Authoritarian rhetoric cranked up to 105:
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
General Election 8th June
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Posted 7 years ago #
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'Now back me to save our precious union'
Headline on Scottish Daily Mail. The political dimension here has to be recognised (for now) even by right wing press. Pictures of PM and FM.
This will be framed as a 'last battle'.
In Scotland our lack of media will give the unionist side a massive help as usual.
We will shortly have STV2 with a 'normal' news bulletin of the type most small countries can manage. I can only hope it helps to reflect the real mix of views here.Posted 7 years ago # -
We're sleepwalking into an authoritarian dictatorship here, folks.
So what can we do about it?Posted 7 years ago # -
"So what can we do about it?"
Given that a General Election looks highly likely, then tactical voting to keep out Conservative candidates seems the best approach. It would certainly send a message to the government. It may even deny the Conservatives a majority ion Westminster if pursued widely in marginal constituencies.
One might think that's a moot point in Scotland given the result two years ago, but there's a real chance Conservatives might regain several seats from the SNP, including Edinburgh South West. They might also take Ian Murray's seat in Edinburgh South. So a vote for the candidate most likely to beat a Conservative MP seems like a plan, just hold your nose and do the right thing...
Posted 7 years ago # -
I guess the alternative is to ensure labour get as many scottish seats as possible. The SNP are fine in Westminster but they're not big enough to form an oposition (or a govt), labours issues aside at least there is a chance of a coheisve opposition or a labour minority if they held more seats.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"I guess the alternative is to ensure labour get as many scottish seats as possible"
Which won't suit most of the people who voted SNP last time, unless they actually want Brexit more than Indy.
Arguably Ian Murray only won last time because the SNP virtually disowned its own candidate.
Obviously it's down to voters in all the seats, but there are clearly reasons why some people will be trying hard to make sure the other non-SNP MPs aren't re-elected.
Assuming the SNP keep most/all of their current seats, it should concentrate minds on FPTP.
But it won't!
Posted 7 years ago # -
"
Alex Cole-Hamilton, Lib Dem MSP for Edinburgh Western, said the election in Scotland would be dominated by the prospect of Indyref 2 and he claimed there had been a fall in SNP support since 2015 while his own party was well-placed to make gains.
He said: “Lib Dems stand in the space occupied by the majority of the Scottish population who want Scotland to remain with the EU and within the UK.”
"
Posted 7 years ago # -
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It should be a walkover. The Conservatives are 20 points ahead in the opinion polls. Labour is at war with itself and led by an amiable no-hoper with the leadership qualities of a garden shed. The SNP have nowhere to go but down from the 2015 tsunami, and the Liberal Democrats are simply nowhere.
...
The Tory victory in 2015 was partly based on the collapse of the Liberal Democrats who lost 50 seats. If they revived, and Labour held onto its core seats, Mrs May could have a fight on her hands. Tactical voting could be a big factor since many will be voting on an anyone-but-Brexit ticket. In Scotland the SNP are on course to return well over 50 seats themselves.
Of course these are very big “ifs” and, for the record, I am not forecasting a Conservative defeat. All the evidence points to Mrs May being returned with a large majority.But this doesn't mean there is nothing for the opposition parties to play for. We are living in the age of fluid, non-aligned populist politics.
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Posted 7 years ago # -
Which won't suit most of the people who voted SNP last time, unless they actually want Brexit more than Indy.
SNP vote won't stop brexit (nor will Labour I admit) but in order for the SNP block to have any influence it requires at a minority Labour govt other wise they're howling at moon as they've done the last two years.
Libdems sunk any chance of electoral reforms in westminster for decades, nothing that happens up here will make any difference.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"
As the news of snap general election swirled around College Green, I was surrounded by mainstream journalists congratulating their contacts in the May administration over their success at keeping everybody in the dark. But that’s easy when you have no idea what you’re doing.
May has been forced to call this election through a mixture of panic and incompetence. Panic not, of course, in the face of the polls – after months of inner party sabotage and dissent, Labour’s poll rating is low.
The panic arises from the realisation that she has triggered article 50 with no plan, no agreed negotiating position and a deteriorating economy. With inflation outstripping pay again, we are facing – for at least 12 out of the 18 months of the Brexit talks – falling real wages.
"
Posted 7 years ago # -
Alternatively
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Wrong, wrong and wrong again. Was ever there a more crassly inept politician than Jeremy Corbyn, whose every impulse is to make the wrong call on everything? It’s not excitingly flamboyant red radicalism that has done for Labour, but his sluggish incompetence at the absolute basics of leadership.
