Brexit.

Tigger

not on speaking terms with the voices in my head
Joined
Sep 23, 2018
Messages
1,037
Well a GE was long overdue... and then we'll see how it turns out and what happens.
Overdue?

Cameron was elected on 7-May 2015. So the next general election after that is due in 2020.
But we've had another election in 2017 and now another in 2019, maybe.

That's 3 general elections in the space that only 1 should have occupied.
 

Luisa Land

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 21, 2018
Messages
354
Location
EU.. Germany
SL Rez
2002
Overdue?

Cameron was elected on 7-May 2015. So the next general election after that is due in 2020.
But we've had another election in 2017 and now another in 2019, maybe.

That's 3 general elections in the space that only 1 should have occupied.

Moreover, if one considers the current opinion polls, one has to fear that the outcome of the GE will not be a government which is able to impose a reasonable solution-process for Brexit.
not to mention the task that the UK must become to be able again to act politically, economically and socially
Even today after years of political fighting, as I see it from outside, voters may not realy know what they are voting for , if they vote certain parties, this is especially true for the biggest opposition party Labour. Sure some minor parties have a clear stance but due to the electoral system of the UK they will have difficulties to win a decisive share of seats in the parliament
 

Argent Stonecutter

Emergency Mustelid Hologram
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
7,930
Location
Coonspiracy Central, Noonkkot
SL Rez
2005
Joined SLU
Sep 2009
SLU Posts
20780
Cameron was elected on 7-May 2015. So the next general election after that is due in 2020.
According to a law that has now been shown to be a complete disaster. Time to repeal it.
 

Innula Zenovka

Nasty Brit
VVO Supporter 🍦🎈👾❤
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
24,424
SLU Posts
18459
According to a law that has now been shown to be a complete disaster. Time to repeal it.
Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings would certainly agree with you.

I agree about the Fixed Term Parliament Act in the sense it's never worked as intended -- neither of the two parliaments elected since it was passed have lasted the full 5 years -- but the circumstances have been very unusual, both in the sense that both of these parliaments have been dominated by Brexit, which completely crosses the normal party divisions and in the sense that both Theresa May and now Boris Johnson have behaved as if they had comfortable majorities rather than trying to run minority governments.

There's been nothing like this in British national politics since the 1970s, and Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan, for all their faults, were very astute party managers and political operators.

So what seemed at the time a relatively anodyne act that simply removed the government's ability to manipulate the electoral cycle to its advantage has now been tested under circumstances that no one who drafted it can have imagined would ever come about (I can't believe I live in the same country I did just four years ago).

Certainly it needs revising, to give clarity to what should happen in previously unimaginable circumstances like a PM losing a confidence vote but then squatting in Downing Street rather than giving someone else the opportunity to form a new government, but I'm not sure it's yet time to scrap it.
 
  • 2Agree
Reactions: OrinB and Tigger

Tigger

not on speaking terms with the voices in my head
Joined
Sep 23, 2018
Messages
1,037
At the moment I would much rather have the fixed term parliament act than Johnson being able to unilaterally call an election
 

Bartholomew Gallacher

Administrator
Joined
Sep 26, 2018
Messages
7,085
SL Rez
2002
Yes, it is long overdue considering the fact that the current House of Commons is unable to decide anything meaningful since over two years by now, and on top of that the current prime minister has no majority.

The current HoC has been stuck in an impasse since over two years, which is a big part of the problem. So time to have a GE and wait for the outcome.
 

Innula Zenovka

Nasty Brit
VVO Supporter 🍦🎈👾❤
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
24,424
SLU Posts
18459
Yes, it is long overdue considering the fact that the current House of Commons is unable to decide anything meaningful since over two years by now, and on top of that the current prime minister has no majority.

The current HoC has been stuck in an impasse since over two years, which is a big part of the problem. So time to have a GE and wait for the outcome.
I disagree.

The House of Commons has decided -- for example -- that both same sex marriage and abortion should be legally available in Northern Ireland on the same basis they are in the Mainland UK and, twice, that it won't permit a no-deal Brexit.

None of those were government policy, admittedly, but that doesn't stop them from being meaningful.

Indeed, were the government to agree to it, I'm pretty sure the current HoC could also agree to pass the current Withdrawal Agreement, subject to a confirmatory referendum with Remain as the alternative, though I very much doubt Johnson would cooperate with that.
 
  • 1Agree
Reactions: OrinB

Casey Pelous

Senior Discount
VVO Supporter 🍦🎈👾❤
Joined
Sep 24, 2018
Messages
3,344
Location
USA, upper left corner
SL Rez
2007
Joined SLU
February, 2011
SLU Posts
10461
Yes, it is long overdue considering the fact that the current House of Commons is unable to decide anything meaningful since over two years by now, and on top of that the current prime minister has no majority.

The current HoC has been stuck in an impasse since over two years, which is a big part of the problem. So time to have a GE and wait for the outcome.
I'm certainly no expert on English politics, but isn't there a very good chance that an election just creates more or less the same result?
 
  • 3Agree
Reactions: Tigger, Sid and OrinB

Sid

Member from the past.
VVO Supporter 🍦🎈👾❤
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
7,133
It would help if there would be only two new parties in the next general election: the remain party and the Brexit party, but that will of course not happen.
So more of the same division in Westminster (not even along the party lines) is very likely indeed.
 

OrinB

tutti fruitti
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
476
Location
UK
SL Rez
2007
Joined SLU
23 Sept 2009
SLU Posts
4771
It’s so frustrating that the Liberal Democrat’s we’re unable to influence enough when they were in coalition to get their plans for proportional representation through.
 

Bartholomew Gallacher

Administrator
Joined
Sep 26, 2018
Messages
7,085
SL Rez
2002
I'm certainly no expert on English politics, but isn't there a very good chance that an election just creates more or less the same result?
And where's the loss if it should?

If it should not, the UK would have hopefully more clarity in what the people want - remain or leave.
 

Innula Zenovka

Nasty Brit
VVO Supporter 🍦🎈👾❤
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
24,424
SLU Posts
18459
Somehow 'a banana republic' comes to my mind.
Not Boris Johnson, the EU and bendy bloody bananas all over again!

That's how this whole mess got started in the first place.
 
  • 1Agree
Reactions: Govi

Kara Spengler

Queer OccupyE9 Sluni-Goon, any/all pronouns
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
6,140
Location
SL: November RL: DC
SL Rez
2007
Joined SLU
December, 2008
SLU Posts
23289
But on the bright side: Still six days to go, so plenty of time left.
That is exactly how politicians think.
 
  • 1Agree
Reactions: Sid

Da5id Weatherwax

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 22, 2018
Messages
131
Location
Edinburgh
SL Rez
2007
Joined SLU
08-20-2010
SLU Posts
1467
The fixed term parliaments act was always a bit of a misnomer. What it was supposed to do was take the "strategic election" largely out of the PMs hands - and as Bojo is finding out, that it has mostly done. Not completely, by any means, but mostly.

But if governments can't quit on a whim any more, they can still fall. And that doesn't necessarily mean only by losing a vote of confidence. So the "fixed term" really isn't that fixed, even though that's the name of the act.
 
  • 2Thanks
Reactions: Sid and Govi

Sid

Member from the past.
VVO Supporter 🍦🎈👾❤
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
7,133
Hey, wintertime starts tomorrow in the EU!
Yay, an extra hour to spend on doing nothing to solve the impasse!!

5 Days left. No iceberg in sight, is there?
 

Innula Zenovka

Nasty Brit
VVO Supporter 🍦🎈👾❤
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
24,424
SLU Posts
18459