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At this stage it looks unlikely Labour will do well in the Wales Senedd election next year. To be conducted on a PR basis for the first time , a poor result in this would dissuade notions of dispensing with FPTP.
Various psephologists and politicians have been banging on about PR for decades, going as far back to at least the 1930s
Blair set up the Jenkins Commission (Roy Jenkins was a Labour big-wig) in 1997 to explore alternatives to FPTP, without much success save for the safe but rather weak compromise of a referendum in 2011 on the introduction of a PR-light Alternative Vote system, which was roundly defeated by 68% to 32% on a turnout of 42%. I voted ‘yes’ without much glee, simply thinking it only less unfair than FPTP
Long odds-against PR or AV being introduced during this government I feel safe in saying, and should Reform do well or even win the next election it will be interesting to see if they continue to press for it, once FPTP has served them well
Everyone said Labour wouldn’t do well in the Hamilton bi-election … Farage was in the car park …
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
“Starmer is going no where , if he gets waiting list times down , interest rates down etc then he has every chance of 4 more years”.
I think his problems go a lot deeper than interest rates.
The U turn on the Welfare Bill forced on him by 130 backbenchers has driven a coach and horses through Reeves’s economic policy. She will have to raise taxes again, which will be seriously resented by the remaining working population which is already paying the highest tax burden since the 1950s.
This point is not just about Starmer but I genuinely believe the first few weeks of any government tend to set the tone. This government, which was never that popular anyway*, got off to a poor start and it hasn’t got better. I doubt it ever will. I don’t believe Starmer is politically astute enough to turn it around and the electorate has already made up its mind about him.
The only stroke of good fortune Starmer has had is to be up against Badenoch, an over-promoted head girl. A competent Leader of the Opposition would be shredding him in the Commons every week.
*34% on a 59% turnout.
“… working population which is already paying the highest tax burden since the 1950s”
While the gap between the richest in society and the rest has widened at previously unseen rates.
But there isn’t a competent opposition leader ( something that is so necessary) and there isn’t even one in the pipeline. Johnson got rid of all of the good ones.Not helped by the fact that the news media keep telling everyone that Farage is going to be the next PM even though he only has 5 MP’s ( is it still 5; lose track with the Reform shenanigans? A self fulfilling prophesy if ever there was one. If it wasn’t for the fact that I have children and grandchildren I’d almost be glad that I probably won’t be around to see it.
There is a part of me that would like to see Reform win the next election.
Just so that people see what real ineptitude looks like.
It is 5. Lowe was booted out which reduced them to 4 but then they won the by-election in Runcorn.
Don’t joke Glad , If he ever got in then the country would be in desperate trouble , Farage is a spiv , an illusionist , Reform have no members even remotely capable of making a goverment
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
But the news media are telling everyone that Reform are going to win. And even though they lost that election in Scotland he media are saying how well they did. I chatted with someone recently who worked with Farage at one time. They told me he doesn’t really want to be PM. He just likes the challenge of getting people to vote for his causes. Bit like being a EU MP but never bothering to turn up.
The media – of all stripes – love Farage beacause he’s entertaining, much the same as Johnson was. It matters not one jot that both are the proverbial noisy empty vessels. News as Entertainment, sadly.
The country seems choc-full with polling companies, spewing weekly voting-intention forecasts for dim and distant 2029. Easy reportage for those familiar hacks Phil Space and Phillipa Column but wholly meaningless given the volatile state of the country and world.
So many polls that you now get a poll of polls
It’s exactly that Drone. The news, online at least, thrives on clicks and that awful word ‘engagment’. Charlatans like Johnson and Farage give them exactly that. The dead tree press similarly needs outrage and scandal and multiple 24 hour news outlets have to fill all of that airtime somehow. Add lax regulation and an overall poor standard of journalism and it’s no wonder people on the street constantly spout complete nonsense when that’s what they’re consuming.
To dismiss the constant platforming of Farage as mere entertainment is dangerous.
People regurgitate what they are shown in the media. When all they see is Farage mouthing off, especially as opposing voices do not receive any where the same airtime, they simply repeat his arguments.
This dumbing down is what led to Trump in the US and there is a real possibility that it will lead to a Farage-led government here.
And that is no laughing matter.
Just wondering on some on here when Farage, Reform and the centre right take office how will you react?
Say, yes that’s democracy and accept the vote.
Or, take to the streets from day 1 and behave very badly, protesting, kicking and squealing, and banging drums to the Palestine beat?
I’ll be too old to take to the streets after the next election. I will, however ( if I’ve had a new knee by then) have to go out campaigning pre election; something that I thought I wouldn’t have to do again. If the young me could have seen into the future and envisaged living in a country governed by someone like Farage I would have thought twice about having children. I’m even looking back longingly to the time when the Conservatives Party, even though I didn’t agree with their policies, was full of decent people until Johnson got rid of so many of them.
Just forget Farage for a moment moehat, what do you think about Reform’s main policies.
– On illegal immigration.
– Employing people on merit and ability, not to fill a quota.
– Net Zero, phasing out fossil fuels in time and when technology advances, but not bankrupting the country in the meantime before we are ready to switch off ff.moehat do you think Farage would/could be any worse than the clown and front bench we have now? I am no Farage fan but Christ these are hopeless and soon it will be Burkas for our great grand daughters and no Christmas festivals. Also a mosque at every beauty spot in the UK. Like I say would want a better option than Farage but I want a better country for my kids/their kids. When do we stop and think hey this is not the UK I grew up in in the 60s, maybe silly as wont be here much longer but it breaks my heart to see London as it is now. Even though myself and most cockneys moved out Oh well back to the racing far better than the politics which i know naff all about
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