By-elections

[scawsby steve]

Labour have taken Kingswood and Wellingborough in the 2 by-elections.

The swing from Con to Lab in Wellingborough was a staggering 28.5%, the second biggest swing in a by-election since 1945.

Wow.

[Donnywolf]

Ah but , only Sunak has a plan
Labour has NO plan and we will be back to Square one

If only

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Just shows how Sunak just has a government with very few ideas, optimism or popularity.

[Donnywolf]

Rees - Smug amazingly as Labour had a majority of over 11000 in Kingswood said " don't forget a lot of the Postal voters would have voted before Labours latest Anti semitism problem"

In the encyclopaedia of By Election spin by all Parties ( even winning ones ) THAT just has to be the stupidest most idiotic "excuse" I have ever heard

[Herbert Anchovy]

I heard a Tory MP on the radio this morning pretty much claiming a VICTORY in the by-elections because Labour didn't win by even more! I know that politicians have to clutch at straws to a degree but this was totally mad. Even the presenter didn't know quite what to say.

The Tory Government is dying before our very eyes.   

[Filo]

Sunak says not a huge amount of enthusiasm for Labour

I reckon he’s been into Gove’s Charlie stash lol!

[Donnywolf]

Did you see the nonentity this morning. Tory Chairman being ripped a new one on GMB but worse with a huge patch of white powder ( talc maybe ) on front of his nose ?

[Colin C No.3]

Did you see the nonentity this morning. Tory Chairman being ripped a new one on GMB but worse with a huge patch of white powder ( talc maybe ) on front of his nose ?

He later, when quizzed on it, that it was “excess face powder from the studios make up team”.

However, a spokesperson from the make up department said “we don’t apply make up in lines via a rolled up £20 note”.

Allegedly.

[ravenrover]

The public can see our plan is working says Richie.
Which plan is that then?

[danumdon]

Sunak says not a huge amount of enthusiasm for Labour

I reckon he’s been into Gove’s Charlie stash lol!

Says more about the electorate wanting change, any change rather than being enthusiastic about Labour.

The turnout being so low in both elections tells me that people are just plain sick and tired of politicians, period.

Change is desperately needed, no one can deny that, if Labour ever make their minds up about anything we may find out if they are the party of change or just an even more expensive version of what we've had to endure for too long.

Lets wait and see eh!

[BillyStubbsTears]

I heard a Tory MP on the radio this morning pretty much claiming a VICTORY in the by-elections because Labour didn't win by even more! I know that politicians have to clutch at straws to a degree but this was totally mad. Even the presenter didn't know quite what to say.

The Tory Government is dying before our very eyes.   

If it was a horse, we'd put it out of its misery.

Course, the analogy doesn't really work, because a horse would have contributed something useful during its lifetime before it was ready for the knackers yard.

This bunch of shires are doing nothing but trying to scrape together enough support to keep a few dozen of them in Parliament after the Election, and salt the soil to make things tougher for Labour.

The fact that they are now looking at unsustainable public spending cuts, to make unsupportable tax cuts in the Budget, knowing that Labour will have to rescind them after the Election is an measure of what a bunch of soulless Kitsons they are.

Party and self before country at every step.

[Bentley Bullet]

Disenchanted Tories defecting to the Reform Party was a bigger reason for a Tory defeat than any enthusiasm for Labour in Kingswood.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Sunak says not a huge amount of enthusiasm for Labour

I reckon he’s been into Gove’s Charlie stash lol!

Says more about the electorate wanting change, any change rather than being enthusiastic about Labour.

The turnout being so low in both elections tells me that people are just plain sick and tired of politicians, period.

Change is desperately needed, no one can deny that, if Labour ever make their minds up about anything we may find out if they are the party of change or just an even more expensive version of what we've had to endure for too long.

Lets wait and see eh!

Find me a by-election in the last 70 years in which turnout WASNT low. There's nothing exceptionally low about the turnouts in these. What IS exceptional is the degree to which the sitting Government is being rejected. It's really never happened on this scale without the LDs or SNP being the beneficiaries, in our lifetime.

