Britain - The Official Thread

[Liquid]

All the North East Wales seats just got prime coverage on the BBC's show.

Alyn & Deeside
Delyn
Wrexham
Clwyd South

All going Tory. This is a simply enormous change for the region. And not one I would enjoy.

Edit: Third seat in. Tories getting good votes even in a seat they don't win again. Doing better than EP suggests. Again.

Either I don't understand the exit polls or they're bigly wrong.

How can a party that's pencilled in to lose 10% of its support and 5% of its seats be making these gains?

Alyn & Deeside - Labour hold (increased majority)
Delyn - Labour hold
Wrexham - Labour hold
Clwyd South - Labour hold
Vale Of Clwyd - Labour GAIN
City Of Chester - Labour hold

So, uh, don't trust exit polls.

 

[TRGTspecialist]

"Despite strong competition from Mr Buckethead, Elmo and Howling Laud Hope, Theresa May wins 'most ridiculous looking politician right now' by a landslide.............."

 

[Highlandor]

Well, it's taken to 4:00am before both BBC and ITV show the Tories in the 'lead' (BBC and ITV are quite different in the 'results so far' total - BBC way behind ITV)..

Considering the state of affairs when May called the election (looked like a Tory landslide and Labour self destruct), pretty chuffed with the result..

Corbyn seemed to step up and May blew out... just wonder if this is enough for the blue blooded Blairites to back Corbyn or whether they'll still try to split the party in 2..

 

[UKMikey]

Some face on him.

View attachment 652613

On the other hand, Vince Cable is back.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-40208821

Talking of faces Alex Salmond has lost his seat to the Conservatives:

 

[Lizard]

May's career is finished. There are no 2 ways about it.

2 reasons.

1. the poor performance in this election
2. SHE DIDN'T NEED TO CALL THE EFFING ELECTION.

 

[Akmuq]

 

[Chrunch Houston]

Maybe she should blame the Russians.

 

[jake2013guy]

And Southampton Test (Mine) officially creates a hung parliament.

 

[Lizard]

I loved Cleggs reaction to losing his seat.

'Wait what?. Oh, oh right oh.'

 

[Touring Mars]

Talking of faces Alex Salmond has lost his seat to the Conservatives:

I have to admit to quite a lot of glee at the results in Scotland this morning. It's quite comical listening to the SNP crowing about how they've 'won' in Scotland; sure, they still have more MPs than the rest combined, but their vote share is now 37% and they have lost 40% of their seats at Westminster. I am, however, glad that Nicola Sturgeon has made it clear that the SNP will not form a coalition with the Conservatives - it would be more than enough to put May back into No. 10, but what a car crash that would be... in some ways I hope they do it, as the SNP would never recover. Either way, Indyref2 is dead and I'm pretty happy about that.

How ironic that the Tories have had their best result in Scotland since 1983, though. How much do the people of Scotland not want another Indyref if the SNP can lose 12 seats to the Tories!

 

[UKMikey]

Meanwhile Home Secretary Amber Rudd has retained her seat with a majority of 346 votes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/09/could-home-secretary-amber-rudd-lose-seat/

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson ruled out becoming PM last year. Presumably she knows a poisoned chalice when she sees it?

 

[Lizard]

One of the Tory seats is under threat still as the 1 guy who was charged with election fraud won his seat.

Also I think 4 of the front bench lost their seats. I expect May to resign by 3pm at the latest tbh.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Alyn & Deeside - Labour hold (increased majority)
Delyn - Labour hold
Wrexham - Labour hold
Clwyd South - Labour hold
Vale Of Clwyd - Labour GAIN
City Of Chester - Labour hold

So, uh, don't trust exit polls.

The South Wales Valleys go back to red

 

[TenEightyOne]

Another surprisingly accurate exit poll, I notice! As always you can't judge if they're right or not until all the seats are counted.

 

[UKMikey]

Jez needs to work on his high-fives.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Jez needs to work on his high-fives.

Ooh, excruciating

 

[Jimlaad43]

Pros - The SNP have lost a load of seats
Cons - No majority for anyone means this was a waste of time.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Cons - No majority for anyone means this was a waste of time.

With a higher turnout than the last election or the EU Referendum you could say that the parliament is a fairer representation of the people's wishes.

A majority isn't required in order for the people to be represented.

In EU news the Brexit talks may not start on June 19th, according to Brussels.

 

[Touring Mars]

The joke is that Theresa May actually did better than any PM since Tony Blair in '97 and is on a par percentage-wise with Margaret Thatcher - with 42.4% of the vote, that's 6% more than David Cameron could muster.

The UKIP vote has collapsed because Brexit has already been triggered - 1 in 8 people voted for UKIP in 2015 (12.7%), and that has vanished to just 1 in 50 (2%).

The prospect of another Scottish independence referendum has produced a relative collapse in support for the SNP (50% in Scotland in 2015 to 37% today) - like Brexit, people in Scotland are sick and tired of the constitutional debate and just want MPs to concentrate on the day job.

The Lib Dems have actually gone down in terms of % support, meaning that they have still not recovered from siding with the Tories in 2010.

All of this has produced big gains for the Tories and especially for Labour, but somehow that has translated into a loss of seats for the Tories and enough to wipe out their majority.

It kind of puts the mockers on 'hard' Brexit and Scottish independence in one fell swoop - not a good night for Nationalists of any colour. It's an especially bad night for Leave voters though - this election has basically rectified what a lot of people have suspected - that the EU referendum was won on fake promises, and though I suspect that most Leave voters will still want the UK to leave the EU, the government are going to have to rethink their attitude towards Brexit. In some ways I admire Theresa May for essentially calling an election on the basis of 'well, do you really want a hard Brexit or not'? She certainly got her answer loud and clear.

