So what does the new party call itself then?

Ideas on a postcard, please.

“Indy Centrists”

or

“The Indy Party”

I like Non Aligned Independants

Leaving aside the logical flaw of how you can have non aligned independent party anything with independent in the title is likely to run into problems with the Electoral commission. Since it would confuse actual independent candidates with the funny tinge party.

I did hear someone in the office say “What about this new 3rd party” to which a couple of us said, what about the Lib-dems?

Oh I don’t know… who are the 3rd biggest party in Westminster?

by membership:
As of April 2018, Labour had 540,000 members, compared to just under 125,500 SNP members as of August 2018, and 124,000 Conservative members reported in March 2018. As of August 2018, The Liberal Democrats had 99,200, Green Party 39,400, UKIP 23,600 and Plaid Cymru 8,000 members. Party membership has risen notably since 2013, both in total and as a percentage of the electorate.ghgh

https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN05125

Great photo

Just watched their news conference and found them refreshingly blunt and straightforward.

That is because they have no manifesto, no party line, no leader. They can say exactly what they want. All MPs should be independent with no party alignment. Then you really would be voting for what your MP stands for and the actions they take.

Not sure how parliament would work with 600+ independent MPs but couldn’t be any worse than current system

“The Indy Party”

I’d vote for them if the candidates name was Anna Jones

I wonder how this will effect MPs still within Parties who perhaps don’t agree with their leaders?

The whip system was always a powerful one, if you’re not familiar a ‘3 line whip’ that’s been mentioned a lot recently basically means “vote, and vote as we tell you, or leave the Party” – it was always the ultimate threat for MPs, but now, whilst still very risky – there is a home for those who no longer fit in with their party (well, as long as you’re alighted with the 11 I assume).

Yeah, the stakes are high for all of us, but I don’t remember the last time UK politics was so interesting.

surroundedbyhills

Subscriber

party membership also doesn’t really mean much beyond a nice feel good factor for the members going on that evidence.

The more members the less need for big business donations? Labour was broke before J.C took over.

Careful what you wish for folks.

Tony Blair tipped to be next to join Independent Group

Will they contest the Newport by-election?…

About time a Centerist Party exists, and I’m a member of the LDems.. 🤷‍♂️

Careful what you wish for folks.

Oh well, it was fun whilst it lasted.

It would be nice if Tony Blair could be neutralised or contained.

How about “A Brighter Britain”

Labour was broke before J.C took over.

Not just cash but also in direct participation eg going out canvassing and so on.
The numbers game was why the Tories had to have the flying squad of young tories which ended up very dysfunctional.

Careful what you wish for folks.

I noticed it was being reported by The Express ‘newspaper’ as well… we’ll see. Sounds like a dog whistle to me.

If my local Labour MP wishes to join them, he’ll have my support.

We have already had a flyer from a group of local Liberals and Tories supporting his pro remain stance.

tbh I’d prefer it if they could manage not to become a party, or atleast if they did become a party, they do away with the whip. Which for me if the most undemocratic thing about the parliamentary system. Politicians are meant to represent their constituents, not the party leadership.

About time a Centerist Party exists

Labour (even under JC) The lib dems, and SNP are all pretty centrist. The problem is that the tories and nu labour have dragged the country so far to the right over the past 40 years, everyone has lost sight of where the centre really is.

I’ll be interested to see how long this lasts. What happens when Allen starts manoeuvring to be the leader of this new party which she clearly covets after that speech today? Chukka won’t like that as he thinks he’s the new Macron and very much sees this as his brainchild. Also they’re such a motley crew that they’ll be disagreeing from the start once they actually have to think of some policies. And then there’s the deadweight of Gapes, Ryan, Smith, and Shuker, who were previously anonymous due to being completely devoid of any personality, competence or ideas. And this is without even considering that there’s precious little evidence of any real public support for a centrist party. Politics is polarised because the public are too. WIth brexit about to explode another bomb when we hit the end of March I doubt that’s going to improve.

The parliamentary voting record of the three Tory defectors speaks volumes for what they really believe.How come they’ve suddenly acquired a social conscience?

Labour’s policies aren’t that far left of centre by European standards. They’d not have lost 8 MPs under competent leadership.

But yeah, double down on the attacks, never ever feel the need for a bit of introspection. That’s all been working really well these last few years.

Doesn’t matter what Labour manifesto says, Corbyn has said many times he wants to respect the referendum result, so he is pro Brexit. No doubts about it.

Supporting Labour and Corbyn equals to supporting Brexit.
You can’t deny it.

The thing I really don’t get is that most Labour supporters seems convinced he’s anti Brexit and will ride to the rescue if only we could have GE. I put his enthusiasm for Brexit only just behind Farages…

So what does the new party call itself then?

Ideas on a postcard, please.

The Neoliberal Democrats

WIth brexit about to explode another bomb when we hit the end of March I doubt that’s going to improve.

