Extremely squeaky backside time ....

[TheOstrich]

A YouGov poll in the Times this morning shows the Tories losing seats and a hung parliament. Well, well, well

I think the country has just about had enough of electioneering, and will be quite happy to see a weak and unstable Government. I'm reminded of the late Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley who, when confronted IIRC by a group of hectoring journalists, started pointing the finger and intoning: "I don't like you ... and I don't like you ... and I don't like you ...." I think that's what most of us feel about our parliamentarians today ....

Whilst pointing the finger, I'd like to reserve a special prominent digit, or possibly two, for the BBC, who really plumbed new depths with Ms Barnett's Radio 4 hectoring of Corbyn. Forget the anti-Semitism attacks afterwards; I certainly don't agree with them, but that's a deflection from the point I want to make, concentrate on why any BBC reporter should badger any interviewee like that. It's not clever, it's not funny. If I'd carried on like that in the street to anyone, I'd have been done for harassment. Same with Peston banging his head on the desk after interviewing Fallon on TV on Sunday.

In other news, I suspect Ms Hill and Mr Timothy will be taken out behind the Conservative Towers and shot before all this is over. How to snatch defeat from the doors of victory .... and yes, I'm still narked by the dementia tax
That strange gurgling sound you can hear coming from the £25,000 shed at the bottom of your garden is Cameron guffawing ......

[Suff]

A YouGov poll in the Times this morning shows the Tories losing seats and a hung parliament. Well, well, well

I think the country has just about had enough of electioneering, and will be quite happy to see a weak and unstable Government.

They did that last time remember? When they got sick of The Blair Brown disaster train, they voted to screw up the whole political system and have a coalition with Clegg and Cameron.

Real success wasn’t it. As my Brother in Law used to say “It’s like educating Pork”.

Then, of course, having disabled and hamstrung the Government at the most critical juncture in the UK’s history since the outset of WW2, the people who created this mess will all blame Theresa May, David Cameron and the Tories.

Go figure.

On the Upside, I will benefit… Massively. The UK? Crippled. Great, if they vote this way they’ll bloody well deserve it.

If the people do this they should have let every ex pat have a vote, got a Remain vote and been better off.

To say I’m disgusted is all I can really say because the level of expletives, otherwise, would outnumber the non expletive words and that’s not very expressive is it???

[Suff]

Oh and as I've been saying. The weaker we appear to be for negotiating with the EU, the lower the £ goes (heading back down for €1.14). Which means more inflation, less jobs and less value for the £. Might mean a few more exports though until the hedges run out as we have to import a lot of our goods to create exports..

[Workingman]

I was up and out early this morning when the 'poll' story was number two on the BBC website. It has now disappeared completely, though Sky and Reuters still run with it. The caveat for the Tories to cling to is that the modelling used deviated from standard polls, nonetheless all polls are showing a trend towards Labour.

Whatever government we get following the election is now up for grabs. If the Tories get an increased majority, even a landslide, they will claim total responsibility for it. However, if they get a similar or perhaps a reduced majority that will also be their responsibility, as will a hung parliament.

The simple fact is that any outcome can be laid fairly and squarely at the feet of Theresa May for calling an opportunistic election for internal Tory party politics. Don't go blaming Labour, or the LibDems, or SNP or Uncle Tom Cobley and his mates; blame the true owner: Theresa May.

[Suff]

I'm not blaming anyone but the Tory rebels. Had they stood behind May, made the best of the situation and behaved as a political party, then we would not be in this situation.

Corbyn the SNP, the Lib Dems, they are doing what they are supposed to be doing which is giving their alternate pitch. The voters are, I hope, going to do what they are supposed to do. Namely focus on the important stuff and vote for the people who are going to give it to them.

Yeah, I know, idiotic right!

[Workingman]

I'm not blaming anyone but the Tory rebels. Had they stood behind May, made the best of the situation and behaved as a political party, then we would not be in this situation.

