2015 UK General Election campaign & aftermath discussion thread.

The Labour Party is already a parody of itself.

https://vine.co/v/e7lma2ivQwa

this just seems baffling, how many people would have had to sign off on this terrible idea before we got to the point of Ed Miliband being photographed in front of a giant stone with Labour's campaign pledges carved into it, and somehow it still happened

Who does he think he is, fuckin' Moses?

Today in pointless protest votes - what's the story with TUSC? I chatted a bit with the candidate for my constituency yesterday and she was trying to convince me to vote for them instead of the Greens. I tend to be a bit suspicious of "socialist" parties even though I am basically a socialist, I wouldn't support SWP or Respect, but I noted the TUSC were selling a Socialist newspaper that isn't the Socialist Worker so I assume they're not affiliated.

Really it makes no difference to anything whether I vote TUSC or Green in a safe Labour seat but I figured since it is a safe seat there's no point me voting Labour just to keep the Tories out because it's not like they have a hope in hell in my constituency anyway. I'd just like to support a credible left wing party (wouldn't we all lol etc) even if it is a worthless token gesture.

feel like old school left Labour/Trade Union activists, wd probly vote for them if they stood a candidate in my ward, am sure they are terrible irresponsible gits who haven't properly costed their manifesto pledges and don't see the point of having war crime weapons and such

looks like an electoral collab between the usual suspects: SWP, Socialist Party (old Militant) etc

Founded by Bob Crow! Probably all you need to know one way or another :)

hmm, apparently it was formed out of that No2EU party and does have SWP in it. The Socialist newspaper they were selling is the Militant paper - I was too young to really know what was going on re Militant in the 80s tbh. Local candidate is the daughter of the Militant leader.

I haven't seen one single canvasser from any party round my bit. I wonder if they just assume everyone here is Labour.

yeah nobody called to me at any point, just littered my mailbox with increasingly large pamphlets

i find that quite disappointing, i was looking forward to wheeling out my meagre local man concerns

SNP surely? (xp)

man in one of the flats opposite has got one of those fucking england flags up in his window with an a4 'vote ukip' sign stuck right in the centre of it. it's a really grey and grubby flag though, looks like it's already spent 14 weather-beaten years hanging outside a sports pub on a busy traffic junction. fairly makes my heart sing seeing it every morning

was in Glasgow this weekend and it was pretty wild how many yellow SNP posters i saw, stuck in every conceivable sort of window

Got this through the door yesterday:

http://i.imgur.com/MyRbeXL.jpg

Timing!

nah tom, cant see either hamilton constituency going snp. the one with rutherglen will stay labour according to lord ashcrofts polls and our one (that contains larky and lanark) cant see people in those towns voting snp.
Would make my year if Jimmy Hood was kicked out though.

UKIP's Scottish launch impressively even worse than you might imagine.

Enjoying the lib dem messaging today.

'Tories/Labour can't form a workable government with any of these other parties due to the SNP/DUP/UKIP having actual principles. Luckily, that's where we come in'

'Bored and depressed by this election campaign? Sick of watching the gogglebox people watching party political broadcasts? Imagine having to do it all again! You don't want that do you? We have the physical mass necessary to stop that happening. Vote lib dem.'

the one with rutherglen will stay labour according to lord ashcrofts polls and our one (that contains larky and lanark) cant see people in those towns voting snp.

Pity the DUP aren't putting a candidate up.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2015/may/05/election-2015-where-should-you-vote-tactically

If you want Ed Miliband to be the prime minister ...

Consider a vote for Ukip in these constituencies:

Boston and Skegness
Castle Point
Rochester and Strood
South Basildon and East Thurrock

"If you want David or Ed to be PM vote Lib Dem everywhere."

Based, presumably, on the idea that Ed'll have a better chance if he has a seat-and-vote lead over Cameron - in reality the Murdoch press will whine on about illegitimate government if he ends up in Number 10 by any means. Rochester's the existing UKIP seat, predicted to go back to the Tories.

Article somewhere (can't find it just now) about how 50% of the conservative-identifying voters in Hallam are voting for Nick Clegg.

What a step outside their comfort zone that must be.

I'm all for this Coalition of Chaos I keep hearing about, sounds colourful.

"If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit..."

