UK General Election 2024: The Results & Aftermath

[Busaholic]

A point that I don’t think has been mentioned is that Reform have an alliance with the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV). As TUV took one seat, that puts the grouping on six seats.

I wonder if the overestimation of the Reform vote in the exit poll was because the pollsters thought there might be a lot more people who were too embarrassed to admit that they voted for Reform than actually were embarrassed. The same might be true of the overestimation of the Conservative seats.

Yes, and that 'extra' result ended the career of the sleazy Ian Paisley Jr, so it can't be all bad!

 

[Howardh]

First 1st post the post nonsense needs to go. The results make it look like Labour had a massive majority when it real terms they done incredibly bad ( especially when you look at how much of a mess the conservatives are in )

Although the actual votes would change as if now voters felt their vote wouldn't count in a constituency where the winner is almost certain, or that - like me - they voted for a party that wasn't their first choice, looking at the result yesterday, we would simply have a Lab/LD/Green pact to keep out Ref/Con; so the result is no different.

We had a vote on electoral reform in 2011, be nice to know how many who voted against electoral reform would now vote for it (why??) and if it's time for another then fine, it's also time for a vote on joining the single market too. Can't have one without the other, that would be so unfair.

Meanwhile, if Geoff Marshall can do "all the stations" it's made me want to do "all the Lib Dem seats" starting with Henley-on-Thames!! Me getting crowdfunding money? I think not!!

 

[Busaholic]

I‘ve just watched the few hours of BBC coverage I missed due to going to bed.

Liz Truss’ behaviour was appalling. Late to the count. Then walked out of the interview with Ros Atkins.

One of the worst (former) MPs I had the (dis)pleasure to meet.

Good riddance.

Unlike me, you obviously never met George Galloway, an experience you might never forget.

 

[Kaliwax]

Liz Truss won't be missed.

Does Liz Truss not have any emotion at all? She's like a robot, no passion or passion whatsoever.

Liz Truss: South West Norfolk voters respond to election ousting

Residents react as Liz Truss, who had the shortest ever stint as UK prime minister, loses her seat.

www.bbc.co.uk

According to this article, her constituents won't miss her, as she was hardly ever in her district.

Even in her books, she can't take responsibility for her own mistakes and blames everyone else for her problems. She never apologised at all, to the people who backed and supported her.

 

[Ediswan]

We had a vote on electoral reform in 2011, be nice to know how many who voted against electoral reform would now vote for it (why??)

We had a vote on changing the process for individual constituencies to 'alternative vote', not on electoral reform in general. A referendum offering PR may have had a different outcome.

 

[Howardh]

We had a vote on changing the process for individual constituencies to 'alternative vote', not on electoral reform in general. A referendum offering PR may have had a different outcome.

It probably would, and so might having a referendum on joining the single market. Can we have both on the same day?

 

[AndyPJG]

Final result finally in, and as expected; LD's win Inverness region. Wayy!!

Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire still to declare,

 

[jfollows]

It's not the last one. Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire still to declare,

I think SNP has conceded this one, but it’s not official as you say.

 

[Magdalia]

What is the background to the Greens being able to get enough interest in Waveney Valley and North Herefordshire to take those seats. If it can happen in these two, then what is the secret to getting it to happen elsewhere.

The Green Party are strong in local politics in Suffolk, and were very successful in the May 2023 local elections. They control Mid Suffolk District Council and are the largest party in East Suffolk and Babergh. More details here:

Local elections 2023: Greens secure victory in Mid Suffolk

Mid Suffolk District Council becomes the first council in England to have a Green majority.

www.bbc.co.uk

The Green Party has secured sole control of an English council for the first time.

They won 24 seats on Mid Suffolk District Council, six more than was needed for majority on the 34-seat authority.

Basically they are following the Liberal Democrat model of establishing a local presence first.

Waveney Valley is a new constituency and is unusual because it straddles a county border, including wards in both Suffolk and Norfolk. This meant that the other parties also had to set up new constituency parties and did not have a head start organisationally.

 

[The Puddock]

Does Liz Truss not have any emotion at all? She's like a robot, no passion or passion whatsoever.

I've suspected for a while that she's on the autistic spectrum. A lot of her behaviours and mannerisms are typical of someone with an autistic spectrum condition.

 

[brad465]

And the other good point about FPTP is that days (possibly weeks) isn't wasted while the winning party tries to get a coalition together in order to govern.

