The General Politics Thread v2.0 (AKA the "Labour are Cunts" thread)

[Mr.Showtime]

5 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Shamefully I really don't know much about the Welsh government. Is there likely to be an independence referendum any time soon? I could swear someone from the SNP mentioned another Scottish one last night, but can't remember ever seeing anything about Wales.

Unfortunately the process for Scotland to get a referendum is basically:

"Hello Westminster, we have about 10 mandates now, can we have another independence vote?"
"No."
"Oh, okay."

Just my opinion but Scotland has missed its chance. If it wasn't going to happen as soon as Brexit was getting thrashed out, it's never going to happen anytime soon.

[The King Of Swing]

Voted Plaid on the basis that Welsh Labour were clearly fucked, Reform/Tories were completely out of the question and everyone else had no chance.

[westlondonmist]

Scotland seems to be the only country to tell Reform to fuck off, although I think the new electoral system in Wales heavily helped them. Even then in Scotland they are joint second party. 

[garynysmon]

Given the demographics of many areas of post-industrial Wales are massively fertile ground for Reform, compared to England they underperformed in Wales really.

I've always said that there's still this mental block by many Welsh people that's immediately turned off by anything that seems remotely Thatcherite. So while Reform did persuade many to vote for them in Wales, they didn't do as well as they'd like. 

Reform's issue is while they massively appeal to some, they massively turn off more. And part of Plaid's success was persuading the electorate that they were the anti-Reform option.

The problem for Labour is that the Emperor is now naked. If you've managed to break people's lifetime habits of voting Labour, what's to say they'll ever go back?

Plaid's gameplan is clearly to follow what the SNP did in 2007.

Form a minority government which turns out to be at least competent, and gain the trust of more voters to get a majority next time out.

Plaid do squeeze out the Greens over here really, and the Lib Dems are finding no traction at all. The only major gaps you'll find between Plaid and Green policies are rural matters, where Plaid are much more 'farmer friendly' given historically the party's supporter base has been based in rural Welsh-speaking north west and west Wales.

But while demographics are on Plaid's side (i.e the Reform / hard unionist vote is overwhelmingly older leaning), support for independence atm is around 33%.

They know that any independence referendum at this point would almost certainly fail, and given the UK Gov't's excuse is that its too soon after the last Scottish Referendum to grant them another, you have to be confident that you'll win.

What's harder in Wales compared to Scotland of course is that around 1/3 of the Welsh population was born in England and moved here, many in their retirement. So while some learn the language and become 'Welsh citizens' (in their mindsets) so to speak, a hell of a lot don't (think of your Benidorm 'ex-pats').

So that's a very tough nut to crack.

Edited May 9 by garynysmon

[JNLister]

Greater Manchester 2024 > Greater Manchester 2026

 

[Merzbow]

Nuke Wigan.

[Thefatduck]

1 hour ago, JNLister said:

Greater Manchester 2024 > Greater Manchester 2026

 

That’s less than ideal. 

[Chico Torres]

It’s a difficult one, clearly tons of racists out there but also Labour deserve to get destroyed. This country is fucked.

[The King Of Swing]

Resignations have started. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1m2e4nl1z1t

 

[LaGoosh]

Bloody hell, I'm no Starmer fan but it'd be nice if this country could have a PM that'd actually be able to finish a single full fucking term, at the very least!

[Chico Torres]

Nah fuck it he should go just for the joy of seeing his humiliation at being such a pathetic non-entity but he will probably be replaced by someone worse like Wes Streeting.

[Nexus]

The problem is there is not a real alternative in the Labour Party. They've gone for the most milquetoast man in Starmer, and he's been absolutely crucified in the media since Day 1. Obviously he has also made some incredible missteps, but there's no-one who is going to improve the position - Streeting will make life even worse for trans people, Mahmood will make it even worse for migrants, and can you imagine the conversations between Rayner and Trump? Going back to Miliband seems stupid, and then who else is there? It's just fucking shit, and it will continue to be fucking shit until we get a new election, and Nige and his cronies fuck the country further. 

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Its so difficult at the moment, being so bereft of quality politicians of any persuasion that would be able to do something worthwhile once put in charge. 

[Browser Brady]

13 hours ago, Nexus said:

Obviously he has also made some incredible missteps, 

what has he done that is so bad exactly?

 

From the outside looking in , he seemed like a “safe pair of hands” which was needed by the UK. 

[westlondonmist]

20 minutes ago, Browser Brady said:

what has he done that is so bad exactly?

 

From the outside looking in , he seemed like a “safe pair of hands” which was needed by the UK. 

I think his major miss steps he hasn't reversed the shit show of the previous government and he hasn't controlled his party. So he hasn't done anything incredibly bad but he hasn't done anything of note or given hope. In modern day politics I think you have to do at least one. 

 

You could probably argue removing the child benefit cap was a positive but it's been spun by many into helping immigrants or people who can't afford kids have lots of benefits.