General Discussion
Well it looks like a snap general election on the 8th June we might just with a bit of luck and a following wind get rid of Mr Corbyn once and for all.
If you want to vote in this GE but have yet to register to do so, you still can (although too late now for the county council elections being held on 4th May).
Click on this link to find out how to register https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
From the BBC News website: "One of Europe's largest investment banks, Deutsche Bank, said the news of the forthcoming UK election meant it would not be so downbeat about the outlook for the UK and its currency.
"It makes the deadline to deliver a 'clean' Brexit without a lengthy transitional arrangement after 2019 far less pressing given that no general election will be due the year after," its analysts said.
Deutsche also argued that if the election gave the Tories a bigger majority, this would strengthen Theresa May's negotiating stance, and it would "dilute the influence of MPs pushing for hard Brexit".
All this, the bank said, reduced the "crash risk" of Brexit negotiations."
That blows many of Corbyn and Abbotts electioneering comments (and indeed many of the Remainers interviewed today) out of the water already! Interesting times we live in.
Hmmm......might the tack that May takes in terms of Brexit negotiations be determined not only by the number of Tory MPs she ends up with but also by their Brexit inclination? In other words if she gained, say, 50 more MPs and the vast majority were of the Ian Duncan Smith/Jacob Rees Mogg/Liam Fox inclination towards Brexit then the influence of the MPs pushing for a hard Brexit would not be diluted at all.
In fact it would be quite the reverse.
How far do you think TM will need to move the 'offer' if she is to placate those closer to home?
Theresa May has declared the 54% of her constituency who voted Remain her opponents. Good people of #Maidenhead, you know what to do.
That would be the Guardian article where the columnist has, amongst other things, written this:
"This election will be pure Brexit, up to the blood and guts hilt. One paradox is May’s belief it will set her free to rule with an estimated 126 majority; it will be her curse. Not captain of her party, but its captive, she will be in thrall to a virulent rightwing rock-hard set of new Brexit MPs, nasty party through and through.
A Brexit election has Tim Farron crowing with relish, the Lib Dem’s crystal clear pro-EU stance destined, thinks Crosby, to regain 27 seats lost to Tories in 2015. Brexit and Labour? Corbyn mumbling into his beard, conflicted.
The 48% confront the prospect of May, imperial and imperious demanding “unity” where there is none, badging all opposition as unpatriotic in the face of Brexit negotiations. All they can do is choose whichever anti-May candidate is best placed to deny her a monstrous majority lasting all the way to 2022. With no further say on whatever deal May retrieves from Brussels, politics has rarely looked grimmer. "
and thanks for pointing out that the majority of those who voted in TM's Maidenhead constituency in last year's referendum voted Remain.
I was unaware of the irony.
Interestingly, I met up with Kathy Newbound (who as Lib Dem candidate for Maidenhead gave TM a close race in a previous general election) at the demonstration at Westminster last month. Perhaps she'll be emboldened to run against her again?
It's not been a good start for Farron, he's now embroiled in controversy for inferring that it's a sin to be gay. Not what you would expect from a liberal, is it?
I'm glad she is not, someone has to rise above the petty tit for tat squabbles that those TV debates tend to descend to and Corbyn is going to look stupid enough without entering that ring! Let's just get on with it, we know as much as we are going to know, it's a little naive to feel that something which is generated for TV audiences and the hype surrounding it should really be a marker by which we should vote.
This from the Awkward Squad, Burneside. You're welcome.
https://www.complicity.co.uk/blog/2017/04/that-would-be-an-ecumenical-matter/
When you say 'enough said' did you mean that no more needs saying because the writer explains Tim Farron's stance so well?
No, I'm saying "enough said" because the author sounds like they haven't a clue about anything. Just like the LibDems.
OK then Burneside, here's another viewpoint - with a quote pointing the way to a truly illiberal party leader.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jennie-rigg/tim-farron-lgbt-record_b_16095906.html?
"... I await your forensic questioning of the Prime Minister on her voting record with regard to LGBT+ rights with interest."
At last a straight answer, Farron has now come out and said that being gay is not a sin. It's amazing what a bit of negative publicity can do.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39644939
Right then. So now we all know.
And now to matters of a more practical nature.
This is the info I have just received from TDC Electoral Services re the last date and time for nominations to be lodged with TDC from candidates wishing to stand in this constituency (Newton Abbot).
4.00pm on 11th May (to be confirmed by the electoral commission)
It will be interesting to see if Labour will be ready here by 11th May...