But they did not, and that then begs the question as to why anyone should vote for a party so obviously split and fractious. The split was the real reason why May broke the spirit of the law and called the election. She was hoping to get more of her type behind her, but with no guaranteed that they would be of 'her type'.

When Corbyn was elected leader of Labour we were endlessly told that he had created 'two parties' in one. We were told that such an arrangement was ungovernable and therefore not fit to govern. Now it is the turn of the Tories and we are sold the line that more of them would be 'strong and stable' and the best government since sliced bread.

[Suff]

Very true. But with the Manifesto change during this election, she regains that Unity. Essentially the rebels are campaigning to be elected on her manifesto, not Cameron's one of Remain. Also the Tory Lords are bound to follow the manifesto, which will save endless wasted time.

With the Great Repeal act to Enact nearly 2,000 laws, we can't have a free for all on every single one. It would take till the end of hte next decade to get it done.

I understand the reasons for it. I don't disagree. I just wish she'd finished the boundary changes first..

[Workingman]

Unity eh? That would be the unity displayed when the backbenchers forced a U-turn on Hammond's proposals for self-employed NI tax hikes or the threatened rebellion over the "Death Tax" outlined in the manifesto, would it?

As for the Lords being bound to follow the manifesto, the truth is that nobody is bound by a manifesto: they are not legally binding. That is the reason parties can promise the Earth then change their minds once in power. However, there is a convention that the Lords will eventually pass into law something mentioned in a manifesto, but that is part of the Self Preservation Society which exists in both houses of Westminster.

When it comes to the Great Repeal Act there is a whole library of confusion and misinformation as these two papers show. The GRA is to repeal the European Communities Act, 1972 not EU laws, rules and regulations. The Bill will instead seek the wholesale transposition of EU law into domestic law. It is only over a matter (unknown) time that some of them will then be amended or scrapped. It will do this using delegated legislative powers, to the executive, thus sidelining parliament and MPs.

I just wish she'd finished the boundary changes first..

You mean to add another opportunistic layer to an election? Except that the Boundary Commission does not report till September 2018, so May would be working with the majority and 'bastards' she already has up to that time. Brexit negotiations will be nearing an end everyone will be able to see what deal her 'strong and stable' government has come up with - the 'no deal is better than a bad deal' will by then be defined. Given all that it is no wonder she went when she did, what with the crystal ball polls forecasting a big majority.

A week is a long time, and all that. A wobbly week must seem like an eternity.

[Suff]

A week is a long time, and all that. A wobbly week must seem like an eternity.

It is indeed.

Did anyone notice that 32% of Scots voted to leave the EU yet the polls are still showing the SNP with 50 out of 53 seats???

On the Unity stuff, yes I get what you are saying. They are politicians after all. However having a clear manifesto for the next 5 years is better than trying to bodge the prior manifesto of only 2 years ago, to fit todays challenges.

I know you think that this election was wildly opportunistic. Personally I happen to feel that anything else would have been undemocratic. Myself I feel that May should have voted to call an election immediately after she took office stating that it was Cameron's government and policies and the people, in the light of their vote, needed an opportunity to change that.

I suspect that there was huge resistance in the party to that at the time.

I hear rumours that the second Brexit is over May will be challenged because she's upset too many with her "socialist" policies. I guess time will tell.

Now I'm off to work on my Utility room as Mrs S nicked all my time yesterday.

[Workingman]

Many people, from all parts of the political spectrum, urged May to call an election once she became PM, not least because it would give her a mandate from the people. She adamantly refused, saying: ‘I’ve been very clear that I think we need that period of time, that stability, to be able to deal with the issues that the country is facing, and have that election in 2020.’

She was saying exactly the same thing ‘I don’t think there’s a need for an election. I think the next election will be in 2020.’ only one month before she did a U-turn and called a snap election. Suddenly we needed a strong and stable government, the massively in favour polls told her so. Well that and the pressure from senior Tories to take advantage of a Labour party in disarray.

She is weak, wobbly, an opportunist and a liar.