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[Hazzuh]

Supplementary voting system seems to have been a bit of a disaster. In 2nd round of west of england mayoralty, more 2nd preferences for non-Labour/Tory candidates than for them, despite it being almost certain they would be the final two candidates.

Definitely makes me a little pessimistic about electoral reform. Oh well, we aren't getting any with the Tories in charge anyway ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[Meadows]

The Meadows™ hot take for what this means for each party in the General election.

Conservatives:

Huge win. They pretty directly took all of the UKIP votes that were out there, which will give them a massive majority if and when it is replicated in June. A great night for them.

Liberal Democrats:

A quietly decent day. No they didn't make the breakthroughs people expected, and they have lost seats, but they will be happy that they have increased vote share. Make no mistake, this is a party in recovery, but the green shoots are appearing.

Labour:

Awful. No way about it. Really, really bad. A few bright spots in Liverpool and Manchester, but if this kind of performance is replicated in June then they will lose badly.

SNP:

Not too bad. They may be slightly worried at the rise of the Tories, but they have largely held onto their momentum from recent years. They will likely lose seats in June but probably only 2-3.

Plaid:

Pretty good. They tend to do well at local level normally anyway, so let's see how they do in June.

UKIP:

Fatally bad. They will go the way of BNP, although unfortunately they have won the war so to speak.

 

[cyberheater]

I would wait until hard brexit takes its toll, the picture then will be very different.

I don't think things will be that bad after Brexit. Folks relying on that will disappointed.

 

[jelly]

Wow, 26 out of 32 with no control?

Independence is a knife edge issue :/we're not getting it are we?

People want to see how Brexit plays out but even then the UK still matters more to some people. I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. Even with a no deal, the transitional period, the impact, what the UK government does. It's going to last ages, be messy and I doubt Scotland will get their chance to vote when that is going on. See you in 2030.

 

[Mr. Sam]

Supplementary voting system seems to have been a bit of a disaster. In 2nd round of west of england mayoralty, more 2nd preferences for non-Labour/Tory candidates than for them, despite it being almost certain they would be the final two candidates.

Definitely makes me a little pessimistic about electoral reform. Oh well, we aren't getting any with the Tories in charge anyway ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

It helps if you, you know, explain the voting system to people.

 

[ferrasvansen]

I don't think things will be that bad after Brexit. Folks relying on that will disappointed.

It's already pretty bad, been noticing it for last few months. Our food budget is getting stretched to the limit and it will get worse, it will not take much more inflation to make things way worse. Voters are very fickle nowadays and it will take just small changes and financial pressures to change attitudes.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

My brother got elected in Scotland as a Tory councilor

I'm proud, not happy but still proud of him :/

 

[Dougald]

It's already pretty bad, been noticing it for last few months. Our food budget is getting stretched to the limit and it will get worse, it will not take much more inflation to make things way worse. Voters are very fickle nowadays and it will take just small changes and financial pressures to change attitudes.

I track all my outgoings and our monthly food spend is up 10-20% on this time last year. Co-incidentally around the amount the pound has dropped

 

[Hazzuh]

Tory Andy Street wins in West Midlands mayoralty.

 

[Meadows]

Christ that was close

 

[Audioboxer]

Wow, 26 out of 32 with no control?

Independence is a knife edge issue :/we're not getting it are we?

Only Dundee was SNP majority before. Labour have lost two majorities.

Scottish Independence would always be won by a knife edge. The fact is it's been voted through in Scottish parliament and should be given the vote again. The Conservatives and their outright block rhetoric can feck off.

SNP is still the largest party in these council elections by a decent amount. It's Labour who have been completely trashed.

 

[Meadows]

Interesting that the Conservative candidates for both Manchester and Birmingham are both gay. Shows a changing direction in the party.

 

[Hazzuh]

This is an absolutely shit show for Labour. Losing Tees Valley and West Midlands is humiliating. Labour have 21/28 MPs in West Mids metro area, most of them are totally fucked.

 

[Ravensmash]

Will Corbyn be making any speeches in relation to this?

Diane Abbot has been everywhere today...

 

[Audioboxer]

England

Scotland

As I said to AHA-Lambda "no overall control" is how it has gone in Scotland before.