... don't let Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon steal it.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/shaun-lawson/polls-and-most-of-forecasts-are-wrong-ed-miliband-will-not-be-next-prime-min

Internet-based polls are almost certainly inaccurate. Ashcroft’s methodology is suspect. A late shift to the status quo almost always occurs, is probably already ongoing, yet is never properly picked up until the results come in. Tory scare stories regarding SNP influence are having an impact. Miliband hasn’t done enough. His party doesn’t want an illegitimate coalition or deal.

I'm all for this Coalition of Chaos I keep hearing about, sounds colourful.

the next uk government:

http://i1.wp.com/batman-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Suicide-Squad-Cast-Photo.jpg

nah, way too diverse

jesus christ @ this fucking cunt:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/robert-blay-ukip-suspends-parliamentary-5641537

:-€

Thing is these arseholes have usually spent most of there adult lives as Conservatives, and will no doubt return to the fold at some point or other, the two parties are indistinguishable as far as I am concerned.

... and let's not forget that.

who amongst us has not wished death on the odd Tory here and there?

http://i.imgur.com/u6gFseC.jpg?1

Impressive mixture of 'keep class warfare zealot out of office' and 'GP waiting times to quadruple if nothing is done' from the Mail.

http://i.imgur.com/RzYeYhq.jpg?1

The Sun going with 'oh has anyone noticed that guy's Jewish?' again.

Tempted to vote Labour out of spite.

Haven't seen much good analysis of the impact of a low turnout on the results but i wouldn't be surprised if it was in the 60%-65% range and that played into the hands of the Conservatives. 5/6 on Cameron forming a government seems like ok odds.

for the first time in my life i can relate to reading about all those people or celebs or whatever who leave the country when the tories get back in. (i guess only my second election living in the uk, but god, if i didn't have to live somewhere where english is the main language...)

The press have had little to no effect - so much for Murdoch, right wing press etc. Everyone is pretty much at the same stage as when they started the campaign (apart from SNP but I think the collapse of the Labour vote was already a fact by the time the campaig started).

Everything tells me Ed has the nerve to push for a minority/locking Tories out arrangement. 10-20 seats here or there will decide.

The press's influence is definitely on the wane, but I wouldn't underestimate it particularly with certain demographics in swing seats.

I don't expect UKIP to win many seats but no one seems to have much of a clue whether they'll pull more votes from Labour or the Tories and where, they could still tilt the balance even if Farage loses/they lose both their existing MPs.

I don't think enough people will believe the press has had any effective outcome on enough seats in this election to swing one way or another.

If anyone does then show your working please.

Think this election largely hinges on Labour doing much better in Scotland than predicted. The 'shy Labour' vote coming out perhaps.

can we stop this show your working please now please

no, everything must be proven beyond reasonable doubt or else invalid.

yes that's fine of course but the turn of phrase it is bad

If anyone does then show your working please.

A'ight, I think the yoking together of Labour and the SNP, the extent to which this has been successfully leveraged as an issue in England, is mostly due to the heavy lifting of the press. Also, the right wing press lining up behind the tories will, I think, have an effect of depressing the Ukip vote. I don't think the press will have inspired any Lab-Tory switching of any importance, most people had made their minds up on that long since (although that raises the question of the longer-term effects of letting these papers set the news agenda for the last... X years).

Think it was always fair game to speculate on the SNP's agenda so soon after the referedum. This is an issue for Labour - the collapse of very dependable number of seats - as much as anybody else.

I don't think the press was needed to depress the UKIP vote, they are capable of doing that themselves - how many suspensions have they gone through now? Plus Europe is not as big a deal in a general election.

18 UKIP Councillors (including 2 council group leaders), 17 Candidates, 1 National Secretary, 1 Youth Secretary, 1 UKIP Scotland Chair, 1 Spokesperson, 1 entire local branch, 1 local committee & 3 MEPs have been suspended from the party solely during this Parliament.

impressive!

Plus Europe is not as big a deal in a general election.

Europe no, immigration (and any social problems blamed on it) yes.

The UKIP vote is vastly more sensitive to what the press says than that of virtually any other party, so it does and will make a difference. Some of the Lab-Tory swing vote might have been as well, but that side has mostly been with the Tories (or even the LibDems) for some time now, possibly the entire duration of the parliament. A lot of UKIP voters will be morons and not particularly sensitive to stupid things their candidates say or do.

Europe is half of their manifesto.

I don't know why the morons who vote UKIP wold listen to the press as they form part of the elites UKIP is supposedly fighting against.