[Closed] Is May about to call an election?

@mikewsmith As an engineering student 2 years into a 4 years course that's going to leave me in £36k of debt in those fees alone, how a party handles issues involving students matters considerably to me. That being said I wouldn't vote Lib Dem and not just because of this, else that would be an ill-considered approach.

At least it will give them some new material for Have I Got News For You? this week, not that they have enough already!!

As an engineering student 2 years into a 4 years course that's going to leave me in £36k of debt in those fees alone

Remind us who introduced tuition fees for students?

The Lib Dems will claw some back, but can anyone name their leader without Google?

I agree, and people vote on the leader

I wouldn't be surprised to see some upset on SNP held seats. Not much change but some.

The Lib Dems will claw some back, but can anyone name their leader without Google?

yes,
unfortunately farron is a slightly odd fellah and born again christian

better option than Maybot tho!

I thought we were just going to give trump the premiership, along with his golden [s]shower[/s] carriage?

As an engineering student 2 years into a 4 years course that's going to leave me in £36k of debt in those fees alone

Remind us who introduced tuition fees for students?

Labour introduced them.

But equally people seem to forget the the Lib Dems were a minority in the coalition and had to horse trade a lot away to get anything they wanted through. Should they have made students fees a red line, well in hindsight yes, but it wasn't so obvious at the time.

oh just imagine if Corbyn was PM (I know) hed have to welcome Trump

thatd be hilarious!

I would piss my pants laughing if Corbyn was PM 😆

But equally people seem to forget the the Lib Dems were a minority in the coalition and had to horse trade a lot away to get anything they wanted through.

Yep. Just goes to show voters don't really underdstand the reality of politics.

But equally people seem to forget the the Lib Dems were a minority in the coalition and had to horse trade a lot away to get anything they wanted through.

how a party handles issues involving students matters considerably to me.

Sadly, this is going to be such a one party, one issue election, that the Tories can remain silent on a whole bunch of issues and do whatever the hell they like after the election, without having to worry about broken promises.

Not that they've ever lost much sleep over them in the past.

Ironic Premier Inn email header from 11:29 today

[IMG] [/IMG]

I would piss my pants [s]laughing[/s] if Corbyn was PM

makes you wonder what the economic projections are looking like for 2019

Exactly my thoughts!

Must have seen the fast approaching economic shitshow and decided to shore up her majority while the delusions are still firmly in place.

so to make this happen, they're going to have to get every single non-labour MP to vote in favour, plus an additional 15 labour MPs.

Whilst there's some disgruntled lefties about, those voting would have to effectively be ok with the fact they may be forced out of the party - no? as well as significant risk to their jobs.

[url= http://commentcentral.co.uk/labour-mps-abandon-ship/ ]http://commentcentral.co.uk/labour-mps-abandon-ship/[/url]

The job centre is calling Labour MPs rather sooner than they expected.

Imagine the accusations that could be levelled against a Labour MP voting against a call for election?

1) you don't trust the electorate
2) you don't back your leader
3) you don't back yourself to retain your seat

Almost impossible to defend without some gymnastics.

Must have seen the fast approaching economic shitshow and decided to shore up her majority while the delusions are still firmly in place.

Could be true, but equally May could easily just have thought their majority is pretty slim right now and so getting a lot of pressure from within. So go win a decent majority and you have much more freedom to do what you want, without having to pander to disruptive factions within your own party.

This is like proper 60's and 70's politics, fun times. Going to come as a shock to the young folk.

ELI5: Why is she calling for a snap election?

so to make this happen, they're going to have to get every single non-labour MP to vote in favour, plus an additional 15 labour MPs.

Whilst there's some disgruntled lefties about, those voting would have to effectively be ok with the fact they may be forced out of the party - no? as well as significant risk to their jobs.

She also has the option of a self imposed vote of no confidence then being voted down by her own party 🙂

Has Corbyn suffered a major TBI to his frontal lobe? He's saying that Labour will vote in favour of a general election! He's voy
Ting for his own parties demise - the ****ing idiot!

without having to pander to disruptive factions within your own party.

true if you can control who the local party selects as a candidate.....

Apparently a lot of Labour MP's are due to 'do a Zac' say "**** it!" and call it a day. Leaving Jezza with the problem of trying to find some new candidates to lead off an electoral cliff!

The big question is does this leave sufficient time for Russia to hack the system and influence the result?

The big question is does this leave sufficient time for Russia to hack the system and influence the result?

I think they would only do that if their candidate needed assistance.

Could be true, but equally May could easily just have thought their majority is pretty slim right now and so getting a lot of pressure from within. So go win a decent majority and you have much more freedom to do what you want, without having to pander to disruptive factions within your own party.

Whatever way you look at it, electorally things aren't going be any better for the Tories than they are right now. Lots of risks and unknowns ahead. It's a smart decision.

Tom_W1987 - Member

Has Corbyn suffered a major TBI to his frontal lobe? He's saying that Labour will vote in favour of a general election!

