BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION - 4TH JULY

Francie Barrett

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345115#Comment_122345115

It was a Labour government under Blair and Brown that caused the 2007 financial crisis in the UK.

Expectations for the Starmer government are through the roof. It's going to be interesting to see how he tackles the deep structural problems that the UK faces. The ageing population, the massive debt, the large numbers out of the workforce, one million immigrants a year, the cost of living, etc.

Starmer is going to fail, just like Sunak, Truss, Johnson, and all the others before him.

Randycove

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346630#Comment_122346630

she was born female.

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346785#Comment_122346785

Every body fails.That is just life.You can do a good or bad job of failing with some successes along the way.

You are blaming Labour for the 2007 financial crisis?Labour were in power then and had responsibility for dealing with the crisis.

"started it" sounds like convenient pointing the finger.Think it was Mrs Duffy that did for Gordon Brown not the financial crisis.

From poor memory that started in the States with their housing markets.

Peregrinus

It hit the UK on Labour's watch, but it was called the Global Financial Crisis for a reason.

Water John

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346897#Comment_122346897

One shouldn't let the truth get in the way of your bias.

Penn

The financial crisis absolutely started in America due to the banks and the entire collapse of the housing market. This had a knock-on effect globally which exacerbated issues in other countries' economies (including bursting our own housing bubble). Not saying the UK economy was perfect or great under Labour, but what happened in the US caused huge issues throughout developed counties.

The Tories' austerity measures when they came to power in 2010 were hugely devastating (and still are), Brexit (caused by Tory infighting) has worsened things, Johnson's disaster of Covid was monumental, Liz Truss' plan made mortgages and inflation skyrocket, and when it came to this election the Tories were always going to get destroyed because of the above.

Starmer absolutely has a huge task in front of him, but with Reform splitting the vote of the Tories like they are, unless there's some huge calamity I'd see Labour still winning the next election though with a smaller majority. We're likely to see Labour in power for the next 10 years in my opinion.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346785#Comment_122346785

Don't know if he's to fail. He serves the purpose if he really puts country first and party second. In order to fix all things you described he'd need better economic performance, and that he can only get with closer allignemt to the EU. After all the EU is still the biggest market for the UK and a majority of Brits don't agree with Brexit anyway at this point in time.

However I'd agree with you, Starmer would have to deliver and this means something positive must be felt in the population within a certain shortness of time. This will be hard to implment.

Incidentally, aging population, massive debts and uncontrolled immigration are problems for many countries these days toghether with unaffordable housing.

Voter turnout was only around 60% which I find sad, even more worrysome is Farrage and Reform UK.

What I still like about the British general election:

• The possible political axis between a possible Trump presidency in the US and the UK is broken now. If Trump should win in the US, he won't have any political support from the UK anymore.
• Rather Labour than a populist government which is Putin friendly or partially Putin funded like RN in France or AfD in Germany
• The nationalist SNP in Scotland lost and is dramatically reduced. Seems like the Scots finally woken up to all the lies they've been telling them for nearly 20 years.
• Jacob Reese Mogg is gone as well, along with other nuisances who ruined the country

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346907#Comment_122346907

Can I ask you about the "lies" that the SNP are telling Scots?

Hande hoche!

Watching Keir Starmer now. Would be perfectly happy with him as British PM for five years. Could do with a bit of stability after his predecessors.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346935#Comment_122346935

I would presume that we don't have the same opinion on this. So since you asked the question and don't know, you don't want to know anyway. Other than arguing….

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346906#Comment_122346906

That will very much depend of what Starmer's Labour do while they're in power. The Brits, like the Yanks, have very short political memories and all of the damage that the Tories have done to the country can be reduced to a vague fog in short order for a lot of people.

I keep saying it, but Starmer's Labour are not in power for anything that they, themselves, have done. They are where they are because the Tories of fucked things up so badly. Now if Labour don't deliver, you can bet that those Tories and undecideds that have lent their vote to Starmer et al will rebound back quicker than you can say rubber band.

As for Reform, they're a joke and will eventually go the way of all things that Farage is associated with. Down the toilet. I don't see them being around in 5 years time.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122347089#Comment_122347089

There is some truth to that. The problem is people in the UK voted for something because they were against something else, and that against something else is against Conservative. Labour was still the better choice, Reform the worst. Reform UK actually worries me. If Labour doesn't deliver, will they vote Reform UK next time? A fascistst and putin-friendly UK next door to Ireland? That would be a nightmare indeed.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346630#Comment_122346630

……

PommieBast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346785#Comment_122346785

The one thing that can be pinned to that government was the rampant financial engineering and "light touch" regulation (e.g. Macquarie allowed to load Thames Water with debt) that contributed to Britain's current position. Labour did not cause the crisis but they did create conditions that made it substantially worse.

