Elections discussion.

dlofnep

Outside of the SNP thread, there's hardly a mention of the elections.

As is stands so far. (You can follow the results here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/)

England - Huge gains made by Labour, Lib-Dems destroyed, Conservatives make a small gain. The BNP look to have lost alot of seats. UKIP don't seem to be fairing well either. A small gain for the Green Party. (After 133 of 279 councils declared)

Scotland - SNP are the big winners here with a landslide victory. Labour, Tories and Lib-Dems all fail to make an impact. Labour was particularly hit hard in what is usually a Labour stronghold. (Probably a result of Iain Gray's performance).

Wales - Labour despite losing out huge in Scotland, seem to have made solid gains in Wales. Conservatives hold their ground with a small gain. Plaid Cymru lose some ground, especially with a narrow defeat in Llanelli for Plaid's deputy leader. Lib Dems down, and the BNP make a small gain in votes (although still a very small portion).

Nothing back yet from the North. Results will be available here at some point: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/election2011/constituency/html/northern_ireland.stm

mike65

Even taking the obsession of the Irish in the affairs of the neighbouring state into account, a thread about seats won and lost in local elections is pushing things a bit.

Dunblane has just been won by the SNP (BBC five live has coverage all day)

dlofnep

Yeah yeah, hush you :P It is a politics forum afterall!

SNP looks like they have secured a full-out majority. Is it 65 or 66 for a majority?

PatsytheNazi

mike65 wrote: »

Even taking the obsession of the Irish in the affairs of the neighbouring state into account, a thread about seats won and lost in local elections is pushing things a bit.

Dunblane has just been won by the SNP (BBC five live has coverage all day)

Seems the shudders are already running down the spines of the unionists as they try to dismiss the results already !!!! A 57% turnout in nationalist west bank of Foyle while in unionist Upper Bann it's 55.34% according to UTV.

SNP doing well, regardless, Scotland moving to independence slowly but surely. In the six counties it looks like there's a push by nationalist voters and doubtless SF will have been favoured by their strong showing down here in the last Dail elections. The nationalist group could end up as largest in the assembly,and if that happens, it could be a point of no return in demographics.

dlofnep

Calls now for Nick Clegg to step down as leader of the Lib-Dems.

dlofnep

All Scottish results in, SNP have a clean majority.

Can'tseeme

Election latest - David Cameron still refusing to release a picture of Nick Clegg to prove that he's dead.

mike65

Tories escape scot free, LDs hammered. Tis no fun being the junior partner.

PatsytheNazi

dlofnep wrote: »

Calls now for Nick Clegg to step down as leader of the Lib-Dems.

Knives were out pretty quick. Labour or some of his own crew calling for him to step down ?

dlofnep

mike65 wrote: »

Tories escape scot free, LDs hammered. Tis no fun being the junior partner.

It never is. Always the junior partner that takes the hammering. Surprised Tories made slight gains actually.

Denerick

I think this has proven the weakness of Ed Miliband as a leader. By rights Scotland was for the taking, and he should have made big inroads in southern England. Instead he took lots of low hanging Lib Dem fruit in the North while the conservative cherries at the top of the tree remain bright and fruitful. Miliband seems unable to reverse the regional polarisation of British politics; he won't win the General election unless he starts making signficant gains in southern England. If the lib dems crash and burn at the next general election, most of their seats will go to Tories (Under first past the post, the Libdems are the major second party in many parts of southern England and have major strongholds in their own right, with the main challenge coming from the Tories)

I think Ed Miliband was a terrible choice for Labour leader. He is wishy washy and doesn't know where he stands. An old fashioned Keynesian like Ed Balls would have been a much better choice; he at least has the capacity to appeal to the now disenfranchised lower middle class of southern England, who have the potential to the electors of the next British Prime Minister.