General Election

[IDM]

Did anyone else see Robert Buckland (Con) speak after losing his seat last night (Swindon) - one of the first to declare a result.

I don't know much of the man, but from how he spoke, and also how his victorious Labour opponent spoke of him, he came across as a genuine passionate man dedicated to serving his constituents and therefore his country.  He seems to have integrity in spades, far more than most of the headlining Tories we have seen in recent months/years.

Had they had more of his ilk in leading positions in recent times, they would probably still be in government today.

Yes I saw that IDM, and it struck me the same way it did you.
I was very impressed by Robert Buckland and the incoming Labour candidate Heidi Alexander. He was gracious in defeat and she was humble in victory.

If only poiltics could be done like this.

His fingerprints are all over the damage the Tories caused to the justice system. Good speech but good riddance.

If he was that bad, why was his opponent so magnanimous in her victory speech.?  She could have only praised her own team, and damned him with silence.

[MachoMadness]

Good speech from Starmer, to be fair. Let's hope he can back it up.

[DonnyOsmond]

Hopefully today is the end of culture wars, we can be more tolerant to people. We'll hopefully be more cooperative and respectful to other nations.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hopefully today is the end of culture wars, we can be more tolerant to people. We'll hopefully be more cooperative and respectful to other nations.

I think we'll have a Govt that fits that bill.

But if you reckon the Right are going to give up on Culture War and Little England stuff, good luck with that.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Anyway, the stars are now aligned.

You know that England have only ever won a tournament under a Labour Govt...

[Bristol Red Rover]

I really can't stand our political voting system. Greens get 2 million votes only 4 seats, Reform get double that only 4 seats, Lib Dems 3.5 million ... 71 seats.

I'm in favour of PR but there's difficulties implementing it.  If (notionally) Labour won 60% of the seats individually, but with only 40% of the total votes, then only 2/3 of those seats would end up with a Labour MP.  That's not fair on the remaining third.?

I've an idea.  Vote in constituencies as now, but use PR to work out how power is shared in Parliament.

Say for example, Labour wins 60% seats with 40% of the vote, then each Labour MP's parliamentary vote is worth 2/3 of a vote.

Say Greens have 1% of seats with 10% of the vote, each MP has a vote worth 10 votes.

Lib Dems have 10% seats with 10% votes, MPs vote =1 each, etc etc for each party.

This means each constituency has an MP it voted for, who can speak out in Parliament and represent his/her constituents as now.

Of course, unless a party won 50% or more of the vote, it would be more difficult to pass their laws, so there wold need to be more reasoned debate, flexibility, and compromise in Parliament.  Or alliances formed with other parties - either temporary for each issue, or formally as in a coalition.  In the case of the latter you get some ministers from a minority party.

This would give the likes of the Greens much more of a say in government policy, and the majority party would need to accommodate the others' views to a greater extent they do now.

Complicated, yes.  Workable, I dunno, but surely fairer than what we have now?

And voting should be compulsory.

I like it!

Voting compulsory if contains a "non of the above" section, and if the recent voter id rules are removed.

[Bristol Red Rover]

Hopefully today is the end of culture wars, we can be more tolerant to people. We'll hopefully be more cooperative and respectful to other nations.

Just not Palestine, who shall remain a non nation. .

[SydneyRover]

''Voting compulsory if contains a "non of the above" section, and if the recent voter id rules are removed''

Don't take a pencil

[drfchound]

I really can't stand our political voting system. Greens get 2 million votes only 4 seats, Reform get double that only 4 seats, Lib Dems 3.5 million ... 71 seats.

How can that be right.

[danumdon]

I really can't stand our political voting system. Greens get 2 million votes only 4 seats, Reform get double that only 4 seats, Lib Dems 3.5 million ... 71 seats.

How can that be right.

Labour got 65% of the seats on a vote share of 34%.

34% of an overall turnout of 60%

9.7m out of 28.7m who voted.

[Tommy A]

Very True

A lot of seats that Lib dem won were not contested at all by Labour, as was the case here in North Cornwall. So Lib dem got my vote. I would say a large % of lib dem voters were tactical so hard to gauge what would have been the Labour vote share if that had not been the case. I saw on some of the stats that in held labour seats, labour lost a lot of votes to Reform, so it's not all one way.

