Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Josquius]

I voted mostly Labour though green for local councillor as I recognised the address and felt why not. Let's support him so he doesn't come last

Unrelated to local elections but saw this yesterday and got me thinking on the topic of phasing out gas boilers  a lot.

I have heard of some experiments locally in the area...but it is mystifying we aren't doing this more as it sounds so tried and tested. Why are we putting so much into air source heat pumps when we've so many disused mines we can be using in many parts of the country- as the guy here says, heavily parts that could really use cheaper energy and are more likely to be susceptible to anti-green populist nonsense.

Never would go past fear of earthquakes. Just build nuclear.

Using mine shafts that are already there?

Nuclear wouldn't really help with this.

[Sheilbh]

From Sky and confirmed by other press

Johnson turned away from polling station after forgetting photo ID
By Paul Kelso, business correspondent

Boris Johnson was turned away from a polling station when trying to vote in the local elections after forgetting to bring acceptable photo ID.

Sky News understands polling station staff were forced to turn the former prime minister away after he initially failed to comply with legislation he introduced while he was in Downing Street.

Mr Johnson, who introduced the Elections Act requiring photo ID in 2022, was attempting to cast his ballot in South Oxfordshire, where a police and crime commissioner for the Thames Valley is being selected.

In England, passports, driving licences, blue badges and certain local travel cards are accepted forms of voter ID.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson did not deny he had failed to bring ID, but did say he'd managed to vote today.

Make sure you don't make the same mistake if you haven't voted yet - we've got a full list of acceptable ID in this post.

Incidentally it's the most I've seen someone actually check an ID which was a bit weird.

[Josquius]

Election results coming in.
The byelection in Blackpool was quite a wonderful smash.

Locally, the Greens have done surprisingly well- only 2 seats but lots of second place finishes. Interestingly their wins come in areas I wouldn't have expected, one in a muslim heavy bit of the roughest part of the west end, the beyond doubt worst part of town, and the other in Byker, which again is a pretty deprived part of the east end. Not at all the middle class sort of place you'd expect of them.
My local Green came a respectable second.
I haven't been following the local Greens at all, no literature or door knocks from them, so I really wonder what they've been up to.

The bit of bad news I see is in Gosforth, one of the poshest parts of the city, where by 3% over the Lib Dems this cunt won for the Tories:



My GF has a foreign friend who lives in the area who voted for him. From what I hear second hand she was impressed that he has spent 5 years knocking on doors and wrote her name on the letter that came through her door.
Which....well yes respect the effort that goes into campaigning but when its for evil goals?
This woman doesn't even have a car! The better pedestrian access on the street is a massive benefit for her with the pushchair.

The big one, the mayor, is due out at dinner time. But vibes are positive it should be either official Labour or left Labour so....good vibes all round.

[Sheilbh]

I've heard a few people say that in certain areas Labour were surprised at quite how much Gaza came up - particularly relevant in the West Midlands. And I don't think the Lib Dems are the default protest vote from Labour any more, I suspect the Greens are filling that role.

And on that - via the BBC:


More broadly though, so far the Tories are losing about half their seats which is in line with expectations and the polls and as one psephologist said on the BBC points to them being at risk of near-annihilation at the general election

Edit: From John Curtice on Labour and Gaza, "on average, the party's support is down by eight points since last year in wards where more than 10% of people identify as Muslim." I think it will have an impact in the West Midlands - Labour also saying turnout down there in Birmingham because of the council disaster. Wonder if it'll show up in London?

[Josquius]

Funny to see the colour green's other meaning coming into vogue.
Not the most natural combination of groups you'd expect.

Its an unfortunate move really as in our undemocratic system it really does just run the risk of splitting the non-tory vote. Though a few Green MPs isn't something I would mind seeing one bit.

[Tamas]

What other meaning?

[Sheilbh]

What other meaning?

Islam/Islamism.

On that, Galloway is rolling out his party more. It looks like they've done very well in Rochdale so he'll likely run (and possibly win) at the general election. They also say they think they've knocked out the Labour Deputy Leader of Manchester Council and it may be a factor in Labour losing the West Midlands Mayoralty. Labour sources confirming the vote in Muslim wards has collapsed and gone to a Galloway-backed independent.

Meanwhile, yesterday, he announced new candidates including former England spin bowler Monty Panesar (note the "For Britain. For Gaza" slogan):


Another candidate announced was a former Tory candidate who was kicked out of the party for anti-trans remarks. Galloway is still trying to get Corbyn to run for the party, but has said he won't stand a candidate against him.

