Sudden General Election in UK to be held June 8th 2017

by freddo 167 Replies latest social current

• 

  slimboyfat

  SNP results:

  1992 - 3 seats out of 72

  1997 - 6 seats out of 72

  2001 - 5 seats out of 72

  2005 - 6 seats out of 59

  2010 - 6 seats out of 59

  2015 - 56 seats out of 59

  2017 - 35 seats out of 59

  Fascinating watching the media claim a second landslide victory is a defeat.

  In this 2017 election:

  Tory Ruth Davidson said vote Tory to stop independence referendum - won 13 seats

  Labour's Jeremy Corbyn says he would not prevent an independence referendum - 7 seats

  SNP propose independence referendum - 35 seats

  If the people have spoken, what have they said?
• 

  LoveUniHateExams

  If the people have spoken, what have they said? - they said 'no' to Scottish independence.

  Is Wee Krankie Sturgeon listening?
  
• 

  Simon

  I think they said they wanted fewer SNP and the "once in a lifetime" independence vote shouldn't be revisited every couple of years.

  May was trying to seek a public mandate for her version of Brexit

  The reason given was also that having an election falling right in the middle / end of the exit negotiations could be problematic.

  It's unfortunate there isn't clearer consensus on what people want but unfortunately that's probably always going to have been unlikely.

  But does anyone really think that Corbyn would have been a strong negotiator for Britain's interests?
  
  
• 

  slimboyfat

  SNP have stood in three elections in the past year saying that Brexit means we should have another independence referendum. The SNP won all three elections.

  How many elections do the SNP need to win with manifestos for a referendum before democracy kicks in?
• 

  LoveUniHateExams

  The irony of NI being neglected by the Westminster Government and now being needed is delicious - it's not a nice combination but what other way is there to go?

  Could there be a coalition of progressive parties? Could Lab/Lib/SNP/Green/Plaid all put aside their considerable differences to function as a coalition?

  Does Lab + Lib + SNP + Green + Plaid = enough seats to be a majority, anyway?

  Then there's an issue with 'progressive' voters. They are pretty much united in what they stand against - no cuts, no austerity, no hard Brexit. They are basically united in being anti-Tory.

  But are they united in what they stand for?

  Yesterday's election result has been talked up as some kind of victory for progressive politics.

  As far as I can see, progressive politics is seriously fractured.

  The Tory/DUP hybrid certainly doesn't sound good - in a sane world it would be strangled at birth - but it's the only deal in town, I'm afraid.
  

  The progressive parties will hopefully make good opposition to the Tory/DUP coalition.
  
• 

  LoveUniHateExams

  How many elections do the SNP need to win with manifestos for a referendum before democracy kicks in?[emphasis mine] - democracy can't 'kick in' because it was already there. It never went away.

  The Scottish independence referendum of 2014 resulted in the Remain side winning.

  That's democracy.
  
• 

  slimboyfat

  In 2014 Scots voted to stay in the UK and we stayed in the UK. That's democracy.

  And if Scots vote for parties that want another referendum, that's also democracy.

  In 2014 Scots were told to vote No in order to stay in the EU.

  In fact it turned out that Scotland was dragged out of the EU despite a majority of Scots voting for the EU.

  The SNP argued that this changed the situation and there should be another referendum. They won three elections making that argument. So now there is a majority in the Scottish parliament for another referendum, and a majority of Scottish MPs support a referendum.

  In this democracy, if voting for parties that propose a referendum is not enough to secure a referendum, is there any democratic way to get a referendum in this system?
• 

  Laika

  Naive kids and urban hipsters adore Corbyn.
  Those of us old enough to remember labour governments of days of yore know how this always ends.

  Hi Cofty, I don't adore Corbyn, though I voted Labour, and I find this unfair and rather patronising.

  I have a good job with a good salary so I know things could be much worse but exorbitant rental costs make it hard to save a lot and I'm completely locked out of the housing market. This will have a knock on effect in that I won't be able to afford to provide children (if I ever have any) an upbringing with the same living standards as the one my parents provided me, and most young people have it worse than me.

  Of course this is worst where I live in London but the ridiculous wealth gap between young and old is growing across the country and these are not problems caused by old left wing governments.

  I'm glad the youth finally turned out and I hope the results sends a message to the other political parties that they need to stop ignoring us and actually help us.
• 

  Laika

  But does anyone really think that Corbyn would have been a strong negotiator for Britain's interests?

  Hi Simon, I don't know about 'strong negotiator' but he seemed to pay more attention to the fact that a hard brexit will cause a lot of people economic pain then Theresa and the Tories, I think he'd have also been more likely to invest in the economy if he can't make a deal, unlike the conservatives who will probably turn to austerity again and make things worse.
• 

  hothabanero

  @Laika: sry about your situation, but socialism is never the right answer. Name one socialist country where the poor are better off than in a capitalist society!

  Large house prices happens bc of the free market. If you don't like the rent prices you should move.