What's he supposed to do? Vote to keep the tories in? Say "we won't win so we won't support it?". I think he basically has 2 options- support it, or say "too short notice".

How does postal voting work on these timescales?

Well this gives me an ideal opportunity to sweep in the LD candidate who is mostly sane and - importantly - not a conservative.

Let me just check the incumbent tory's majority - just under 20,000. Might be a bit of a stretch. Whatever happened to proportional representation? Oh yeah 😉

I think it is more how enthusiastically they switched to supporting it as opposed to even just going for a free vote on it.
That and their utter incompetence with regards to electoral reform.

They were the smaller party by some margin, which limited their firepower foe change. Going the other way, there's this from the ConDemNation days: https://whatthehellhavethelibdemsdone.com

Whatever way you look at it, electorally things aren't going be any better for the Tories than they are right now. Lots of risks and unknowns ahead. It's a smart decision.

Unfortunately I agree.

😥

The big question is does this leave sufficient time for Russia to hack the system and influence the result?

They're already inside the system, TM gave them access in exchange for backing Brexit....

How does postal voting work on these timescales?

Putin has already cast it for you 😉

Tory majority? - pretty much.

Brexy majority? - interesting. Not necessarily and it trumps the June 23 vote.

Ah well. Democracy moves on.

May knows she'll get an election, you cannot credibly vote against one as an opposition party, it's basically surrendering.

She's clearly called it for a stronger mandate on Brexit. No-one will be able to say that she's an unelected leader anymore, and she will use that mandate to drive through a hard Brexit.

With no credible opposition she knows that she'll win, unless EVERYBODY who voted remain votes for the Lib Dems, which is unfortunately not going to happen.

Tory majority? - pretty much.

Brexy majority? - interesting. Not necessarily and I t trumps the June 23 vote.

Tory majority = Brexit majority.

Your only hope was the opposition getting its act together, and I'm afraid that ship sailed quite some considerable time ago.

She's clearly called it for a stronger mandate on Brexit. No-one will be able to say that she's an unelected leader anymore, and she will use that mandate to drive through a hard Brexit.

With no credible opposition she knows that she'll win

Yup. We're humped.

ION I just tripped over this, the voting figures from 2015.
Makes for interesting reading.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results

Tory majority = Brexit majority.

Given here explanation for the snap election, very much this. If they get a majority then the public has backed a 'Hard Brexit'.

Insane though it may be.....

Good take on it here:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/18/general-election-coup-mps-theresa-may

Theresa May has turned democracy against itself. She has been seduced by the siren evidence of the 20-point lead in the polls, and she will have a general election, the one she said again and again that she would not call. And it will almost certainly return her with a thumping majority that will allow her to run the Brexit negotiations just as she wants.

There will be no obligation on her to reflect the views of the minority position. She will leave the remainers of England disempowered. She has made a Scottish referendum inevitable, and a border poll in Northern Ireland infinitely more likely. She is resetting politics in a way that will entrench division. We will all rue this day.

Brexit, the gift which keeps on taking (hope away).

The LDs did so badly last time around that the only positive possibility I can see is that they pick up a decent amount of seats, and the Tories end up with a similar or slightly larger majority.

Sadly, this is probably a Cloud Cuckoo Land suggestion too.

martinhutch - Member

Tory majority? - pretty much.
Brexy majority? - interesting. Not necessarily and I t trumps the June 23 vote.

Tory majority = Brexit majority.

Your only hope was the opposition getting its act together, and I'm afraid that ship sailed quite some considerable time ago.

The best hope long term against Brexit (or getting it substantially reversed at some point in the future) is demographics - put simply Brexies will die sooner.

It's just a bonus if the electorate returns an anti-Brexit Commons.

footflaps - Member

There will be no obligation on her to reflect the views of the minority position. She will leave the remainers of England disempowered. She has made a Scottish referendum inevitable, and a border poll in Northern Ireland infinitely more likely. She is resetting politics in a way that will entrench division. We will all rue this day.

This seems like the most likely outcome. Good short term politics, disastrous long term, but who cares about anything past the next election? It's the "three brexiteers" strategy writ large- clever tactics, no strategy.

footflaps - Member
There will be no obligation on her to reflect the views of the minority position. She will leave the remainers of England disempowered. She has made a Scottish referendum inevitable, and a border poll in Northern Ireland infinitely more likely. She is resetting politics in a way that will entrench division. We will all rue this day.

yeah this is where we are heading

and as pointed out the LD's lost 50 seats at the last election, how do the people who voted that way feel now 2 years in? Do they feel like that change was a good thing? Happy with what they got?
The tory majority is not currently huge and they are going to have to spend a lot of time promising Hard and Soft Brexit at the same time.

Kimbers - How's that pound doing now ?

Could see the Lib Dems pick up a fair few seats from remainer Tories I think. And votes (possibly not seats) from anti-independence scots too.