Wales

Labour -1xx in all.

 

[Hazzuh]

Will Corbyn be making any speeches in relation to this?

Diane Abbot has been everywhere today...

The leadership see Abbott and McDonnell as their best TV performers so you will probably hear from them mainly.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Most Lib Dem second preferences going to the Conservatives in West Midlands.

 

[Hazzuh]

Most Lib Dem second preferences going to the Conservatives in West Midlands.

👏 progressive 👏 alliance 👏

 

[ferrasvansen]

This is an absolutely shit show for Labour. Losing Tees Valley and West Midlands is humiliating. Labour have 21/28 MPs in West Mids metro area, most of them are totally fucked.

Yeah Labour in England will be obliterated, hard to believe the party self destructed and appointed Jeremy Corbyn knowing fine well he will lead them to electoral disaster. It really makes me wonder if Labour will ever win an election again, I very much doubt it and wouldn't be shocked if the party broke up. I grew up in a very poor part of Glasgow, joined Labour as soon I was old enough and helped out in the local campaigns. I voted for them every election until last year and I could never vote for them again. Looking at them now, they just seem like a protest movement who have abandoned the poor and vulnerable and completely lost the plot. Tories will rule in the UK for the rest of my life and I think eventually Scotland will break free, it won't happen for a while though.

 

[gun_haver]

Only Dundee was SNP majority before. Labour have lost two majorities.

Scottish Independence would always be won by a knife edge. The fact is it's been voted through in Scottish parliament and should be given the vote again. The Conservatives and their outright block rhetoric can feck off.

SNP is still the largest party in these council elections by a decent amount. It's Labour who have been completely trashed.

Regardless, as a pro-Independence voter you would want to see SNP seats go up here, even slightly, rather than go down, even slightly. The fact the SNP have lost ground rather than, say, gaining control of several councils, while the Tories have come from very low numbers to 2nd place doesn't bode too well.

What has probably happened is that a lot of pro-Union voters have flocked over to the Conversatives due to the states of the respective UK parties. This means these people are mostly concerned about avoiding/rejecting Scottish independence, rather than having complex reasons for voting Tory this time. I can't imagine why else there would be such a shift away from Labour and towards the Tories in the current context.

Probably not much has changed in terms of overall support for independence - SNP remain the biggest party, by a little less than before, while the pro-Union vote has coalesced in the Tory camp rather than Labour this time.

I'm disheartened by it, because I would have liked to see Scottish voters reacting to what is going on in UK politics more emphatically and moving away from the right. These past 7 years it's been nothing but loss after loss for me when it comes to politics so I'm anticipating more of the same.

 

[Thornton Reed]

The Meadows™ hot take for what this means for each party in the General election.

Conservatives:

Huge win. They pretty directly took all of the UKIP votes that were out there, which will give them a massive majority if and when it is replicated in June. A great night for them.

Liberal Democrats:

A quietly decent day. No they didn't make the breakthroughs people expected, and they have lost seats, but they will be happy that they have increased vote share. Make no mistake, this is a party in recovery, but the green shoots are appearing.

Labour:

Awful. No way about it. Really, really bad. A few bright spots in Liverpool and Manchester, but if this kind of performance is replicated in June then they will lose badly.

SNP:

Not too bad. They may be slightly worried at the rise of the Tories, but they have largely held onto their momentum from recent years. They will likely lose seats in June but probably only 2-3.

Plaid:

Pretty good. They tend to do well at local level normally anyway, so let's see how they do in June.

UKIP:

Fatally bad. They will go the way of BNP, although unfortunately they have won the war so to speak.

you could pin a red rosette on just about anything and it would win in those Cities.

 

[Audioboxer]

Regardless, as a pro-Independence voter you would want to see SNP seats go up here, even slightly, rather than go down, even slightly. The fact the SNP have lost ground rather than, say, gaining control of several councils, while the Tories have come from very low numbers to 2nd place doesn't bode too well.

What has probably happened is that a lot of pro-Union voters have flocked over to the Conversatives due to the states of the respective UK parties. This means these people are mostly concerned about avoiding/rejecting Scottish independence, rather than having complex reasons for voting Tory this time. I can't imagine why else there would be such a shift away from Labour and towards the Tories in the current context.