Pros - The SNP have lost a load of seats
Cons - No majority for anyone means this was a waste of time.

I wouldn't say it was a complete waste of time - I reckon this country could sorely use a cooling off period to reassess what we want from the forthcoming Brexit negotiations, and now we have it.

 

[PeterJB]

I would love to know why Farage is still hogging the spotlight, you're not an MP, the party you don't lead any more has no seats in Parliament and half a dozen councillors, sod off!

 

[Famine]

The joke is that Theresa May actually did better than any PM since Tony Blair in '97 and is on a par percentage-wise with Margaret Thatcher - with 42.4% of the vote, that's 6% more than David Cameron could muster.

Indeed, it looks like everyone has contrived to lose.

The Conservatives have the largest share of the vote of any party in any election in 40 years, other than the red Conservatives in 1997. They won and they won by FIFTY seats, but can't form a majority government.

Labour gained 30 seats and managed a larger vote share than almost any other party in the last 40 years, behind a Blair and two Thatchers. But also the apparently unpopular Theresa May. They have lost a third successive election and, such is the defeat, they would have to cut a deal with literally every other party in order to form a government with Tory opposition.

The Liberal Democrats gained seats, but lost votes. The current leader held on by the skin of his teeth, while the former leader was drop-kicked.

SNP lost out massively. Still the largest Scottish party, but lost over a third of their seats, mostly to the Conservatives.

UKIP is hopefully dead now. Biggest losers overall, didn't even do enough to retain its deposit in most cases, just needs a stake through the heart now.

Greens retained their one seat, but lost votes.

And now we have no government. Which is a result, I guess.

 

[Stotty]

It kind of puts the mockers on 'hard' Brexit and Scottish independence in one fell swoop - not a good night for Nationalists of any colour. It's an especially bad night for Leave voters though - this election has basically rectified what a lot of people have suspected - that the EU referendum was won on fake promises, and though I suspect that most Leave voters will still want the UK to leave the EU, the government are going to have to rethink their attitude towards Brexit. In some ways I admire Theresa May for essentially calling an election on the basis of 'well, do you really want a hard Brexit or not'? She certainly got her answer loud and clear.

The British public... voted for Brexit, but only the sort of Brexit that doesn't hurt them personally.

What did they think Brexit was?

****wits.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I would love to know why Farage is still hogging the spotlight, you're not an MP, the party you don't lead any more has no seats in Parliament and half a dozen councillors, sod off!

Sadly he's still an elected Parliament member.

The British public... voted for Brexit, but only the sort of Brexit that doesn't hurt them personally.

What did they think Brexit was?

****wits.

So Brexit hurts people personally? Does it follow that that should just be... okay?

Brexit WAS fought over many false promises, people have realised that as the currency's fallen, the markets have shrunk and the larger companies have begun relocating to the free market zone.

 

[Liquid]

Plaid Cymru made seat gains. There's that, I guess...

The irony being that Scottish Conservatives are what is preventing the Tories from almost losing outright. How is this possible when they've had just one MP since 1997? Where has the SNP vote gone and why has it gone to the Conservatives?

 

[TenEightyOne]

...Scottish Conservatives are what is preventing the Tories from almost losing outright. How is this possible when they've had just one MP since 1997? Where has the SNP vote gone and why has it gone to the Conservatives?

Like much of the election it's split along Brexit lines, in this case IndyRef2.

 

[Stotty]

So Brexit hurts people personally? Does it follow that that should just be... okay?

Brexit WAS fought over many false promises, people have realised that as the currency's fallen, the markets have shrunk and the larger companies have begun relocating to the free market zone.

If you make a decision, you should be prepared to live with the consequences.

You didn't need to be a brain surgeon to see what a Leave vote would result in... you just needed a basic understanding of economics and the markets.

 

[Touring Mars]

SNP lost out massively. Still the largest Scottish party, but lost over a third of their seats, mostly to the Conservatives.

And it's not just in terms of seats or the popular vote that the SNP have lost out - by essentially scuppering hard Brexit, the UK electorate have also robbed the SNP of their main rationale for holding a second Scottish independence referendum. Even Sturgeon has fallen short of committing an independent Scotland to full EU membership, essentially opting for a 'soft Brexit'-style arrangement, but only if the UK went ahead with a 'hard' Brexit. Now that looks increasingly unlikely, the SNP have probably just lost their trump card in a game they were already struggling to win. With a bit of luck, this really well may mean that the Scottish independence referendum was indeed a 'once in a generation' phenomenon.

 

[Liquid]

Is this really an excerpt from The Sun or has the internet bamboozled me? This reads like a Clarkson column.

 

[GTP_Ingram]

SNP lost out massively. Still the largest Scottish party, but lost over a third of their seats, mostly to the Conservatives.

UKIP is hopefully dead now. Biggest losers overall, didn't even do enough to retain its deposit in most cases, just needs a stake through the heart now.

Greens retained their one seat, but lost votes.

On the subject of these three and just how bizarrely the current voting system works:

SNP: 977,569 votes. 35 seats in parliament.
Green: 524,604 votes. 1 seat.
UKIP: 593,852 votes. Zero seats.

 

[TenEightyOne]

If you make a decision, you should be prepared to live with the consequences.

You didn't need to be a brain surgeon to see what a Leave vote would result in... you just needed a basic understanding of economics and the markets.

Decisions were made on some promises that were plain lies (quickly-retracted lies on the day of the result) and surely you can understand why some Leave voters feel they didn't get what they thought they were getting.