Local Election Results

[ChillDoubt]

..are just starting to come in with Labour holding South Shields, UKIP second. Media suggest Dodgy Dave is in for a spanking and oh dear, the voting caption on Sky News a moment ago showed that the BNP got twice as many votes as the Lib Dems.

UKIP are widely predicted to make huge inroads, with suggestions that they are no longer the recipients of 'protest votes'.

[humbersloop]

the Evan Davis interview was interesting mikey, and I thought Farage's comment about the SDP's influence on Labour was absolutely right

[youngmafbog]

Ah a lefty love in based on a very safe labour seat. Labour lost (all be it small) votes too.

This should be a wake up call to Dave. However it wont be as he is too weak and/or pig headed. He cannot blame the liberals for this.

What he needs to understand is that on these issues he can win even if he looses. He should put forward an election (during this Parliament) on the EU and come down very hard on immigration. If the liberals and the Tories oppose him and defeat it then they are exposed. It is win-win for him.

If Milliband gets in then we should hold a vote on who should be the person to turn the lights out. Once the Union brothers get in power the country is finished.

[anotheoldgit]

mikey4444

/// But not even I could have predicted that they would be well below the racist BNP in a by-election. I guess it just shows how unpopular Clegg is.///

People do not vote BNP just because one MP or a party is unpopular, it has to be something more. Perhaps it has something to do with there being no one prepared to listening to those voters concerns on immigration.

It is this rise in the popularity of an extremist party that we should be concerned about, not the jockeying for position of the other parties.

[youngmafbog]

An interesting thought though;

Should Farage manage turn votes into seats what about a UKIP/tory coalition?

[douglas9401]

Surely that would just be a Tory government, youngmafbog? :)

[jake-the-peg]

But that's the point youngmafbog - he can't because he's predominantly attracting Tory voters.

If the referendum on PR had gone the other way he'd have had a real chance of power

All the recent analysis and polls have a Labour majority of nearly 100 at a coming general election

[AB Editor]

"Should Farage manage turn votes into seats what about a UKIP/tory coalition?"

"Surely that would just be a Tory government, youngmafbog? :)"

The presenter on Radio4 this morning suggested a "reverse takeover" of the Tory Party to Farage - I believe Farage said that would be "ideal".

I guess coalition with the Tories would be the first step.

[Sharingan]

Slightly like the new boys Labour slid the liberal vote over in the 20's?

[jim360]

The results have barely come in yet but I don't think that the picture will change all that much. The Conservative Party seemed to think that this was a renewed call for them to redouble their efforts in the direction they are currently taking this country. Which is certainly not how I read it!

The real test will still be the 2015 Election -- and that's two years away. If the growth we saw in the first quarter is sustained think the Tories will survive -- but they and the LibDems will live or die by the Economy.

[emmie]

blimey best answer, who'd have thunk it..

[emmie]

the election is less than two years away, and if Cameron was smart, which he doesn't appear to be, not from where i am sitting, he would call a referendum on the EU right now. He won't, nor would anyone i suspect, but just the idea that some of the devolved powers might start flowing back this way, would have core voters crossing their cards with a out vote, just what Farage wants and has said. whoever thought that it was right for another governing body to tell us what we can and cannot do in law is beyond a joke. Not to mention tying up businesses with endless red tape, end that and they have a good chance of winning the next election on their own, not hog tied to calamity clegg and his band of not very merry men

[Sqad]

jim

\\\\The real test will still be the 2015 Election -- and that's two years away. If the growth we saw in the first quarter is sustained think the Tories will survive -- but they and the LibDems will live or die by the Economy. \\\

Exactly.

[anotheoldgit]

Sharingan

/// I think that's why I'm actually against compulsery voting because people who aren't interested will pick:-
a. The nicest looking candidate
b. The one they actually talked to personally
c. The really nutty one who made them laugh
d. the one they saw most on the telly
e. One at random because they can't be bothered to read what anyone has to say.
You want 60% of people doing that don't you? ///

In three years time, when you are old enough to vote, which one will you vote for, a, b, c, d, or e,?

[Sharingan]

I'll vote for the one with the policies which damage the country least and benefit the maximum amount of our inhabitants AOG, so what will that be do you think?
a. Labour
b. Conservative
c. LibDem
d. Ukip

[jno]

Australians have compulsory voting; the resulting parliament can be knockabout but it isn't looney tunes, and the country is well run. The Aussie dollar has roughly doubled in value against sterling over 5 years.

[ichkeria]

It's no surprise that the Lib Dems flatlined in a safe Labour seat (South Shields).

In Gloucestershire, several Forest of Dean wards returned UKIP councillors, somewhat ironically given the EU subsidies that have come the way of that part of the county.

[Gromit]

// He should put forward an election (during this Parliament) on the EU //

You STILL haven't cottoned on to the fact that the Conservatives did not win a majority of seats have you?

Why would Labour and the LibDems support that before an election when it would benefit the Conservatives and not them?

Without their support lameduck Dave can promise anything, but there is no chance of it ever happening.

He could desolve the coalition now and trigger an election, but won't because they need to inflict another two years of their economic incompetence on us in the hope things turn around. An election now would only result in a big majority for Labour.

[Gromit]

Em10

// Not to mention tying up businesses with endless red tape //

If we got an in/out referendum, which side do you think the CBI would be supporting?

[ichkeria]

Cameron could call an EU referendum now (well, he couldn't, but for the sake of argument) and regardless of the result, if the economy is still in the smelly stuff come 2015, he'd still be out on his ear. Particularly as, were we to leave, he'd look very stupid.
And UKIP would still be around.

[Gromit]

Cameron is not a dictator. If he put an EU Referendum to parliament for a vote, half his own party would not support him. It would only expose how disunited the Tories are over Europe.

And he would lose the vote, so exposing his lameduck position.