Dante_Lockhart Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Quote Labour are briefing they believe they are on course for defeat in the West Midlands mayoral race, with support for independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob, who stood on a pro-Gaza ticket, a major factor. A senior party source said: "It’s the Middle East, not West Midlands, that will have won [Conservative candidate] Andy Street the mayoralty. Once again Hamas are the real villains." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-68609729?src_origin=BBCS_BBC 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonesy7211 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 No way is Sunak going to jump too early, no matter today's results. Every Tory believes it's their right to be in power. They'll delay as long as they can to ride the gravy train for as long as possible. They'll spend all their time until then promising the earth whilst screwing the system as much as they can do, whilst making things as bad as possible for Labour when they take over. The Tories have long since given up any pretense of caring about the country, or the people in it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted May 3 Administrator Share Posted May 3 I don't understand why almost everyone doesn't have a postal vote. https://www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote However, if you do, note that you now have to fill in a pointless form if you hand in your sealed vote at a polling station (which has always been allowed). There is no possible reason for this other than an excuse to disallow them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 1 hour ago, Jonesy7211 said: No way is Sunak going to jump too early, no matter today's results. Every Tory believes it's their right to be in power. They'll delay as long as they can to ride the gravy train for as long as possible. They'll spend all their time until then promising the earth whilst screwing the system as much as they can do, whilst making things as bad as possible for Labour when they take over. The Tories have long since given up any pretense of caring about the country, or the people in it. Yup, keep that nice long paid summer holiday, and more time to empty the coffers and salt the earth for the incoming government to try and ensure they last a single term. It's hard to see any downsides when their polling numbers are this disastrous and have been for so long. In 2029 and beyond, people's vote isn't going to be influenced by whether the 2024 election was in May or October 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishywashy Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 2 hours ago, Dante_Lockhart said: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-68609729?src_origin=BBCS_BBC What on earth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 31 minutes ago, wishywashy said: What on earth? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80zy40lqnyo Quote The Labour Party has strongly condemned what it describes as a "racist" comment provided by a party source. The source told the BBC they believed its candidate Richard Parker was on course for defeat in the West Midlands mayoral race. They cited support for independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob, who stood on a pro-Gaza ticket as a major factor. However, an official Labour spokesperson disowned the remarks, saying they had not come from anyone speaking on behalf of the party. The source had said: "It’s the Middle East, not West Midlands, that will have won [Conservative candidate] Andy Street the mayoralty. Once again Hamas are the real villains." The quote immediately drew fierce criticism both inside and outside the Labour Party. A Conservative source described it as "vile" and insisted the contest was "extremely close". A Labour spokesperson said: "The Labour Party has strongly condemned this racist quote, which has not come from anyone who is speaking on behalf of the party or who’s values are welcome in the party." The result in the contest for mayor of the West Midlands is not expected until Saturday afternoon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 I must be being really thick here because I'm struggling to see the "racism" angle. Is the supposed implication that anyone who supports the independent candidate supports hamas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted May 3 Moderator Share Posted May 3 7 minutes ago, Davkaus said: I must be being really thick here because I'm struggling to see the "racism" angle. Is the supposed implication that anyone who supports the independent candidate supports hamas? This is the offending quote Quote "It’s the Middle East, not West Midlands, that will have won Andy Street the mayoralty. Once again Hamas are the real villains." It's implying (to my reading) that the votes for the Indie candidate are from a part of the population (the significant block of voters with muslim heritage) that supports Hamas, as you say - rather than another angle which could be that they voted for her because she had a view on the conflict which is aligned with their own, and is not the one taken by Labour, which has been/was slow or reticent about condemning Israel's response to the terror attack. So yeah, it's a bit racist. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) Fair enough. The way I'd read it was that votes were lost due to the Gaza conflict, and so it's the Hamas acts that preceeded the escalation that has cost them the election, rather than claiming the voters are Hamas sympathisers. Hard to know whether to give the benefit of the doubt to an anonymous quote though Edited May 3 by Davkaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishywashy Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) Another Labour Source™ with a bizarre comment and some very odd undertones... Edited May 3 by wishywashy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 1 hour ago, limpid said: I don't understand why almost everyone doesn't have a postal vote. https://www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote However, if you do, note that you now have to fill in a pointless form if you hand in your sealed vote at a polling station (which has always been allowed). There is no possible reason for this other than an excuse to disallow them. I am 50/50 on this one. The majority of people did use the vote correctly. But it did find it a little strange when people I knew were party agents were bringing in dozens of postal votes throughout the day. It did make me wonder if the voters concerned were aware of what was happening in their name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Over half the vote for the Labour candidate for East mids mayor, which I think says as much about how much people hate Ben Bradley as anything else. I felt incredibly uncomfortable doing so but while it was greens across the board elsewhere, for the Mayor, I held my nose and voted for the Reform candidate, whose only commitment was to immediately work to abolish the position. He didn't do well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted May 3 Moderator Share Posted May 3 19 minutes ago, Davkaus said: I ... voted for the Reform candidate I knew it. Gammon! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Alastair Watson (Labour) has won the Staffordshire Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner election. Tamworth Council election results due at 6pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) The mayoral election turnouts seem disappointingly low. It hasn't exactly brought in an increase of civic engagement. Maybe shows how centralised the media landscape is. Apart from some mayoral debates on the beeb you would be struggling to see them mentioned anywhere. I still recall the referendum on having a Birmingham mayor, in which it got a no vote, only for the government to ignore it create a west midlands mayor anyway. Couldn't they have done the same on the EU referendum lol. Edited May 3 by The Fun Factory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) 3 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said: The mayoral election turnouts seem disappointingly low. It hasn't exactly brought in an increase of civic engagement. Maybe shows how centralised the media landscape is. Apart from some mayoral debates on the been you would be struggling to see them mentioned anywhere. It reflects how few people actually voted to have one A decade ago most cities that were consulted voted that we didn't want more mayors. Westminster decided the the proles are idiots and were getting a mayor anyway. Edited May 3 by Davkaus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one_ian_taylor Posted May 3 VT Supporter Share Posted May 3 4 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said: The mayoral election turnouts seem disappointingly low. It hasn't exactly brought in an increase of civic engagement. Maybe shows how centralised the media landscape is. Apart from some mayoral debates on the been you would be struggling to see them mentioned anywhere. The media, yes, but also our tax system, government control and economy. When you start to see regional mayors get real spending and other powers, that might change 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted May 3 VT Supporter Share Posted May 3 6 minutes ago, Davkaus said: A decade ago most cities that were consulted voted that we didn't want more mayors. Westminster decided the the proles are idiots and were getting a mayor anyway. If only they'd applied that philosophy to the Brexit plebiscite. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishywashy Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Crazy how this is the conclusion that is being drawn, when it's plainly obvious that people clearly vote very differently in local elections versus general elections. Had this nonsense in last year's local elections, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Glad I moved to the shires so I don’t get that **** newspaper shoved through the door , “The Spunktrumpet Gazette” featuring many and varied pics of Andy “I love Me” Street at various sites with a hi-viz on, hard hat on his peanut head and shovel in hand. word removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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