Brexit delayed

[Mellsblue]

Lib Dems showing up well, not too surprising I guess. They need to find themselves a good new leader asap.

In other news, apparently Boris tweeted he'd just voted Tory in the council elections; except there wasn't an election in his manor. Twat.

There are elections where he is registered to vote, ie his house in Oxfordshire, but not in his parliamentary constituency.

[Banquo]

Lib Dems showing up well, not too surprising I guess. They need to find themselves a good new leader asap.

In other news, apparently Boris tweeted he'd just voted Tory in the council elections; except there wasn't an election in his manor. Twat.

There are elections where he is registered to vote, ie his house in Oxfordshire, but not in his parliamentary constituency.

Fair enough, still a twat tho. One wonders why he deleted the tweet.

[Which Tyler]

State of play about 2 hours ago (latest I can easily find in handy graph format)

[Puja]

While we should all be leery of interpreting local elections as a referendum on Brexit, I am getting annoyed by how the coverage and the spin from the two main parties are interpreting it. The ultra-Brexiters lose massively, the governing party making Brexit happen lose massively, the opposition keen on Brexit lose massively, the two parties completely against any form of it gain massively - that clearly suggests that voters are protesting because Brexit hasn't been delivered quickly!

Puja

[Mellsblue]

Not sure the ultra-Brexiteers are represented. UKIP is a shell of its former self - and unelectable unless you’re a racist - and there is no Brexit party.
The party in power will always lose votes, though not as much as this, but Labour is the standout.

[Which Tyler]

Not sure the ultra-Brexiteers are represented. UKIP is a shell of its former self - and unelectable unless you’re a racist - and there is no Brexit party.
The party in power will always lose votes, though not as much as this, but Labour is the standout.

I know you think that everything political is about how bad labour (or Corbyn) is, but that's really not the case.
Conservatives are still pro-Brexit, and the standout stories are the collapse of the Conservatives the failure of Labour to to earn any actual trust, and the huge increases in the anti-Brexit parties.

[Mellsblue]

Not sure the ultra-Brexiteers are represented. UKIP is a shell of its former self - and unelectable unless you’re a racist - and there is no Brexit party.
The party in power will always lose votes, though not as much as this, but Labour is the standout.

I know you think that everything political is about how bad labour (or Corbyn) is, but that's really not the case.
Conservatives are still pro-Brexit, and the standout stories are the collapse of the Conservatives the failure of Labour to to earn any actual trust, and the huge increases in the anti-Brexit parties.

I don’t think that and that’s not what I said. I’m saying there is no vote for ultra-Brexiteers in this election, unless you like Tommy Robinson. As above, the Cons should lose seats as they are the party of power but have lost more than you’d expect. Lab should gain as official opposition but have also dropped off a cliff. Yes, that will be about Brexit, mostly from Remainers but also Brexiteers. The thing is, lots of Con voters think the Cons are aiming for Brino and are therefore not pro-Brexit.

[Puja]

Brino?

Puja

[fivepointer]

Brexit in name only. Leaving EU but staying in SM/CU.

Clearly a very good night for the LD's. Greens can also be well satisfied.

Tories predictably given a well deserved hammering, and Labour copping some justifiable stick for their abject, cynical fence sitting over Brexit.

The EU elections are going to be even worse for the 2 main parties.

[Puja]

Not sure the ultra-Brexiteers are represented. UKIP is a shell of its former self - and unelectable unless you’re a racist - and there is no Brexit party.
The party in power will always lose votes, though not as much as this, but Labour is the standout.

That's not unfair. The cult of personality that Farage is building would define a vote for UKIP as treacherous and I suspect his supporters are keeping their powder dry for the Euro elections.

Puja

[Mellsblue]

Not sure the ultra-Brexiteers are represented. UKIP is a shell of its former self - and unelectable unless you’re a racist - and there is no Brexit party.
The party in power will always lose votes, though not as much as this, but Labour is the standout.

That's not unfair. The cult of personality that Farage is building would define a vote for UKIP as treacherous and I suspect his supporters are keeping their powder dry for the Euro elections.

