3 by-elections - let’s have your comments

[Pale Rider]

The country really does need a coalition .

The last thing this country has ever needed is a coalition.

What it needs is for one party, doesn't really matter which one, to have enough of a majority to govern effectively.

Which is what our system is designed to produce, and does produce, more often than not.

 

[Bromptonaut]

The last thing this country has ever needed is a coalition.

What it needs is for one party, doesn't really matter which one, to have enough of a majority to govern effectively.

Which is what our system is designed to produce, and does produce, more often than not.

Coalitions are OK.

However much I disagree with what it did the Con/Lib Dem coalition governed more effectively than some before or after managed with a majority...

 

[Pale Rider]

Coalitions are OK.

They might be OK sometimes, but I think we should be aiming a little higher than OK

I much prefer a strong government of whatever party.

 

[Bromptonaut]

They might be OK sometimes, but I think we should be aiming a little higher than OK

I much prefer a strong government of whatever party.

And I don't which is why I favour electoral reform so those sent to the Commons are more balanced to the actual votes cast.

 

[Pale Rider]

And I don't which is why I favour electoral reform so those sent to the Commons are more balanced to the actual votes cast.

So there we sit, at opposite ends of the spectrum.

I was encouraged when you posted the government has reinstated first past the post for the London mayor election.

Hopefully, that indicates there's plenty of life left in that excellent system.

 

[Bromptonaut]

So there we sit, at opposite ends of the spectrum.

I was encouraged when you posted the government has reinstated first past the post for the London mayor election.

Hopefully, that indicates there's plenty of life left in that excellent system.

Sorely tempted to repost last sentence above with strikethrough and other edits but will resist.


For Now.

 

[theclaud]

The only possibility for you to actually vote for the party you want is to get rid of the current conservative government and hope that a labour or liberal coalition will change the system from first past the post to a proportional representation model.

Spoiler

They won't

 

[albion]

The last thing this country has ever needed is a coalition.

What it needs is for one party, doesn't really matter which one, to have enough of a majority to govern effectively.

Which is what our system is designed to produce, and does produce, more often than not.

Unfortunately the winning party has too many corrupt members acting against the nations interests.
I include overstrong unions in that statement, though that one is so complex that I have to go by feel.

 

[multitool]

 

[albion]

Thats a big positive, the ID thing been meant through corrupt intent, to discourage none conservatives from voting.

 

[spen666]

The real reason the Tories retained Uxbridge is because the Greens and Lib Dems insisted on running in a seat where they had no hope. If they had not run, Labour would have won easily. Labour lost by just over 400 votes.

This is why Starmer needs to work with other liberal parties to operate tactically.

It says a lot about politics that it needs a combined effort of Labour, Lib Dems & Greens to defeat Tories.

Show country is not as anti Tory as some on here would try to have us believe

 

[Pale Rider]

Spoiler

They won't

It's simple enough.

Parties in opposition bang on about proportional representation, parties who have achieved power via a first past the post election keep schtum about it.

If Labour win the next election they will find themselves confronted with all sorts of dilemmas.

Sniping from the opposition bench is easy - you'd be great at it.

But governing is far more difficult.

 

[Rusty Nails]

It says a lot about politics that it needs a combined effort of Labour, Lib Dems & Greens to defeat Tories.

Show country is not as anti Tory as some on here would try to have us believe

Looking at GE results since WW2 the country is not intrinsically anti Tory at all. They have formed the large majority of governments over that period.

The three by election results show that currently the country is anti this lot of Tories. Uxbridge was kept Tory by one issue only...ULEZ, and without that it would have been a hat-trick of losses for them. ULEZ will not figure in the next GE outside the London area.

 

[Once a Wheeler]

Can a system in which people vote for someone they dislike in order to disadvantage someone they dislike even more really be called a democracy? If ever there was a case for thorough-going proportional representation, Thursday's three by-elections made it plain.
Interestingly, most proportional systems do away with the need for by-elections — yet another advantage.

 

[multitool]

It says a lot about politics that it needs a combined effort of Labour, Lib Dems & Greens to defeat Tories.

Show country is not as anti Tory as some on here would try to have us believe

No it doesn't.

Uxbridge has never even a Labour seat, always Tory. And yet, this time Labour came within a whisker of winning, increasing their vote share from 37% to 43%.