We have to remember that people vote tactically in certain seats. Vote share % isn’t necessarily an accurate idea of how popular certain parties are.

Brilliant result for the Lib Dems, which I think is being overlooked on here.

I'm not sure what you mean Keith.

I'm in the North Cornwall constituency and I'm certain we had a labour candidate to vote for.

[Mike_F]

I was in your neck of the woods last week and thought I'd see a few Labour posters. Just checked. Robyn Harris got 2958 votes.

[BillyStubbsTears]

What a bizarre thing to say after your party has had a historic defeat.

https://x.com/andreww1967/status/1809067850461483428

Jenrick is one to keep an eye on. He's determined to take the Tory party even further to the right. This "silent majority" b*llocks is a dog whistle. The "I know what you really believe but don't feel you can say" dangerous shite.

[Bristol Red Rover]

Labour's vote share in 2024 is 33.8% (9,712,011), turnout 59.9%
2019 it was 32.1% (10,269,051), turnout 67.3%
2017 it was  40.0% (12,877,918), turnout 68.8%

Then for interest:
2015 it was 30.4% (9,347,324), turnout 66.4%
2010 it was 29.0% (8,609,517), turnout 65.1%
2005 it was 35.2% (9,552,376), turnout 61.4%
2001 it was 40.7% (10,724,953), turnout 59.4%
1997 it was 43.2% (13,518,167), turnout 71.3%

This tells a lot of stories, though does omit the significant 2019 backstabbing.

[Pancho Regan]

I was in your neck of the woods last week and thought I'd see a few Labour posters. Just checked. Robyn Harris got 2958 votes.

Congratulations Mike on an incredible result last night.
I was aghast at the Exit Poll predictions but you actually did even better than that!

Credit to your leader who played a brilliant campaign and appears to be a very decent human being.

[Mike_F]

Thanks, I really hope the party can resign the whole Clegg debacle to the history books and build a home for the sensible and caring centre-left to give a real credible alternative to the increasingly right-wing positions of the other big parties.

[normal rules]

Lib Dem’s 600000 less votes than reform yet 67 more seats.
I accept the fptp system now because it’s what we have. I get it.
But it has to change surely if we are to have representative government.
14% of the vote yet just 0.77 % of seats? Has there ever been such a huge disparity? In 1983 the Lib Dem’s got 25% of the vote for just 3 % of seats.
 Which pales Into relative insignificance compared to today.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Lib Dem’s 600000 less votes than reform yet 67 more seats.
I accept the fptp system now because it’s what we have. I get it.
But it has to change surely if we are to have representative government.
14% of the vote yet just 0.77 % of seats? Has there ever been such a huge disparity? In 1983 the Lib Dem’s got 25% of the vote for just 3 % of seats.
 Which pales Into relative insignificance compared to today.

But do we want a representative government or a strong government that can get things done. Imagine pr and what the make up of parliament would be.  How do things get done?

[River Don]

Lib Dem’s 600000 less votes than reform yet 67 more seats.
I accept the fptp system now because it’s what we have. I get it.
But it has to change surely if we are to have representative government.
14% of the vote yet just 0.77 % of seats? Has there ever been such a huge disparity? In 1983 the Lib Dem’s got 25% of the vote for just 3 % of seats.
 Which pales Into relative insignificance compared to today.

The thing with this is, Reform is still a minority view.

The Lib Dems can command wide support amongst some communities. Reform doesn't often do that yet.

So I'm conflicted about whether or not FPTP is good or not. PR seems to produce more centrist government but more division and difficult negotiation.

I'm begining to think our contrived system has it's merits.

Generally though I am a centrist and I don't like a system that allows extreme views to take hold. I like political power to be limited.

