UK Election Thread

[lightblue]

It seems as there's no thread anywhere near the top few pages for this yet.

Today are the national (and a fair few local) elections in the UK. I guess the big questions are:

- How many seats will Labour lose? If they go below 90 or so seats majority, will it cost Tony's job?

- Will the Tories get 209 (the amount of seats Foot had in 1983, worst Labour performance during the Thatcher years), or keep hanging lower than that? Will they ever come back as a party that can challenge for the leadership?

- Will the improved exposure and increases in the polls for Lib Dems translate in a lot more seats? Or will the votes come in seats where they have impossible margins to overcome.

- Will the national parties (SNP, Plaid Cymru) do well?

[Winston]

It's not very easy to come up with answers to that, check back tomorrow.

And British party politics has never been the same for me anyway since the merry old days when Margaret Thatcher was at the wheel.

So I'll just limit myself to wishing the Brits a Happy Election day.

[BeBMan]

What's Plaid Cymru?

[Provost Harrison]

Yeah, I bet you just adored Maggie didn't you Evil b*tch...is she dead yet?

[Winston]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Yeah, I bet you just adored Maggie didn't you

Absolutely.

[child of Thor]

I voted this morning - Lib

Not really keen on all this tactical voting stuff - i prefer to vote for whom i believe is the best candidate.

Democracy is a very excellent thing, even if its not often perfect in its implimentation, its still seems 'right' to me when ever i cast my vote.

Democracy

Tony 'False smiles' Blair and his 'Neo(con)- labour'

Mike 'Poll Tax Dracula' Howard and the rascists

[Provost Harrison]

And facism

[Zulu Elephant]

Voted at half eight this morning for Labour. However, I live in the safest Conservative seat in the whole country (William Hague, Richmond) and so it's doubtful that my vote is going to swing the election

As for the other questions:

- How many seats will Labour lose? If they go below 90 or so seats majority, will it cost Tony's job?

Not sure how many Labour will lose but I'm predicting a majority in the mid-to-high 90s. Blair will stay for 2-3 years as long as the majority doesn't fall much below 50.

- Will the Tories get 209 (the amount of seats Foot had in 1983, worst Labour performance during the Thatcher years), or keep hanging lower than that? Will they ever come back as a party that can challenge for the leadership?

If the tories do get back over 200 (and this is by no means certain), won't be much over 209. Im predicting that they won't reach that figure. Looking further into the future - the current tory top brass wont ever be in power again. Look out for David Cameron & George Osbourne on election night - they're the future for the tories.

- Will the improved exposure and increases in the polls for Lib Dems translate in a lot more seats? Or will the votes come in seats where they have impossible margins to overcome.

Liberals will increase their seats by around 15. However this may drop if the tories advance in liberal safe-seats which is a possibility. The Lib Dems may also take out some Conservative shadow cabinet ministers - David Davis, Theresa May and Oliver Letwin are all in reasonably close races with Lib Dems.

- Will the national parties (SNP, Plaid Cymru) do well?

No. The SNP might even lose a seat to the tories.

[Zulu Elephant]

Lightblue - you might even see a seat change hands where you are. Aren't the Lib Dems looking good in Cambridge?

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by BeBro
What's Plaid Cymru?

Its the party for those who can't spell/

[Zulu Elephant]

Originally posted by BeBro
What's Plaid Cymru?

They're the Welsh National Party

[lightblue]

Hmm, maybe. Campbell had a 20% majority last time around, but she's pissed off a fair few of constituents (by promising to vote agaisnt tuition fees and the iraq war, and then proceeding to do so anyway), so it'll be fairly close. Lib Dems took the council last year, I reckon they'll be pushing her close, but probably not quite close enough.

[child of Thor]

I'd like to see a fist fight between all three candidates, to decide who will rule

Tony could be quite handy, he seems well co-ordinated and fast moving, but maybe a little light on hit points.

Mike would be mostly useless, but he has that hypnotic evil power thing that would allow him to stay in the fight a little longer.

Charles would suffer if the fight went on for a longtime, but would be able to absorb lots of damage.

I can't call it but i feel the winner would be either Tony or Charles.

[Zulu Elephant]

Originally posted by lightblue
Hmm, maybe. Campbell had a 20% majority last time around, but she's pissed off a fair few of constituents (by promising to vote agaisnt tuition fees and the iraq war, and then proceeding to do so anyway), so it'll be fairly close. Lib Dems took the council last year, I reckon they'll be pushing her close, but probably not quite close enough.

Yeah, I heard the candidate was pretty unpopular. I assume a lot of the backlash will come from the fact that there are so many students in Cambridge and that they are much more politically motivated/active than many other students.

Mike would be mostly useless, but he has that hypnotic evil power thing that would allow him to stay in the fight a little longer.

Howard could just turn into a bat and suck their blood.

[lightblue]

Problem with a lot of students is that they're registered in their home seats, not Cambridge Central. Even then, the vote would probably be split Tory/Lib Dem anyway, it's not like say Manchester Univ where you could guarantee a 90% Labour vote.

In a fistfight I'd have to give the edge to Tony as well.. unless Charles lands a knock out punch early by throwing his weight behind his fist. Think Tony would break Michael Howard and he's probably fit enough to outlast Charles. Though maybe the stress would play on his heart. He could always send his champion, John "Two Jabs" Prescott, Charles Clarke could be a bruiser too.