I thought that was just an American thing. If someone bothered me leaving the polls, the nicest thing I’d do would be to tell them to wait for the results, and GFY.
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?
It sounds to me like he’s the one who made the concession they were all saying no sovereign country would make, and put the customs border in the Irish Sea to avoid the backstop. The rest of his deal is the same as May’s.
Am I missing something?
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Scotland would have been permitted a new referendum under a Labour coalition. The Tories will do everything in their power to prevent it (and the fact that they will be using exactly the opposite of the rhetoric they used to push for Brexit will not make any difference).
The SNP has proved they can be pretty entertaining during PMQ time, hopefully they will crank it up a notch.
Meanwhile, there’s this:
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Well from memory, the majority of Scotland voted remain in Brexit…
And the independence refurendum failed because they’d lose EU membership, be out of NATO and lose a bunch of other stuff…
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“Eminently electable”
Based on what? Brussels have drawn the line and so far Boris hasn’t come within miles of it, despite the posturing back home.
Here’s an overview of the EU position from May this year when (ironically), Theresa May was PM.
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I found this a lot more depressing than I expect to. I guess I’ve been reading so many stories lately from Brits about how screwed they’re going to be if the Tories won (e.g. because of further cuts to the NHS which will literally threaten their lives), or Europeans who have made lives in the UK who are now being forced to leave, or the rising authoritarianism of the Conservative party that threatens democracy itself there… shit’s going to get fucked up for a lot of people. Even more than it already is.
Yeah, I had that too, followed by this sympathetic sentiment of “Oh those poor bastards, they’re so fucked” and then I remember how fucked we are in the US with the Republicans willing to set fire to the constitution and go full Nazi on us, and I start wondering who is more fucked, really.
Boris’ “big win” deal with the EU was literally the same deal May had made - the one he ostensibly resigned as Secretary of State position over because it was so bad. That suggests he’s got approximately zero bargaining power. It also suggests he has a fundamentally Trumpian approach where he claims victory regardless of what the reality is.
And maybe not even Wales. From what I’ve read, Wales voted for Brexit only because so many retired English folks live there. The Welsh are remainers, (post-referendum that sentiment only increased), more aligned on this with Scotland than England, Welsh nationalism is on the rise and Welsh independence has gotten a boost with all that’s going on. According to the most recent polls, for the first time ever, less than half the population wants to stay in the UK.
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How would that work though? I read somewhere that a significant number of the UK’s military installations are in Scotland. Awkward. Presumably, if Scotland left the UK and joined the EU, there would have to be a customs border between Scotland and what’s left of the UK. It seems like independence would now be the best move for Scotland, but that in itself is not going to be a cake walk.
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A couple of things occurred to me:
- Could NI federate with Scotland?
- Could NI join the EU as an independent nation?
Loch Ness monster identified at last.
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Unfortunately, it looks like in the end the SNP fell 2 short. Crums.
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Too soon to call tampering?!
I’m trying to think of a time the US has learned from Britain’s mistakes.
Coming up blank.
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Oh, there’s been tampering, but it’s with the minds of the electorate.
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American style health care here we come!
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This election is why the FPTP voting system is awful.
Boris now has total power because the Tories were able to unify the pro-brexit vote behind one party, while the pro-remain vote was larger but split at least three ways.
We have also seen that there is still no penalty for rank dishonesty and misinformation in campaigning, that the London newspapers will cheerfully push an insanely right wing line to the ends of the earth at the behest of the local oligarchs.
Now prepare for the worst. Brexit will be a disaster, which will then be used as cover to go full shock doctrine and ram through privatisation and asset stripping (but I repeat myself) of all that remains of state institutions. Gerrymandering and voter ID are already plannned, to steal the next election. All while the entire island is put up for sale for a trumpian trade deal.
Welcome to airstrip one. Please remember to set your watches back 100 years.
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The lack of consequences means that this is a recipe that will be repeated elsewhere in the world because of the rousing success it’s had in the UK and US.
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The SNP result looks good but I’m not sure any second referendum would be successful. I get the feeling a lot of those seats were won by Labour voters switching to keep the Tories out rather than any swing in desire for independence.
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I’m so, so sorry. This is devastating to watch. I’d hoped the voting public in the UK would choose more wisely than America did in 2016. Best wishes, much sympathy, and lots of love to you and all our UK Mutants…
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Yup. This is what happened in 1983 as well. The Tory vote went up this time, I admit, but it went up by only about 1%. Meanwhile, the LibDem vote went up by a lot, but they actually lost seats. Overall, Lab+LibDem was about the same as Tory+BrexitParty and yet the results were spectacularly skewed because of that split - and there were far too many three-way seats where the Tories won because of that split; there were a couple of Labour ones too, I admit. The worst night was for the tactical voters; it was pretty much a complete catastrophe for them.
And yeah, as ever, it’s results like this that show why the system needs fixing, but it’s also results like this that make it less and less likely.
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