left and wants a public fight

    Wasn't he supposed to be on the left only a year ago?

    I'd assume Keir wants to pick a fight now, which he can win, rather than save up even more trouble for later.
    it would be a bit grim if as well as not being a Blair (we know that) he isn't even a Kinnock.

  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969
    Scott_xP said:

    Just spoke to a source who suggests rumours of impending demotion for Lisa Nandy by Keir Starmer are true. Even though the pair still speak four or five times a week. Not a good day for northern women it would seem.
    https://twitter.com/lmharpin/status/1391100732380745732

    Perhaps it's a core metropolitan elite vote strategy?
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,797

    With ratings like his.....


    Bet those MPs who switched feel pretty stupid right now.
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969
    kle4 said:

    It looks like that even the good people of Tower Hamlets have almost finished counting the mayoral ballots

    From the last election?
    No, the next one.
  • Options
    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,313

    TOPPING said:

    Patrick Maguire
    @patrickkmaguire
    ·
    4m
    Angela Rayner has been sacked as chairman of the Labour Party, source confirms

    ITS ON! "Like Fat Pat's thong"
    Can you please tell me what it all means.
    I was told - by a trusted source who got it from someone unnamed high up (and literally everyone has been to Hartlepool repeatedly campaigning) that Rayner was going to make a push to remove Starmer.

    We all saw that Starmer interview. He would do Whatever It Takes to sort out the Labour Party. That means purges. And apparently the first action is to sack his deputy from her roles as Chair and Campaign Head.

    So lets see what happens next.
    Thanks v interesting. V unlabour.
  • Options
    SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 15,589
    edited May 2021

    It looks like that even the good people of Tower Hamlets have almost finished counting the mayoral ballots

    The dogs are howling on the Isle of Dogs.

    Wonder how the Lib Dems do on IoD? Guessing there's still some ill feeling re: Rinka?

    (As avid recycler believe in recycling my jokes!)
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,462

    HYUFD said:

    Not looking like a good result for us LibDems in Scotland - kept our constituency seats but going to struggle on the list. We do get a change around thanks to the SNP winning more constituency seats and votes cast than ever before, so list seats allocated will be different. Had hoped to pick seats up off the Tories, but the big winners on the list seats will be pro-indy Greens.

    I agree, not looking good. I seem to have been continuously depressed for 11 years from the Orange/Yellow viewpoint.
    Annoyingly the Tory list vote looks likely to have held up despite going backwards in constituencies. So the Greens will pick seats up in regions like mine in the NE, but from us not the Tories.

    Odd that people are still trying to argue that a leap into the 70s of independence MSPs and a record haul in constituency seats and votes for the SNP after 3 terms in government is somehow a defeat for them and for independence. I'm a federalist (so neither a unionist nor a secessionist) but you can't deny how the votes have stacked up both to give nippy a 4th term and to give a thumping majority for a new referendum.
    52% of Scots have voted against indyref2 and for Unionist parties, only 48% for, even before the 2016 EU referendum the Tories and UKIP won 50% of the vote in 2015
    Got it. A record 72 seats (forecasted) for independence is people voting against independence.

    You really are a tool aren't you.
    Yeah, I find the mental gymnastics demonstrated to try and deny the moral case for a new referendum baffling. My conclusion from these results and other polling is that Sturgeon would be terrified to have her bluff called. And even if I’m wrong and the referendum was lost, why do other Englishmen want Scotland kept in the Union against the will of her people?

    The proper safety valve on referendums is that if they lost the second, the SNP really couldn’t push for a third for many, many years without electoral consequences.
    The way forward is simple. The Scottish government will publish a bill for an independence referendum. It will pass thanks to the record majority for independence in Holyrood.

    Westminster then has 4 weeks to make a choice.

