General British politics discussion thread

Bad that Reform are up sadly but how is that result against your expectations or hopes ?

I think there might be a third option how about -

. no charisma . no policies . genocide enabler . parachuted in

Starmer and his backers first destroyed Corbyn who had charisma and good policies, but was a trusting fool.

Having replaced Corbyn with something grey in body and soul that is red in tooth and claw, they have brought Labour to where the Liberal party was 100 hundred years ago. The fascinating thing about this is that a series of equally obnoxious and incompetent Tory leaders have brought their party to the same place; with the difference that their replacement is ready & waiting in the wings, while Labour's replacement hasn't been carefully prepared, packaged and delivered - with the result that it seems to be the Green Party by default.

Interestingly the antiemetic trope is already being deployed against the Greens despite having a fairly moderate jewish leader - who is not even anti-zionist, never mind antiemetic.

I can totally believe that, but is it changing? There's talk that the party are playing the long game and gradually moving towards being an independence party with the aim of having a Welsh referendum at some point in perhaps the next decade. Clearly, if Scotland voted to leave first, it would be a game changer.

I think the problem with the post you are replying to is far deeper than simply trying to deflect.

If I make a comment about testoserone-fueled b***xes, everyone knows that such people exist, but only an idiot thinks the comment refers to all men. While the comment in question is some way worse, and without knowing the actual context, we constantly see similar comments regarding muslims and islam on this forum, and we are expected not to bat an eyelid.

There is an agenda at work here, and as a general rule, I feel we are better off not engaging with this. We all know how and why Corbyn was targetted, and IMO we should take a moment for reflection before giving this type of trope a reply.

I'm gonna say around 11%

Plaid Cymru have always been in favour of independence, but geography has determined that Wales is far more closely integrated into England than Scotland.

The rural areas of NE and E Central Wales has a very large population of English settlers. Economically these areas are completely integrated into the nearby English economy - the major cities of Lancashire and West Midlands are far closer than any significant Welsh city, which has two large effects.

First - big city inhabitants who want to escape from the rat race move west, but naturally they don't leave their heritage and connections with Liverpool/Manchester/Birmingham & England generally behind. This population transfusion has caused East and NE Wales to become more English than before; and secondly - when Welsh people living in these areas need something that is only available in very large towns or cities, they head for one of these cities, or for closer, smaller cities such as Shrewsbury and Hereford which are more easily reached than any similarly-sized Welsh city.

There's an interesting series of map slides here that illustrate this population influx, on the Welsh side of the border.

No. This is a very different election, 3 years out

Not sure where they get the Tories increasing, but otherwise unsurprising.

Elections 2026 live: Labour suffers historic defeat in Wales as Reform surges in English council elections and Greens make gains

Reform UK on 27% national equivalent vote in locals, says Sky, with Tories 20%, Labour 15% and Greens and Lib Dems both 14%

Andrew Sparrow

Sky News has released its national equivalent vote (NEV) figures (see 3.28pm) – its estimate for what the share of the vote would have been if all parts of Britain had been voting yesterday in line with the trends seen in those parts of England where voting did take place.

The figures are:

Reform UK: 27% (down 5 points from 32% last year)

Conservatives: 20% (up 2 points from 18% last year)

Labour: 15% (down 4 points from 19% last year)

Greens: 14% (up 7 points from 7% last year)

Lib Dems: 14% (down 2 points from 16% last year)

On the basis of these figures, technically you could argue that Reform UK are going backwards. But good luck trying to persuade anyone in the party of that, given the number of seats they are winning.

Sky News also presented seat projection figures, showing what would happen if there were a general election and everyone voted on that basis. The figures were:

Reform UK: 284

Labour: 110

Conservatives: 96

Lib Dems: 80

There is always a tweet…. the arrogance of the man

Did anybody catch Baddenoch on Sky News standing in a cheering crowd talking about turning a corner and the green shoots of renewal and the rest there? Errr what? They're getting slaughtered and there wasnt a whole lot left to lose.

The FPTP seats in Scotland look like this

That would be classed as a stonking majority for the SNP if the parliament was elected by the same rules as Westminster. It is not so the additional members through the regional lists are now being counted.