Pro-Brexit parties punished in UK local elections

boing
47

I don’t think it matters.

No-one can see the May Deal getting through Parliament. The government doesn’t want a general election now, because they probably would be massacred.

Eventually the country is going to be forced to hold a third referendum. The ballot will have to have three options: Remain, No Deal, or May Deal, with single transferable votes.

I suspect the result will be a better than 50% preference for Remain, thanks to a number of factors, such as demographics and the exposure of the difficulties surrounding Brexit. No Deal will probably come second.

The likelihood of Remain winning is the reason why May doesn’t want another referendum.

After this I can’t see anyone wanting to hold a 4th referendum for a decade.

However, if the EU is falling apart then it won’t matter, because everyone will be out of it when it does so.

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48

The way things have been going, I really think you’re overstating the competence of all involved.

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49

That’s my worry too.

Supposedly it takes as much as nine months to organise a referendum. We’ve only got six left now.

My other worry is that the Brexit Party will win a lot of seats in the EU Parliament election, and spend the next five years deliberately screwing everything up.

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50

So this guy walked into the bar I was running a while back…

“You know what the problem with the world is today, right?”
And he proceeds to tell me how we should hang everyone who commits a crime in this country. Then, to follow on his second pint, he tells me that the real problem is these foreign workers taking our jobs.
“What,” I said, “You mean, under the new EU, you can go anywhere you like and take any job in Europe for the wage advertised and get paid for it?”
“Fuck off, man, it’s these Polish fuckers who’ll work for cheaper than the English people who keep stealing the jobs. It’s not right. Fucking EU, what did they ever do for us?”
He says, warming to his topic, “I tell you, it goes way back. Like, Oliver Cromwell, what did he do? Parliament, yeah, what did those fuckers ever do for us?”
“Produce a set of laws to live by, regardless of the wishes of an unelected elite who retained full power for the last 1500 years?”
“Exactly,” he says, frowning in confusion. “Waste of time. Fuck the Royals, anyway, what did they ever do for us?”
“So, my grandfather fought in the war, right?” he continued, “And these fuckers come here and take our fucking jobs, it’s just not right. He fought to stop those fuckers saying who could come here and all that, and now they’re here.”
“Like them Polish pilots who saved our arse in the Battle of Britain? Fighting alongside us against the fascists?”
"Oh fuck off, " he said, reaching for his third pint, “You just don’t get it.” He scowled at me, “They fought for freedom, you daft bastard.”
“Yes,” I replied, " “So they could go anywhere and work anywhere and no-one could say otherwise.”
“Yeah…No… What?.. Hang on a minute… Nah, this country’s gone to shit, right, what’s this Government ever done for us? It’s all these foreigners, see? Like, what takeaways you got down your street? How many proper British Fish and Chips?”
“None,” I had to admit.
“Right, " he said, secure in his fascist hotseat, “It’s all kebabs and pizza, innit?”
“A few, yeah…” I said, sensing a way out…
“Yeah, see, Pizza, where’s that come from, eh?”
“Rome,” I replied.
" Right, Rome, and what have the Romans ever done for… Oh, you bastard…”

And he left the pub, and I haven’t seen him since. True story.

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51

I like it, even though it feels like the Remain equivalent of the atheist professor copyglurge.

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52

It isn’t good and I don’t know how accurate they are, but the polls at the moment are that Ukip and Brexit Party will have the same amount of seats as Ukip had in 2014. Remain/Soft Brexit/Hard Brexit seem to be split by about 33% each way, going by party line, but I expect a lot of Labour and Conservative remainers are staying loyal to their parties.

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53

I have no idea what that is - but I wrote that because it happened to me.

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54

Fish and Chips: Brought to Britain by the immigrant ancestors of the British Jewish community.

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55

You should have heard what he said about curry houses.
Well, maybe not.

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56

From Portugal!

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57

If we keep this up then racists will starve to death!

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58

You’re saying this is a problem that sort of takes care of itself…?

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59

I always wondered why the US speakers were members of a political party, unlike the UK ones. I think it might be because when the US gained independence the Speaker was an agent of the Crown, and the independent part didn’t happen until later. The initial idealism of not having political parties may have also played a part.

It is depressing how many British people don’t know how our government functions though, and they seem to be mostly brexiters going by all the accusations of treason when MPs and judges are doing pretty much the same thing that they have done for the last 150-200 years.

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60

Leftist nonsense, bringing you such terrible ideas as: 40 hour work weeks; vacation time; worker protections; healthcare; free speech; the right to vote; etc, et. Please do go on telling me how terrible leftist ideas are. You’re welcome!

Yes, a reckoning is coming. That’s why May is scared to hold another referendum, she knows the country will vote strongly to Remain. That’s why brexiters got trounced in local elections. See above article. The proof is in the pudding.

So please, carry on. We all need a good laugh now and again, and this sort of trolling by conservatives provides endless amusement.

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61

When my daughters, and their schoolfriends, wish to signal that they are going mental and acting like idiots screaming and jumping around, that’s what they shout.

They picked it up from the TV news which we put on at various times because we were worried about what the English were going to do.

They need to get rid of their posh boy school debate bullshit and act like grown ups in parliament.

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62

“No, make me!”

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64
  • The ERG and Pro-Leave Labour members have blocked leaving 3 times now.
  • Why would any MP be getting a P45 - The local elections show that there is plenty of support for pro-EU parties, demographics make the growth of such support inevitable. Pro-EU members voted out in leave areas will be cancelled by pro-leave members in remain areas. But I think party loyalty will mitigate that.

But no real, fully formed ideas of why that is? Just a feeling that everything that’s wrong with the UK is the EU’s fault? Man are you going to be disappointed!

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65

A solid list. I’d add spitefulness to it. A lot of them will gladly suffer as long as those they don’t like seem to be suffering along with them (in reality, of course, the educated urban elites have options to avoid suffering that they’ll never have).

What liberals and progressives and even centrists in the West have to start internalising is that their countries’ Know-Nothing 27%s are political write-offs. If hard experience doesn’t teach a born sucker how he’s been gulled, nothing will, and an earnest presentation of facts and logic and the realities of the situation will be met by him with disinterest if not outright hostility.

Our focus has to be on the 25% of the electorate that isn’t comprised of poorly educated rubes but still regularly votes for charlatans and hatemongers. They’re problematic in their own way and share some characteristics with the Know-Nothings, but a significant portion of them can still be swayed with reason and reality.

This is not to convince you of anything (see above), just to share a laugh with others at the idea that the UK will come out of this with a trade relationship to European nations anywhere near as favourable as the one that currently exists with under EU membership. Part of being a rube is not understanding which negotiating partner at the table has the most power.

Belief that the UK will come out of this economically better is of a piece with the Leavers’ swallowing the whole “billions for the NHS” bus lie and the idea that a hard Brexit couldn’t possibly re-ignite The Troubles.

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67

That there is the bane for so many political stances. And more often than not it is from the same people who claim the other party is full of people who vote with their emotions.

Well the Speaker in the US is still a part of the Legislature and votes, etc. I guess having a neutral party setup and run the thing makes some sense, but I am not sure the US method doesn’t get the job done. I have to say I kinda like the shuffling of people for votes in the UK. Gets your steps in.

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The UK speaker votes when there is a tie, and there are guidelines on how they should vote.

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