Probably not much has changed in terms of overall support for independence - SNP remain the biggest party, by a little less than before, while the pro-Union vote has coalesced in the Tory camp rather than Labour this time.

I'm disheartened by it, because I would have liked to see Scottish voters reacting to what is going on in UK politics more emphatically and moving away from the right. These past 7 years it's been nothing but loss after loss for me when it comes to politics so I'm anticipating more of the same.

The other way to look at it is if the floor had completely collapsed for independence/SNP they've had been bleeding seats like Labour has. Once you start losing 50/100+ seats then okay, panic.

At a time when Brexit is going on and May keeps harping on about Scotland needing to unify and be "stable", it's still encouraging to see a lot of SNP support.

All councils counted, only lost 7 seats.

 

[JonathanEx]

The leadership see Abbott and McDonnell as their best TV performers so you will probably hear from them mainly.

To be fair they are the best two of their TV performers

of the list of people who'll defend him

which is two people

 

[Meadows]

you could pin a red rosette on just about anything and it would win in those Cities.

People would have said that 20 years ago in Glasgow and S Wales. These things change pretty quickly.

 

[nelsonroyale]

My brother got elected in Scotland as a Tory councilor

I'm proud, not happy but still proud of him :/

You are a good brother. I love my brother to bits and we allign on most things. I would be pissed off if he voted/stood as a Tory, but it is as likely as me going Tory.

 

[Ravensmash]

The leadership see Abbott and McDonnell as their best TV performers so you will probably hear from them mainly.

I don't think Abbot should be anywhere near a TV based on recent performance.

 

[Pyroclastic]

To be fair they are the best two of their TV performers

of the list of people who'll defend him

which is two people

when barry gardiner is one of your strongest staunch defenders you're in trouble.

 

[Uzzy]

One thing that's surprising is just how well the Tories have kept onto the more moderate, centrist, liberal Tory voters, even while adopting policies that have UKIP voters flooding back to them.

 

[ferrasvansen]

I don't think Abbot should be anywhere near a TV based on recent performance.

Yeah her performance was baffling, must admit it did cross my mind had she been drinking or something. She seemed to be in a different planet during today's mess.

 

[Billy_Pilgrim]

when barry gardiner is one of your strongest staunch defenders you're in trouble.

Creepy Barry, as he's known in these parts.

 

[Audioboxer]

One thing that's surprising is just how well the Tories have kept onto the more moderate, centrist, liberal Tory voters, even while adopting policies that have UKIP voters flooding back to them.

I think they're a dying breed anyway. Others are Conservative through and through and will vote blue no matter what. I've said it a few times on GAF but support for political parties is like support for a football team. You do not change. Tories have just proven they can peddle UKIP policy/statements and have zero blowback. Yay? ..... /s

 

[Spaghetti]

Tory Andy Street wins in West Midlands mayoralty.

Ugh. The hot air candidate.

I had a feeling he'd get it. Labour fielded an absolute berk with an easily findable record of being a twat; despite probably having the best policy platform in the campaign material.

 

[Huw_Dawson]

One thing that's surprising is just how well the Tories have kept onto the more moderate, centrist, liberal Tory voters, even while adopting policies that have UKIP voters flooding back to them.

That's definitely a big story, yup. The parlance would be that they've built a big coalition of voters. Those moderate Tories can be flipped LD, but because the party nationally is still quite weak (it's patches of strength and areas of desolation) they seem like the only party on the ballot paper!

 

[Real Hero]

Yeah her performance was baffling, must admit it did cross my mind had she been drinking or something. She seemed to be in a different planet during today's mess.

There's rumours she is an alcoholic, so I always feel a bit bad when I see her get abuse

 

[whyamihere]

Well, RIP Labour, you had a good run :-\

One thing that's surprising is just how well the Tories have kept onto the more moderate, centrist, liberal Tory voters, even while adopting policies that have UKIP voters flooding back to them.

Where else would they go? Lib Dems?

 

[PJV3]

Ugh. The hot air candidate.

I had a feeling he'd get it. Labour fielded an absolute berk with an easily findable record of being a twat; despite probably having the best policy platform in the campaign material.