Puja

Agreed. Also, voting for UKIP is now a blatantly racist vote with Batten in charge and Tommy Robinson as an advisor and this will put off lots of people.

[Banquo]

Pretty clearly an anti Brexit vote has done for the Tories, with maybe a touch of leavers not voting. Labour's position is trickier to interpret- they had a pretty poor showing in the equivalent vote in 2015, so a low base to lose anything from - on the other hand they haven't been absolutely taken apart by an anti-brexit vote, so you could argue their positioning as reluctant leavers (which is BS wrt to Corbyn and McD) has minimised the damage caused by having Leave in their manifesto. I'd say excellent night for LD's, ok for Green, meh for Labour, what you'd expect for the Tories.

Still think Labour are just about playing a good political game, even if its shyte for the country. Though anyone watching Thornberry on Question Time wouldn't or shouldn't go near Labour if she is likely to be in a Cabinet.

Edit- both Labour and Tories looking at 28% of the vote apiece if this were a GE. Which it isnt . 19% LD, 25% 'other'. So 56% voting to Leave the EU now (lights blue touch paper)

[Digby]

Lib Dems showing up well, not too surprising I guess. They need to find themselves a good new leader asap.

In other news, apparently Boris tweeted he'd just voted Tory in the council elections; except there wasn't an election in his manor. Twat.

There are elections where he is registered to vote, ie his house in Oxfordshire, but not in his parliamentary constituency.

Fair enough, still a twat tho. One wonders why he deleted the tweet.

I don't think we wonder, it's because it noted he'd just voted and physically that wasn't seen as possible

Though it is also possible it was an aide doing the update , but he's still a prat

[Banquo]

So both Jezza and Tezza conclude the message from the local elections is to just get on and deliver Brexit? OK...................

[Digby]

And you can't have another referendum as the result may still be disputed, but the initial vote wherein the winning side lied, broke the law repeatedly, sometimes in quite disgusting fashion, and received significant funding from foreign agents is clearly the will of the people

I'd say the best I can hope for for Jezza and Thessa is they just drop dead, but what follows might be equally shite or even worse

[Stom]

And you can't have another referendum as the result may still be disputed, but the initial vote wherein the winning side lied, broke the law repeatedly, sometimes in quite disgusting fashion, and received significant funding from foreign agents is clearly the will of the people

I'd say the best I can hope for for Jezza and Thessa is they just drop dead, but what follows might be equally shite or even worse

Yeah, can you imagine...The Tories will fight for control between...

Gove, Hunt, Boris, JRM...

[Son of Mathonwy]

Remarkably strong correlation between vote swing and how pro-remain the parties are.

Clearly a message from the voters to "get on and deliver Brexit".

In some alternate universe.


This remainer would like to think that Labour would take some notice and realise that there are votes to be won here. I mean, if they can't trounce a Tory party which has reached the summit of incompetence, they need to change something.

Unfortunately Jezza isn't a remainer, so nothing will be done.

[Digby]

There was also a swing to independents and a fair number of those must be raving lunatics or leavers, so I wouldn't want to just claim a swing in favour of remain

[Puja]

If only there were some kind of mechanism that we could employ to check if public support was still behind the idea rather than relying on 3 year old data and reading the tea leaves from unrelated elections...

Puja

[Mellsblue]

A referendum on EU membership every three years? No thank you.

[Sandydragon]

If only the remainder parties would cooperate, they could really dent the two party system.

[Mellsblue]

The EU elections will be ugly for the Conservatives and not much better for Labour:

[Son of Mathonwy]

The EU elections will be ugly for the Conservatives and not much better for Labour:

Well, they remember the war. Or war films.

[Banquo]

I did think that somehow they'd find way not to have the EU elections. What a fckin farce.... not that it wasn't already, but....

[Digby]

I did think that somehow they'd find way not to have the EU elections. What a fckin farce.... not that it wasn't already, but....

I'm not really sure why people are so annoyed or pretending to be annoyed. What's the problem with saying whilst we're negotiating our departure the UK is a country that upholds its legal commitments (other than perhaps the Good Friday Agreement?)?

We should have been cross at the idea we'd try to subvert the law as it was politically expedient