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Theresa May calls General Election on 8th June.

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southern442

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I guess it could happen, in theory. Theresa May isn't immune to losing her seat just because she's PM. If the Lib Dems could overturn a big majority in Richmond they can do it again. (I'm being extremely optimistic here, but I seriously will not get through the next 6 weeks without hope and optimism!)

If I ever do become a senior politician then I would definitely be willing to talk to other party leaders to do something like this. Perhaps not the best move strategically but the publicity and scandal would be too good to miss :lol:
 
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Busaholic

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They're all very clustered these Bank Holidays, as you have noted. We'll have St Patrick's and St David's Days in March, Easter in the middle/somewhere around here, and St George's Day in April (on which note, Happy St George's Day England). That's five in the space of two months. Would it not make much more sense to try and spread them out over the course of the year?

It's an ill thought-out idea, capitalising on nationalist sentiment at the expense of common sense. I'm not sure we necessarily need more bank holidays - personally I find them an annoyance anyway because my in-hours workload ends up clustered in four days rather than five (and the restricted out-of-hours workload . But does he really expect Scotland to celebrate St George's Day, or for that matter England to celebrate St Andrew's Day? Would be more sensible to make each national day a holiday in its own country, and then come up with some other meaningful holidays. Why not copy India and have a National Science Day, for example?

Being English and having St George's Day (today, April 23rd) as my birthday you might expect me to approve of this, but, as you say, it's an ill thought-out proposal which would cluster even more Bank Holidays into the Spring quarter. This year we'd have had Bank Holidays on three successive weekends, which is nonsense. Personally, I'd be happy if the 23rd April could always coincide with Easter, just like it did in the year 2000 and a couple of other times in my lifetime, but wars have been fought on lesser things.:)
 

me123

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It has just occurred to me just how many holidays we'd have if St George's Day was a holiday this year. Last week was Easter, presumably today would be St George's Day (observed), and next Monday would be the May Day holiday. We'd have four four-day weeks in a row. Whilst there may be benefit from a rest day every now and then, surely the economy would suffer from having so many in such a short space of time?

Would it be possible for Easter to fall near St George's Day, and if so would we then have a five-day weekend? In 2038, Easter falls on the 25th of April, so St George's Day is on Good Friday. Ultimately, after the Easter weekend, we'd then presumably have St George's Day (observed) on the next Tuesday.
 

pemma

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Another thing. This is just a hypothetical situation, but what might happen if the Lib Dems field a candidate in Maidenhead, and all the other parties back that candidate? Since they voted to remain, is there any sort of chance that , in this extremely unlikely scenario, they could kick the PM out of her own constituency?

If that happened the Conservatives would have to pick a new leader and if the Conservatives also got a majority, the new leader would be PM.
 

pemma

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Being English and having St George's Day (today, April 23rd) as my birthday you might expect me to approve of this, but, as you say, it's an ill thought-out proposal which would cluster even more Bank Holidays into the Spring quarter. This year we'd have had Bank Holidays on three successive weekends, which is nonsense. Personally, I'd be happy if the 23rd April could always coincide with Easter, just like it did in the year 2000 and a couple of other times in my lifetime, but wars have been fought on lesser things.:)

Unless the Pope decides to fix the day for Easter that won't happen. While the Anglican date for Easter could be changed I imagine they'll want to keep the same date as other western Christian churches.
 

najaB

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Unless the Pope decides to fix the day for Easter that won't happen. While the Anglican date for Easter could be changed I imagine they'll want to keep the same date as other western Christian churches.
That said, there is some merit in the idea of a fixed Spring Holiday that is not connected to the religious holiday of Easter (or Chocolate Bunny Day which is what it is to most people).
 

pemma

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That said, there is some merit in the idea of a fixed Spring Holiday that is not connected to the religious holiday of Easter (or Chocolate Bunny Day which is what it is to most people).

We have two of those already - the first and last Monday in May. I believe the last one was originally Whit Monday as a movable Bank Holiday but got replaced by a fixed Spring Bank Holiday.

Living in a town which still has a traditional May Day Festival it's interesting to note it's always on the first Saturday of May, even when that is the weekend after the BH weekend (like this year), making the name of the BH irrelevant.
 

pemma

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I have a feeling that Labour will campaign for single market access because it's so popular. They had better do, anyway.

Corbyn seems to want to put protecting employment legislation as his number 1 priority for Brexit. (Which isn't an unreasonable approach for the leader of the Labour party.) However, he seems to have adopted an approach similar to May with regards to the single market, in that he doesn't want it if it prevents us having full control of our own borders.

Labour have now gone up to 29%, Tories are down to 40%, according to the latest poll.

Labour down to 19% and Tories up to 45% in an Observer poll. Greens, SNP and UKIP also losing support with Lib Dems gaining support. Plaid Cymru support remaining constant

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...server-poll-conservatives-way-ahead-of-labour
 

pemma

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If I ever do become a senior politician then I would definitely be willing to talk to other party leaders to do something like this. Perhaps not the best move strategically but the publicity and scandal would be too good to miss :lol:

Worth remembering Labour and the Lib Dems worked together in getting Neil Hamilton ejected from the House of Commons. They both agreed to withdraw their candidates so Independent Martin Bell had the best possible chance of winning and it worked.

Unfortunately, Martin Bell said he would stand for one term and kept to this word so it allowed the Conservatives to parachute George Osborne in to a safe Tory safe at the following election.
 

