So I don't vote for any of the main parties but I am very much a leftie, but the numbers involved are interesting. The vote between left and right parties were about even (Its been that way for a long time now) so a first past the post system will never suit anyone but the right. Wierdly if the Brexit party didn't s*** the bed at the last minute then we could have been looking at a hung parliament right now.

Labours demise could have been predicted if people had paid more attention to Scotland. Voting intentions for Labour were nose-diving for the last year and most people predicted that northern England was starting to drift the same way.

Labour had 2 choices, stop the Tories or stop brexit. They tried to stop Brexit and failed at both. Nobody who wanted Brexit wanted another referendum and even a lot of remainers weren't keen. Telling 60% of your constituents that you know better was a terminal mistake.

If Corbyn had said "We agree with the Tories on Brexit, we will try to get a better deal and if we cant, we will use the terms that May or Johnson got". It would have been a strait out battle on non-brexit issues. Even with Corbyns problems with his past I think he would probably have edged in.

He just didn't learn from the LibDems, they announced they would hold a 2nd referendum or yank us out of Brexit and even remainers didn't switch to them.

Tories only gained 1% more than before and that election was seen as a disaster so this wasnt a case of the Tories doing something right, it was a simple case of Labour getting things horribly wrong by resonating with the wrong people.

On the subject of Northern Ireland and Scotland, until the next polls come in, its going to be really hard to know where they stand, I am still scratching my head on how Scotland democratically get Independence now,which I hate. Its a painfully childish approach that borders on turning your phone off in case your girlfriend dumps you. Cameron only let them ask the question because polls had yes at about 25% at the time, they wont make that mistake again.

With Northern Ireland its out of Westminster hands so they can have one whenever they want but before the election the numbers were short, don't expect change though because no proud Brit is going to decide they want to be Irish no matter what politics are going on in the background.

Farage is going to move to America and make a fortune being a public speaker, he hasnt given a toss about any of this for a long time. He will pop back if he wants attention or money but he will check out any day now.

God Ive talked a lot and not really said anything! Tried to be as impartial as I can be but there is no such thing as an impartial thought really!

Whilst the Prime Minister may well have been educated at one of your elite public schools the other three great offices of state are held by two ex grammar school pupils and one from a comprehensive school background so hardly elitist

Pretty much just a condensed and simpler version of what I said then! Its a shame that there wont really be any poll or questionnaire on what part made people vote SNP, because i think they got around a 15-20% jump this time round and they havnt had a spike like that since the end of the IndiRef. Could make politics in the UK very interesting...

Edited by Beanyboysmd (16 Dec 2019 7.35pm)

And they control the Tory party??

And they control the Tory party??

A few days ago another regular poster here took it upon himself to attack me personally and suggest that the reason I was "detested" was because of my past approach to the grooming gang scandal.

On the face of it such a post has no place in this thread, if indeed it has a place in any thread. Nevertheless, it was posted and as it made, not for the first time, totally incorrect assertions I will now, for the avoidance of any doubt, set the record straight. I have done so before but the lies continue to be spread. Where, I wonder, does that tactic come from?

My attitude to this scandal is straightforward. If criminal activity occurs then it must be dealt with and the perpetrators punished. If such activity threatens children then urgent and effective action is required. However, such action must be via the appropriate authorities, who are the Police and the various social service agencies. Anyone with information on such activities must take that to the Police and not get involved themselves in any way, especially not via pseudo vigilante rabble rousing in person or via the media. Interfering in Court proceedings has the potential of destroying trials and allowing criminals to walk free. Those who do so quite rightly get punished themselves. Anyone unsatisfied with the responses of the authorities have routes open to them to raise their concerns, ultimately ending up with their MP. Allowing the police to do their work is the best, and only really effective way, to bring criminals to court.

I also believe it is unhelpful to describe such activity as "Muslim" or by any other irrelevant epithet. We need to focus on the crime and the criminal and not on anything else, especially the community from which they might have sprung. We must not alienate such communities. We must encourage them, however hard it is and however slowly they respond, to assist the authorities.

That this issue has been raised again just when the Tories have secured a huge majority is instructive and requires careful monitoring.

The far right has clearly become more visible and emboldened in the last few years and the election result seems likely to add fuel to those flames.

Whose fault is that? The same people that enabled the election to end as it did. Corbyn and the far left being the primary culprits. At least they are now an irrelevance but the far right potentially are not.

Having listened during the campaign to the reasoning given by previous Labour voters in the north for switching to the Tories it was very apparent that a strand of anti immigration and latent racist sentiment lay at the foundations of their reasoning.

With so many of the new intake of Tory MPs representing northern constituencies it will be interesting to hear how they handle these issues. How many I wonder hold "Tommy Robinson" in as high a regard as many do in this forum?

It will be even more interesting to see how Johnson and his government respond. If they slap down the right and truly try to become "One Nation" Conservatives then I won't be without hope. Let's see, but I am not holding my breath.