The 2015 Popularity Contest (aka UK General Election )

[Rupert's Tower]

Cheese on toast. I wouldn't vote Labour if they were the only party on the ballot paper, they don't stand for the working man any more than the Tories do.

Pretty much this

Not wanting to make it a competition or anything but I come from as working class a background as you can get; free school meals, council flat, 1 parent family, never got my first my passport till I was in my 20s but Labour don't represent people like me, they never have. What have Labour historically stood for? Class resentment, bashing people who god forbid do well for themselves, keeping people like me poor basically by telling us the state is there to keep us from cradle to grave and if you want something better for yourself and your kids you're a sellout and Tory scum. I've never voted Labour in my life and while I have equally nothing in common with your typical posh Tory, I'd sooner vote for a party who at least have a message I can aspire to, not one obsessed with bashing the other lot for being posh and telling us the rich are the reason you have a crap life

 

[edge]

labour showing in the seat they won was awful for a safe seat , how can Mr Ed carry on with this he should step down, for the sake of his party.

 

[flibbyflob]

So the big question is how many MP's will UKIP have after the election next year?

I would imagine they will have more than Lib Dems and be the 3rd biggest party in the country and we will see them as coalition partners with the Tories. Deep joy.

 

[Groucho]

I reckon it's best to vote for whoever is best for public services.

Historically that's been Labour - not sure if any of them are any good for it currently.

 

[edge]

So the big question is how many MP's will UKIP have after the election next year?

I would imagine they will have more than Lib Dems and be the 3rd biggest party in the country and we will see them as coalition partners with the Tories. Deep joy.

think the libs will still beat them to 3rd with a few long standing ones keeping there seats, dont think for the long term UKIP could be in a coalition with the tories, people would just see them as tory party mk2 and vote for the real thing or back to Labour, unless Farage whants his day in the sunshine that is. ?

 

[steken1]

think the libs will still beat them to 3rd with a few long standing ones keeping there seats, dont think for the long term UKIP could be in a coalition with the tories, people would just see them as tory party mk2 and vote for the real thing or back to Labour, unless Farage whants his day in the sunshine that is. ?

Whatever he is he's shrewd. I think he'd go in with them on the back of some strong demands I.E. referendum in year 1 etc.

 

[davek]

Labour are in for a shoeing in the next election. I dont think the swing against them will be as large as the one last night in Heywood and Middleton given the poor turnout, but they'll lose a lot of seats to either UKIP or UKIP splitting their vote to let others in. This is an earthquake for them, and it just underlines and confirms the trend we saw in Scotland where traditional Labour voting communities deserted them.

People are looking for something more radical in different places of this island. In Scotland many people wanted social change and a swing to the left away from Labour; in regions of northern England the motive is probably a mix of punishing Labour for doing the Tories job for them and bringing down the hammer on council cuts and also a result of fears of unchecked immigration etc.

Politically the country is a dog's breakfast at the moment. The Tories will hold vast swathes of English seats though and Labour will lose in 2015 and I'd predict they'll tear themselves apart and a new left wing party will be created out of the rubble. They'd have been far better off giving a lead to the Scottish Independence movement and supporting it and trying to reignite their relationship with the English working class. They chose to stamp on social democracy in Scotland and the lesson has been learned all over Britain: they cant offer ordinary people a way out and they've now got a shrinking social base they'll never get back.

 

[TheBlueGibbon]

Hopefully the result in Heywood will finally wake up the senior Labour ranks, show them that the core vote also needs convincing now rather than taking them for granted.

 

[EFCNIK]

Pretty much this

Not wanting to make it a competition or anything but I come from as working class a background as you can get; free school meals, council flat, 1 parent family, never got my first my passport till I was in my 20s but Labour don't represent people like me, they never have. What have Labour historically stood for? Class resentment, bashing people who god forbid do well for themselves, keeping people like me poor basically by telling us the state is there to keep us from cradle to grave and if you want something better for yourself and your kids you're a sellout and Tory scum. I've never voted Labour in my life and while I have equally nothing in common with your typical posh Tory, I'd sooner vote for a party who at least have a message I can aspire to, not one obsessed with bashing the other lot for being posh and telling us the rich are the reason you have a crap life

So many people on here need to read this post.

Snobbery can work both ways.

 

[The Cowboy]

I reckon it's best to vote for whoever is best for public services.

Historically that's been Labour - not sure if any of them are any good for it currently.

Spoken like a true civil servant.

I'll be voting for whoever gives me the best deal. I'm just a selfish cynic, y'see.

 

[EFCNIK]

So the big question is how many MP's will UKIP have after the election next year?

I would imagine they will have more than Lib Dems and be the 3rd biggest party in the country and we will see them as coalition partners with the Tories. Deep joy.

I reckon ukip are done. A lot of ukip voters would have done so just to give the others a fright r.e immigration and it seems to haven worked and therefore served its purpose.

 

[toffee matt]

So the big question is how many MP's will UKIP have after the election next year?

I would imagine they will have more than Lib Dems and be the 3rd biggest party in the country and we will see them as coalition partners with the Tories. Deep joy.

Doubt they'll make that many gains with the electoral system we have in this country

 

[Blue 1]

Think the Heywood result is more significant than the Clacton one tbh.

 

[davek]

Pretty much this

Not wanting to make it a competition or anything but I come from as working class a background as you can get; free school meals, council flat, 1 parent family, never got my first my passport till I was in my 20s but Labour don't represent people like me, they never have. What have Labour historically stood for? Class resentment, bashing people who god forbid do well for themselves, keeping people like me poor basically by telling us the state is there to keep us from cradle to grave and if you want something better for yourself and your kids you're a sellout and Tory scum. I've never voted Labour in my life and while I have equally nothing in common with your typical posh Tory, I'd sooner vote for a party who at least have a message I can aspire to, not one obsessed with bashing the other lot for being posh and telling us the rich are the reason you have a crap life

This is an incredible post. Have you really been taking notice of what the Labour Party have been preaching for a generation or so now?! They've been a party of the political right since the early 1990s...in many instances outflanking the Tories on market based 'solutions'.

'Class resentment', 'bashing the well to do's'....would that they were doing that, they'd still have people like me on board and in a position to kick on to victory if they were the party you portray them as.

 

[TheBlueGibbon]

This is an incredible post. Have you really been taking notice of what the Labour Party have been preaching for a generation or so now?! They've been a party of the political right since the early 1990s...in many instances outflanking the Tories on market based 'solutions'.

'Class resentment', 'bashing the well to do's'....would that they were doing that, they'd still have people like me on board and in a position to kick on to victory if they were the party you portray them as.

Labour also wouldn't be haemorrhaging votes in 'safe' constituencies if that was the case.