    1 Strike down the bill by a Section 35 order
    2 Refer the bill to the Supreme Court with a Section 33 order expecting them to strike it down
    3 Do nothing and let it become an act of the Scottish parliament

    Whether they use S33 or S35, if Westminster overrules the Scottish Parliament who are acting on the express elected mandate from the Scottish people, then Yes will see a big spike in support that will never go away.

    As other posters have said, I expect that a referendum held in the next few years would be a win for No. If Westminster overrules the electorate then independence is guaranteed.
    But there's no need to campaign in it, or to change anything in light of the result. It should be made clear that constitutional change would only result from an officially sanctioned referendum - if the SNP want a massive democratic exercise (others would call it a vanity referendum), that's fine, but the UK Government should express no more than a casual interest.

    To seek to overrule and stop it even happening would, as you suggest, be provocative, and counter-productive, and actually give the proposed poll more legitimacy than it deserves.
  • Options
    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    kle4 said:

    With ratings like his.....


    Bet those MPs who switched feel pretty stupid right now.
    Being an absolute moron was a key requirement for Alba membership.
  • Options
    sarissasarissa Posts: 1,785

    West of Scotland

    3 Lab
    3 Con
    1 Green

    Same as 2016

    Brexit has had no significant electoral effect then, except the Greens have 2-3 more (potentially).
    LibDems on the brink of being stuck on 4 (constituency) seats, meaning no automatic place on committees, for First Minister’s questions, representation on the parliament’s business bureau etc. How will poor wee Willie Rennie cope?
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125
    eek said:

    Looks like in Batley and Spen wards Lab and Con were tied at 39.something

    Fun by-election then!
    Yep and SKS now has no one to blame when Labour loses that by-election as they will.
    Tory majority of 84, here we come....
  • Options
    bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,873
    Pippa Crerar
    @PippaCrerar
    ·
    3m
    Hearing from one shad cab min that Lisa Nandy is “definitely next” to be sacked because “people around Keir think she’s disloyal”.
  • Options
    El_CapitanoEl_Capitano Posts: 3,870
    Now on the fifth recount for the final Oxford City ward.

    The crazy thing is that it's a two-member ward... they're just arguing about who came first. (Boundary changes mean that first place will serve 3 years, second place will serve just 1.)
  • Options
    SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 15,589
    kle4 said:

    With ratings like his.....


    Bet those MPs who switched feel pretty stupid right now.
    Still having their pay, pickles & perks no doubt softens the blow.
  • Options
    TazTaz Posts: 11,193
    Scott_xP said:

    Just spoke to a source who suggests rumours of impending demotion for Lisa Nandy by Keir Starmer are true. Even though the pair still speak four or five times a week. Not a good day for northern women it would seem.
    https://twitter.com/lmharpin/status/1391100732380745732

    Ha.

    Shows what I know. I predicted her a move upwards in the week as she was a decent communicator.
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285

    Pippa Crerar
    @PippaCrerar
    ·
    3m
    Hearing from one shad cab min that Lisa Nandy is “definitely next” to be sacked because “people around Keir think she’s disloyal”.

    Fight, fight, fight, fight....
  • Options
    RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,250

    Fingers being pointed at Baroness Jenny Chapman. One senior Labour MP, tongue firmly in cheek, tells me: “She’s showing the political deftness that she’s demonstrated with every intervention in recent weeks”.

    https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1391101273592717316?s=20

    She is personally and directly responsible for Paul Williams' imposition. "LOTO" imposed him, and whilst Starmer put his name to it, LOTO in this case is Baroness Chapman.

    Make her Campaign Coordination! She's top...
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969
    .

    Pippa Crerar
    @PippaCrerar
    ·
    3m
    Hearing from one shad cab min that Lisa Nandy is “definitely next” to be sacked because “people around Keir think she’s disloyal”.

    So none of this is about addressing the issues with the party, it's just to shore up his position.
  • Options
    MrEdMrEd Posts: 5,578
    dixiedean said:

    algarkirk said:

    Whether Labour knows how to win Manchester is very much of the same importance as whether the Tories know how to win South Holland. And if Burnham had got 99.5% of the vote Labour's problem would be unchanged.

