UK Snap Election: 8 June 2017

I can’t remember re-evaluating a politician to the extent this campaign has caused me to reconsider Theresa May. Give her a script and she’s okay but apparently anything that requires thinking on your feet and she either, if she access them n her mind, recites bullet points, or starts to freeze/melt down.

I’m not sure anyone understood she literally needed a 20-point lead to get through this.

Anyway, I might have a slightly better handle on why the turnout range 60-65% is still shortening in the betting markets. As well as a significantly increased turnout from the yoof - who were stung in the arse by their Brexit apathy, a chunk of the grey wrinkly traditional Tories may be feeling determinedly apathetic (dementia tax, plus May’s weirdness).

Those two may be offsetting one another - to Labour’s considerable advantage.

So many variables though; how many wrinklies will stay at home, and how many of the traditional lefties are returning, will the yoof really bovver, and will the weather be reasonable across most of the countries.

Guido is reporting that the Lib Dem’s Sarah Olney has been reported for electoral expense fraud. Richmond is a Lib Dem / Tory marginal, isn’t it?

Here’s CNN with “The non-Brit’s guide to Britain’s snap election”: http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/06/europe/british-snap-election-guide-trnd/index.html

Yes. She’s quite clearly not PM calibre.

I’m sure it’s posted somewhere, but I can’t find anything clear. What is Corbyn’s plans for Brexit if he wins?

You can read it all here.

The plan is to end freedom of movement but keep “the benefits” of the Single Market and Customs Union. They’re also going to keep all EU-derived regulations which are “of benefit” (workplace, consumer, environmental regulations, essentially).

The one big difference with the Tories is that they reject “no deal” as an option, whereas the Tory line is that “No deal is better than a bad deal”.

Thanks. Not what I expected.

IOW they’re taking the Ted Heath line. And look how that turned out.

Oh yippee - that’s Zac Goldsmith’s patch, innit?

From your link - “Stuart Coster, a local independent researcher who is not affiliated to any party” but is the head of the anti-European Democracy Movement.

“The Democracy Movement was founded in 1998 through a merger of the Referendum Movement, a cross-party successor group to Sir James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party, and the Euro Information Campaign set up by Yorkshire businessman Paul Sykes.”

“The DM is funded by donations from grassroots supporters, although the Goldsmith family and Paul Sykes made large campaign donations during its early years.”

Who did Sarah Olney beat in the Richmond Park by election?

And your point is? Do you think the report was made out of personal loyalty to the Goldsmiths? It’s quite possible. Even probable. But there has to be some evidence for a report to be made.

But see the quote I made upthread from the Times:

No point, just a brief analysis of the blog post you credulously linked to as evidence that Olney is under investigation for electoral fraud.

I’m sorry, but as I said in the post in which I linked the article it says she has been reported for electoral fraud. Clearly you did not bother to actually read my post. Nor did you bother to read the linked article which has the word ‘reported’ in both the title and the first sentence.

It’s blindingly obvious that I read both your post and the linked blog entry.

Paul Staines* claims that Stuart Coster** claims to have reported Sarah Olney, the Lib Dem who beat Zac Goldsmith in last years Richmond Park byelection, for allegedly not declaring between £5,157 and £15,414 in election expenses. Staines also claims that the police “have confirmed they are looking into it.”

So it boils down to this - do you believe the story? Why link to it at all? It’s wholly unsubstantiated, currently little better that Westminster tittle tattle yet you eagerly linked to it as if it proves… something?

*Blogger published via a Leeward Islands operation to deter libel suits.

**A local independent researcher who is not affiliated to any party.:rolleyes:

Sturgeon dropped a bombshell last night: Scottish Labour’s leader, Kezia Dugdale, apparently supported a second referendum. (Facebook link.) Given her recent stupidity suspending the local Labour councillors and general incompetence - nowhere on the scale of Abbott, though - and a few other things that pretty much sets me on voting Scottish Conservative & Unionist.

May’s suggestion of tearing up human rights in order to fight terrorism scares the bejesus out of me.

That’s an old, old refrain for May, and the biggest reason I loathe the woman.

They’re already planning on replacing the Human Rights Act. The replacement will have to be scrutinised very carefully lest it permits the abuse we’ve seen from previous reforms.

I don’t trust the Tories to do that. This election was called with the naked ambition of achieving a massive majority to avoid scrutiny of Brexit.

It’s also parcelled along with her plans to tamper with the internet.

A classic case of falling back on what you know. Fighting the HRA/ECHR on behalf of the British people was mainstay of May’s popular appeal as Home Secretary. The fact that she never actually achieved anything as a result of this fight was always secondary to the fact that she was having the fight in the first place.

It’s likely to be a good get-out-the-vote tactic, and might well convince some waverers as well. Co-incidentally or not, the Express, Mail and Sun are going full-bore on Corbyn as appeaser of terrorists.