UK Election!

The ban on onshore wind lifted?

There’s a ban on onshore wind? I guess it’s an English thing. I’m all in favour of more windfarrms being built closer to the point of energy consumption.

Everything they have done so far has been slick & professional. It’s such a delightful change – hopefully they’ll make politics boring again & in doing so people will start to ignore those like reform & be more inclined to vote for lib dem & green & move our political landscape to the left.

Sometimes I think Labour could drop tax to 0% on all workers, wipe out everyone’s personal debt & say that they’ll fund the country from their own personal fortune & the right wing papers & Reform/Tory supporters would still find something terribly wrong with them.

@scotroutes – it does indeed look like a Westminster thing. Somewhat unsurprisingly they seem to be a bit more enlightened north of the border.

Government rules, introduced in 2015, mean just one objection to an onshore wind farm can stop an entire project being built. Because of this ban, only two onshore wind turbines have been built in England since 2020.

Cheers @binners.

Nobody I know in person has mentioned Gaza in any conversation.

The exact opposite of my experience.

The number of people on this thread posting about Gaza being a factor in voting choices is very small but they post repeatedly and at length in an attempt to amplify their views.

As for Rachel Reeves’ speech with the announcements about planning, housing and onshore wind she had to move quickly as a government is at it’s most popular immediately following it’s election. I like what she said; it’s another example of focus and intent – the grown-ups have regained control.

Will be interesting to see how the markets react.

 It is such a relief.

I agree. This morning I turned on the Today programme in the 8am ish political interview slot and for the first time in years didn’t immediately feel compelled to stab the radio.

As for Rachel Reeves’ speech with the announcements about planning, housing and onshore wind she had to move quickly as a government is at it’s most popular immediately following it’s election. I like what she said; it’s another example of focus and intent – the grown-ups have regained control.

Its almost as if some clever people have spent some time actually planning things instead of just blurting out any old shit they scrawled on the back of a fag packet an hour earlier and will be instantly forgotten after tomorrow mornings headlines

It certainly seems like they’re hitting the ground running and theres lots of things all ready to go straight away

Ah nice, the thread descends into direct and personal attacks, probably time to get off the thread.

As opposed to broad brush generalisations and assumptions. Don’t shit stir and then cry foul if you get caught out doing it

Quite.Nobody I know in person has mentioned Gaza in any conversation. I’m always amazed how frequently it has been brought up in this thread as some sort of major factor in folks voting choices.

Or on the telly and/or radio.

I often listen to LBC when bike tinkering on an evening, based on the calls to Iain Dale the country must be full of Jews & Palestinians too.

A mate is a civil servant and has just messaged to say they had the intoduction speech by their new minister this morning. They said that the difference between their new minister and the assortment of clowns that have preceded them is like night and day. Instead of vague, meaningless blather, there seems to be detail and intent.

The number of people on this thread posting about Gaza being a factor in voting choices is very small but they post repeatedly and at length in an attempt to amplify their views.

That may be because they realise that their experience is not everyone’s experience. Similarly the News Media is in the main insulated from those areas of the population where the Palestinian Question is currently at the fore-front of their daily lives. (Some notable sections aren’t, looking at you Joshua Rosenberg, but they seem to lack balance and are not helping their cause as a result).

Bees and other insects are going to benefit too hopefully. The legality of the use of pesticides, banned in the EU, is being examined. I am pleased about this and hope it’s not too late, my garden which is normally very busy with wasps, bees, butterflies and moths has been almost totally devoid of buzzing action this year.

It’s a weird comment from someone who has more than once banged on about their enormously high IQ btw kerley. Apparently it’s on par with Einstein iirc?

Yes I have a very high IQ (mentioned when subject came up rather than ‘more than once banged on about it’ ) but yet I haven’t come up with something of the scale of the Theory of Relativity so I am going to say that Einstein is a LOT smarter than me and on similar measure so is Starmer.

Of course, words are easy and the doing far harder but thus far I’m +1 for what a refreshing change. Not only do the words make sense but I don’t feel I’m being lied to or at best, their fingers are crossed under the desk as they say what they’ll do.