I’ll speculate that the whole point of this is to get enough mps over so they can try and affect the majority in parliament and stop brexit? or at least force a general election?

They’ve got a month to neutralise the tory/dup pact. A lot can happen in that time I guess. You wonder how many will get itchy feet…

I don’t really see a party being the main goal of this group at the minute? There sole purpose really should be this single issue right now?

Asking questions, as I don’t really know what to make of them or how much they can grow their numbers in the next month?

looking at the numbers.

650 MPs – 7 SF – 1 Speaker – 1 vacant seat = 641 / 2 = 320.5, so 321 needed for a majority.

tory majority is currently only sitting at 325 (314tory+10dup+1independent unionist).

So 5 more tories defect and the government lose overall control of parliament? if Corbyn could get his party in order and align with all the rest of the others they could take the decision out of the tories hands?

What are the chances of 5 more tories jumping over the next month?

Do you really think Corbyn will do anything to stop Brexit?

It is the big question mark in the equation, who the heck knows…

I’d think he’d look ridiculous if he didn’t take the option of no deal away from the tories and the DUP if he got the chance though. Probably the minimum you could expect. Which form that would take, extension, new deal or vote, I dunno.

I also wonder if the tories did lose the numbers, would there have to be a GE, or could a new coalition just step in? Need to elect a new PM? (Though it’d be funny if May jumped ship! 😆 )

So 5 more tories defect and the government lose overall control of parliament? if Corbyn could get his party in order and align with all the rest of the others they could take the decision out of the tories hands?

What are the chances of 5 more tories jumping over the next month?

Does that not misunderstand the way the new Independent Group works? They won’t have a “whip” and will be free to vote individually (although I am sure they will cooperate collectively on a lot of things). To imagine that “8” ex-tory MP’s would actually vote FOR a move that puts Corbyn/Hard-left Labour in power is rather different from them saying they can no longer be presumed to support most government motions. Given Chuka said he didn’t think JC should be PM then I’m not sure even the ex-Labour group would be that keen!

That’s before you’ve tackled the issue of getting Labour to work with the SNP.

I also wonder if the tories did lose the numbers, would there have to be a GE, or could a new coalition just step in? Need to elect a new PM? (Though it’d be funny if May jumped ship! 😆 )

Legally/constitutionally there is no need for a GE. I doubt how long anyone else could hold it together without having a “mandate” (as they all like to claim they get from a broke First-past-the-post system) for their manifesto (which would inevitably require compromise).

They wouldn’t be putting Corbyn in power, in the case of a GE TIG candidates in the right places, they’d be costing more Labour seats!

That said if what Heidi Allan is right 1/3rd of Tories would go TIG if we end up with no deal.

Interesting times, if Toyota announce closure any time soon I could see some more defections!

The Neoliberal Democrats

👏

I’ve been looking at their website and it’s a work of spectacular mediocrity when it comes to what they actually believe in. To paraphrase:

– we love our country;
– good public services are important but some private business is OK too;
– more opportunity;
– better communities;
– democratic accountability;
– complying with national & International law

There’s nothing here that anyone from any party wouldn’t or couldn’t support. The most notable omission is a belief in progressive policies which redistribute wealth or any type of belief that business should act in the interests of the public. It’s a recipe for more of the same failed policies from the past 40 years.

Or a recipe for doing something useful in the country’s hour of need?

I’ve been looking at their website and it’s a work of spectacular mediocrity when it comes to what they actually believe in.

Ummm – they’re standing independelty so will all have differing views.  There’s no party manifesto, no central policies. Hence anything that can be said about all of them will tend to be a bit bland and mediocre.

if Corbyn could get his party in order and align with all the rest of the others they could take the decision out of the tories hands?

If he wanted to be in the Brexit hot seat he certainly could. Indeed, if he was a remainer he could join with the majority of the opposition parties to form a ‘single issue’ government, stop Brexit and immediately after call an election. [1] We’d be back to where we were in 2015 and each of the parties could then campaign on Leave or Remain ticket as they wished. [2]

But then if he wanted to to that he already would have, there would easily be enough Tory remainers to make that happen.

Instead winning power is of no interest to Corbyn, in fact the only two things Corbyn is interested in is leaving the EU without getting the blame for it and killing the Labour party. He’s making a good go of the first but will ultimately fail, and has already succeeded in the second.

[1] It’s easy to circumvent the fixed term Parliament Act.
[2] I think it’s safe to say that all except UKIP would campaign to Remain.

I’ll be interested to see how long this lasts.

Just a matter of time before Luciana Berger – err, sorry, I mean “heavily pregnant Luciana Berger” – starts accusing her new colleagues of anti-Semitism

Ummm – they’re standing independelty so will all have differing views.

Indeed – some think austerity was an excellent idea, some think it was a very bad idea. And that’s just for starters.

Indeed – some think austerity was an excellent idea, some think it was a very bad idea. And that’s just for starters.

They’re all remainers, at the moment everything else is detail.