Barn

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The big unknown here, which this election might help to reveal, is the depth of feeling on Brexit.

We know that this election has Brexit at its core, and without Brexit we wouldn't be having it.

We know, in each constituency, how people voted in the referendum.

What we don't know is how much importance people place on that vote. How many Leave-voters really consider Brexit the most important thing? How many Remain-voters are truly ardent about that and would change their usual vote to align with it? How many voters actually felt that whatever decision they made was finely balanced?

I think those of us with an interest in politics (i.e. all particpants on this thread) tend to hold quite developed views on current affairs and can sometimes fall into the trap of assuming that everyone holds views as strongly as we do. We know that the Brexit vote was very important and had a high turnout. We'll now find out how much it trumps voters' habits, tribal loyalties, and views on other matters.
 

pemma

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What we don't know is how much importance people place on that vote. How many Leave-voters really consider Brexit the most important thing? How many Remain-voters are truly ardent about that and would change their usual vote to align with it? How many voters actually felt that whatever decision they made was finely balanced?

There still is misleading information being circulated. How many times have people said the remainers got their predictions wrong, despite the fact we are almost 2 years off leaving the EU yet?

One thing I always take in to consideration when voting is how vague or specific the promises are. For example, at the last election Ed Miliband told us he would re-introduce the 10p tax rate but he didn't say where the threshold would be. Miliband could have gone for a 10p threshold at £8,000 and changed the 20p threshold to £15,000 which would have put some low earners worse off, but then he could have gone for a 10p threshold at £12,500 and a 20p threshold at £20,500 which no-one have lost out from and a number of people would have gained from.
 

Barn

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My point is simply that we're starting to hear opinions like:

  • "The Lib Dems will struggle to regain their old south-west England heartlands because they voted overwhelmingly to leave"
  • "The Lib Dems will take several London Conservative seats because they voted convincingly to remain"
These pre-suppose that Brexit is the only thing on voters' minds. Perhaps that's true, but I think it is an oversimplification. I am sure that there were Leave voters who are not committed Brexiteers. I am also sure that there were Remain voters who have come to terms with us leaving. Who knows how the referendum will affect voting this time around?
 
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pemma

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My point is simply that we're starting to hear opinions like:

  • "The Lib Dems will struggle to regain their old south-west England heartlands because they voted overwhelmingly to leave"
  • "The Lib Dems will take several London Conservative seats because they voted convincingly to remain"
These pre-suppose that Brexit is the only thing on voters' minds. Perhaps that's true, but I think it is an oversimplification. I am sure that there were Leave voters who are not committed Brexiteers. I am also sure that there were Remain voters who have come to terms with us leaving. Who knows how the referendum will affect voting this time around?

It could be some people who voted in favour of Brexit would be in favour of some of the Lib Dems ideas, mainly not taking us out of the single market without another referendum.

It also seems the media want to tell us what non-Brexit plans Labour and the Conservatives have but not what non-Brexit plans the Lib Dems have e.g. I've just gone on the Lib Dem website and noticed a mention of an extra £5/week to those claiming Universal Credit who have children and to make large multi-nationals pay more tax to fund support for new mutual and community interest companies. I've not heard those mentioned in the media.
 

pemma

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Conservative central office are trying to parachute Esther McVey in to the Tatton seat currently held by George Osborne, although she has to see off two other Conservative nominees in order to be the Conservative candidate. The Lib Dems and Greens have both chosen local candidates to stand, Labour haven't organised a shortlist yet.
 

Dave1987

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I feel it was going to be an enormous victory for Tories until they started dropping a few potential bombshells. The whole issue of the Tory leadership not willing to pledge taxes on ordinary working people won't rise hasn't gone down well. There certainly seems to be the feeling that taxes will go up to pay for Brexit, if May is PM. The way May, Hammond and Fallon have refused to say taxes won't increase clearly shows that they must be planning future rises. Pensions are another thing for the chop as well. I think May is that confident of a victory she is almost given herself free reign in the next parliament. We will only find out on June 8th whether people will put their trust in her. I doubt many working people will want their taxes to go up to pay for a Brexit downturn or to pay for tax giveaways to big companies.
 

pemma

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Just tried to find out if UKIP were going to attempt to put forward a candidate for the election in my area and found they've let their website hosting expire.
 

WelshBluebird

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Also Leanne Wood has bottled standing for Westminster against Chris Bryant in Rhondda :p

That actually surprised me as I think she would have half a chance if she did stand for it. There is a lot of "Labour hasn't changed anything" feeling in the area, and certainly in terms of local councillors and Leanne herself as the AM, Plaid are seem as a potential way of getting change. Of course, Brexit may through that out of the window. Also from a purely local point of view (it being the constituency I grew up in) it would be interesting to see what would have happened!
 

Busaholic

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It has just occurred to me just how many holidays we'd have if St George's Day was a holiday this year. Last week was Easter, presumably today would be St George's Day (observed), and next Monday would be the May Day holiday. We'd have four four-day weeks in a row. Whilst there may be benefit from a rest day every now and then, surely the economy would suffer from having so many in such a short space of time?

Would it be possible for Easter to fall near St George's Day, and if so would we then have a five-day weekend? In 2038, Easter falls on the 25th of April, so St George's Day is on Good Friday. Ultimately, after the Easter weekend, we'd then presumably have St George's Day (observed) on the next Tuesday.

I don't remember my birthday ever occurring on Good Friday, so I'll just have to hope I make 90.:)
 
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