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Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#1New Post! May 04, 2019 @ 15:09:14
Bear with me on this one because there is a wider issue involved.

248 English Local Councils had elections on Thursday. The results made pretty dire reading for the government.

Conservatives lost control of 44 councils and lost 1,334 seats
Labour lost control of 6 councils and lost 82 seats
UKIP gained no councils and lost 145 seats (almost all that they had)
Liberal Democrats gained control of 12 councils and gained 703 seats
Green Party gained no councils but gained 194 seats

The pro-Brexit parties have been given a hammering at the polls whereas the two parties calling for a second referendum have made massive gains.

Theresa May has said that the results are a "clear message to get on with Brexit."

I think the Prime Minister must have had her head trampled on by stampeding unicorns.



Now.... how would such results (if they happened there) affect y'all across the big pond...? Local Government elections here don't affect central government but they are an indicator of public mood.

Do you guys have anything similar over there...? If so, how have your local voting patterns changed in the last couple of years? Is a message being sent out about how the people may vote when Trump comes up for re-election.?

Over here, Brexit is massively unpopular now, and there is one very telling aspect to these results: Usually, when the Tories collapse, Labour benefit, but that hasn't happened this time.

Labour is pro-Brexit and so rather than turn to them, disillusioned Tories voted for the Lib Dems and Greens this time.... both of whom are Pro-Remain parties.

The message couldn't be clearer, but still Theresa May refuses to see it.

How would voters in USA deal with such a situation if it became clear that public support for Trump's policies had collapsed..?

Is there any sort of electoral barometer of how things could go for Trump next time around..?
Leon On December 21, 2023




San Diego, California
#2New Post! May 04, 2019 @ 15:58:52
We have elections every 2 years, and this includes local elections as well as national (the Presidential ballot is on it every 4 years). So our most recent was 2018, two years after Trump was elected, and it was overwhelmingly in favor of Democratic candidates, at both the national level (it flipped the House) and state level. If I remember right, the difference doubled that of 2016 (Hillary won the popular vote over Trump in 2016).
Leon On December 21, 2023




San Diego, California
#3New Post! May 04, 2019 @ 16:24:37
Actually the difference was a lot more than double.

2016 House popular vote:
62,772,225 GOP (48.3%) 61,417,454 DNC (47.3%)

2016 Presidential popular vote:
62,984,828 GOP (46.1%) 65,853,514 DNC (48.2%)

2018 House popular vote:
50,467,181 GOP (44.3%) 60,319,623 DNC (52.9%)

Furthermore, the numbers in the 2016 Presidential vote almost even out when factoring in those who voted for the Libertarian candidate (who typically pull would-be GOP voters), which was 3%, and the Green Party candidate (who typically pull would-be DNC voters), which was 1%.
DiscordTiger On December 04, 2021
The Queen of Random

Administrator




Emerald City, United States (g
#4New Post! May 04, 2019 @ 17:47:13
The votes don’t matter which way they swing, because Trump don’t care, he never cared. He’s still going to do his thing.
mrmhead On about 21 hours ago




NE, Ohio
#5New Post! May 04, 2019 @ 18:21:14
Unfortunately our barometer only reads R or D.

We don't have a L, G, S, U, C and sometimes Y measure to read by.
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#6New Post! May 04, 2019 @ 21:37:19
I posted a Q & A thread on two other sites I frequent and this is the sort of feedback that's coming in. I also asked anybody who had changed their vote from last time.... whatever it was..... why they changed this time. There are some interesting answers.

The few respondents who are left defending Corbyn’s Labour - a Party in opposition NEVER loses seats. Never. Not once in history. Especially not after 9 years in opposition.

Labour publicly stated it would gain between 300-400 seats. Polling “experts” said it would gain that amount.

There is no spin in the world that makes it a good or not bad result.

If Labour were electable then the result would/should have been similar to 1995 where Labour picked up 1,800 out of 2,000 Tory losses.

Right now, Labour is performing worse than in 2012-14 under Miliband where Labour picked up every single seat that the Tories and Liberal Democrats lost. Instead of picking up a single seat out of the near 1'500 seats lost by the Tories and UKIP, Labour did not pick up any... instead it lost 82.

Tory remainers have deserted the party to vote for Lib Dem and Independent; Labour left voters who want to remain have switched to the Greens and Independents.

Those who answered my question why they changed said this:

1. Brexit is nothing as promised instead we have a ruined country.

2. Lifelong Tory voter but can’t support them nationally or locally as can’t govern and council services are at their worst since the 70s

3. Voted remain and the only parties available that have a clear stance to remain are LD and Greens

4. Never voted Green, always Labour but the Greens want to stop the Brexit sh!tshow, are close to traditional labour ideas and care about the environment.

