Britain - The Official Thread

  • Thread starter Ross
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How will you vote in the 2024 UK General Election?

  • Conservative Party

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Green Party

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Labour Party

    Votes: 14 48.3%

  • Liberal Democrats

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Other (Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland)

    Votes: 1 3.4%

  • Other Independents

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other Parties

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Spoiled Ballot

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Will Not/Cannot Vote

    Votes: 8 27.6%
  • Total voters
    29
  • Poll closed .
Fezzik
A pity and a mystery then why so few actually use it. I shall have to consult my Aussie friends on how they feel about it. Of course it's a non-starter for the UK - can't be going around re-running referendums, might give people ideas 🇪🇺
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Wouldn't need to unless my notion that the minimum requirement is 50% of the electorate is implemented too. And even then it'd only be the first few times as it sinks in.

AV basically allows you to select the candidates in preference orders. At the first count of the votes if nobody has more than 50% of the votes cast, the last-placed candidate is eliminated and those who voted for them as their first choice have their second-choice votes counted in a recount. That continues until there's one candidate who scores more than 50% of the votes cast, with the last-placed candidate eliminated each round and any votes for them move down to the next preference.


I personally think that it should be 50% of the votes possible, because if someone's getting elected as a representative of the area they should be having more votes for them than not for them. But baby steps and all - our outgoing government had 29.3% of votes possible, and the new one looks to be barely breaking 20%.
 
One commentator this morning said that Labour's victory in this election was "A mile wide and an inch deep"...

Inspiring Tim Tebow GIF by Home Free
 
I had an interaction with someone on Facebook this morning that I feel sums up a lot of Tory voters. When they were discussing Labour increasing tax I mentioned that I'd happily pay more tax if it meant we had a decent working infrastructure and that those less well off could have a better quality of life. The Tory voter replied with "I want to pay more tax - Said absolutely nobody to their accountant in the real world".

They literally can't comprehend that not everyone sees gaining more money as their primary goal.
 
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I got the arse end of a Reform voter who kept wanting to blame Labour for the state of the economy. He may be happy with no healthcare system but I need it. There's no talking to some people.
 
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Barra333
They've been in power for 5 minutes, with absolutely no legislative activity yet but all of the world's ills are their fault!
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"Rome wasn't built in a day" - The successive tory goons that have been in power for the last 14 years have left Labour with Pompeii to deal with.
 
Normally the number of people on my social feeds banging on about electoral reform is one, me.

Worringly, a number of acquaintances have all cottoned on this morning... I wonder who they voted for.

Time for a friend list purge!
 
Sounds like good news in the UK, a totally lopsided result. Somehow I doubt we'll be able to pull off the same thing. Good luck y'all, hopefully Labour is sensible on the global stage especially. Apparently your new PM was anti-Brexit. Are there any implications for that issue in this election?
 
Keef
Apparently your new PM was anti-Brexit. Are there any implications for that issue in this election?
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Three of the previous five were as well - only Johnson and Sunak supported the Leave campaign - and no. Starmer has ruled out unpicking Brexit, although that is itself not of any particular meaning.
 
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Keef
Apparently your new PM was anti-Brexit. Are there any implications for that issue in this election?
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I think the official party line is that, as far as Brexit is concerned, what's done is done and they'll just have to live with it. LibDems were the only real party with talk of turning around on Brexit. Labour were split on it back in 2016 and paid the price for their indecision in the 2017 GE. They're best to leave the subject well alone for now.
 
Brexit is a case of not being able to put the toothpaste back in the tube as far as mainstream politics is concerned.

You can, and people absolutely will, remind everyone how damaging it was, is and will continue to be but what's done is done. Everyone has to deal with the consequences and forgiveness or forgetfulness will be expressed in different magnitudes.
 
Noteworthy - Rachel Reeves has just been appointed as the UK's first female chancellor.

Also things could be a bit frosty in Washington for the new Foreign Secretary depending on how things go in November - "Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath. He is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long"
 
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Fezzik
Also things could be a bit frosty in Washington for the new Foreign Secretary depending on how things go in November - "Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath. He is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long"
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Is Trump is elected again we can fully expect all of our best foreign friendships to get "frosty" at best. I would say that the UK's election results illustrate how out of touch American conservatives are but the far-right wave seems to vary widely. France is the next bone-headed country going through it. I was hoping cooler heads would prevail across the world in most of these elections but so far the UK seems to be the most reasonable of the bunch.
 