    More significant are other questions. Would he have won Hartlepool? Would he be willing to stand in such a seat? Does he know how to begin winning 125 extra seats, nearly all in England?

    The Tories can win without the big cities voting for them. Can Labour win without a winning level of seats in middle England?

    You're ignoring the fact that GM contains several deprived towns. Not too dissimilar to Hartlepool. It also contains several Tory seats easily describable as Middle England.
    It is not just a big urban centre.
    As said before, Burnham won because he was high profile. It would be interesting to see the breakdown in GM and his position in the Northern part of GM, which is poorer.
  • Options
    SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 15,589

    Pippa Crerar
    @PippaCrerar
    ·
    3m
    Hearing from one shad cab min that Lisa Nandy is “definitely next” to be sacked because “people around Keir think she’s disloyal”.

    Night of the Long Knives
  • Options
    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Still money available on the SNP majority market to back No.
  • Options
    WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,503
    edited May 2021

    Pippa Crerar
    @PippaCrerar
    ·
    3m
    Hearing from one shad cab min that Lisa Nandy is “definitely next” to be sacked because “people around Keir think she’s disloyal”.

    Loopy.
  • Options
    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,313
    RobD said:

    .

    Pippa Crerar
    @PippaCrerar
    ·
    3m
    Hearing from one shad cab min that Lisa Nandy is “definitely next” to be sacked because “people around Keir think she’s disloyal”.

    So none of this is about addressing the issues with the party, it's just to shore up his position.
    I think it might play well. It's nothing more than what BoJo did and is presumably aimed at cultivating a strong man image.
  • Options
    RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,250

    HYUFD said:

    Not looking like a good result for us LibDems in Scotland - kept our constituency seats but going to struggle on the list. We do get a change around thanks to the SNP winning more constituency seats and votes cast than ever before, so list seats allocated will be different. Had hoped to pick seats up off the Tories, but the big winners on the list seats will be pro-indy Greens.

    I agree, not looking good. I seem to have been continuously depressed for 11 years from the Orange/Yellow viewpoint.
    Annoyingly the Tory list vote looks likely to have held up despite going backwards in constituencies. So the Greens will pick seats up in regions like mine in the NE, but from us not the Tories.

    Odd that people are still trying to argue that a leap into the 70s of independence MSPs and a record haul in constituency seats and votes for the SNP after 3 terms in government is somehow a defeat for them and for independence. I'm a federalist (so neither a unionist nor a secessionist) but you can't deny how the votes have stacked up both to give nippy a 4th term and to give a thumping majority for a new referendum.
    52% of Scots have voted against indyref2 and for Unionist parties, only 48% for, even before the 2016 EU referendum the Tories and UKIP won 50% of the vote in 2015
    Got it. A record 72 seats (forecasted) for independence is people voting against independence.

    You really are a tool aren't you.
    Yeah, I find the mental gymnastics demonstrated to try and deny the moral case for a new referendum baffling. My conclusion from these results and other polling is that Sturgeon would be terrified to have her bluff called. And even if I’m wrong and the referendum was lost, why do other Englishmen want Scotland kept in the Union against the will of her people?

    The proper safety valve on referendums is that if they lost the second, the SNP really couldn’t push for a third for many, many years without electoral consequences.
    The way forward is simple. The Scottish government will publish a bill for an independence referendum. It will pass thanks to the record majority for independence in Holyrood.

    Westminster then has 4 weeks to make a choice.

    1 Strike down the bill by a Section 35 order
    2 Refer the bill to the Supreme Court with a Section 33 order expecting them to strike it down
    3 Do nothing and let it become an act of the Scottish parliament

    Whether they use S33 or S35, if Westminster overrules the Scottish Parliament who are acting on the express elected mandate from the Scottish people, then Yes will see a big spike in support that will never go away.