Clearly from an ideological PoV the Tories and RW have to find fault with the new admin – but the issues they’re finding are just pathetic. OFC my twitter feed may be different to yours but the ones that seem to be getting most retweets for me are:

1/ new labour member for NW Cambridgeshire is only 22 (and has a distinctive haircut that possibly doesn’t suit his head shape, but let’s not go there). We’ve had young politicians/MPs before, doesn’t William Hague’s speech at 16 still have the Eastbourne set slipping their hands inside their girdles. The Finnish PM is barely 30 iirc?

2/ Vallance and Tmpson AREN’T EVEN MPs!!!!!!!  How marvellous. Nor was Lord Howe, Lord Carrington, or more recently Lord Call me Dave Cameron. They were all decent politicians, not criticising them for that but none were experts in their field.

3/ Angela Rayner’s got a new suit and it wasn’t Primark. It was £500! Do we want our Secretaries of State looking like timeshare salespeople? Even Nadine Dorries saw through this when Rishi went to Teeside in a £3500 suit and £450 Gucci loafers.

4/ Angela Rayner (her again) wore some denim shorts and did some dancing at a Pride march some years ago supporting the Terence Higgins Trust. Brilliant. Also to be fair, she’s got decent moves and I have a thing for redheads so I may have watched that a few times myself, which may be why it appears on my feed regularly.

And that seems to be the bulk of what they’ve got . As I said before – you could deliver some people a suitcase of money and they’d moan it’s in the wrong denomination notes.

That lad does have a belter of a haircut tbf

The exact opposite of my experience.

Ohh it get’s discussed, but the conclusion is that the SNP/Labour/Tory drafts were

a) a gnats hair apart from each other

b) a gants hair apart from what people wanted to hear

c) still completely impotent to have any influence over either side of the conflict.

Of course, words are easy and the doing far harder but thus far I’m +1 for what a refreshing change.

Yes, very refreshing.  Being more honest and at least trying to do the right, well thought out things should really be a given but as we know from last decade it simply hasn’t been.

When they get round scrapping Rwanda policy if will no doubt get the RW press going

That lad does have a belter of a haircut tbf

Does have a bit of Napoleon Dynamite about it but that is okay as that is a great film.

1/ new labour member for NW Cambridgeshire is only 22 (and has a distinctive haircut that possibly doesn’t suit his head shape, but let’s not go there). We’ve had young politicians/MPs before, doesn’t William Hague’s speech at 16 still have the Eastbourne set slipping their hands inside their girdles. The Finnish PM is barely 30 iirc?

The better way to look at this is that in a completely stereotypically safe Tory seat, they’d rather have a an inexperienced student as their MP than the incumbent Tory.

When they get round scrapping Rwanda policy if will no doubt get the RW press going

I thought they already had?

Rwanda policy was the first thing to go. Consigned to the dustbin of history, where it was always destined to end up.

Just a bit of a shame it took half a billion quid of taxpayers money with it

Was a PR referndum in anyones manifestos?

I haven’t checked but would astonished if its not in the Lib Dem one (or no referendum just a change) – as its been their long stated policy.

I seriously doubt the Tories will have it in their 2025 manifesto

Well the problem with PR in a manifesto is, you only get to implement your manifesto if you win, and the parties which win are much more likely to be content with the status quo than PR where they would potentially not do quite as well.  BUT mad Nigel might actually manage to make it enough of an issue for people that others have to consider it!

bring in compulsory voting, have a preferential vote for the lower house, abolish the house of lords and replace with a senate that is elected via PR

I’m all for lords reform… but it provided a mechanism for highly competent people in Attorney General, Prisons etc. if those turn out to be half as the improvement I’m hoping over their predecessors it would be hand to justify complete reform so people have to become politicians first.

I suspect that Starmer is smart enough to realise that he was very lucky to get such a huge majority out of such a small share of the vote. His choice for Attorney General suggests that he might be looking at sensible ways of winning back some of the votes that went to independents and the Greens.

That suggests he made that decision on Friday morning.  Everything else seems too slick for last minute panic like that – there were cabinet roles he couldn’t be sure would win seats and a few from shadow cabinet who didn’t win seats but these will be people that have been considered for weeks.

Nobody I know in person has mentioned Gaza in any conversation.

Have you had many conversations with Muslims?

Your apparent denial that it was a factor in Thursday’s election result isn’t matched by what the global mainstream media is reporting. CNN:

The Labour party’s position on Gaza appears to have cost it votes in the UK election

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/05/uk/labour-gaza-israel-vote-uk-election-gbr-intl/index.html

It’s not just a claim being made by a few on this thread as you appear to be suggesting.

