Britain - The Official Thread

[Touring Mars]

She's putting Gibraltar on eBay?

 

[Dennisch]

She's putting Gibraltar on eBay?

I bid Cien Pesetas!

 

[Liquid]

She can ask Parliament to vote on an early election but cannot call for one herself.

The big news is that it's going to be the law to refer to egg hunts as EASTER EGG HUNTS without fail and that using the Good Christian card whilst collaborating with Saudi Arabia does not qualify as hypocrisy.

 

[TRGTspecialist]

May has flat out denied trying to call an early election for months, so unles she was flat out lying it's not terribly obvious what has happened to change her mind now.

Amusingly it's been suggested it could be related to direct rule coming back to Northern Ireland..........cue journalist hacks groaning "aw, we thought it would be something exciting!"

 

[Touring Mars]

General election on June 8th...

 

[PeterJB]

Christ.

 

[Liquid]

It seems this lady is for turning.

 

[PeterJB]

Like any good politician she says one thing and does the complete opposite. She's only one this because the Tories will walk it.

 

[TRGTspecialist]

so unles she was flat out lying

Welp............

It's not a 100% guarantee May will actually get an election.

As @Liquid says parliament votes for one, and needs to do so by a two-thirds majority - 434 MPs (I think), which would be all the Tories + about 100 others. Corbyn has said Labour will vote for one, but his word is pretty meaningless in the party, and there's bound to be plenty of rebels who are dead scared of losing their seats. A resurging Lib Dems will vote for one - but likewise there could be some Tory rebels who are potentially at risk to them.

If the vote failed, she could either pass a motion of no confidence in herself, or repeal the fixed term parliaments act altogether, both of which only require a simple majority (but would look a bit ridiculous).

If an election happens it will also be before the constituency boundary changes were due to come into force - which were generally understood to be beneficial to the Tories.

 

[Stotty]

This is going to be interesting - I'll get my 'labour are going to get wiped out' prediction in early.

Tory landslide.

 

[Famine]

Yeah, I can't see much else coming from this election. Conservatives with 400+ seats, Lib Dems as second party, Labour relegated to all but a couple of traditional industrial heartlands - certainly behind SNP and maybe even overtaken by Greens - and possibly a UKIP MP as a hangover.

 

[Tired Tyres]

RIP Corbin. Welcome back Lib Dems. 👍

 

[Famine]

RIP Corbin.

 

[Stotty]

Lib Dems as second party,

I just said that to a colleague... his view was the Lib Dems have no presence what so ever at the moment, so might not get the pick up they would expect.

The Torys will end up with a majority of 1983 proportions (post Falklands), or Blair's 1st term... should be the biggest majority since 1935.

 

[Highlandor]

Another slimeball move by the party of slime - their main opposition parties are either in turmoil or seriously weakened. There's no way any other party can sort out their issues in time to mount a serious challenge.

Easy victory for them (Con)....they're more slippery than a grease covered eel.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Oh I don't know. If they run with a single agenda -No leaving the EU, they will get a LOT of votes.

 

[Famine]

I just said that to a colleague... his view was the Lib Dems have no presence what so ever at the moment, so might not get the pick up they would expect.

I agree in part - I keep forgetting Tim Farron's name or that he even exists and it's not still Nick Clegg - but there's going to be 10 million people who 'won't vote Tory so long as there's a hole in my arse' but view Corben as not only unelectable but unpalatable. They're not going to go racist-Tory (UKIP) and racist-Labour (BNP) has disappeared, leaving a joke vote for the Greens or a may-as-well vote for Lib Dem. Pretty much like 2010

 

[Stotty]

I agree in part - I keep forgetting Tim Farron's name or that he even exists and it's not still Nick Clegg - but there's going to be 10 million people who 'won't vote Tory so long as there's a hole in my arse' but view Corben as not only unelectable but unpalatable. They're not going to go racist-Tory (UKIP) and racist-Labour (BNP) has disappeared, leaving a joke vote for the Greens or a may-as-well vote for Lib Dem. Pretty much like 2010

I had to ask my finance manager who the leader of the Lib Dems was... he didn't know either

They are invisible at thee moment.

