Ot labour will get in

[Grist_To_The_Mill]

Well, we are part of the new boundary changes and are now lumped in with those scrubbers from Rawmish 😆

We've hot a Reform candidate, a complete unknown that is unlikely to do much for the constituency should he win.

But then again we've had John Healey for years who has done feck all for us so no major change is expected

[KerrAvon]

The people we entrust to redistribute these taxes are ill equipped for the task in hand.

Change is coming. The 2 party system is coming to an end.

I give it 10 years max.

The 'first past the post' system skews elections in favour of the larger parties. The only way that I can see change coming about is if Labour decides to move to proportional representation and has a large enough majority to pull it off.

Any referendum on a change would go the same way as the Brexit vote - hijacked by the Tory supporting press to reject change on this occasion.

Maybe PR wouldn't be a bad thing. A bit of consensus politics would curb the extremes and make the UK a more attractive place to invest in.

[KerrAvon]

Reform will do enough damage this election to bring in a high number of defections from the Tories. Or a deal will be done with and the Tories and they will merge and shift right.

I have no doubt that Farage's ultimate aim is to lead the Tories. That was apparent from the way he was schmoozing the Tory right at the party conference.

If the Tories lose they will lurch to the right (as they did in 1997) with people like Braverman, Badendoch and Patel vying to replace Sunak. If Farage wins in Clacton (which isn't a given if Labour, the Lib Dems and enough disgusted Tories get their act together) he will switch and go for it.

[KerrAvon]

11/1 on Farage being the next Tory leader at the mo.

Badendoch 4/1 favourite.

[Redshank]

Billionaires will hardly stick around to be taxed, they can live anywhere.

You can't cart off the NHS, public utilities, half of UK accommodation and London to the Bahamas though

The assets they own stay here and we need to reclaim them.

[Redshank]

The 'first past the post' system skews elections in favour of the larger parties. The only way that I can see change coming about is if Labour decides to move to proportional representation and has a large enough majority to pull it off.

Any referendum on a change would go the same way as the Brexit vote - hijacked by the Tory supporting press to reject change on this occasion.

Maybe PR wouldn't be a bad thing. A bit of consensus politics would curb the extremes and make the UK a more attractive place to invest in.

100% agree

[ragingpup]

I have no doubt that Farage's ultimate aim is to lead the Tories. That was apparent from the way he was schmoozing the Tory right at the party conference.

If the Tories lose they will lurch to the right (as they did in 1997) with people like Braverman, Badendoch and Patel vying to replace Sunak. If Farage wins in Clacton (which isn't a given if Labour, the Lib Dems and enough disgusted Tories get their act together) he will switch and go for it.

The problem with such a lurch to the right is that I suspect that for every further right supporter they will gain (and the Tory paid members will undoubtably love this), they will lose at least the same amount if not more of the more centrist blue wall traditionally moderate supporters - I can see the party being pretty much split down the middle for at least a term until they can be persuaded that in the UK, at least historically, election wins only happen in the centre area.

There is at least some aspect of worry though - if Farage can get into such a position, and Labour in power fail to make significant impact on normal working people's lives - and this will be very hard for them in the financial strait jacket they are having to wear in order to get us to vote for them in the firs place (all this is ultimately our fault 100%), as they are having to operate in a similar way to what has struggled to work as a political/economic system in my lifetime). At this point, Farage - as a very astute political artist could motivate and bring on board people that are at the moment very much opposed to him and his priorities.

[UlleyMiller]

The 'first past the post' system skews elections in favour of the larger parties. The only way that I can see change coming about is if Labour decides to move to proportional representation and has a large enough majority to pull it off.

Any referendum on a change would go the same way as the Brexit vote - hijacked by the Tory supporting press to reject change on this occasion.

Maybe PR wouldn't be a bad thing. A bit of consensus politics would curb the extremes and make the UK a more attractive place to invest in.

FPTP also acts as something of a balance, which people overlook. It's apparently relatively easy to wheel out a load of anti migrant sentiment to pull on a sizeable percentage of the electorate, but thankfully having to have 320-odd majorities to gain power means these pockets in each constituency get overruled by other voters. PR has its upsides, but I'd be reluctant to turn parliament into even more of a populism driven entity.

Successful businesses aren't democracies, i think there's a lot to be said for how far democracy and perceived fairness should go. I want my staff to have a voice, but I trust my C-suite to get the big calls right.

[KerrAvon]

The problem with such a lurch to the right is that I suspect that for every further right supporter they will gain (and the Tory paid members will undoubtably love this), they will lose at least the same amount if not more of the more centrist blue wall traditionally moderate supporters - I can see the party being pretty much split down the middle for at least a term until they can be persuaded that in the UK, at least historically, election wins only happen in the centre area.

There is at least some aspect of worry though - if Farage can get into such a position, and Labour in power fail to make significant impact on normal working people's lives - and this will be very hard for them in the financial strait jacket they are having to wear in order to get us to vote for them in the firs place (all this is ultimately our fault 100%), as they are having to operate in a similar way to what has struggled to work as a political/economic system in my lifetime). At this point, Farage - as a very astute political artist could motivate and bring on board people that are at the moment very much opposed to him and his priorities.

The Tories are certainly in a dangerous place - Johnson purged the party of a lot of its grown ups (the likes of Ken Clarke, Dominic Grieve and Rory Stewart) and promoted head cases to 'get Brexit done'. The lurch that I think is coming risks taking them much further than the one in 1997.

The risk that a loony led Tory Party poses is the one thing that makes me think Labour could look to switch to PR.

[KerrAvon]

FPTP also acts as something of a balance, which people overlook. It's apparently relatively easy to wheel out a load of anti migrant sentiment to pull on a sizeable percentage of the electorate, but thankfully having to have 320-odd majorities to gain power means these pockets in each constituency get overruled by other voters. PR has its upsides, but I'd be reluctant to turn parliament into even more of a populism driven entity.

Successful businesses aren't democracies, i think there's a lot to be said for how far democracy and perceived fairness should go. I want my staff to have a voice, but I trust my C-suite to get the big calls right.

I do agree on the balance point; the cost of PR is to have representatives of the extremes in Parliament but I'd like to think that for every swivel eyed loon from the right there would be likely to be a green too if voting for them became a meaningful option.