I'm basically expecting the pledge on taxation to be fudged if not outright broken because taxes not covered by that pledge don't have a wide enough base to raise the revenues required.

martingriff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122347089#Comment_122347089

You making it sound like a new phenomenon that a ruling party is being thrown out for something they do. You say Labour did nothing what have other parties in opposition done more

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122347174#Comment_122347174

It not unique to the UK.

We do it here too.

We voted for FG in 2011 because they were not FF.

SF got a great boost in 2020 because they were not FF or FG, and they might have another good election soon for the same reason.

These threads about UK elections are all the same.

People love to criticize the people of the UK for making bad political choices, as if we Irish are smarter, but we Irish also guilty of making bad choices ourselves

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122347502#Comment_122347502

I'm not making anything out to be a "new phenomenon" at all.

But the fact remains that Labour have done absolutely nothing to find themselves where they are at present and it remains to be seen what it is that they'll do once they settle into governing.

I think there are people in Britain are expecting big things from Starmer's Labour and if they don't deliver they might be out on their arse sooner than they think.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122347941#Comment_122347941

I would tend to agree with you on that one.

But at least Starmer is no career politician, or so to say he came rather later in his life to politics and at least he intends to put country first and party second. We will certainly see if that is really going to happen.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122347941#Comment_122347941

They ran an incredibly smart campaign where they increased their vote share by about 6% in seats they took from the Tories and decreased it by a broadly similar amount in seats they kept anyway. The overall vote share staying the same masks that it was a much better targeted campaign that got the votes in precisely the seats it needed to.

They have 5 years at a minimum in power, there is almost nothing that would reduce that bar some kind of apocalyptic scandal the likes of which we've never seen.

deirdremf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345599#Comment_122345599

You are looking at things in a short-term way. If Smarmer wants to have a second term, he needs to keep the electorate onside, and it is quite unlikely that he'll win another majority on 20% of the electorate.

Leroy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122349386#Comment_122349386

But that implies the Tories get back to offering something to the public.

It took them years to reorganise after the 1997 GE defeat. And back then they didn't have Reform to worry about.

It's just as likely that the LibDems will move towards overtaking them as the official opposition.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122349386#Comment_122349386

The percentage of the electorate figure is utterly meaningless and is only dragged out to make some kind of ridiculous swipe and is deliberately disingenuous. He could get 40% votes on 50% turnout and he'll be absolutely laughing.

He has 5 years to govern before the next election so there is no short-term to really worry about. The vote share and the especially the raw vote numbers simply aren't that relevant in the system in place in the UK. Not to mention the absolutely massive polling lead they had will have done nothing but depress their numbers.

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122349386#Comment_122349386

"Smarmer"?

A weird characterization.No one says he is charasmatic but you think he is "smarmy"?

Pray tell why.

deirdremf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122349394#Comment_122349394

I'm happy for Starmer to have his day in the sun, but many posters here have lost the run of themselves. His victory is not a victory by way of popular acclaim - it is purely in terms of seats in parliament, which is of course where the decisions are made, but the foundations of this victory are not solid.

On top of that, it's a commonplace that governments with huge majorities lose control of their backbenches. Moreover, the British Labour party is not exactly united: there is a lot of internal opposition to the current regime - and a lot of external opposition too. Despite their vast parliamentary majority Labour lost votes compared to the 2019 election. They did very well off a very low vote and next time round will need to find new voters if they are to remain in power.

For instance, many posters here seem to be of the opinion that the SNP will not make a comeback in five years' time; they may be right but I won't be betting on it. Then again, Labour lost votes in virtually every constituency in Wales - luckily for them the Conservatives lost way more than them. I haven't looked at English results in any detail, but I think the same holds true there.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122349386#Comment_122349386

Where are you getting 20% from?

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122349560#Comment_122349560

20% would refer to the entire electorate as listed on the electoral register, as opposed to 20% of those who voted on the day.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122349580#Comment_122349580

Why are you using that figure? People who don't vote are irrelevant.

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122349585#Comment_122349585

That is true but it is still interesting that 20% of the eligible voters were enough for Labour to gain a large majority in Parliament.

Of course we can apply the same arithmetic to the other parties and my rough calculation gives Farage 10% and the Tories something similar.

Those who were eligible to vote but did not were just shy of 40% and so ,it could be facetiously argued should be more entitled to tea with K Charles than Sir Keir.

In fact as much entitled as Farage ,the Tories and Sir Keir grouped together if that was possible without too much ill feeling .

I am pleased for Labour.I hope they can earn the description of a Party of Governance and I hope Keir Starmer leads the way .

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122349585#Comment_122349585

It's not me who used the figure, that was a different poster - I was explaining where they (presumably) got the '20%' number from.

silverharp

His mother deserves a medal , does anyone want to tell him?

https://twitter.com/BBCBreakfast/status/1809864693369946433