General Election 2017

[tonyh29]

17 minutes ago, Jon said:

Laura Kuenssberg‏Verified account @bbclaurak 24h24 hours ago

"Corbyn in Scotland today, May not on the stump - seems tory strategy this morn to let labour stew in its own juice"

 

 

Nice 'impartial' tweet from Kuenssberg yesterday. Who needs to campaign when you've got the BBC's political correspondent doing it for you.

tbh I would guess they will let Davidson try and carry Scotland  ... May just adds wait to the Sturgeon argument about Westmister rule

 

Davidson , appears to be quite popular

[Demitri_C]

Just now, tonyh29 said:

tbh I would guess they will let Davidson try and carry Scotland  ... May just adds wait to the Sturgeon argument about Westmister rule

 

Davidson , appears to be quite popular

At least with her she is pro UK not like that cretin Sturgeon 

[tonyh29]

19 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I enjoyed NEwsnight a couple of nights ago, that dug up videos of things Corbyn said decades ago and teared in to him, then had a ten minute segment on May and her husband, their long relaxing walks, and what a good team they are, all backed by very upbeat music. It's just a pro-government mouthpeice.

you know things are bad when even the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation don't like you 

 

[HanoiVillan]

7 minutes ago, Jon said:

But that clearly isn't going to happen. Apart from in Darren's parallel utopia

I'm well aware of the situation. 

However, if you're concerned about a 'fractured left', it makes no sense to destroy the main left-wing party by shackling it to a bunch of minor parties in a deeply unpopular semi-permanent coalition. The situation is hopeless, but a 'left-wing coalition' just makes explicit that there is no longer a national left-wing political party in the UK. 

[Davkaus]

It'll only get worse with another 5 years of the tories. Let me guess, it's 'unaffordable' to help people in poverty.

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/uk/foodbank-use-rises-record-levels/

 

Quote

 

Foodbank use rises to record levels

 

The Trussell Trust says the number of people using foodbanks has risen to record levels. (Photo by Richard Stonehouse/Getty Images)

Dean Kirby8 hoursTuesday April 25th 2017

  

 

The number of people using foodbanks has risen to record levels according to figures that highlight the increasing desperation of deprived families.

Annual figures released by the Trussell Trust show the charity, which runs more than 400 foodbanks nationally, handed out more than 1.1 million three-day food supplies to people in crisis last year.

More than 70,000 more emergency supplies were handed out than in the previous year. The charity said almost 440,000 supplies went to children.

Food banks see first-hand how changes to the welfare system affect people on the ground and so can offer an early warning to decision-makers.

David McAuley, chief executive of the Trussell Trust

Foodbanks in areas where the new Universal Credit benefit was introduced saw an average increase in referrals for emergency food of almost 17 per cent.

The trust said the effect of a six-week waiting period for a first Universal Credit payment could be serious, leading to debt and rent arrears. Benefit delays and changes remain the biggest cause of someone being referred to a foodbank by a doctor, social worker or jobcentre.

David McAuley, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: “The move to simplify an often complex welfare system is a welcome one, but any large reform can have unforeseen consequences.

”Food banks see first-hand how changes to the welfare system affect people on the ground and so can offer an early warning to decision-makers.“

Hunger

The trust says it is sharing its observations with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure any adverse side-effects of Universal Credit are addressed before the full rollout is completed and it has been ”heartened“ by the Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green’s ”willingness to engage“.

Mr McAuley said: ”To stop UK hunger, we must make sure the welfare system really does work for everyone.“

The Trussell Trust has more than 420 food banks, with people having an average of two referrals in the past year.

 

 

[LondonLax]

17 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

are you one of them ?

I could sorta understand having a public holiday like Thatcher day  , Cromwell day , people that shaped this country for the better , something we can all celebrate and be proud of  , but St Patrick's day ...do me a favour .. we have more Poles living here than Irish ... and Indians  for that matter  ...

 

Granted it might not be for much longer but at the moment Northern Ireland are still a part of your country.

[tonyh29]

11 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

Granted it might not be for much longer but at the moment Northern Ireland are still a part of your country.

they are British and can have St Olivers day like the rest of us  

 

Edited April 25, 2017 by tonyh29

[a m ole]

1 hour ago, Davkaus said:

It'll only get worse with another 5 years of the tories. Let me guess, it's 'unaffordable' to help people in poverty.

