General Election 2017 | Cabinet reshuffle: Hunt re-appointed Health Secretary for record third time

How do you intend to vote in the 2017 General Election if eligible?

  • Conservatives

    Votes: 80 14.5%
  • Labour

    Votes: 322 58.4%
  • Lib Dems

    Votes: 57 10.3%
  • Green

    Votes: 20 3.6%
  • SNP

    Votes: 13 2.4%
  • UKIP

    Votes: 29 5.3%
  • Independent

    Votes: 3 0.5%
  • Plaid Cymru

    Votes: 2 0.4%
  • Sinn Fein

    Votes: 11 2.0%
  • Other (UUP, DUP, BNP, and anyone else I have forgotten)

    Votes: 14 2.5%

  • Total voters
    551
  • Poll closed .

rcoobc

Not as crap as eferyone thinks
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It's got a lot of assets, but a truckload of debt too. In one sense I admire Corbyn for making ambitious very long-term plans, it's just that even if gets a five year term, the next PM can obviously scrub them.
Yeah, our Government debt is around 90% of GDP isn't it, around £1.8 trillion. I guess it puts that £1.2 trillion in assets to bed.

But that's not going to come down until we

a) have a Government that can nearly balance the budget
or b) Get some proper Growth

Tories are the worst at both.
 

ThierryHenry

wishes he could watch Arsenal games with KM
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It would be fascinating to see what a minority government would mean for Brexit negotiations. And hilarious considering the reason for this election.
 

711

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Competition anyone?

https://goo.gl/forms/dJj4jwVkuBIMYjTJ3

Predict the size of the Tory majority come Friday morning. Tiebreaker is # of seats won by Labour.

No prize at the moment but if we get enough people we could have a think.

I will close the survey to new entries Thursday at 5pm. Then will post everyone's prediction to keep track of. Might make the depressing inevitability a bit more fun...
I like the idea of a competition, but fear it may need a caftard with some intelligence to institute it. Which just about leaves @Damien I suppose. No disrespect alto, you could put your heads together.

Also needs a definition of majority for the fick people like me.
 

Mr Pigeon

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Let's face it, unless the Tories increase their majority May is toast. She didn't have to call this election but thought she could increase the power of her party and take more seats. Anything less than that and she should be hunted in the press for what is a poor leadership decision. Won't happen but hey ho.
 

Damien

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I like the idea of a competition, but fear it may need a caftard with some intelligence to institute it. Which just about leaves @Damien I suppose. No disrespect alto, you could put your heads together.

Also needs a definition of majority for the fick people like me.
I'm too lazy. I have full faith that alto knows what he's doing.

Let's face it, unless the Tories increase their majority May is toast. She didn't have to call this election but thought she could increase the power of her party and take more seats. Anything less than that and she should be hunted in the press for what is a poor leadership decision. Won't happen but hey ho.
They will do. I have no doubt about that. I doubt we'll see any real change in the cabinet either.
 

Dobba

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Let's face it, unless the Tories increase their majority May is toast. She didn't have to call this election but thought she could increase the power of her party and take more seats. Anything less than that and she should be hunted in the press for what is a poor leadership decision. Won't happen but hey ho.
Her majority could be 1 and "the press" wouldn't give her anything. The only number they're interested in is 2, with the word Leveson in front of it. They want it gone and she's promised to make it so.
 

Ubik

Nothing happens until something moves!
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Let's face it, unless the Tories increase their majority May is toast. She didn't have to call this election but thought she could increase the power of her party and take more seats. Anything less than that and she should be hunted in the press for what is a poor leadership decision. Won't happen but hey ho.
The press will definitely hound her if she loses seats. The rightwing press like winning above all else.
 

Acole9

Outstanding
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I can't see many leader resignations this time round, only one and that'll either be Corbyn or May.
 

Jippy

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Yeah, our Government debt is around 90% of GDP isn't it, around £1.8 trillion. I guess it puts that £1.2 trillion in assets to bed.

But that's not going to come down until we

a) have a Government that can nearly balance the budget
or b) Get some proper Growth

Tories are the worst at both.
We were the top-performing G7 economy last year!
 