[Herbert Anchovy]

Disenchanted Tories defecting to the Reform Party was a bigger reason for a Tory defeat than any enthusiasm for Labour in Kingswood.

I've also read that Labour are claiming (via their own individual poling) that disenchanted Tories moved to Labour in both elections, so who knows?

[Herbert Anchovy]

Sunak says not a huge amount of enthusiasm for Labour

I reckon he’s been into Gove’s Charlie stash lol!

Says more about the electorate wanting change, any change rather than being enthusiastic about Labour.

The turnout being so low in both elections tells me that people are just plain sick and tired of politicians, period.

Change is desperately needed, no one can deny that, if Labour ever make their minds up about anything we may find out if they are the party of change or just an even more expensive version of what we've had to endure for too long.

Lets wait and see eh!

Aren't almost all by-elections characterised by low turn out though?

[danumdon]

Sunak says not a huge amount of enthusiasm for Labour

I reckon he’s been into Gove’s Charlie stash lol!

Says more about the electorate wanting change, any change rather than being enthusiastic about Labour.

The turnout being so low in both elections tells me that people are just plain sick and tired of politicians, period.

Change is desperately needed, no one can deny that, if Labour ever make their minds up about anything we may find out if they are the party of change or just an even more expensive version of what we've had to endure for too long.

Lets wait and see eh!

Find me a by-election in the last 70 years in which turnout WASNT low. There's nothing exceptionally low about the turnouts in these. What IS exceptional is the degree to which the sitting Government is being rejected. It's really never happened on this scale without the LDs or SNP being the beneficiaries, in our lifetime.

What's exceptional about these results is that they come on the trail of a government on its last legs, screaming to be put out of its misery.

That Labour could not rally an electorate who are desperate for change tells many that people are still very concerned about giving Starmer any sort of meaningful mandate.

The trust and belief is still not there. If you can't score a goal when the other team have actually walked off the pitch and gone home tells you plenty about the general mood of a very bruised and distrustful electorate.

[danumdon]

Sunak says not a huge amount of enthusiasm for Labour

I reckon he’s been into Gove’s Charlie stash lol!

Says more about the electorate wanting change, any change rather than being enthusiastic about Labour.

The turnout being so low in both elections tells me that people are just plain sick and tired of politicians, period.

Change is desperately needed, no one can deny that, if Labour ever make their minds up about anything we may find out if they are the party of change or just an even more expensive version of what we've had to endure for too long.

Lets wait and see eh!

Aren't almost all by-elections characterised by low turn out though?

In this particular case they should have been a massive walkover for a party expecting to govern after the GE.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I think there's some valid points.  People don't massively trust labour or have huge belief in them.  But what they offer is not being the current government and that's the choice really.

There's no great, exciting proposition out there.

[Herbert Anchovy]

Sunak says not a huge amount of enthusiasm for Labour

I reckon he’s been into Gove’s Charlie stash lol!

Says more about the electorate wanting change, any change rather than being enthusiastic about Labour.

The turnout being so low in both elections tells me that people are just plain sick and tired of politicians, period.

Change is desperately needed, no one can deny that, if Labour ever make their minds up about anything we may find out if they are the party of change or just an even more expensive version of what we've had to endure for too long.

Lets wait and see eh!

Aren't almost all by-elections characterised by low turn out though?

In this particular case they should have been a massive walkover for a party expecting to govern after the GE.

Isn't a 28.5% swing to Labour s huge change though?

[danumdon]

Swings don't mean a great deal in a bye election, low turnouts also exaggerate this.

When you look at what was in front of the electorate, a cry for help would of got a bigger vote.

Nobody is giving the voters something that looks like controlled and competent governance.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Sunak says not a huge amount of enthusiasm for Labour

I reckon he’s been into Gove’s Charlie stash lol!

Says more about the electorate wanting change, any change rather than being enthusiastic about Labour.

The turnout being so low in both elections tells me that people are just plain sick and tired of politicians, period.

Change is desperately needed, no one can deny that, if Labour ever make their minds up about anything we may find out if they are the party of change or just an even more expensive version of what we've had to endure for too long.

Lets wait and see eh!

Aren't almost all by-elections characterised by low turn out though?

