European Elections

[Workingman]

The Euro elections could be the ultimate protest vote.

Under present circumstances we can get out there and vote for whatever we like knowing that not much damage - to us as individuals - can be done, but at the same time we can hurt the established parties.

The Euros are under the D'Hondt system, a sort of spread-bet, where almost everyone gets something, though there is no 'local' connection so not so good for GEs. Better bets for GEs would be the Alternative Member System (AMS) or Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system both of which combine party list and local votes.

I think that we might be heading there in the fairly near future.

[Workingman]

I see Vince Cable has played a blinder...

He has hinted that the party could go full on for revoking A50 - but not just yet.

It is a subtle yet "not-so-subtle" way of telling voters in the upcoming EU elections that the LDs are a true anti Brexit party without actually pinning that flag to the mast... just in case.

A lot of voters who are unsure about whether a vote for the Greens or ChangeUK is worthwhile could swing behind the LDs who are currently third in the polls, above the Cons.

Yes, it is playing politics, but then who isn't? Nigel certainly is.

[Kaz]

I'm going back to the Lib Dems.

[meriad]

Same here. They were the only choice really. I'd have gone for the Green Party but think over all the LibDems would get more votes so will back the party that I hope will do well

The rest can take a flying leap as far as I'm concerned - I'm still rather narked that this horrid B word every came about and even more narked that people still think it's the right thing to do! Sorry rant over

[medsec222]

I voted for the Brexit Party. MPs have had three years to put an exit from the EU into practice. They have got absolutely nowhere. I caught a headline a few minutes ago that Theresa May had withdrawn her bill. Such as it was.

I am satisfied that my vote, along with many others (I am assuming), will serve notice on the two major parties that when promises are made and then reneged on, there are consequences. What happens with the Brexit Party following the EU elections is anyone's guess, but it will no doubt have annihilated UKIP.

[Workingman]

I am a more natural Liberal / Lib Dem / SDP type and where I live the LDs are the only game in town with people who want to vote FOR something, so they got my vote... and high fives to the two lasses at the polling station; the only party there.

I could never, ever, vote for the Brexit Party, but I sure as Hell do understand why many are doing and the BP get plenty of seats, mostly at the expense of the Cons - that will justice served cold.

[Kaz]

Same here. They were the only choice really. I'd have gone for the Green Party but think over all the LibDems would get more votes so will back the party that I hope will do well

The rest can take a flying leap as far as I'm concerned - I'm still rather narked that this horrid B word every came about and even more narked that people still think it's the right thing to do! Sorry rant over

Yep!

[cromwell]

So Farage did well, as expected.
What I didn't expect was Labour to do so badly. They lost ten MEP's.
So where does that leave them? They have tried to please both sides with their "constructive ambiguity", which is posh for constantly contradicting themselves every other day.
But Labour has already lost Scotland. If it comes out for Remain it will certainly lose seats in Wales and the North. If it comes out for Leave it will lose London and the south east and be competing against the LibDems for the remain vote.
So they are in a bit of a fix. They have been giving it large about "wanting a general election". After last night's showing I wonder if they are still as enthusiastic about that?

I was expecting for the Tories to do badly but maybe not as badly as they did! Which way are they going to jump now?

[Suff]

So Farage did well, as expected.
I was expecting for the Tories to do badly but maybe not as badly as they did! Which way are they going to jump now?

As in my first post back, the Tories did better than I expected them to do. I would have been happy if they lost every single seat. But, I suppose, we have to remember that there are Tory Remain constituencies.

I think that the Tories are beginning to remember Project Fear. There have been endless lines of Drivel about how people didn't vote for "No Deal" in the referendum because it was not on the ballot paper.

It is Time to Remember that Project Fear was all about No Deal. It was all about consequences and impact and how the UK would do badly when it left and that the only way to avoid "consequences" was to not vote Leave in the first place.

In the end the people voted Leave despite Project Fear. In short they accepted the consequences and still voted to leave.

It is about time that MP's start looking at the other side of the equation. Had May simply triggered A50 on day 1, without any angst or suffering or court cases (as was her right), then worked through the 2 years, leaving with No Deal when the EU did what they have done; we would now be nearly 2 years out of the EU and the consequences would be well known, mitigation in hand and an election still a year in the distance.

May has, single handedly, dismantled the Tory vote, voter confidence in the ability of the Tories to execute the will of the people and pushed the Tories to an election less than one year after we leave the EU. Having an election in the middle of the consequences of leaving the EU is the worst possible thing any party could do.

If there were any doubt. Any doubt at all, that revoking A50 would have a positive effect and no consequences, then Labour and the Tories just found out that there isn't and what the true price will be. Farage as head of the third largest party in the UK with KingMaker power over the Coalition which must ensue afterwards.

So whoever leads the Tories might as well go for it. Because the only way they have even the slightest hope of dismantling the Brexit party vote is to exit the EU without a deal in October and face the consequences; whilst surfing the totally obvious opportunities.

There is only one candidate, presented so far to the Tory leadership contest, even mildly capable of doing that.

[Workingman]

So UKIP Mk II, aka the Brexit Party, took all UKIP Mk I's seats, as expected, and picked up four more from ?. Hardly earth shattering news, is it? In sports parlance that is due to a new manager "bounce".

The "Will of the people" is still as clear as mud, except that it is not for a no-deal Brexit. It never was.

Leave took the referendum by 52%:48%. That gave them 37% of the electorate and 26% of the population and hardline no-dealers cannot even hit those dizzy heights. There is also a cohort bigger than they who did not get to vote because they are too young, yet they will be the ones to suffer most from the shit storm hardliners want to throw at them and they have no right to do so: NO RIGHT.

The above figures have hardly changed with the EU elections. We are still split virtually down the middle on Brexit.

It is the worst set of results in nearly 200 years for the Cons. They and Labour lost 26 seats and most of them went to dedicated Remain parties - that should concentrate a few minds.