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/uk/foodbank-use-rises-record-levels/

 

 

if they can't afford to eat, they're not going to bother going to a voting booth! Where are the homeless going to get a polling card sent to? helping those in need would be bad for numbers

[choffer]

Not seen much mention of this in this thread so far:

Quote

Dennis Skinner: Theresa May called an election because of Tory fraud investigation 

Ten minutes on the phone to Labour MP Dennis Skinner, and we’ve already covered the 1974 election, how Clement Attlee beat Churchill, the successes of the Blair government – and why Theresa May has really called a general election. Like his fellow MPs, Skinner is only a day out from the Commons vote which confirmed that Britain will, once again, be going to polls, with a General Election called for June 8th.
 

Yet if the country is reeling from the shock news, the so-called Beast of Bolsover seems unshaken – especially in his resolve to kick the Tories out of power.

Tedious Theresa

“I don’t believe this fairy story put forth by Tedious Theresa”, he says, almost spitting out the “ts”. “She tried to kid people, especially the media, over why she’s having an election.” In her surprise announcement on Monday, May said that she was going to the polls to seek a mandate for Brexit, which she accused other political parties of opposing. “The country is coming together”, she claimed, “but Westminster is not”.
 

The ping pong lasted for one ping

“That is not true”, Skinner says. “I sit there every day. I know what happens in the Commons. The idea that somehow she’s had to battle to get Brexit through is nonsense.”
 

Referring to the process of “ping pong” by which bills are passed back and forth between the House of Commons and the House of Lords before being passed into law, Skinner tells i “the House of Lords hasn’t done the ping, pong, ping, pong as they have done many times with a Labour government. “The ping pong lasted for one ping!”
 

The real reason?

So why did May really call a general election, forcing Parliament to vote on its own dissolution years before the next scheduled election in 2020? For Skinner, the real reason is as clear as day. “It’s quite clear: it’s because the Crown Prosecution Service are due to make a decision on Tory election expenses,” he says. Reports suggest that the CPS are investigating more than 30 people, including “a raft” of Conservative MPs and their agents, over election expenses from 2015. “She could be in power one week, and if they’re charged, she’ll be out next week”, Skinner says. “I would hope the press would be smart enough to write the proper story”, he says, adding firmly, “the country has a right to know”. 
 

Elections have a mind of their own

As for what will happen in June, Skinner is optimistic – despite polling showing his party are twenty points behind the Tories.
 

It could, he suggests, be a bit like 1974 – “when Ted Heath thought that he could have an election over one issue: the miner’s strike”. But elections, Skinner says, “tend to have a mind of their own. People started talking about employment, schools, and everything else.” Leaving parliament on the day of the 1974 vote, Skinner ran into a fellow Labour MP, an elderly gentleman, who was watching the news come in on a ticker tape. “It’s just starting to shift”, his colleague said. He and his fellow member stood, watching the tide begin to turn for their party.
 

 

 

[choffer]

2 hours ago, Davkaus said:

Foodbank use rises to record levels

[blandy]

3 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

if you're concerned about a 'fractured left', it makes no sense to destroy the main left-wing party

It hasn't bothered Corbyn from doing exactly that, with help from the other Labour MPs.

[Jon]

Caroline Lucas in the Grauniad today:

 

Martin Robbins’ acerbic attack on progressive alliances (Tactical voting to beat the Tories: does the maths equal a coalition?, theguardian.com, 20 April) is both misinformed and misleading. For a start, he assumes that any alliances would be the only tactic used to beat the Conservatives when that’s clearly absurd. It’s self-evident that parties on the left need to win more votes off the Tories, and alliances would simply make the immensely difficult task of overturning the Tory majority a lot easier. According to analysis by Compass, progressive alliances at this election could help Labour win up to 29 Tory seats – and help them defend vulnerable ones too. They could allow the Lib Dems to pick off some Tories in the south-west and it would give the Greens a chance to topple the Tories in places like the Isle of Wight. With Ukip now planning to stand aside for Tories like Philip Davies and Jacob Rees-Mogg, it’s more important than ever that progressives think again about how we might work together in a handful of places too. Though the polls are not looking pretty right now for the left, let’s not forget that the Tory majority is small – and a lot can happen in seven short weeks.