 

[Liquid]

If proposals really are to reduce the number of Welsh MPs from 49 to 20 in 2020 this could be the last chance voters in Wales have to really make a statement.

Spoiler

In my heart of hearts... they sadly won't.

 

[Stotty]

From twitter...

Theresa May just announced the resignation of Jeremy Corbin on the 9th June.

 

[Liquid]

It's a shameless power grab. There is no doubt that no concrete Brexit plans will be announced until after the election.

"How will we control immigration and rejuvenate the economy you say? Vote for us first and then we'll tell you. But don't worry we're going to do it in the way that you want us to, member of the electorate!"

 

[Stotty]

If the Tories didn't say a word between now and the GE they would still win.

There's no effective opposition... which isn't the Tories fault.

 

[BobK]

"How will we control immigration and rejuvenate the economy you say? Vote for us first and then we'll tell you. But don't worry we're going to do it in the way that you want us to, member of the electorate!"

That sounds suspiciously like Nancy Pelosi's "We have to pass this [Obamacare] in order to see what's inside it".

 

[TRGTspecialist]

From twitter...

I wouldn't laugh too soon - the chances of Corbyn not resigning, whatever the result, are probably higher than you think.

Last year's events showed no one in the party is actually able to make him go. And the way Labour's leadership election rules work, where you have to be nominated by the MPs - if Corbyn goes then the far-left wing of the party may never get another chance to put forward someone else. Until they can get the nomination rules changed, it's in their interest to leave Corbyn where he is no matter what.

Forget how farcical it'll look, Corbyn's camp will have a raft of excuses ready to say why an election collapse wasn't his fault. If you're lucky you might get some Momentum eejits on Twitter saying getting hammered will be a good thing for the party because it'll get rid of all the Blairites or something.

 

[Touring Mars]

I think Corbyn would resign in the blink of an eye if he loses, even if Labour do better than in 2015 - not so much a political suicide as a mercy killing.

 

[Robin]

This might produce the highest number of conservative seats in the houses of parliament ever!

Is it totally certain she will be the Tory candidate for the election? sounds sneakily like she can't be asked with the challenge of Brexit and now wants to pass the buck to some other poor sap like Bojo et al did.

Oh and the Pound has fallen off the cliff again thanks to this

 

[Stotty]

Oh and the Pound has fallen off the cliff again thanks to this

Sterling is up nearly 1% against USD. FTSE down nearly 100pts though.

 

[Robin]

Sterling is up nearly 1% against USD. FTSE down nearly 100pts though.

Sorry my bad, I meant the market, so used to the pound tumbling

Anywho, this guy be like

MY TIME... TO SHINE!

 

[TRGTspecialist]

Apparently the by-election in Manchester Gorton - being held due to the death of Gerald Kaufman, and was to be on May 4th - is going ahead. Talk about a meaningless election; whoever wins in May will have to win it all over again a month later!

 

[mistersafeway]

I couldn't bring myself to vote Tory anyway, what with that being a vote against my interests as a person on disability, but I see the situation as being a vote for May is a vote for an autoritarian, and also a vote for being best friends with Donald Trump. Piss off. I'd vote for a literal turd sandwich before helping a return to the 80's* with a senile celebrity in the White House and an... unpleasant person in Number 10 making awful decisions together. To be fair though, at least Thatcher had a fully functioning brain**, even if it was evil.

I don't think May, on the other hand, does. She should have called an election as soon as she became PM, and she waits until now? I think that may cost her votes, there's a possibility that people who would otherwise vote Conservative will see the massive cynicism of the timing, and the clear lack of a plan considering the election would usually be held next month. This is so last minute it's not even funny, and I feel it's just yet more proof of how awful Theresa May is, and as I already implied I can't even make myself feel better by saying "at least she's better than Trump" because she wants to strengthen our ties with the US, unless she's abandoned the sinking ship without me noticing, which is entirely possible. I only know we're having a General (capital or no? I can't decide) in June because I was watching the snooker (not kidding). Well, I'd have probably been told by now otherwise, but still.

*Not that I'm needed for that, it's already happening anyway so we're all, bar the rich, 🤬.

**Well... for most of her time in office, at least.