But maybe you could list what you believe were the contributory factors to Labour having the smallest share of the vote on Thursday’s election since 2015? Since you apparently reject the notion that Gaza played a part.

Rwanda policy was the first thing to go. Consigned to the dustbin of history, where it was always destined to end up.

Sorry, thought scrapping it would be a bit more official than the leader just mentioning it on a weekend but then I suppose that is what we expect now in this socialist dictatorship we are living in :-)

but these will be people that have been considered for weeks.

Undoubtedly. Starmer and his advisors will have been fully aware that Gaza would cost them votes. What I am fairly certain they weren’t expecting is the extent and effect of it. I don’t know anyone who expected 5 pro-Palestine independent MPs or that Wes Streeting would very nearly lose his seat and  end up representing one of the most marginal seats in the country – I certainly didn’t. Labour were widely expected to dramatically increase their share of the vote, not lose votes as Starmer and Streeting did.

I don’t think that the attorney general’s appointment is a sign of “panic”, there isn’t an election around the corner, just an acknowledgement that someone with a pro-Palestine would be appropriate considering how the electorate voted.

Today’s announcement that UK will remove obstacles to Netanyahu’s arrest on war crime charges is probably in the same vein. Announcing it as a policy during the election campaign would definitely have gained votes, or at least stemmed losses. Which suggests that the decision hadn’t been made then.

Today’s announcement that UK would remove obstacles to Netanyahu’s arrest on war crime charges is probably in the same vein. Announcing it as a policy during the election campaign would definitely have gained votes, or at least stemmed losses. Which suggests that the decision hadn’t been made then.

Or that it’s an incredibly delicate issue and would have lost as much on the other side as it might have gained.

Have you had many conversations with Muslims?

Er. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure you were the one , a few pages back, saying that Labour losses weren’t due to a Muslim vote. Make up your mind

The whole Gaza thing is a non issue for most people in the UK. I think it was used as a protest vote in some very deprived Muslim areas and as a stick to beat Starmer with by the left. The seats lost to the independents made no difference to the majority Labour achieved.

The better way to look at this is that in a completely stereotypically safe Tory seat, they’d rather have a an inexperienced student as their MP than the incumbent Tory.

My lad knows him from uni, he’s apparently a very clued up guy. Have to see if he’s the next Mhairi Black though.

Angela Rayner (her again) wore some denim shorts and did some dancing at a Pride march some years ago supporting the Terence Higgins Trust. Brilliant. Also to be fair, she’s got decent moves and I have a thing for redheads so I may have watched that a few times myself, which may be why it appears on my feed regularly.

I need to figure out how to get my feed sorted.

The Labour party’s position on Gaza appears to have cost it votes in the UK election

clearly – and 5 seats to pro palestine independents?

Will this change labour policy or is that why Thornberry was sidelined? – we can only guess

I find Raynor incredibly irritating  I cannot work out whyy – I think its the “I’m a northern gobshite” shtick and while she clearly had every legal right to buy and sell a council house for profit its hardly the act of someone who has left wing morals.

OI! Whats up with being a northern gobshite?!

I find Raynor incredibly irritating  I cannot work out whyy – I think its the “I’m a northern gobshite” shtick and while she clearly had every legal right to buy and sell a council house for profit its hardly the act of someone who has left wing morals.

I think she’s great – a pull no punches straight-talker, something no member of government has been for a decade and a half.

hardly the act of someone who has left wing morals.

If she had left wing morals she wouldn’t have stayed in Starmers Labour party would and even more accepted deputy leader position?

(I actually don’t mind her nothern gobshite side)

Do you actually know anythign about Angela Rayners background? Have a read up about her and then give your head a wobble. She’s exactly who we need in government

Oh I do know her background.  I just dislike her.  Thats as much about me as her.  I think she is a phoney

Labour expected to drop challenge to ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant

Exclusive: UK government appears unlikely to go ahead with legal bid, while Keir Starmer has spoken with Israeli PM over Gaza ceasefire

From the Grauniad.  Labour have certainly exceeded my expectations over Gaza

didn’t immediately feel compelled to stab the radio

I don’t even mind having to clean up my coffee-soaked desk after this one  ;-)