1974 (with its two elections)? 2010? 2017?

It might not happen every time but coalition-style negotiations are not ruled out.

 

[AM9]

We had a vote on changing the process for individual constituencies to 'alternative vote', not on electoral reform in general. A referendum offering PR may have had a different outcome.

Yes, the Conservatives offered the Lib Dems the worst and absolute minimum option for the referendum, knowing that it would most probably be rejected by the electorate. I wonder how many Conservatives might now rue that ploy.

 

[AlterEgo]

First 1st post the post nonsense needs to go. The results make it look like Labour had a massive majority when it real terms they done incredibly bad

No they didn't. That's a result of pouring all the resources into tight marginals instead of shoring up safe seats.

It was an excellent result for Labour and anyone who thinks they did badly doesn't really understand how FPTP elections work or the outcomes they produce.

 

[nw1]

The parents may be able to make a conscious decision, barring of course accidents. They may of course make this decision in an environment where they have well-paid jobs and can easily afford a third child. Jobs don't last forever of course, and sometimes one of the parents leaves or dies.

The point of benefits is to provide a safety net and attempt to prevent destitution when the unexpected happens. As a civilised society, we do this for both adults and children. When we put arbitrary restrictions on this to punish the "immoral" decisions of parents in the past, we are arbitrarily and heavily punishing the weakest adults in our society, and more importantly we are punishing and destroying the life chances of children who never asked to exist.

Please reconsider this.

I guess you're right. I have to admit having not had children I don't appreciate the issues as much as I ought to.

 

[JonathanH]

Yes, the Conservatives offered the Lib Dems the worst and absolute minimum option for the referendum, knowing that it would most probably be rejected by the electorate. I wonder how many Conservatives might now rue that ploy.

Under Alternative Vote, the Conservatives could well have done worse at this election than with the current system as it has to be assumed that most of the population voting for Labour, Liberal Democrats and Green would put a combination of those three as their first three preferences.

 

[nw1]

Looks like the Tories held onto both my former 'North West Hampshire' and the new 'Romsey & Southampton North' seats with the labour person losing 2.8% of his vote compared to 2019 to finish 4th.

So no doubt this will be the first area to get paradise paved over to build endless housing blocks to punish the voters.

I doubt it. North West Hampshire and the Test Valley has a lot of nice scenery and parts must surely be AONB; there are plenty of more non-descript areas where new housing could go.

I don't think the government would be that vindictive, and in Romsey the margin was pretty small anyway.

 

[Henffordd]

What is the background to the Greens being able to get enough interest in Waveney Valley and North Herefordshire to take those seats. If it can happen in these two, then what is the secret to getting it to happen elsewhere.

Three factors in North Herefordshire, I think:

1. A Green Candidate, who had been an MEP and who was a very effective and, it seems, popular, local councillor;
2. A sitting Tory MP whose local involvement was more limited and who was a lot less popular (locally known as Bungalow Bill)
3. The state of the rivers in the county, with a huge amount of pollution that could be attributed to agriculture, particularly chicken farming.

2 and 3 combined when the MP gave public support to a local farmer who had illegally dredged river and damaged a Site of Special Scientific Interest and who did time for it.

 

[edwin_m]

For someone who was astonished when Labour gained even Rushcliffe (on one of the smaller swings of the night, as it turned out), it's been really quite something.

I was fully expecting this in Rushcliffe. Previously represented by Ken Clarke, it has historically been centre-right and one of the few parts of the region to vote Remain, but with Labour support increasing closer to Nottingham. So I suspect the electorate was alienated by Brexit and Boris, the previous incumbent only got in because the opposing vote being split between Labour and the LibDems, both of whom published dubious barcharts claiming to have the best chance. This time there was no visible LibDem effort and the tactical voting sites gave a clear recommendation for Labour.

We had a vote on changing the process for individual constituencies to 'alternative vote', not on electoral reform in general. A referendum offering PR may have had a different outcome.

That would risk falling into the Brexit trap - people might agree on the need for change but no single option might attract a majority. Hence my suggestion upthread of a commission or even a citizens' assembly to recommend the best option, then put that to a referendum.

 

[Irascible]

I will give Rees-Mogg some credit for being graceful in defeat, he actually behaved like a reasonable human unlike Truss. As time goes on Truss even being in the running for PM is going to seem more and more absurd.