If you look at Germany after the war, the political system we set up for them, has served them pretty well

[Sprotyrover]

I know Billy will be trying to find the end of the queue for the new Labour handouts, but due to their majority it’s gonna be one hell of a long Queue!
Rachel Reeves being honest on BBC News, not a lot of money about, they are hoping to attract Private investment and are looking to modernise the Public planning sector, there was a magazine article a few weeks ago which listed several dozen big and expensive Planning applications made by private investors and they where knocked back by a whole plethora or negative responses from local councils! Some of them were very bizarre!

[SydneyRover]

I know Billy will be trying to find the end of the queue for the new Labour handouts, but due to their majority it’s gonna be one hell of a long Queue!

There's a special on for sour grapes down at the markets and the queue is fairly short, snot,

[drfchound]

I’ve had a busy few days so this morning I’ve had a quick scan through the election news.
A quick skim read through off topic has been done and unless I missed it, is it right that Labour won with the lowest vote share by a single party since WW2, according the the respected political analyst Sir John Cutice.
Also that a 34% vote share won them 63% of the seats.
Looking at his comments below seem to indicate that we need to review our voting system:

“General election results 2024 so far
Share of the UK vote and share of seats in Parliament, with one seat to come
Two bar charts show the percentage share of the vote and the percentage of seats won in Parliament.
Labour so far have about 34% of the vote, but nearly two-thirds of seats.
The Conservatives have nearly a quarter of the vote but just under a fifth of seats.
Reform UK has just 1% of seats but has 14% of the vote share.”

Not to mention the LibDems of course.
I’m a political novice in truth so can anyone explain to me how it could or should be improved to give a fairer outcome.
Surely the above isn’t fair, and a change might encourage more people to vote.

[DonnyOsmond]

I’ve had a busy few days so this morning I’ve had a quick scan through the election news.
A quick skim read through off topic has been done and unless I missed it, is it right that Labour won with the lowest vote share by a single party since WW2, according the the respected political analyst Sir John Cutice.
Also that a 34% vote share won them 63% of the seats.
Looking at his comments below seem to indicate that we need to review our voting system:

“General election results 2024 so far
Share of the UK vote and share of seats in Parliament, with one seat to come
Two bar charts show the percentage share of the vote and the percentage of seats won in Parliament.
Labour so far have about 34% of the vote, but nearly two-thirds of seats.
The Conservatives have nearly a quarter of the vote but just under a fifth of seats.
Reform UK has just 1% of seats but has 14% of the vote share.”

Not to mention the LibDems of course.
I’m a political novice in truth so can anyone explain to me how it could or should be improved to give a fairer outcome.
Surely the above isn’t fair, and a change might encourage more people to vote.

People on the left have been calling for PR for years on here which would address this issue. It's only become a big issue now after Reform got done over by FPTP.

[drfchound]

I’ve had a busy few days so this morning I’ve had a quick scan through the election news.
A quick skim read through off topic has been done and unless I missed it, is it right that Labour won with the lowest vote share by a single party since WW2, according the the respected political analyst Sir John Cutice.
Also that a 34% vote share won them 63% of the seats.
Looking at his comments below seem to indicate that we need to review our voting system:

“General election results 2024 so far
Share of the UK vote and share of seats in Parliament, with one seat to come
Two bar charts show the percentage share of the vote and the percentage of seats won in Parliament.
Labour so far have about 34% of the vote, but nearly two-thirds of seats.
The Conservatives have nearly a quarter of the vote but just under a fifth of seats.
Reform UK has just 1% of seats but has 14% of the vote share.”

Not to mention the LibDems of course.
I’m a political novice in truth so can anyone explain to me how it could or should be improved to give a fairer outcome.
Surely the above isn’t fair, and a change might encourage more people to vote.

People on the left have been calling for PR for years on here which would address this issue. It's only become a big issue now after Reform got done over by FPTP.

If I heard correctly, John Curtice on the news this morning mentioned that Labour were in favour of PR in 2011 but he thinks that they are unlikely to persue that stance now.

