Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/06/pro-brexit-parties-punished-in.html
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Brexit is only a factor. More pertinent is that the government is perceived as not being able to govern, and the opposition is not willing to oppose.The Greens and the Lib Dems are seen as offering an alternative, even though the latter are a bunch of opportunist austerity-enabling shits. UKIP is widely reported as having been overrun with actual Nazis, and although that wouldn’t put off many voters usually they’ve also been abandoned by their only asset and now have only the unloveable to lead them. The most bewildering thing is why anybody voted for the bunch of clowns who are giving us the circus of uselessness that is Brexit while they quietly and efficiently sell off the state and pocket the cash. I mean, who does that?
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I don’t know much about UK politics (other than the Brexit shitshow that makes its way across the pond). Though I did hear a great podcast from the RSA where a Green MP talks about the need for structural democratic reform in a clear and precise way. The UK (and the rest of the world) needs more politicians like her. The Greens are so often thought of as just a party about the environment, but really their platform is so much more than that.
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I would think it’d partly be that they failed to deliver Brexit, but likely more people are frightened that they might actually succeed in delivering Brexit.
https://whatukthinks.org/eu/questions/if-a-second-eu-referendum-were-held-today-how-would-you-vote/
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I wish results like this would prompt a second referendum, but apparently everyone including Corbyn is more comfortable prolonging the uncertainty and misery if they can keep kicking the can down the road.
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I like them. Bernie Sanders’ big brother Larry (yes, seriously) is a media spokesperson for them so you’ll hear him on the radio now and then over here.
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This is just the latest of several indications that the public in general has cooled to the idea of brexit since the referendum and would likely go the other way were there to be another.
I hope there will be a second referendum; if the result is the same as last time then fine, continue with brexit, but if it’s not and we leave the EU we won’t be welcomed back easily
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Maybe the people of the UK are tired of being governed by inveterate liars. It’s not good for a party to have its members admit they lied to the entire country to push their agenda, and more than one Brexit backer finally admitted that the claims about how much being in the EU cost the UK were a pack of bald-faced lies. I’d like very much to think the people finally decided to rid themselves of a government in which truth so blatantly has a price tag.
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I was hoping that nobody would post about this, because this means I now have to write a post about how local government works in the UK.
So… you may have noticed in the linked article that only some of the UK was voting last week:
These elections were in Northern Ireland and part of England. The other parts of the UK didn’t have elections last week. Why? Well…
Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales all have their own separate systems of local government. Each of these nations is split into local councils, which are elected on a five-yearly basis in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and a four-yearly basis in Wales. Elections in Scotland and Northern Ireland are held by Single Transferable Vote (STV), and in Wales byFirst past the post (FPTP)
England, on the other hand, has at least four different systems of local government, depending on where you live, and these can have one of three different schedules as part of a four-year cycle.
- Some councils elect their members by thirds- 1/3 of the members are up for election in years 1,2, and 3 of the cycle, and there are no elections in the fourth.
- Some councils hold elections by halves- 1/2 of the members are up for election in years 1 and 3 of the cycle.
- Some councils elect all their members at once-with all members up for election every four years.
Then you have the four different types of council-
- Unitary Authorities- A set of councils that have power over all local government issues in their area.
- Shire Counties- A set of two-tier councils that split responsibilities between the larger county and the smaller local district- elections are held at both levels.
- Metropolitan Boroughs- Another set of councils that have almost but not quite the same powers as unitary authorities. These used to be two-tier authorities, but the metropolitan counties that were created to cover these areas were abolished, and most (but not all) of their responsibilities fell to the boroughs.
- London Boroughs- London has a completely separate system of local government, with the local boroughs being responsible for some things, the London Assembly being responsible for others, and The Mayor of London for yet others. In what I can only presume is an exercise in teaching Londoners about all possible forms of elections systems, each level of local government has its own method- The boroughs use FPTP, the assembly uses the Additional Member System, and the Mayor is elected by Alternative Vote.
In addition, a group of these councils might form a “combined authority” which additional powers over and above those of the local government, in a sort of recreation of the metropolitan counties but not really.
Lastly, some of these councils have directly elected mayors, to act as the executive of the council that they are attached to.
In short- don’t try to understand English local government. Like a lot of things that Westminster are responsible for, it’s a hodgepodge mess of half-thought out ideas badly layered on top of existing structures with no thought about making a coherent whole.
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Brexit is the majority having had enough of neoliberalism. They don’t know exactly what’s wrong, but they know they’ve had enough. That misdirected energy is being given an extra push by Russia, which will benefit from a weakened EU.
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Wait’ll that (slim) majority sees the kind of neoliberalism the Tories and the other Leaver fascists have in store for them once they’re free of all those pesky EU regulations and free of the terrible burden of expanded employment opportunities. As always, the Know-Nothings will happily sell out their own economic self-interest to any right-wing populist charlatan trading in xenophobia and fear of boogeyman “elites”.
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38% of the electorate voted to leave, more than voted to remain. It was a consultative none legally binding vote that had committed illegal overspending to achieve the victory, legislation now makes it legally binding.
According to electoral law the vote does not need to be re-run because it wasn’t legally binding yet it is. So the question is how can an illegally obtained result indicate a nation’s intent?
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Welp, that’s about as clear as bog water in the middle of a fen.
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Nope. Never a remain parliament. The empathy vacuums of the entitled elite, Rees Mogg, Cameron. Johnson, and the like, were always enthusiasts. Financial and political oversight of their evil deeds a distinct impediment to making more money. And never a leave nation. Half of the country all wanted the same thing, the status quo.The leave camp was impossibly fractured. No one knew what they were leaving or what they would replace it with. There were those worried about immigration, racists. There were “Eurosceptics”, more racists. There were a very few misguided leftists who genuinely believed that leaving a neoliberal conspiracy would somehow expedite the coming of the glorious day. There were readers of the lying racist press, who were lied to. And there were those who believed the propaganda of the leave camp, more lies. No one who voted remain now wants to leave, except to be done with all the shit. Some leave voters have wised up to the fact that they were lied to and the giant stinking mess that leaving entails and have changed their minds. I cannot see a way to get to somewhere that isn’t this awful a mess. It’s equally dispiriting and infuriating.
Does using the word “remainiacs” mean someone is a bot?
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Use of “quislings” (i.e. traitors acting for Germany) is certainly suspicious…
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I just don’t see how you guys can leave the EU without terrible consequences for the Irish side.
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Nor can we
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And confusing, considering the non-nationalistic sentiments of many Leavers.
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