General British politics discussion thread

Labour just needs to move to the centre and presents themselves as competent and safe with the economy. Most British people, like Irish, are more conservative on most things than people would like to admit.

If they get over 40% and the Tories are in the low 30s, they will get a majority.

Yep exactly.

Starmer is drab, but he is the perfect leader for now and tbf his polling is strong.

Lots can happen, but with his current approach, its probable that they could get a majority or do something with the Lib Dems.

@Rjd2

Will the LDs have the seats though? I doubt Labour would want to touch the LibDems unless they get 30+ seats and the only way I see that happening is if they go full-in German style FDP and rinse it in the home countries.

The current leadership is more pragmatic than the previous plank Swinson. Locally they can work together, Milton Keynes Council not far from my hometown has been in a "Progressive Alliance" successfully for a couple of years.

Davey personally seems sound enough, my dad met him a couple of times in the Charlie Kennedy era and also spoke highly of him, though he also initially thought Clegg was sound so maybe not the best judge! (Dad was a Liberal for decades, though he jumped ship after they went in to coalition with the Tories)

Moving to PR doesn't need a referendum though. (as always open to correction on this). There's nothing constitutional about FPTP and parliament is ultimately sovereign anyway.

The ARV referendum happened because that's all the Conservatives agreed to as part of the coalition for government. In theory the Lib Dems could have insisted that it only went to a parliamentary vote and that the Conservatives whipped it through. And if not, no coalition.

How would it play out if a Labour/LibDem coalition brought in PR? Would it become the big election issue of 2028 with the Tories promising to go back to the proper 'one person one vote' and sweeping home? Or would the likes of Reform/UKIP/Greens/WorkersParty etc pick up enough seats straight away such that parliament would never have the desire/numbers to 'go back'?

Labour have always opposed PR.

The notion of PR isn't popular in the UK as their political system has delivered relative stability for several centuries.

They compare this with the political systems in the continent and they see revolutions, monarchs being replaced, endless coalition governments, periods where country's have caretaker governments ( like our own).

They don't want that. The Brits are proud of their electoral history and the stability it has given.

Well, Kwasi and Liz are, you know, friends with benefits. Somewhat surprised this used to be fully illegal, but hey, it's the Tory government - if it's good for their friends, lets make it legal.

The only way she can realistically cut tax is if she borrows. If Truss gets into power she will certainly break up the union given time. She will force through the NIP bill breaking international law but more importantly will force a trade war and thus damaging the islands economy. The north will not survive but maybe that's the plan? So we will end up with unification and the Scots will get their referendum and after seeing what happened to the north will leave the UK

It's not intuition. It's based on the fact that the main two parties opposed PR.