Meanwhile Galloway doing an interview with Aaron Bastani said he opposed the LGBT+ content on the national curriculum - basically gay relationships aren't "normal" and children shouldn't be taught they are. That was the focus of a campaign (whipped up by outside agitators) in a Muslim area of Birmingham.

I think it's possibly the first Green-Brown alliance in European politics - trying to appeal to socially conservative Muslim working class communities and socially conservative white working class/"left behind" areas. Maybe the Socialist Party in the Netherlands has or could try a similar pitch, maybe it's where Sahra Wagenknecht's group ends up politically?

Now separately Bastani's response to the interview is this:

Aaron Bastani
@AaronBastani
On foreign policy issues in general, &  Palestine in particular, George Galloway has been outstanding for decades.

When he won in Rochdale I was happy - it was a powerful signal to the establishment.

But what he told me in a recent interview shocked me.

I do not think that the man who called the collapse of the USSR the "biggest catastrophe of my life" and famously went to Baghdad in the run up to the (first) Gulf War to salute Saddam's "indefatigability" has been outstanding on foreign policy for decades. I think he's been a rancid sewer. But that's just me.

Also it's not really a surprise his line on gay rights has always been that gay people should be "loved" and treated kindly etc but that it's a second order issue to him and people talking about, say, regimes that execute LGBT+ people are just "distracting" from real issues. It's the old "straight left" wing of the hard left, with an increasingly Islamist flavour.

Having said all that - it does look like Gaza has had an impact on Labour's vote in certain areas and communities. I imagine that will hold for the general election too.

Edit: Just to say again I really do think Galloway's the most loathsome man in British politics and he's living down to that again.

[Josquius]

Fascists and Islamic fundamentalists DO have a shit tonne in common, if only they could get over their hate for each other.
I smell vibes of the Nazi-Soviet pact. But who is Poland?

[Tamas]

Islam/Islamism.

[Tamas]

Fascists and Islamic fundamentalists DO have a shit tonne in common, if only they could get over their hate for each other.
I smell vibes of the Nazi-Soviet pact. But who is Poland?

Yeah in a way we are lucky I guess that their different tribal affiliations (so far) have prevented them to realise that  apart from alcohol consumption they really want the same kind of country.

[Sheilbh]

Looks like Labour are worried about Khan in a way that goes beyond just expectations management.

Obviously voting system moved to FPTP this year. But the bigger concern seems to be that it looks like turnout is lower in Labour areas - add that to defections to the Greens (both probably because of Gaza) and it could be enough for Khan to lose.

Although I think Stephen Bush is probably right on his hunch of 38-35, Khan winning.

I'd add that this is the second election where Khan has fallen short of expectations. The only election he really trounced was his first - and I suspect part of this is because he is a pretty underwhelming mayor. Not helped by a Tory government that wants to make life difficult for him, but still. I feel like going for a third term was probably not a great idea and Labour would be better served by letting someone else have a crack in 2028.

Edit: Also looks like ULEZ has come up in motivating voters to turnout in Tory areas.

[garbon]

Looks like Labour are worried about Khan in a way that goes beyond just expectations management.

Obviously voting system moved to FPTP this year. But the bigger concern seems to be that it looks like turnout is lower in Labour areas - add that to defections to the Greens (both probably because of Gaza) and it could be enough for Khan to lose.

Although I think Stephen Bush is probably right on his hunch of 38-35, Khan winning.

I'd add that this is the second election where Khan has fallen short of expectations. The only election he really trounced was his first - and I suspect part of this is because he is a pretty underwhelming mayor. Not helped by a Tory government that wants to make life difficult for him, but still. I feel like going for a third term was probably not a great idea and Labour would be better served by letting someone else have a crack in 2028.

Edit: Also looks like ULEZ has come up in motivating voters to turnout in Tory areas.

I made sure my husband got to the polls but yeah, after this definitely time for Sadiq to move on.

[Josquius]

When they come to power Labour really need to fix this transparent tory gerrymandering fptp crap in local elections at least.

[Sheilbh]

Incidentally really struck that Houchen and Street especially (https://x.com/andy4wm/status/1785744953923998079?s=46&t=o9GOIj6BKKcLcHiyQTlAoA) winning with messages around building things. Seems interesting given the extent to which the Tories nationally and in other areas have lashed themselves to the NIMBY mast (and not unlike Labour in Manchester).

I think there is a big potential there for Labour if they can deliver.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Lot of spoilt votes in Preston, up to 10% in areas where most of our Muslims live. I would imagine this is a good measure of disenchantment with Labour over Gaza.