UK Politics V - Have We Got News For You

[EnglishEdward]

So Humza Yousef is gone.

It doesn't surprise me.

I'd have thought that he would have done better to let the Greens end the deal instead.

The general rule is that without a majority, one doesn't end a coalition without having a replacement coalition lined up.

 

[Nick723]

I'm missing the link between the Greens and him resigning. If he ended the agreement that kept the parties in sync, and he therefore lost whatever support he needed . . . isn't that his choice?

What should anybody reasonably expect from the Greens in this situation?

Well he could expect that it wasn’t in their interest to bring down the government, as if an election were to be held the Greens would likely lose seats. And hence I think they will ensure that this doesn’t happen.

Maybe he didn’t factor in that in Scotland there is also this curious ‘Vote of no confidence’ in an individual which has meant he has lost his job. Maybe those within his party pushing for him to end the agreement didn’t see this risk as a drawback…

But I agree with you, in hindsight much better to let the greens walk away

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1786114864621949031

Presented without comment

 

[EvaDK]

^ It speaks for itself, doesn't it?

 

[Arakhor]

It's entirely possible that he did it deliberately as a stunt, but he's no longer PM, so his idiocy (deliberate or otherwise) doesn't directly affect the nation.

 

[EnglishEdward]

That would involve planning...


Looking further north

John Swinney looks set to become Scotland's next first minister after Kate Forbes confirmed she would not challenge him for the SNP leadership.

Mr Swinney, the former deputy first minister and party leader, announced his intention to succeed Humza Yousaf and offered Ms Forbes a "significant" role in his government.

Ms Forbes later confirmed in a statement she would not stand in the contest and endorsed Mr Swinney.

The former finance secretary had been the only other SNP politician to publicly state she was considering a leadership bid.

John Swinney looks set to be first minister as Kate Forbes backs him

John Swinney is now expected to be the only candidate to succeed Humza Yousaf as SNP leader

www.bbc.co.uk

So it seems that those of us, such as myself, hoping to enjoy a leadership competition,
from the safety of being on the other side of Hadrian's Wall, may be disappointed.

 

[Gorbles]

On the upside, we can all watch the Tories get absolutely wiped off of the local council map. Good times.

 

[EnglishEdward]

Quite.

Neither the Conservative nor the liberal Democrat candidate even bothered to put a leaflet through my front door.

The BBC reports that Norwich has gone from NOC to Labour.

The council is updating its own website at about one ward every 15 minutes.

It will be either a Green or a Labour lady for me.

 

[Gorbles]

Greens have made minor gains so far, which is nice to see. LibDems are still plagued by a lack of coherent policy after the infamous Coalition, but I think they're also up a few seats (across the country).

 

[Arakhor]

I had both Green and Labour canvassers visit me this week, plus a Labour lady came yesterday afternoon to remind me to vote. On the other hand, I got a Tory leaflet last month (plus one about how our Tory MP is so good for the environment), but that was it from them.

 

[EnglishEdward]

I still have the same Green representative.

The BBC report was wrong.

There is no overall control in Nowich

Labour Party - 19 seats
Green Party - 15 seats
Liberal Democrats - 3 seats
Independent - 2 seats

According to the BBC, the Labour candidate for Norfolk police and
crime commissioner defeated the conservative incumbent.

 

[Arakhor]

Apparently, Gloucestershire retains its Conservative PCC. Changing the system from STV has definitely worked for them.

 

[Nick723]

Can anyone explain why these are so different:

Spoiler BBC view of results :

Spoiler Guardian view of results :

I know we are in the era of misinformation, but I would expect both of these sources to be trustworthy / correct!

 

[Arakhor]

One of the Guardian staff explained that they take their results from the Press Association, whereas the BBC takes their own count.

These results are provided by PA Media newswire (PA). Numbers for change in seats are calculated against the state of the council just before this election. Other organisations calculate using the previous election, and this can lead to discrepancies.

PA release results for each council only when its full count is complete. PA collates results only for elections that were due in this electoral cycle, meaning there may be council byelection results in other parts of the country that are not included. There are frequent changes in ward boundaries, sometimes accompanied by changes in the number of councillors overall.

I'm not sure how the BBC does it exactly, but here's a page from the BBC on how they report results.

 

[Kyriakos]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1786114864621949031

Presented without comment

In eastern Germany, back when it was a soviet state, they had the idea to include a valve for venting frustrations, in that the regime did not discourage private citizens privately mocking the state officials. The government remained the same, the ridicule against any of its members simply did not matter and it allowed the sense that you had the freedom to be nominally against them. In effect, it was just a counter-revolutionary measure, helping you voluntarily be against yourself.
In 2024 Britain, the narcissism of small differences prevents more than a few people from realizing the party in power remains the same, despite the (projected) nominal change.

 

[Arakhor]

I'm happy to say my local council saw off  twice as many Tories than the national average. Now all we need to do is see off our awful MP too.

 

[EnglishEdward]

Well it is certainly bad news for the Conservatives,
having lost 473 councillors where there were
re-elections, nearly half of their total !

But it doesn't really demonstrate any love for Labour;
because their % increase in councillors was less than
that of the Liberal Democrats, Independents and Greens.

I disregard the Residents Associations, disguised Conservatives.

England council results​

106 of 107 councils.Counting under way.
Number of councillors

Labour 1,140 councillors 185 councillors gained
Liberal Democrat 521 councillors 104 councillors gained
Conservative 513 councillors 473 councillors lost
Independents 228 councillors 93 councillors gained
Green 181 councillors 74 councillors gained
Residents Associations 58 councillors 11 councillors gained

BBC - Home

The best of the BBC, with the latest news and sport headlines, weather, TV & radio highlights and much more from across the whole of BBC Online.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Gorbles]

It, uh, absolutely demonstrates "love" for Labour.

I'm personally happy that people are going to other alternatives, but saying "this doesn't show love for Labour due to an arbitrary metric I've invented" means literally nothing.

EDIT - though thinking about it more, I'm not a fan of Tory voters going to the Greens (for example). They have enough homes in Starmer's Labour and the "please like us we'll do anything" LibDems.

So here's hoping the Greens (and independents) picked up disaffected Labour and other left-leaning votes

 

[EnglishEdward]

I will add the percentages for my post above to make my point clear:

Labour 1,140 councillors 185 councillors gained + 19.37 %
Liberal Democrat 521 councillors 104 councillors gained + 24.95 %
Independents 228 councillors 93 councillors gained + 68.88%
Green 181 councillors 74 councillors gained + 69.16%

Obviously bad news for the Conservatives and in a predominantly
two party system such as England that means good news for Labour.

But the Labour party was hardly the preferred alternative.

 

[Gorbles]

No, I understand the point. But Labour already holds such a high number of councillors that any %-based metric is a negative way of looking at it. Intentional or not, I don't really care.

It's definitely good news for the underrepresented parties (in our modified FPTP system), but it's in no way bad news for Labour. In fact, the fact they were able to win so many additional councillors and upset various Tory strongholds is nothing but good news for Labour (even if for me personally the idea of Tory voters seeing Labour as an acceptable replacement is a bad thing).