United Kingdom General Election: July 4, 2024

[Harlow]

George Osborne claims he has inside info the election is being planned for November 14th.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/11/general-election-likely-to-take-place-on-14-november-says-george-osborne

Not sure why it's being so dragged out, if this is true. The result will essentially be a done deal at this point. Whatever keeps the Tories in power for whatever time they have left, I guess.

[Harlow]

George Osborne claims he has inside info the election is being planned for November 14th.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/11/general-election-likely-to-take-place-on-14-november-says-george-osborne

Not sure why it's being so dragged out, if this is true. The result will essentially be a done deal at this point. Whatever keeps the Tories in power for whatever time they have left, I guess.

I think that someone wrote, I believe in the Internation discussion thread, that the "plan" is banking on a Trump's win in the US election and then the Tories would campaign on the "stability card" in face of unprecedented times to win the election. Of course, this has one major risk: Trump could lose and then what? What's your pitch, Tories?

But also, the idea that they would have any claim to the "stability card" at this point is laughable. Continuity =/= stability and I feel the vast majority of the British public understand that at this point.

[Harlow]

The map seems to show Labour winning the Isle of Wight...don't they usually get single digits there and its more of a Tory/Lib Dem marginal

Hasn't been a Lib Dem stronghold in a while. The last time the Lib Dems got over 10% of the vote was in 2010. Second place in the last three elections has been UKIP -> Labour -> Labour, and the Lib Dems didn't have a candidate there in 2019. The Greens have performed relatively well there lately, too.

[Harlow]

It is also likely the Greens will come closer than ever before to a full slate, too.

A full slate is their stated ambition, at the very least.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-67914916

[Harlow]

So Reform UK sacked its candidate for York Central for "inactivity" after not returning calls or emails.

...turns out he had been dead since February.

Reform UK admitted it didn’t realize that Tommy Cawkwell, its election candidate in York Central, had perished when he was sacked for lack of activity.

“We can’t afford to have people doing nothing in an election year,” a party spokesperson had told local news outlet the York Press.

But Cawkwell had actually died two months before.

Reform UK spokesperson Gawain Towler said Wednesday night he was “mortified” at the error.

https://www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-party-fired-candidate-inactive-turns-out-dead-uk/

I can't 💀

Dying is no excuse for not campaigning. Never stop the grind.

[Harlow]

Oh my god... the rain... the "Things Can Only Get Better" blasting in the background. What a great start to the campaign.

[Harlow]

Bringing up the smoking ban as a highlight of his tenure is so sad and desperate, wow.

[Harlow]

Bringing up the smoking ban as a highlight of his tenure is so sad and desperate, wow.

If it sticks it'll probably save hundreds of thousands of people from painful premature deaths. Genuinely a worthwhile policy.

I don't entirely disagree, but I'm not sure the British public feels the same way and it's a difficult selling point. Perhaps I'm wrong.

[Harlow]

Bringing up the smoking ban as a highlight of his tenure is so sad and desperate, wow.

If it sticks it'll probably save hundreds of thousands of people from painful premature deaths. Genuinely a worthwhile policy.

I don't entirely disagree, but I'm not sure the British public feels the same way and it's a difficult selling point. Perhaps I'm wrong.

Welp, lol.

UK's anti-smoking laws could be lost in pre-election parliamentary rush (Reuters)

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-anti-smoking-laws-could-be-lost-pre-election-parliamentary-rush-2024-05-23/

In his speech calling for the election, Sunak had boasted that his government had ensured the next generation would be "smoke-free", but that promise now looks to have been made prematurely.

Penny Mordaunt, the House of Commons leader, did not list the smoking bill on Thursday in the business scheduled to be debated before parliament shuts down for the election. She said cross-party negotiations were ongoing over the future of bills not included in the schedule.

[Harlow]

Just came across this on YouTube.
Evidently Labour does seem to know very well what it's doing.

I have to hand it to them, the "pork markets" cameo made me laugh.

[Harlow]

It's insane that this discussion is even being had, but that's the state of British politics I guess.