It’s crucial also to remember the context for such alliances. A crumbling NHS, a jilted generation of young people being let down and a hardline government pursuing an extreme Brexit. For us, proportional representation must be central to this project, because our hugely undemocratic electoral system is so stacked in the establishment’s favour that the Tories can win a majority on just 24% of the eligible vote. To crack open our politics we must hack the system – and respect the fact that no single party has a monopoly on wisdom. So rather than talking down the idea of working together, let’s stick to the facts. Unity between those who want to topple the Tories is our best bet of a more progressive politics in Britain, let’s not squander this opportunity.
Caroline Lucas MP
Green, Brighton Pavilion

[Chindie]

55 minutes ago, choffer said:

Not seen much mention of this in this thread so far:

 

That will be part of the decision, for sure. If prosecutions come the headlines come easy - Tories stole election etc.

But there's so many other reasons in her interest, not the country's, to call it. A shield when Brexit bites, the 'great repeal bill and the golden opportunity that offers, etc etc. All while she didn't have opposition.

[darrenm]

It's also remarkable convenient timing for Murdoch's bid for total control of Sky to get passed through unhindered.

[HanoiVillan]

28 minutes ago, Jon said:

Caroline Lucas in the Grauniad today:

 

Martin Robbins’ acerbic attack on progressive alliances (Tactical voting to beat the Tories: does the maths equal a coalition?, theguardian.com, 20 April) is both misinformed and misleading. For a start, he assumes that any alliances would be the only tactic used to beat the Conservatives when that’s clearly absurd. It’s self-evident that parties on the left need to win more votes off the Tories, and alliances would simply make the immensely difficult task of overturning the Tory majority a lot easier. According to analysis by Compass, progressive alliances at this election could help Labour win up to 29 Tory seats – and help them defend vulnerable ones too. They could allow the Lib Dems to pick off some Tories in the south-west and it would give the Greens a chance to topple the Tories in places like the Isle of Wight. With Ukip now planning to stand aside for Tories like Philip Davies and Jacob Rees-Mogg, it’s more important than ever that progressives think again about how we might work together in a handful of places too. Though the polls are not looking pretty right now for the left, let’s not forget that the Tory majority is small – and a lot can happen in seven short weeks.

It’s crucial also to remember the context for such alliances. A crumbling NHS, a jilted generation of young people being let down and a hardline government pursuing an extreme Brexit. For us, proportional representation must be central to this project, because our hugely undemocratic electoral system is so stacked in the establishment’s favour that the Tories can win a majority on just 24% of the eligible vote. To crack open our politics we must hack the system – and respect the fact that no single party has a monopoly on wisdom. So rather than talking down the idea of working together, let’s stick to the facts. Unity between those who want to topple the Tories is our best bet of a more progressive politics in Britain, let’s not squander this opportunity.
Caroline Lucas MP
Green, Brighton Pavilion

It is of course in Caroline Lucas's interests to talk the idea up. It matters not: Labour have to provide their own vision for the country. The country cannot simply be 'Tory' and 'not-Tory'. You cannot be successful if you only define yourself by what you are not. And the long-term effects (ie, a longer time horizon than the next six weeks) are desperate for Labour. As I said before, they would be effectively conceding that they are no longer a national political party. Caroline Lucas does not have Labour's interests at heart: why would she?

34 minutes ago, blandy said:

It hasn't bothered Corbyn from doing exactly that, with help from the other Labour MPs.

No doubt. But that's his incompetence, not a workable strategy for the future. 

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, choffer said:

Not seen much mention of this in this thread so far:

 

you'd need to look here for any mention of Skinner's theory  

 

 

Edited April 25, 2017 by tonyh29

[Demitri_C]

5 hours ago, Davkaus said:

It'll only get worse with another 5 years of the tories. Let me guess, it's 'unaffordable' to help people in poverty.

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/uk/foodbank-use-rises-record-levels/

 

 

How is this possible when we had huge unemployment under labour...

[snowychap]

26 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

we had huge unemployment under labour...

When? I assume you're meaning post 2008 crash?

Edited April 25, 2017 by snowychap

[Risso]

At least with the election in such a short space of time, I can make absolutely sure that Steptoe doesn't win before moving the family back later in the summer.

[MakemineVanilla]

22 minutes ago, snowychap said:

When? I assume you're meaning post 2008 crash?