[i_ateallthepies]

I’ve had a busy few days so this morning I’ve had a quick scan through the election news.
A quick skim read through off topic has been done and unless I missed it, is it right that Labour won with the lowest vote share by a single party since WW2, according the the respected political analyst Sir John Cutice.
Also that a 34% vote share won them 63% of the seats.
Looking at his comments below seem to indicate that we need to review our voting system:

“General election results 2024 so far
Share of the UK vote and share of seats in Parliament, with one seat to come
Two bar charts show the percentage share of the vote and the percentage of seats won in Parliament.
Labour so far have about 34% of the vote, but nearly two-thirds of seats.
The Conservatives have nearly a quarter of the vote but just under a fifth of seats.
Reform UK has just 1% of seats but has 14% of the vote share.”

Not to mention the LibDems of course.
I’m a political novice in truth so can anyone explain to me how it could or should be improved to give a fairer outcome.
Surely the above isn’t fair, and a change might encourage more people to vote.

People on the left have been calling for PR for years on here which would address this issue. It's only become a big issue now after Reform got done over by FPTP.

If I heard correctly, John Curtice on the news this morning mentioned that Labour were in favour of PR in 2011 but he thinks that they are unlikely to persue that stance now.

Get over it, you won you dirty Labour voter!

[drfchound]

I’ve had a busy few days so this morning I’ve had a quick scan through the election news.
A quick skim read through off topic has been done and unless I missed it, is it right that Labour won with the lowest vote share by a single party since WW2, according the the respected political analyst Sir John Cutice.
Also that a 34% vote share won them 63% of the seats.
Looking at his comments below seem to indicate that we need to review our voting system:

“General election results 2024 so far
Share of the UK vote and share of seats in Parliament, with one seat to come
Two bar charts show the percentage share of the vote and the percentage of seats won in Parliament.
Labour so far have about 34% of the vote, but nearly two-thirds of seats.
The Conservatives have nearly a quarter of the vote but just under a fifth of seats.
Reform UK has just 1% of seats but has 14% of the vote share.”

Not to mention the LibDems of course.
I’m a political novice in truth so can anyone explain to me how it could or should be improved to give a fairer outcome.
Surely the above isn’t fair, and a change might encourage more people to vote.

People on the left have been calling for PR for years on here which would address this issue. It's only become a big issue now after Reform got done over by FPTP.

If I heard correctly, John Curtice on the news this morning mentioned that Labour were in favour of PR in 2011 but he thinks that they are unlikely to persue that stance now.

Get over it, you won you dirty Labour voter!

No need for that pies.
Uncalled for.
For the record, I voted for Lee Pitcher who I have had conversations with when he took interest in a local community group that I am part of.
Have you any comment on the questions I asked?

[Herbert Anchovy]

I think people are overplaying the % vote v seats thing. There was some kind of ‘election expert’ on the wireless yesterday who explained Labours tactic. Basically they concentrated their efforts on Tory seats that they knew they could win and less effort on safer seats. Consequently they were willing to take a hit on vote numbers in safer seats to win the extra seats needed to win a majority.

Plus they had to turn around a huge Tory majority which seems to be forgotten by some.

It’s a remarkable and very smart result.

[tommy toes]

Hound
Labours vote share was low because there was an unprecedented share of the vote for smaller parties, particularly Reform Ltd Co.
The reform vote obviously contributed to the landslide.
PR would produce a very different set of results. Whether this would be a good thing is open to debate.
I sincerely hope that this was a flash in the pan and Farage and his ilk disappear back into the swamp they came from.
I’ve met Lee Pitcher several times, a nicer bloke you’d be hard pressed to meet,he will make a great MP for your constituency.

[Herbert Anchovy]

Hound
Labours vote share was low because there was an unprecedented share of the vote for smaller parties, particularly Reform Ltd Co.
The reform vote obviously contributed to the landslide.
I sincerely hope that this was a flash in the pan and Farage and his ilk disappear back into the swamp they came from.
I’ve met Lee Pitcher several times, a nicer bloke you’d be hard pressed to meet,he will make a great MP for your constituency.

It was also down to tactical canvassing by Labour apparently. Very nuanced approach.

As for Lee Pitcher, apparently he worked out in East Yorkshire for a while where a mate of mine met him. A very nice and smart bloke by all accounts.

[i_ateallthepies]

Don't be so touchy, Hound, it was meant only as a light hearted prod.