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/04/labour-starting-hardest-election-campaign-woefully-unprepared/
Have the Liberal Democrats selected their candidate yet? Or will that be decided between now and 11th May?
As The Spectator article above suggests, the Lib Dems have been preparing for the long game - and the short. I can advise the candidate for the Newton Abbot constituency will be nominated on or before the 11th May.
What for? They may as well save their deposit!
This GE will end up similar to the current Scottish Model of politics.
After IndyRef anyone who voted for leaving the Union voted SNP and the Unionist vote was split by 3 or 4 parties. Hence the SNP took practicaly every seat in Scotland (as they will do again unless the Unionist parties get their heads together and field only one candidate in each constituency).
We're now into Brexit and every leaver will vote for Teresa May's Cons whilst the Remainer vote will be split amongst 3, 4 or more other parties. I can only see a Cons landslide in this - I'd bet TM the PM does too.
By your logic HuwMatthews2, the landslide will be for UKIP. It is the rise of UKIP (and the UKIPers within the Conservative party) that brought about David Cameron's decision to hold the referendum.
A bus load of lies and the support of the right-wing press did the rest.
There may be deposits to be lost at this election - but that won't be by the party that represents the best interests of those who voted ( or now wish they had voted) to Remain.
UKIP is irrelevant now - job done.
Leavers will vote for Cons to guide the UK through Brexit.
I wouldn't bank on UKIP voters lying down - not when those 'soft Brexit' messages start coming out of No10...
The reason the Remain side lost was because of its totally inept Project Fear campaign. Blaming it on a bus and the right wing media is just plain ridiculous. The EU boil had been festering for decades, and was rightly lanced.
Have it your way Burneside if you wish - but at some point we will have to face the economic downturn that Leave voters I have met on the doorstep tell me they believe is coming if we quit the European Single Market. All very well perhaps if you have salted away some savings or are looking forward to (or have) a reliable pension (if such a thing exists) - but what about those families who Theresa May says she is reaching out to, who are just about managing now?
We won't be leaving for another two years and nobody yet knows on what terms we will quit the EU, but I see Project Fear is alive and well with the Remoaners. And it's not just "my way", but the way of the 17.4 million who voted for Brexit.
So who's running Project Fear now?
Anyone who thinks May is a secret soft Brexiter can have that illusion laid to rest today. Vote Tory, get hard Brexit
It might be longer than two years.
And there might be an increase in the Bregretters. Wonder how the quitlings would deal with that?
(OMG! now even I've gone and resorted to name calling.)
"Soft" Brexit is staying in the EU by another name, and it's certainly not what I voted for on June 23rd last year. That leaves me with only one option when polling day arrives.
I hope your kids/ grandkids appreciate your vote when they have no NHS, workers or Human rights and national debt reaches a new high while corporate thieves and billionaire puppetmasters amass more wealth than ever can be imagined.
There has been a lot of talk about splits in the Labour party, but on the subject of Brexit the Conservatives are as divided as the country. Is this election about Brexit - or is it more to do with the division within the party that brought about the referendum?
'Reluctant Remainer' Theresa May, while being painted as a moderate by some Leavers, will be struggling to mould a 'one-size-fits-all Brexit' with her current crop of MPs given her relatively small majority. But if we find on June 9th that the country has elected just as many hard right-wing 'Leavers' (for instance, Anne-Marie Morris) as soft-centred 'Remainers', then the size of the headache will just get bigger for Theresa May - and the country.
The choice I believe is clear. If you do not want a 'hard Brexit', a vote for Lib Dems is the only option.
Thanks Gary, but no thanks. We need a lovely clean Brexit, then we won't be held back by the mafia in Brussels any more.
The only choice and the right choice is The Conservatives.
There was a feature on BBC Spotlight news last night about the Greens doing deals with the other (non Tory) parties in the south west. Click here to see. Starts about 4 mins into the broadcast
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08mhd76/spotlight-late-news-20042017
So when May has a stonking great majority, what possible use will there be for the pathetic bunch of LibDem MPs? A vote for the LibDems is a wasted vote; always has been and always will be.
It's plain to see which side of the Conservative party you will be voting for, Burneside - and it won't be the Conservative and Union bit.
But if its stifling opposition that's your bag, have you considered moving to Turkey? Now that they won't be joining the EU as Leave's 'Project Fear' would have had us believe, it may well suit you better.
Who's stifling opposition? I'm just pointing out the ineffectiveness of voting for the LibDems.
