Worst possible timing, who do I vote for? I live in a tory safe seat currently.
Have you considered spoiling your ballot paper?
UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election
41–50 of 336 posts
Re: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder (I'm not from UK), is there really zero chance of someone from Labour to challenge Corbyn (someone more moderate/center leaning) and rally the pro-EU voters ?
Pretty much, Corbyn has gathered a lot of grass roots support but will fail to appeal to the wider electorate. I suspect there is a good chance that Labour in the rest of the UK will implode after this election in the same way that it has collapsed in Scotland (although I'm not clear who voters would transfer their loyalties to as they have here in Scotland where the SNP now dominates).
A lot of that grass roots support is young & as a result has much less weight for voting, unfortunately.
Re: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well the LibDems are going to say that but they are not going to win. The other two parties aren't - Labour is going split in half. The Tories might see defections, but will stay together and press ahead with Brexit in the hope of a massive majority.
Agreed, I think Tim Farron was right on point strategy-wise to come out and immediately, unequivocally say that a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote to stay in. It's just not going to sway nearly enough people to win a majority, and the Tories know that.
True, but if the LibDems can pull enough Blairites away from Corbyn and urban Tories away from May it will give the LibDems a core that they can move forward with. (I don't think they have a hope in hell of actually even getting enough MPs to play kingmakers, but they may be aiming to simply supplant Labour as the opposition party...)
Re: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election
#44May's reasoning is basically that there is an opposition now, and that there should not be. The thought of indefinite unopposed Tory rule is sickening.
I think her reasoning is more around the fact that there isn't any effective opposition now, so might as well lock in another 5 years.
I suspect it is more about the next election, she doesn't want it just after brexit completes.
Re: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
And Northern Ireland. We're still here too. .. Not that you'd know as you never call or write anymore. :'-(
How likely do you think the unification of Ireland is now and after brexit if a hard border is imposed? Has sentiment shifted in that debate?
Very much still a meme at this point
Re: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election
#46Actually this is just good business for the Tories, and I've long expected it. The opposition is in disarray under Corbyn, and our prime minister has never won an election. This is as easy a victory as Theresa May will ever be able to bank on, and legitimises her leadership in the eyes of a large section of the public. She can also claim (maybe rightly so) that she has the undisputed majority support of the public fo…
I wonder (I'm not from UK), is there really zero chance of someone from Labour to challenge Corbyn (someone more moderate/center leaning) and rally the pro-EU voters ?
The Labour Party establishment have tried to dethrone Corbyn before and failed.
He's an odd case. He commands a lot of influence among Labour members and to some extent the unions (who have significant ties to and influence on the Labour Party here). This makes him more-or-less untouchable as party leader.
However, he's loathed by most of the party's current MPs, who are politicians and know he's going to be a liability at election time. And he's not particularly popular among the general public outside the traditional Labour voters, which is why he's going to be a liability.
The irony of the snap election, if it does happen, is that it will be an opportunity for Corbyn to clear out the disloyal backstabbers in the Commons and replace them with more traditional Labour MPs, which is probably why he seems to have said previously that he'd support calls for a snap election. On the other hand, he would probably lose so many MPs altogether that his party would become almost irrelevant in the next Parliament, much as the Lib Dems did last time.
A somewhat ironic but apparently quite plausible outcome to all the political manoeuvres is that Corbyn says Labour will support the snap election, almost all of his MPs openly rebel, the election consequently doesn't achieve the 2/3 support needed in the Commons and so doesn't happen, May is weakened and probably steps down as a result, and Corbyn is also so weakened that he finally goes, thus making the two party leaders who were playing the political games the major victims of those games.
We live in interesting times, literally and perhaps euphemistically as well.
[Edit: Added a missing bit. Thanks, gpvos.]
Re: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election
#47She's announced her intention to call a general election. Before it can actually happen, she needs 2/3s of MPs to agree, according to the Fixed Term Parliament Act. Otherwise, it's a five-year term whether the current PM likes it or not. This is an odd one, because if we have the election then it's likely to be a Tory landslide, but the Tories have only a narrow majority in the House of Commons and so need the turkey…
Labour have already announced they will support it.
Re: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Calling an election is dark and scary times?
No - but communicating to the public that the reason you are calling an election is to silence the opposition parties and other bodies holding you to account (and espousing the view that the opposition should effectively shut up and put up) definitely registers high on my dark and scary times scale
Especially when the mandate for Hard Brexit is so weak.
Re: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election
#49Actually this is just good business for the Tories, and I've long expected it. The opposition is in disarray under Corbyn, and our prime minister has never won an election. This is as easy a victory as Theresa May will ever be able to bank on, and legitimises her leadership in the eyes of a large section of the public. She can also claim (maybe rightly so) that she has the undisputed majority support of the public fo…
Vote Lib Dem. Seriously.
I am a candidate in very north london, we're all organised for this possibility.
Re: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election
#50Actually this is just good business for the Tories, and I've long expected it. The opposition is in disarray under Corbyn, and our prime minister has never won an election. This is as easy a victory as Theresa May will ever be able to bank on, and legitimises her leadership in the eyes of a large section of the public. She can also claim (maybe rightly so) that she has the undisputed majority support of the public fo…
I wonder (I'm not from UK), is there really zero chance of someone from Labour to challenge Corbyn (someone more moderate/center leaning) and rally the pro-EU voters ?
There is zero chance of that happening before the election, yes.
The only major pro-EU voice in parliament now (discounting regional parties) is Lib Dems.