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Keef
Is Trump is elected again we can fully expect all of our best foreign friendships to get "frosty" at best.
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On the other hand Vlad and Kim may warm up to you.
 
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Barra333
Frosty is better than what would happen in relationships where the other leader is on the same page as him.
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True, but a part of me would rather be swept up in a global political wave than stand out as the town idiot. In the current global climate, all our allied relationships are more important than ever so as long as we're all on the same page we'd be in good shape.

What are the international implications of Labour and liberals having so many votes? Do they have the politics necessary to take a stronger role in NATO?

Edit: Apparently these conservatives in France take an anti-NATO stance as well so it's obviously a very bad time for them to put their heads up their asses.
 
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Keef
Is Trump is elected again we can fully expect all of our best foreign friendships to get "frosty" at best. I would say that the UK's election results illustrate how out of touch American conservatives are but the far-right wave seems to vary widely. France is the next bone-headed country going through it. I was hoping cooler heads would prevail across the world in most of these elections but so far the UK seems to be the most reasonable of the bunch.
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I don't know about that. The seemingly sensible Labour party won, not because of a ground swell of support for a left orientated fairly centrist party, but because of a ground swell of support from across the political spectrum splitting the right wing vote. Yes, on the surface we appear to have made a reasonable choice, but a decent chunk of the electorate has lurched further right
 
Keef
True, but a part of me would rather be swept up in a global political wave than stand out as the town idiot. In the current global climate, all our allied relationships are more important than ever so as long as we're all on the same page we'd be in good shape.
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Being on the same page is obviously ideal. I think we both agree that the page he is on it not it though. Not that it means much in the global power balance, but Canada is also likely to get a very Conservative PM in the next 12-15 months
 
Moglet
I had an interaction with someone on Facebook this morning that I feel sums up a lot of Tory voters. When they were discussing Labour increasing tax I mentioned that I'd happily pay more tax if it meant we had a decent working infrastructure and that those less well off could have a better quality of life. The Tory voter replied with "I want to pay more tax - Said absolutely nobody to their accountant in the real world".

They literally can't comprehend that not everyone sees gaining more money as their primary goal.
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I have an issue with this logic, for two reasons. Firstly, because, we already pay enough taxes to have decent infrastructure and quality of life. I would not be in favour of increasing personal income taxes at all, as things stand. The issues with infrastructure and spending on services etc. Isn't that the money isn't there, rather, it's being badly spent and in many cases, wasted.

For example, in Altrincham there's a 1 lane wide bridge over a canal with traffic lights on each side to say which direction can go over at any time. This bridge had a habit of getting damaged every once in a while, as it is quite a narrow, and old bridge. So the local authority did some research and paid for people to have a think and plan possible options, and the ended up putting concrete bolloards in to narrow the entry to the bridge on each side so larger vehicles couldn't cross. Fine, solves a recurring problem, yet it cost nearly £100k. The actual cost of the bollards being put in is a fraction of that.

And that's nothing compared to the wastage that goes on. Look at HS2.

Also near Altrincham, they built a new bypass, it's great, I drive along it several times to work and it has got traffic moving along better than before. But to build it, they had to buy several properties either along it's route, or where they were setting up sites. One such property was a listed manor with tennis courts and a fair amount of land. It cost them £1.5m to buy. After finishing the bypass, that manor was sold for less than £300k, as it had been left and was now in a state of disrepair.

There are stupid, and avoidable losses like these that go on all the time. These examples don't touch the sides. More tax means more wastage, not necessarily better infrastructure or services. What we need is a complete overhaul of how money is spent by government and local authorities, and for there to be far more accountability for the wastage that goes on.

In principal, if it were as simple as more tax equals a better NHS, services and infrastructure, then, to a reasonable point I would understand and agree with the sentiment. But we don't need more taxes, we need better decision making.

That said, many people are selfish, they want the most for themselves only, so even in that scenario, more taxes may not be that popular.
 
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Barra333
Being on the same page is obviously ideal. I think we both agree that the page he is on it not it though. Not that it means much in the global power balance, but Canada is also likely to get a very Conservative PM in the next 12-15 months
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Gotta be honest, if anybody needs it it's probably Canada. A beacon of stability and safety, Canada has gotten to the point where it's basically ignoring international realities especially future realities. The whole "northwest passage" issue for example...Canada has the opportunity to have extreme influence on global shipping within the next 50 years but thusfar hasn't done anything to prepare for it. It's going to be like a Bab al-Mandeb/Hormuz/Malacca level of oceanic influence so they need a mindset of taking a harder stance on naval defense in particular.
 
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