Is this the Tory that threw one and a half million quid at winning it before the campaign started?

 

[Huw_Dawson]

Well, RIP Labour, you had a good run :-\

Where else would they go? Lib Dems?

Lib Dems in areas where we look like we can win and have good local parties, otherwise nobody. That's the problem.

 

[Audioboxer]

lol BBC is getting contested that these are the Scottish results

SNP 431 (+6)
CON 276 (+161)
LAB 262 (-132)
OTHER 172 (-24)
LD 67 (-4)
GRN 19 (+5)

Changes w/ 2012

SNP was apparently 425 in 2012, so BBC's -7 seats seems wrong?

So, +6 gain? INDEPENDENCE ON!11111

Wikipedia seems to agree

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_local_elections,_2012

 

[gun_haver]

lol BBC is getting contested that these are the Scottish results



SNP was apparently 425 in 2012, so BBC's -7 seats seems wrong?

So, +6 gain? INDEPENDENCE ON!11111

Yeah I don't get the exact numbers - BBC has had SNP down 10-20 seats all day, while the Guardian currently has them up...31?

I was just gonna wait until the end of the day and see what it is.

 

[Huw_Dawson]

lol BBC is getting contested that these are the Scottish results



SNP was apparently 425 in 2012, so BBC's -7 seats seems wrong?

So, +6 gain? INDEPENDENCE ON!11111

Probably by-elections being taken into account.

 

[Audioboxer]

Yeah I don't get the exact numbers - BBC has had SNP down 10-20 seats all day, while the Guardian currently has them up...31?

I was just gonna wait until the end of the day and see what it is.

Up 31 isn't true at all, dunno what The Guardian is playing at there.

Probably by-elections being taken into account.

It must be this

2012 seats are an estimate of what the results would have been then if the new boundaries had been in place.

 

[Empty]

Where else would they go? Lib Dems?

well the problem is farron's strategy has been focused on taking votes from labour. exploiting lingering bitterness over the referendum by offering an opportunity for another referendum, constantly slamming corbyn as weak opposition, praising first term blair.

turns out from today there aren't really that many votes in hardcore remainers, though. overturning the referendum is a fringe opinion. if the referendum has created a new fault line with may on one side and the lib dems on the other like so many have claimed then that hasn't materialised at all.

they would do better defending the record of the coalition government and arguing more for a pro-business soft brexit. get buisness leaders on side etc. to try and pick off tory voters - there are a lot of them and they are in the seats that they are best placed to win!

 

[Billy_Pilgrim]

In Durham, none of the Labour candidates who won were Corbyn backers. That's pretty significant imo. The ones that lost? Nearly all of them momentum activists.

 

[WhatNXt]

Up 31 isn't true at all, dunno what The Guardian is playing at there.

It must be this

That still seems a bit shady to me

You compare results to previous results, not some guess at what previous results would have been

 

[Acorn]

Appears that UKIPs death has come a month early.

Happy early cuntdeathmas day!

 

[Spaghetti]

Is this the Tory that threw one and a half million quid at winning it before the campaign started?

Possibly? It seems he's been positioning himself for it for quite a while, but so has his Labour counterpart.

Either way, the guy had very little to actually say in his campaign material and spoke entirely in soundbites in the additional videos of him I checked out.

Voter turnout was fucking abysmal either way. Out of the 8 localities polled, 7 were below 30%, and 3 were below 25%.

 

[whyamihere]

In Durham, none of the Labour candidates who won were Corbyn backers. That's pretty significant imo. The ones that lost? Nearly all of them momentum activists.

Oof.

 

[Theonik]

Appears that UKIPs death has come a month early.

Happy early cuntdeathmas day!

They have hijacked the Tory party so they have no need for the old host body.

 

[Billy_Pilgrim]

Oof.

There's more to it in that a) many of the winners were long standing candidates and b) the momentum nutters were given difficult seats to win, but still.

Glad to see some of my friends pull through, at the very least the Labour council is a sensible one.

 

[Jackpot]

I expect Lib Dems to end up with the same number of seats +/-2 in the GE. Any perceived upswing in support has never translated into votes.