General Election called for June 8th

CONservatives will have to thank Scotlands, "Peter Kay" for saving the bacon. Wee Ruth could be a future Prime Minister, according to some CONservative sources.

No party comes out of this election well and lest the Corbynistas forget in the excitement of increasing their number of seats Labour has now lost the last 3 elections. Undoubtedly in my mind Labour ran the most effective campaign but it was still not enough to defeat the most incompetent Conservative campaign we've seen in decades.

My hope is that with this result we get a realistic Brexit with retention of membership of the single market (possibly a price the DUP will demand?) as that will certainly gain cross party support (well except for the right wing anti - EU fundamentalists in the Conservative Party)

(09-06-2017 13:35 )mysterion Wrote:  Why all the extreme comments here? Surely nothing much has changed. May has lost 12 Conservative MPs, but gained 10 DUP in their place, so it's more or less as you were. Yes it's an own goal for May herself, and undermines her authority, but won't necessarily affect the country that much.

They're not hers, though. It's like if she burned 12 pairs of shoes and had to borrow 10 pairs from her Irish neighbour.

Or something

(09-06-2017 13:35 )mysterion Wrote:  Why all the extreme comments here? Surely nothing much has changed. May has lost 12 Conservative MPs, but gained 10 DUP in their place, so it's more or less as you were. Yes it's an own goal for May herself, and undermines her authority, but won't necessarily affect the country that much.

You sound as delusional as John Redwood did this morning. It's a very long way from 'as you were'.

This was one way not to run an election.

Tory manifesto changes to fox hunting laws and Social Care
Plans to cut Corporation Tax
Failure to reduce immigration and cut back on needed police officers when she was the Home Secretary. Did she visit the injuried in either of the attacks? If she did I didn't see a report
Try to appear tough with the EU and then chicken out of the Leadership debate. Can we afford someone leading the country who can't fight it out

Worse of all. Failure to sack Jeremy Hunt. The individual who's personally running down the Health Service.

(09-06-2017 12:58 )Hamish McSporran Wrote:  

(09-06-2017 08:38 )SecretAgent Wrote:  Surprised not yet hearing calls for Sturgeon to resign. She lost 13.1% of the SNP votes and 21 seats (that's 37.5% of the previous SNP seats). Isn't it the fact that her IndyRef2 obsession has just given the Conservatives the chance to form a Coalition Government? Surely that's a massive failure and a rejection of any notion of Independence?

I think you're twisting the facts here. I understand that you're biased, I get that, but even so you're arguments don't stand up.

Before Sturgeon became leader of the SNP the most seats even won in a general election was 6. Under Sturgeon the SNP has had easily it's best 2 results ever. Even this election result, although not as stunning as the last, gives the SNP almost 6 times as many seats as it ever had before Sturgeon. If your views were more balanced you'd point out that the 2 general elections fought under Sturgeon are the only 2 elections the SNP has ever won in Scotland or even come anywhere close to winning.

The IndyRef2 obsession you speak of is not Sturgeon's anyway, it's the SNP's. I don't think she really wanted to propose IndyRef2 at the time she did, but it's what her party wanted and it was difficult to swim against the tide. Her approval ratings were slipping and she was in a position where she had to show her nationalist credentials. I think it's a complete distortion of the facts to say that Scottish independence is her obsession, when in truth it's her party's obsession.

Technically, 11 is the greatest number of seats the SNP had won prior to 2015 in a Westminster Election, but that was when Scotland had 71 MPs, so you're correct in that the previous best with Scotland's current 59 MPs is 6, so 35 is far and away their second best result.

The SNP knew that it was highly unlikely they would replicate 2015's extraordinary result, but I imagine that they will be disappointed not to hold onto 40+, not to mention the loss of Alex Salmond and Angus Robertson.

The suggestion, however, that someone who has just won the Westminster election in Scotland, with their second best ever result, and remain, comfortably, the largest party, should resign?

I wonder how many people in Scotland, who fell for Ruth Davidson's con (ignore actual Tory policies, but vote for us if you oppose an Independence Referendum) will be in a state of shock today, that they have helped the Tories cling on to power?

As for Labour, would they have had a chance at winning this election if the majority of Labour MPs had actually supported their leader, instead of undermining him at every opportunity?

And the Tories? May is a lame duck, who having called an unnecessary election, purely for what she arrogantly assumed would be her and her party's benefit, has lost their majority , and is clinging to power; given the track record of the Tories in 'dealing' with leaders who fail, were it not for the imminent EU negotiations, she'd probably be gone already.

However, they must be thrilled (as many of the rest of us are ) at the prospect of her 'handling' anything now, let alone something as important as an EU deal (or no deal).

And another thing , my fucking Internet connection has been playing up yesterday and today - I blame the election!