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General Election 2017: The Results and Aftermath
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Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Looking at some of the postings that seem to be dismissive of all things Conservative in this General Election, I invite these good people to explain why the Conservative Party still managed to secure 44 per cent of the total vote.
AlterEgo
Veteran Member
Enough about that Paul, tell us more about the Tories' partners, the DUP, and their backing from a banned terrorist organisation.
Waiting with bated breath.
gordonthemoron
Established Member
Has Theresa announced extending HS2 to Belfast yet?
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Never mind that, what about Theresa May using terrorists to cling on to power?
backontrack
Established Member
That's an increase of 3.1%.
Labour have made an increase of 10%, so not sure that statement really helps your agenda Paul.
backontrack
Established Member
In my old (admittedly safe Labour) seat York Central, the Labour share of the vote increased by 22%!
Kite159
Veteran Member
A little pocket of red in (sadly) an ocean of blue (if you look at the maps).
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Anyhow, it will be interesting to see what happens over the coming weeks with the well hung parliament. Mrs May must be regretting calling the election
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
A typical political ploy by you to ignore the question asked and to ask another question...
northwichcat
Veteran Member
As summed up by David Dimberley in the early hours of this morning - there's been a trend of voters switching from smaller parties to the main 2 parties.
Given only the other day you were telling us all the good points of a First Past The Post system, perhaps you'd also like to accept the consequences as well? If it's not already obvious the consequence is the Conservatives no longer have a majority in Westminster despite increasing their vote share and without a majority they can not govern the country without support from other parties.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Can you name any of the terrorists that Theresa May that you accuse above to cling on to power. Are you saying there has been collusion with those charged with providing the security of Britain to allow such a matter.
The security forces have performed to the best of their ability in recent times where the security threats have all been from Islamic terrorists.
northwichcat
Veteran Member
Mrs May: I'm afraid it's a hung parliament your majesty.
The Queen: Who are you going to hang first? Please tell me it's Boris.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
A Milton Keynes update. The Tories held both MK North & MK South (my constituency)
In MK South Iain Stewart saw a tiny increase in his vote of 0.7% while Hannah O'Neill of Labour saw a 12.7% increase in her vote share. This cut the majority from 8672 to 1725
In MK North incumbent Mark Lancaster increased his vote by just 0.2% but Charlynne Pullen for Labour increased her share of the vote by 14%. This cut the majority from 9753 to 1915
In MK South Iain Stewart saw a tiny increase in his vote of 0.7% while Hannah O'Neill of Labour saw a 12.7% increase in her vote share. This cut the majority from 8672 to 1725
In MK North incumbent Mark Lancaster increased his vote by just 0.2% but Charlynne Pullen for Labour increased her share of the vote by 14%. This cut the majority from 9753 to 1915
northwichcat
Veteran Member
So far I've heard two of the new MPs are teachers - Laura Smith for Crewe & Nantwich and Layla Moran for Oxford West and Abingdon. Was there a trend for teachers to stand as candidates with the Conservative's proposed education spending cuts?
DarloRich
Veteran Member
Paul Williams who won Stockton South for labour is a GP. There was an on the day endorsement from the smaller parties like the Greens and Wharton made himself unpopular over the SSI closure and despite being Northern Powerhouse minister delivered little of the powerhouse effect to the north east.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Neither increased Labour shares of the vote in both these constituencies were enough to gain them the seats.
Arglwydd Golau
Established Member
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Interesting comment on the BBC...'the DUP will come under scrutiny like never before', exactly!
telstarbox
Established Member
Is it likely given the small majority that there will be another election this year?
northwichcat
Veteran Member
They were numbers 81 and 91 on the Labour list of targets, so not ones they expected to win. The Conservatives failed miserably in their number 1 target - City of Chester where a small Labour majority turned in 2015 to a majority of almost 10,000.
AlterEgo
Veteran Member
Let's spell this out in very basic terms.
1. The Tories have done a deal with the DUP solely on the basis of gaining power and returning May as PM.
2. The DUP have strong links to the UDA, and have done for a long time.
3. The UDA is a proscribed (banned) organisation. It's a terrorist organisation which is still killing people and still involved in community racketeering and extortion. It doesn't only kill its own people, or random Catholics, it's also killed police officers, politicians, and members of the British armed forces. They killed someone in front of his son in a supermarket car park last week.
4. The UDA campaigned for the DUP and *actively endorsed* them; the UDA has extensive community outreach and controls numerous working class communities in Northern Ireland.