5. The Tories are too extreme right wing for me. I wanted the UK to be like Norway or Switzerland instead they’ve wasted three years. Locally we have councillors who support people like Yaxley-Lennon. It’s got to stop.

6. I want Labour to be like they were in the Blair years. Right now Tories are too hard right, Labour are left loonies. Lib Dems are centre.

7. I voted Brexit but it was all lies. It has to be stopped and this was the first time I could make my voice heard where it hurts them.

8. The Tories don’t care about the environment and are locally turning the council into a private landlord for commercial property while people live on the streets. I can’t vote Labour so I had to chose between LD and Greens. On the 23rd I will vote LD or Green. I don’t want to talk about Brexit but it’s a clusterf***.

9. My girlfriend is Italian and has lived here for 16 years. I don’t agree that she should have to “apply” to stay. It’s her right. My whole family voted Brexit and said no one would try to kick out Europeans who live here. It was a lie. I will now only vote for remain parties.

10. I voted UKIP. Everybody is betraying democracy and the will of the people.

11. I don’t think councillors should be party members. I gave all my votes to independents.

There is a lot of anger among the electorate. The Tory party could be completely wiped out in a General Election. The question is, with Labour equally as committed to Brexit, and equally as divided as the Tories, who will people turn to?
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#7New Post! May 05, 2019 @ 13:14:11
Seeing the reviews of this morning's Sunday newspapers and the repetitive, "Let's All Get Behind Brexit" mantra still being churned out by the Maybot, it's obvious our views are being sidelined.

Whatever we vote, our political leaders decide to interpret it that we want Brexit and quick. All the polls show a significant shift to remain, they are ignored or discredited. The blatant invalidity of the referendum is put aside. May is determined to quickly get a brexit deal done and dusted with no opportunity for the public to give it's opinion on it.

What the F*** can we do now. We've held massive demonstrations, which have also been totally ignored.

Do we just put up with this clear affront to democracy? Do we comply with a Brexit that we know will diminish us as a society and take away our individual rights just because of a slight majority in a corrupt and criminal advisory vote held nearly 3 years ago?

I'm seriously stumped and I can understand why people despair and resort to tactical voting protests at times like this, when their voices are otherwise rendered so powerless. The big question is, how do the population make their views known to those in power in a way that they will listen?

I wrote to my MP (again) and this time I asked questions relating specifically to the local elections held on Thursday. This is the response I got:


Dear Constituent,

Thank you for your email. I know constituents are extremely frustrated by the current situation at Westminster. I too share that frustration – 17.4 million voted for the UK to leave the European Union and I am fully committed to delivering this.

The UK is in a commanding position, with the deficit now at its lowest for 17 years, employment is at an all-time high with a rise in new businesses being formed in the UK. We live in a country that we all can be extremely proud of and I believe we need to leave the EU promptly, move on to the trade negotiations and look towards an even brighter future for the UK.

I am doing all I can to argue this case in the Cabinet.

Further information on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU can be found on my website at the following link, and I appreciate you taking the time to contact me on this important issue.

Best wishes

Derek Thomas MP


I wrote asking him to fight to allow the public a second vote....!!! He just assumed I was a frustrated Brexiter and clearly didn't even bother to read any of my other points.

I will grit my teeth and vote Liberal Democrat in the EU elections. It seems a pathetic response, but it's the only thing I can do. First time I'll not have voted Green in my life.



PS... Derek Thomas is the MP for St Ives and West Cornwall. In the 2017 General Election, 51'226 voted in this constituency. He won the seat by just 312. I wonder if he knows the meaning of the word "marginal".

When the next GE happens, he'd better be able to find another job, because he's going to need one.
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#8New Post! May 06, 2019 @ 05:17:46
Good article in the Grauniad today.

A Cynical Westminster Fix Won't End The Brexit Nightmares of May and Corbyn

The article is ostensibly about the pummelling both main parties were given in the Local Government elections, but inevitably.... as everything does in this country right now.... the 'B' word is never far away.

An especially accurate and pithy comment in the article:

'This has not just made Mr Corbyn look unprincipled and equivocal on the greatest question facing the nation, it has damaged him more generally by exposing the Labour leader as no different to any other machinating, slippery, cynical politician.'

Jeremy Corbyn was supposed to be the 'principled rebel' who did the right thing when others engaged in Machievellian politics. As it turns out, he's no different to, and certainly no better than, any Tory.

Now.... I've been saying pretty much everything that's in that article ever since this s***show began. Perhaps not in those exact words, but certainly in sentiment.

..... and the clock is still ticking..... and we're still no closer to any sort of resolution.
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