    As other posters have said, I expect that a referendum held in the next few years would be a win for No. If Westminster overrules the electorate then independence is guaranteed.
    But there's no need to campaign in it, or to change anything in light of the result. It should be made clear that constitutional change would only result from an officially sanctioned referendum - if the SNP want a massive democratic exercise (others would call it a vanity referendum), that's fine, but the UK Government should express no more than a casual interest.

    To seek to overrule and stop it even happening would, as you suggest, be provocative, and counter-productive, and actually give the proposed poll more legitimacy than it deserves.
    When Holyrood passes the referendum bill the government either overrules and stops it, OR it becomes an officially sanctioned referendum. They can't just ignore it, otherwise the Queen sticks her signature on the bill and the referendum is official.
  • Options
    MrEdMrEd Posts: 5,578
    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Patrick Maguire
    @patrickkmaguire
    ·
    4m
    Angela Rayner has been sacked as chairman of the Labour Party, source confirms

    ITS ON! "Like Fat Pat's thong"
    Can you please tell me what it all means.
    I was told - by a trusted source who got it from someone unnamed high up (and literally everyone has been to Hartlepool repeatedly campaigning) that Rayner was going to make a push to remove Starmer.

    We all saw that Starmer interview. He would do Whatever It Takes to sort out the Labour Party. That means purges. And apparently the first action is to sack his deputy from her roles as Chair and Campaign Head.

    So lets see what happens next.
    Thanks v interesting. V unlabour.
    Given the Nandy news, looks like we have our answer
  • Options
    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Hmmm, wife just run the numbers with what has been declared and Labour could sneak the 7th list seat in the South.
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969
    TOPPING said:

    RobD said:

    .

    Pippa Crerar
    @PippaCrerar
    ·
    3m
    Hearing from one shad cab min that Lisa Nandy is “definitely next” to be sacked because “people around Keir think she’s disloyal”.

    So none of this is about addressing the issues with the party, it's just to shore up his position.
    I think it might play well. It's nothing more than what BoJo did and is presumably aimed at cultivating a strong man image.
    But it doesn't do anything to address the issues the party faces. At least what Johnson did cleared the log-jam and got things through parliament.
  • Options
    UnpopularUnpopular Posts: 783

    Angela Rayner is one of the Labour Party’s most authentic communicators, and with a northern accent. Not totally clear tonight how her sacking helps win back the red wall.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1391096514253099010?s=20

    Ugh, I hate sentiments like that. As someone with a northern accent, I can't stand how she speaks! Like, we all have telephone voices and perhaps she should use hers when on the TV. As to authentic, I couldn't say but she's authentically rubbish. She strikes entirely the wrong tone and her bullish attitude towards 'Tory cronyism' certainly turned me off (momentarily) from that issue. The further away the angry shoutey contingency are away from the levers of power in the Labour Party, the better. She might be useful on the attack, and it's useful to have a partisan who can go low, but I do not rate her.
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969
    Alistair said:

    Hmmm, wife just run the numbers with what has been declared and Labour could sneak the 7th list seat in the South.

    She's finally given in and decided to humor you with your politics obsession? :D
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,977
    Starmer has to go.
    Why? Because this afternoon the narrative moved on. Labour had won Wales, then GM massively, West of England and Cambs, completely blindsiding everyone. With a London win to come.
    So what does he do?
    No political instinct at all.
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,074
    TOPPING said:

    RobD said:

    .

    Pippa Crerar
    @PippaCrerar
    ·
    3m
    Hearing from one shad cab min that Lisa Nandy is “definitely next” to be sacked because “people around Keir think she’s disloyal”.

    So none of this is about addressing the issues with the party, it's just to shore up his position.
    I think it might play well. It's nothing more than what BoJo did and is presumably aimed at cultivating a strong man image.
    The difference is that BoJo did it on a very clear policy issue that had created deadlock in parliament for years and it was in response to voting against the government.
This discussion has been closed.