Acole9

Outstanding
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What if both parties make minor gains?
I think winning the election is what matters, unless of course there's a hung parliament which could be a game changer but I don't see that happening.
 

berbatrick

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So you think that Libya was part of the same Bush/Blair in Iraq? No nuance or recognition of the Arab Spring taking place, just a Christian crusade huh? My last point, demonstrates the duplicity of your favoured runner in this race. A man, moreover, who would not intervene to prevent massacre so as to maintain his own supposed moral superiority. Do you imagine that Libya is existing in a vacuum? The West's sodding off (wrongly) after the intervention has only mean that others have done so, to our cost. Being non-interventionist in 2017 does alter that fact.
If an outside country is going to intervene, it needs to have a clear plan of what it is to do. Terrorise the population into submission. Colonise and run the country as a direct military dictatorship. Install a friendly local despot and ensure an arms supply for him to keep his population in control. Find a mass movement with support, preferably across ethnic lines, and help them militarily, with supplies or more directly. All are viable courses of action for an invader.
I can't remember a single ME intervention that did the last thing (unless the Kurds in Syria count) and the 1st 2 are increasingly difficult to do (in a political sense). In hindsight, none of these invasions had a plan (or they had an awful plan) after toppling the existing regime. The west left Libya quickly but were in Iraq and especially Afghanistan for years, andnone of them are shining examples of intervention.
I said nothing about Christian, though Bush's adventure in Iraq seemed to be a mix of religious fervour and daddy issues.
 

DOTA

wants Amber Rudd to call him a naughty boy
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They will do. I have no doubt about that. I doubt we'll see any real change in the cabinet either.
You don't think she'd take the chance to get rid of Hammond?
 

Fully Fledged

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It's the kind of thing political heads like to discuss, but forcibly replacing a leader immediately after an election win would be incredibly difficult and politically dangerous.
They have to know they would never get the votes. They couldn't get them when the world was saying he would be crushed. If he won they would be even more embarrassed than they were last time.
 

Ubik

Nothing happens until something moves!
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Rudd's lined up to replace Hammond per the Westminster rumour mill.
 

DOTA

wants Amber Rudd to call him a naughty boy
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Rudd's lined up to replace Hammond per the Westminster rumour mill.
And we (it is 'we' during elections) haven't managed a female leader or chancellor/shadow.

They'd have fun with that.
 

Mr Pigeon

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Ubik

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Great piece by Chris Cook here charting the various constituencies that party leaders have been to of late

 

rcoobc

Not as crap as eferyone thinks
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We were the top-performing G7 economy last year!
Pfft, 1 year! 7 countries! Germany returned to a budget surplus in 2012. We have a bigger budget today than they did at their worst point, post crash.

What's Germany's growth over the last 5 years like and how does it compare to ours? Can't work out our at moment but i think it's much better than ours
 

Ubik

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Bear in mind though that those figures were from a survey for the month up to May 28th. So whilst their sample may be far more representative, could still have missed a more recent enthusiasm jump. But still looks about right to me even with that.
 
Prediction Competition - Enter to win nothing (as of right now)

altodevil

Odds winner of 'Odds or Evens 2023/2024'
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Competiton Sorted now - Enter here:

https://goo.gl/forms/2t3HRH2ZGSyYAY1A2

Predict the size of the Tory majority come Friday morning. Tiebreaker is # of seats won by Labour.

No prize at the moment but if we get enough people we could have a think.

I will close the survey to new entries Thursday at 5pm. Then will post everyone's prediction to keep track of. Might make the depressing inevitability a bit more fun...
 

Jippy

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Pfft, 1 year! 7 countries! Germany returned to a budget surplus in 2012. We have a bigger budget today than they did at their worst point, post crash.

What's Germany's growth over the last 5 years like and how does it compare to ours? Can't work out our at moment but i think it's much better than ours
They have a far bigger and better balanced economy than us- comparing us to Germany will always back us, and pretty much any country, look bad.
 

Fergies Gum

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Channel 4's Michael Crick just said Corbyn is getting bigger crowds at his rallies than any party leader since Churchill.