In this particular case they should have been a massive walkover for a party expecting to govern after the GE.

They DID have a massive walkover. The Wellingborough result was one of the biggest by-election wins in Britsh history!

You have for years started from the position that, whatever the question, the answer is that Labour's not very good. That leads you inevitably to seeing one of the biggest ever by-election victories as evidence that Labour  isn't very good.

[Ldr]

Sunak says not a huge amount of enthusiasm for Labour

I reckon he’s been into Gove’s Charlie stash lol!

Says more about the electorate wanting change, any change rather than being enthusiastic about Labour.

The turnout being so low in both elections tells me that people are just plain sick and tired of politicians, period.

Change is desperately needed, no one can deny that, if Labour ever make their minds up about anything we may find out if they are the party of change or just an even more expensive version of what we've had to endure for too long.

Lets wait and see eh!

Aren't almost all by-elections characterised by low turn out though?

In this particular case they should have been a massive walkover for a party expecting to govern after the GE.

They DID have a massive walkover. The Wellingborough result was one of the biggest by-election wins in Britsh history!

You have for years started from the position that, whatever the question, the answer is that Labour's not very good. That leads you inevitably to seeing one of the biggest ever by-election victories as evidence that Labour  isn't very good.

You’re a smart man BST wouldn’t you think it’s just the tories are THAT bad? Takes a lot but I’ll be voting Labour this time round that’s how bad the Tories are, not because of any particular thoughts that’s Labour are good, just it’s time for a change

[BillyStubbsTears]

Ldr.

Yes, I couldn't agree more! I've been saying that for years.

It's a cast iron law of politics in this country. Oppositions do not ever win elections. Sitting governments lose them.

The only time, ever, that there is a change of Government is when the sitting Govt looks like it has run out of energy and authority. The task of an Opposition party is to look fresh and competent by comparison.

Anyone who thinks Oppositions win elections by enthusing people with some grand vision and detailed strategy is endearingly naïve.

I've given the example of Thatcher many times. THE great conviction politician  of the past 70 years. She didn't win in 1979 by telling the public that her economics plans involved massive increases in VAT, interest rates and unemployment. She won, because Labour looked knackered after the Winter of Discontent, and Thatcher looked fresh and competent by comparison.

[danumdon]

Sunak says not a huge amount of enthusiasm for Labour

I reckon he’s been into Gove’s Charlie stash lol!

Says more about the electorate wanting change, any change rather than being enthusiastic about Labour.

The turnout being so low in both elections tells me that people are just plain sick and tired of politicians, period.

Change is desperately needed, no one can deny that, if Labour ever make their minds up about anything we may find out if they are the party of change or just an even more expensive version of what we've had to endure for too long.

Lets wait and see eh!

Aren't almost all by-elections characterised by low turn out though?

In this particular case they should have been a massive walkover for a party expecting to govern after the GE.

They DID have a massive walkover. The Wellingborough result was one of the biggest by-election wins in Britsh history!

You have for years started from the position that, whatever the question, the answer is that Labour's not very good. That leads you inevitably to seeing one of the biggest ever by-election victories as evidence that Labour  isn't very good.

Think your getting caught up in the headlights of it all BST.

You know as well as anyone that bye elections are a staging post to beat the incumbent when things are not going well, and oh my god are things not going well for the government.

In fact to such an extent that if i had been a Labour party strategist i would of been expecting a larger turn out than normal for a bye election to give the Tories a good old kicking, didn't happen did it.

A big swing to Labour at this particular time should of been guaranteed and would of been factored in, what they would have been looking for is a signal to say that the nation is on board with this labour party, enough to see them hit the ground ruining after the GE.

I don't think the groundswell across the nation is for Labour and its lucky bag policies(we just don't know what we will get next time we open the box) the mood is for MASSIVE CHANGE, if anyone can bring that to the table then people will fall over themselves to vote for it, is that Labour? on what we know so far a great many will be disappointed with what they are about to get.

