jpinard
4588
rho21
4589
We had local council elections in most of England yesterday.
I suspect this is a punishment for incompetent government and ineffectual opposition rather than a backlash against support for Brexit in general.
spiffy
4590
I don’t know. You don’t go from being a Brexit voter to supporting LibDems or Green without no longer wanting Brexit. A backlash vote would be for whatever nazi-inspired right wing party was more extreme than your local Tories. If none existed, you probably stayed home.
rho21
4591
I was talking of the electorate as a whole. I’m expecting that on an individual level Brexit supporters are disillusioned and stayed home while the minor parties and independents have an energised base and are picking up protest votes from centrists.
Baldrick has had enough.
Robinson was also Vice President of Equity Union and the union rep on the governing board of Labour in the 00s. He isn’t just a celeb supporter.
Farages party seems to be very well funded by far right US money and US style choreography in their rallies. It’s a hotbed of xenophobia, racism and nationalism of course, and dangerous with it.
The friend I have referred to in previous posts stayed at home yesterday, and I am pretty sure he voted for Brexit, having bought the line of “control of our laws and borders…” which, as mentioned previously, is an easily digested soundbite.
He said he wasn’t going to vote because there was “no point.”
I was in England yesterday but catching a flight, otherwise I would have voted, and it would have been the first choice that wasn’t Conservative or Labour.
edit: long live Baldrick.
edit: wow that twitter conversation. :O
draxen
4596
Anecdotally:
This is the same as my Leave supporting friends, although some of them also spoiled their ballots in protest.
… the first choice that isn’t Conservative or Labour but who also support Remain.
This is what my Remain supporting friends said also.
I think the European elections will be a better bellwether for a GE as there is a viable Leave option (Brexit Party) and a viable Remain option (Lib Dems).
which version of brexit are they peddling?
draxen
4598
Essentially a no deal Brexit.
Well, if they get a majority with a no deal brexit, so be it.
wavey
4600
Polls currently suggest they will likely get the biggest share of the vote, but not a majority.
By majority, I mean a significant 66% majority of the vote that want their version of brexit.
NOT 52% of the vote that doesn’t know what they want and sometimes want contradictory stuff!
Dont forget lots of the voting is done around local issues. These are councillor elections. Bin collections/potholes/amenities/etc make a real difference. Lots of independents winning across the country due to crap council services.
Some Brexit voters maybe disillusioned, literally, in that they no longer want what they now see was an illusion. They have come to a perfectly rational change of mind.
For the others who still want Brexit I think they are more energized now than ever and understandably so. I am energized at the prospect of seeing my EU rights being stripped away, I imagine many Brexit voters feel equally strongly about the possibility of no Brexit.
Edit: I wasnt trying to attack your post btw. More happy that democracy seems to be still working in the UK. Changing voters minds one way or another is a good thing and the way it should work. Even if people change their minds till the end of time, I am cool with that.
The existence of viable third parties make it a lot easier to change your mind.
I mean, I’d find Labor and the Lib Dems acceptable choices- and could see myself if I end up British one way switching between the two.
For me to become a Republican again after the 2000s would require a complete change in everything I believe in that I would find repugnant. I’m pretty much stuck with the Dems no matter how good or bad they get at this point. If the UK only have Labor, Conservative, or pointless protest vote- who knows what would happen.
This is a big reason why I find parliamentary systems better.
Yes, a lot of this is austerity policies finally coming back to bite. Amazed it took this long, plus Brexit, to do it.
I think democracy is alive and well in the UK.
5 years ago I would never have had a political discussion with any of my friends etc.
Family maybe.
Now it seems much more permissible to venture an opinion.
I wish I’d known about the voting. I’d have delayed my flight back by a day and gone and voted.
I met my local MP once, when I came back from Afghanistan. There was a military function and he was schmoozing the leadership, so I was trotted out as a photo/PR op for him and the leadership.
I had to pose for pictures.
I felt quite ill. He struck me as a bit of a snake.
Looking at his voting record, he has been brexit to the hilt.
Confirmation bias maybe but I’d never vote for him.
His name is Mark Lancaster.
As an aside, thank you. I may have thanked you before for your service but you have earned and going to get a lifetime of gratitude and respect so you may as well get used to it :)