As for Turkey's postion in the EU, it was confirmed as a candidate country in 1999 and entry negotiations started in 2005, yet you manage to turn that around into some kind of lie by the Leave campaign.
We'll wait and see about that shall we? After losing 49 MPs at the last election it certainly can't get much worse for the LibDems, you could fit the whole parliamentary party in the back of a Transit van.
I see it like this...and I've voted differently in past elections. Who do we want running the country and negotiating with Brussels at this crucial time for our nation? May with a proven track record in government, but whom I differ with on certain issues, or a coalition of Corbyn/Farron/Jimmy Krankie, with Krankie most probably calling the shots as the strongest character. I know my choice, and it won't involve the wee lassie in the tin hat.
If you vote Tory, unless you are very well off and already feathered your nest or you have been brainwashed by the right wing media mantra, you may as well be a turkey voting for Christmas.
The manifestos haven't been published yet so we all still await to see what policies, other than their stance on Brexit, the various parties will put forward.
I might be misunderstanding things but I get the impression May is seeking what has come to be known as a hard Brexit. For those who agree with that I would imagine they would vote Tory or UKIP. However, there are others who are very concerned about this approach and who would be much happier with what has become known as a soft Brexit. For those who have the latter concerns it would make sense therefore to vote, and to vote tactically if necessary, in order to get as many MPs elected to parliament as they can who are more inclined towards a soft Brexit.
Howsoever many MPs end up on the opposition benches I think it needs saying that their function is to do just that. Oppose. And to hold the government to account. They are not saboteurs or enemies of the people. They will be opposition MPs just doing their job.
Not true.
No one - including TM - wants a 'Hard Brexit'. What she is saying is that a 'Hard Brexit' (i.e. no deal) is better than a bad deal for the UK.
She's right of course. Many in the EU want the UK to get a bad deal so that IF it goes back to be signed off in the Commons it won't get through.
More EU delusionaal thinking.
So what is UKIP's stance on what form Brexit should take? (And isn't Paul Nuttal UKIP's leader now?,)
@burneside. do you know?
Why are you directing a question about UKIP policy at me?
Hard and soft Brexit seems to mean different things to different people, but the most common definition of soft Brexit appears to be retaining freedom of movement, staying in the single market & continuing to pay fees to Brussels, and being bound by the ECJ. If we do all that then we haven't really left the EU at all, and the referendum last year would prove to be nothing but a sham.
Lynne
why don't you put up for the Elections, as you always have lot's opinions, GOOD AND BAD.
Because if I got elected that would be the quickest and most effective way of shutting me up.
Which might please some.
But certainly not me.
And no-one has to read what I write.
and.....when you say Good and Bad do you really mean Good = those you agree with and Bad = those you don't?
(and now look what you've gone and done.........you've started me off again!
)
Paul Nuttall says his ban on full-face veils will not include big hats "at all".
Best policy clarification of the campaign so far. Second to Labour's on Trident, that is.
Policy clarification on Tory tax rises and their cutting of the 'triple lock' on pensions still awaited...
It's the honey bee I'm most concerned about.
What if apiarists are banned from wearing a veil????
Does Paul Nutall's ban mean I won't be able to wear my Balaclava in the winter time?
Will children and adults be allowed to wear Halloween masks?
Are masquerade balls to be made illegal?
What if you're a bit kinky, can you wear a gimp mask under UKIP law?
If you're one person in a tug-of-war against 27, the number of people cheering you won't have any affect the outcome #GE2017
#brexit
Most of the other 27 are wasters, just continually on the take. One of the reasons Brexit is happening is because people got sick of funding these countries. When May walks back into No 10 with a stonking majority she can go into the negotiations with confidence, knowing the majority back her to extricate ourselves from the stinking corrupt club.
It's the honey bee I'm most concerned about.
What if apiarists are banned from wearing a veil????"
What a stupid sugestion, you will be asking what if surgeons will be banned from wearing masks in a minute.
It would be highly likely under UKIP. Surgeons use sharp cutting implements and a lot of them come from foreign countries.
Surgeons' masks could rank highly on a ban list compiled by UKIP.
Don't let this mask/viel thingy get out of hand. There are so many important people that require them. Forensics for a start.
As I have said on other threads - I would vote for every election that comes my way if the voting list had a box for NONE OF THE ABOVE.
It's the honey bee I'm most concerned about.
What if apiarists are banned from wearing a veil????"
What a stupid sugestion, you will be asking what if surgeons will be banned from wearing masks in a minute."
It was sarcasm Peter - not meant to be taken seriously!!!!