How rarely he has had the chance to wield any power, but on Wednesday he had the very real authority to stop certain calamity for his party and call out Theresa May’s game-playing chicanery. The mother of all bombs is about to drop on Labour, but what does he do? He says: “I welcome the prime minister’s decision to give the British people the chance to vote for a government that will put the interests of the majority first.” What?
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Posted 7 years ago # -
The Graun view:
Also an interesting article giving clarity on the reasons for calling an election now:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/anthony-barnet/why-is-she-frit
Posted 7 years ago # -
"This has to be a very different general election. To win it we must fight it differently. To win against the corrupt voting system, Tory targeting and right- wing media air war we have to build from the bottom up and use the rules to break the system and change our politics for good.
Its already happening, yesterday across the country we were getting reports of local progressive parties discussing whether they should stand. The announcements of deals agreed locally will start filtering through and build into a wave of opposition to Tory domination and all the regressive interests they represent.
There are just two points about a progressive alliance, it must be progressive and it must be an alliance. It is for and by people who want a fairer more equal world, air we can breath and a belief in the best of each other. But it doesn’t mean we are all the same and we swallow our party identities. It is an alliance precisely because we are different. And victory means that from now on every Labour vote counts everywhere in the country. It’s a once and once only deal between people of broadly similar minds and hopes to change our political system. All it needs is that we stop fighting each other – and for this election we all fight the Tories."
http://www.compassonline.org.uk/labour-progressive-alliance-or-annihilation/
Closer to home:
The Progressive Alliance: Why the SNP needs it Tommy Sheppard and Anne McLaughlinhttp://www.compassonline.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SNP-PA.pdf
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago # -
Hahaha. Very droll.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago #
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Edinburgh West MP Michelle Thomson was one of the 13 MPs to vote against a snap General Election on June 8.
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Posted 7 years ago # -
... and SNP activists are pitching to be the candidate in Edinburgh West.
https://mobile.twitter.com/jamieszymko/status/854768658026962944
Cheerio Michelle.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Edinburgh West MP Michelle Thomson was one of the 13 MPs to vote against a snap General Election on June 8.
Speaks volumes.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Maybe Edinburgh West will go to the Lib Dems?
Posted 7 years ago # -
It wouldn't surprise me. Their marketing is far superior than other parties'.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I mean, if the SNP are really planning to parachute a candidate in from Peterhead, then to my mind at least that shows they've given up on Edinburgh West and it will revert to the Lib Dems...
Posted 7 years ago # -
the SNP are really planning to parachute a candidate in from Peterhead
Looks far more like an individual throwing their hat in the ring than someone being parachuted in. Presumably there's a formal selection process and local members choose the candidate?
Posted 7 years ago # -
"Presumably there's a formal selection process and local members choose the candidate?"
Why does this chap say he's moving then? Hmmm.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Why does this chap say he's moving then? Hmmm.
I think he has strong political aspirations and is moving himself closer to the centre of national vis local politics, regardless of whether he gets selected for Edinburgh West.
SNP allowed a couple of duff candidates to sneak through the selection process at the last GE; Neil Hay in Edinburgh South springs to mind, there's every probability that Ian Murray would not have won that seat if his main opponent hadn't been unmasked as a Twitter sockpuppet and then picked apart by the tabloids.
Despite their centralising tendencies in government, I think the SNP are pretty localist when it comes to candidate selection. You wonder how much head office will be getting involved to weedle out any potential other candidates with murky online pasts or questionable financial or accountancy wheeler-dealings.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The Tories aren't going through their full selection process. Forgive the fact this is Guido, it's fairly descriptive of how controlling their HQ is going to be:
An incumbent gets first dibs and has to win 50% local support. If they don't, the local party gets to choose only one of two centrally nominated candidates. Where there's no incumbent then there's not even a vote, HQ is just imposing a choice.
This totally usurps the idea of local representation as they'll be parachuting in their most slick and electable (and on-message eurosceptic) all across the country. But given the timeline, I'd be surprised if the other parties are particularly different
Posted 7 years ago # -
"You wonder how much head office will be getting involved to weedle out any potential other candidates with murky online pasts or questionable financial or accountancy wheeler-dealings."
After the post-election shenanigans and exposés of various candidates, you'd think they'd at least do some basic vetting.
Posted 7 years ago #
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