[drfchound]

We have had one or two posters on here telling us that the government has been poor since 2010 so if governments lose elections how come it has taken Labour 14 years to get back in.
Surely they haven’t been so bad for all that time that the floating voters didn’t switch to them and unseat the Tory’s in the post 2010 GEs.
We are due a change, it isn’t hard to see that but as it is just a two horse race I will have to go for a change because no way will Labour lose in Doncaster this time.
I have heard so much from the experts on here, and the not so experts as well, that I am looking forward to the brighter future we will have under Labour.
I’m another one who actually don’t believe that Labour are particularly good but given where the Tory’s have slipped to they have to be better.
I still believe that the average person doesn’t really care about what goes on in politics but they do watch the news and that is what will sway their voting decision, even though I don’t think that there will be a massive turn out of voters when the big day comes.
As for the Tory’s wanting to keep a few dozen in Parliament to make life difficult for Labour, isn’t that what opposition Party’s do?

[Sprotyrover]

I won’t vote for Milliband but I simply won’t vote! I just hope we don’t get a Government which becomes a Fringe feeding frenzy! Hopefully we will see £billions in benefits, let’s just hope we aren’t taken for granted,
I had a 4 mile walk through Willesden Red Ken’s birthplace  just before Christmas and it is a ‘Money Pit’! I wonder if all of labours London seats are in an equally decrepit run down state!

[wilts rover]

I won’t vote for Milliband but I simply won’t vote! I just hope we don’t get a Government which becomes a Fringe feeding frenzy! Hopefully we will see £billions in benefits, let’s just hope we aren’t taken for granted,
I had a 4 mile walk through Willesden Red Ken’s birthplace  just before Christmas and it is a ‘Money Pit’! I wonder if all of labours London seats are in an equally decrepit run down state!

Probably. Don't you remember the video of Sunak when he was campaigning for the leadership saying he was going to reverse giving money to deprived areas and give it to Tory heartlands like Royal Tunbridge Wells instead. And that was after 13 years of austerity and cut-backs.

[normal rules]

Ldr.

Yes, I couldn't agree more! I've been saying that for years.

It's a cast iron law of politics in this country. Oppositions do not ever win elections. Sitting governments lose them.

The only time, ever, that there is a change of Government is when the sitting Govt looks like it has run out of energy and authority. The task of an Opposition party is to look fresh and competent by comparison.

Anyone who thinks Oppositions win elections by enthusing people with some grand vision and detailed strategy is endearingly naïve.

I've given the example of Thatcher many times. THE great conviction politician  of the past 70 years. She didn't win in 1979 by telling the public that her economics plans involved massive increases in VAT, interest rates and unemployment. She won, because Labour looked knackered after the Winter of Discontent, and Thatcher looked fresh and competent by comparison.

The tories are knackered for sure.
Starmer isnt exactly “fresh” though
And I’d argue he isnt competent either.
What a f**king state this countries politics is in.
Shit or shitter.
Dumb or dumber.
Con socialists or socialists.
What a choice.

[SydneyRover]

Following years of Austerity, some decided it would be a good idea to elect a disreputable liar to office. Things have been travelling downhill at an ever increasing rate since then.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Ldr.

Yes, I couldn't agree more! I've been saying that for years.

It's a cast iron law of politics in this country. Oppositions do not ever win elections. Sitting governments lose them.

The only time, ever, that there is a change of Government is when the sitting Govt looks like it has run out of energy and authority. The task of an Opposition party is to look fresh and competent by comparison.

Anyone who thinks Oppositions win elections by enthusing people with some grand vision and detailed strategy is endearingly naïve.

I've given the example of Thatcher many times. THE great conviction politician  of the past 70 years. She didn't win in 1979 by telling the public that her economics plans involved massive increases in VAT, interest rates and unemployment. She won, because Labour looked knackered after the Winter of Discontent, and Thatcher looked fresh and competent by comparison.

The tories are knackered for sure.
Starmer isnt exactly “fresh” though
And I’d argue he isnt competent either.
What a f**king state this countries politics is in.
Shit or shitter.
Dumb or dumber.
Con socialists or socialists.
What a choice.

Aye. Just like we had folk 30 years ago telling us Blair and Brown were red Tories. Same folk who today refused to even look at the positive things they did for the country.