The Political Thread

[Theblazeuk]

God speed everyone. May Grud have mercy on us all.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Chin up. (And I say that before, and regardless, of the result).

As my old Grandad said: "It doesn't matter who you vote for, you always end up with the government."

[IndigoPrime]

If I was in Scotland, I think I'd go for the SNP if they can win, if it'd keep out a Tory. Otherwise, if some other party has a good chance (Lib Dems have a decent shot at a few seats, apparently, for example), that might influence my choice.

Alas, I'm in Tory central, and have fuck-all chance of making any kind of difference.

[NapalmKev]

My concern regarding the Lib-Dems is that they will cosy up with the Tories just to get another taste of power!

Labour all the way for me!

Cheers

[IndigoPrime]

My concern regarding the Lib-Dems is that they will cosy up with the Tories just to get another taste of power!

Given what happened last time, their manifestos pledge, and the nature of today's Tories, doubtful. And in seats with a Lib Dem incumbent or a near second-place, voting anything else makes a large Tory majority even more likely. (That said, the final polls out today make for pretty depressing reading, unless you're Conkip. Precisely one has the Tories not on a majority of over 40, and that's YouGov's oddball effort. The average is around 70. Plenty are predicting 100+.)

[Goaty]

Honest, where polls came from?

[Old Tankie]

Just been to do my duty! If my polling station is typical, turnout will be less than for the EU referendum.

[Tiplodocus]

Forgiven my lack of knowledge, but does the black berets mean those guys are Tank Regiment?

Another LOL. What is happening to this thread?

[Professor Bear]

Honest, where polls came from?

Polls say what the polling companies and/or the media outlets who commission them want them to say, and when they inevitably get things wrong, it's everyone else's fault.  Like when "shy Tories" were responsible for the bad 2015 polling, essentially saying that people were liars and polling companies were victims of a conspiracy.
Exit polls will be the first real barometer of how badly we're fucked, and we'll see them later today.  The rest is just guessing and then making it sound like it isn't.

[Modern Panther]

Not if you live in Scotland it isn't. There's a whole independence subtext

Whilst the Labour and Ruth Davidson Parties are selling the election as "vote for us, or Nicola will insist on referenda every three weeks until she wins", the truth is independence has pretty much nothing to do with this election. 

The SNP won all but three seats in Scotland in the last GE, and the Scottish Parliament voted in favour of a second referendum being held - and the government at Westminster ignored it.  It's not like the SNP winning every seat in Scotland will make any difference as to whether or not the PM decides Scotland should get another vote.  It's simply that the Labour party in Scotland have not a single policy they stand behind, and the Tories in Scotland have only one issue - to disagree with everything the SNP say.

[IndigoPrime]

Again, it showcases the ridiculous nature of British politics and how tribal it is. The SNP in Scotland is essentially the only thing that can stop Conservative creep in this election, yet you have the others all screaming about this. Now, fair enough for the Tories to do so. Labour, on the other hand, whine because they feel entitled to Scotland, despite basically ignoring it for years. The Lib Dems are in some ways even worse, with Farron admitting that 99% of the SNP manifesto is fine, but they want to destroy the UK! (Never mind that Lib Dem policy for years has been federalism, which the SNP would likely readily have accepted as a compromise in a non-stupid-Brexit scenario.)

Argh.

[Zarjazzer]

Can I be Prime Minister, please? So I can slash taxes, brutalize criminals and rule you like a King. Damn. Someone's beaten me to it...

[Paul Moore]

Not if you live in Scotland it isn't. There's a whole independence subtext

Whilst the Labour and Ruth Davidson Parties are selling the election as "vote for us, or Nicola will insist on referenda every three weeks until she wins", the truth is independence has pretty much nothing to do with this election. 

The SNP won all but three seats in Scotland in the last GE, and the Scottish Parliament voted in favour of a second referendum being held - and the government at Westminster ignored it.  It's not like the SNP winning every seat in Scotland will make any difference as to whether or not the PM decides Scotland should get another vote.  It's simply that the Labour party in Scotland have not a single policy they stand behind, and the Tories in Scotland have only one issue - to disagree with everything the SNP say.

unfortunately any decrease in SNP support will be used by the Tories as evidence of less support for independence even tho' the mandate was there at the last scottish election

[Paul Moore]

Again, it showcases the ridiculous nature of British politics and how tribal it is. The SNP in Scotland is essentially the only thing that can stop Conservative creep in this election, yet you have the others all screaming about this. Now, fair enough for the Tories to do so. Labour, on the other hand, whine because they feel entitled to Scotland, despite basically ignoring it for years. The Lib Dems are in some ways even worse, with Farron admitting that 99% of the SNP manifesto is fine, but they want to destroy the UK! (Never mind that Lib Dem policy for years has been federalism, which the SNP would likely readily have accepted as a compromise in a non-stupid-Brexit scenario.)

Argh.

Exactly the London party branches are terrified of independence, and are clamping down on it, the libs wont negotiate with SNP to explore a scottish brexit 'buffer' (i know not much chance with a Tory govt) so Scotland suffers full brexit along with the rest of the UK, theyre only interested in a UK (anti?) brexit strategy...so much for the Scottish branch of the liberal party

[IndigoPrime]

It's infuriating. I didn't read the manifestos this time round, but in 2015, there was little difference between the SNP and Lib Dem ones, bar the obvious. They basically had the same policies. Yet (or perhaps because of this), the Lib Dems saw themselves at war with a natural ally. It's bloody stupid.

And yet again, we saw this over the past few weeks. It was nice to see the Greens rise above it, but they're going to be a rounding error in every sense this time. The SNP too seemed somewhat keen on a deal. But the Lib Dems decided to instead hasten their ride to oblivion, while Labour barrelled along with its usual entitled hubris.