5. Arlene Foster has met several times with the leadership of the UDA. The UDA's "brigadier" Dee Stitt is the CEO of Charter NI which is essentially a front for the UDA and which was awarded £1.7m of public recently (and has a budget much larger than that). Charter NI is responsible for social investment. The police service confirm that several individuals who run Charter NI are involved in recent paramilitary activity. Do the maths.
You seem like a very principled man who would be outraged at the thought of Tory government partners being propped up by paramilitaries. You seem outraged that Corbyn would dare even *meet* Sinn Fein politicians (none of us would argue that they were propped up by terrorism!). One thing Corbyn didn't do is use a political party with close links to a criminal and illegal terror group to form the Government of the United Kingdom.
It is a complete outrage. People are rightly and properly quick to condemn the IRA and Sinn Fein but I look forward to the day equal ire is directed at Protestant and Unionist terrorists. Until that day comes I'll be very quick to raise, at every opportunity, the Tories getting into bed with DUP/UDA and call it out for what it is. It is outrageously partisan.
I hope you will be contacting your local Tory MP to let them know how strongly you feel about this matter of principle.
Or perhaps you don't care because your side "won" (but not really because you had to rely on the DUP).
I had an awful dream last night. Tories won loads of seats in my area, and Theresa May will continue with support from the DUP.
Oh, wait... Nooooooooooooo!
Oh, wait... Nooooooooooooo!
Polarbear
Established Member
To look at things in a balanced way, Paul is correct and there's certainly a significant level of support for the Conservative party out there. Of note also is the significant increase in their share of the vote in Scotland.
Although I'm not a Conservative voter, if you strip away the party politics and look at what many Conservatives stand for, there are elements of their basic premise that make sense. I am talking about things like fiscal responsibility as one example.
What grates on me, and I suspect many people, is that today, we appear to have a Conservative party that is more and more driven by pure ideology, and an apparent desire to do what is best for themselves and their benefactors, rather than work for the benefit of the whole country, and the general population.
One aspect of this is the current state of the NHS. Historically, the NHS has been supported by all mainstream parties since its creation. In more recent years, we have seen a Conservative government focus entirely on saving money at all costs, which to me, is an example of the ideology of shrinking the state, overtaking the core values of Conservative thinking.
On a wider note, Public Sector workers are seven years into a 10 year period of pay restraint. The argument given by government for the pay restraint is that it's a simple choice between more money, or fewer jobs. Again, this is ideology running roughshod over basic core values of decency, fairness and respect as the main purpose of the wage restraint is again, to peg back the Public Sector. That seven years of pay restraint has only yielded around 2% of the savings attributable to the deficit tells its own story. I know not everyone is getting regular pay rises, but as average wage growth is currently a positive figure, some people in the private sector are definitely receiving pay increases.
Much of the argument articulated by the Conservatives for saving money is rooted in the recession that started in 2007-2008. Whilst this is indeed a factor, it is also being used as a smoke screen for quietly implementing some of the more radical ideological thinking, much of which isn't discussed in the mainstream media.
Personally, this is why I cannot vote Conservative, no matter how bad any opposition or other political party may be. In the public eye, it is the general premise of Conservative thinking that is wheeled out for public consumption. In reality, in the background, we see the ideological thinking take over, which by and large is not discussed in the media, but is slowly destroying the social fabric of this country. This is partially driven by elements of a media that exerts an unhealthy control over the UK population.
AlterEgo
Veteran Member
I should bloody well hope so.
backontrack
Established Member
A typical political ploy by you to ignore the question asked and to ask another question...
Well, I'm sure they'll answer yours if you answer theirs.
"Better the DUP than that IRA trot Corbyn! He tried to bring peace in Northern Ireland! The monster!"
"Corbyn doesn't want to start a nuclear holocaust! Worst still, he wants to renationalise the railways! That makes him a threat to our national security!"
Humble pie for many people today.
backontrack
Established Member
It's also worth remembering that even this tally of 35 SNP seats was almost unthinkable three years ago. The SNP have won in Scotland and have secured their second-best ever result at a General Election.
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Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Let me put some of the current Labour Party euphoria into perspective, now that their leader Jeremy Corbyn has stated that his party were the winners of the 2017 General Election despite gaining a few seats more than they did in the 2010 General Election (I will be kindly ignoring their disastrous 2015 General Election performance).
In the 1997 General Election, when the Labour Party fought to gain power from their then existing seats total of 271, they actually gained 147 seats to reach a total of 418 seats.
So, how does the current Labour seat total of 262 (including the Kensington seat) that falls well short of the required 326 seat total even remotely compare with the excellent 1997 General Election result which saw the Labour Party come into power?
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