Totally agree, whatever happens in the next five years the LD's and Greens have to hold Labour to account - which is only fair - but must not deviate towards anywhere near the right, and let the Tories and Reform bite themselves to death.

The LDs being apparently left of Labour at the moment makes that pretty unlikely. Of all the parties to drift around they seem the least likely.

This year seven seats (pending the last seat vote tally) were won with fewer than 100 votes, with Hendon the smallest at just 15 votes. 3 of them were Labour wins, 3 Tory and 1 Reform. I wouldn't be surprised if these are seats where voter ID really made the difference in the final result:

That is a very good point & someone at the big news outlets should really be knocking out an article about that. 100 votes would be a very low threshold for that to matter.

We must be getting laughed at as a nation if we can't have all seats declared by the same day, there cant be any other country that takes well over a day to declare a result like what is happening in a seat in Scotland.

We have some of the *quickest* returns in the world, as far as I remember. Changing govt on the same night as the election is not common.

 

[Backroom_boy]

First 1st post the post nonsense needs to go. The results make it look like Labour had a massive majority when it real terms they done incredibly bad ( especially when you look at how much of a mess the conservatives are in )

My crayonista election system would be a preferential vote system for MPs where you place your 1st, 2nd and 3rd place votes so still resulting in a single mp for a constituency and then the popular vote numbers would be used to set the party numbers in the Lords (cross benchers could be set by reference to the total turn out or something) based on party lists.

 

[Busaholic]

What is the background to the Greens being able to get enough interest in Waveney Valley and North Herefordshire to take those seats. If it can happen in these two, then what is the secret to getting it to happen elsewhere.

Unsure whether you ever got a reply. Waveney was caused by a huge network of new pylons, and Herefordshire all the chicken crap from processing factories going into the River Wye.

 

[1D54]

These Unionist parties in Ulster really need to get their act together or they will find themselves somewhere where they really don't want to be.The writing has been on the wall for the last couple of years yet infighting amongst themselves will have a disastrous ending unless it stops now.

 

[Gooner18]

No they didn't. That's a result of pouring all the resources into tight marginals instead of shoring up safe seats.

It was an excellent result for Labour and anyone who thinks they did badly doesn't really understand how FPTP elections work or the outcomes they produce.

They got 2% more votes than they did in 2019 ,that’s with the conservatives in total free fall , you’re saying they done well lol ! It seems to me people did not really want Labour in either

 

[JonathanH]

It seems to me people did not really want Labour in either

There is an undertone of a Labour to Green shift on the left which partially explains it.

 

[birchesgreen]

Unlike me, you obviously never met George Galloway, an experience you might never forget.

I think i'd rather meet Trump

 

[Gooner18]

There is an undertone of a Labour to Green shift on the left which partially explains it.

Same could be said in regards to reform and the conservatives if there was not that split it would have been bloody close which again shows me how bad Labour done.
Unfortunately I can see Reform being in government if Labour fail in this 5 year term

 

[AlterEgo]

They got 2% more votes than they did in 2019 ,that’s with the conservatives in total free fall , you’re saying they done well lol ! It seems to me people did not really want Labour in either

Well yes, they obtained a majority by ensuring they poured all their resources into swing seats to convince those to turn away from the Conservatives, as I now restate.

Parties are there to obtain power under our system, not to convince voters whose votes are unlikely to be decisive so people online can meaninglessly crow about vote shares.

Labour in 2024 have 411 seats and form the government with a commanding majority. In 2019 they got fewer than half that number of seats, having lost to a bloviating dullard playing out a World King fantasy, subjecting the country to another five years of Conservative rule.

If you do not think that is a good result then that is up to you I guess.

 

[Busaholic]

I think i'd rather meet Trump

I doubt you'd get the same sense of evil personified within seconds.

 

[Falcon1200]

If the SNP result had been better they would have been on the phone to westminster to demand another referendum based on a mandate claim from this election. I'm not so sure they will give up based on this election.

They should give up, but they won't; Treating the General Election as a de facto Independence Referendum (copyright N.Sturgeon) is for them only a thing when it returns the correct outcome.

 

[Snow1964]

They got 2% more votes than they did in 2019 ,that’s with the conservatives in total free fall , you’re saying they done well lol ! It seems to me people did not really want Labour in either

I am not sure where you get your votes figures from

In 2019 Labour got 10,269,051 votes
In 2024 Labour got 9,698,409 votes (before last seat is declared)

Thats not a 2% increase, that is a cut in votes.