General Election set for 12 December

[Sarah]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50230931

Political parties are readying themselves for a general election campaign after MPs voted for a 12 December poll.

The legislation approved by MPs on Tuesday will later begin its passage through the House of Lords, where it is not expected to be opposed.

Boris Johnson says he is ready to fight a "tough" general election.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the snap poll gave a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity to transform the country.

His shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said the election wouldn't just be about Brexit - telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It will be about austerity [and] about what's happened to our public service."

But Mr Johnson hopes the vote will give him a fresh mandate for his deal to leave the EU and break the current deadlock in Parliament.

He told Conservative MPs it was time for the country to "come together to get Brexit done", adding: "It'll be a tough election and we are going to do the best we can."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was "certainly not yearning for general election", but he believed it was "the only way to move the country forward".

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I'll be disappointed if the BBC don't include Brenda from Bristol in their coverage...

 

[Angela Channing]

A simple guide for forum members:

 

[Sarah]

Hahaha brilliant @Angela Channing - what I fear though is people still will vote for them. And nothing will change.

 

[Ome]

I truly fear that we will have a Tory win. It's incredibly frightening just how many racist & selfish people we have in the UK and for those who don't know as much on politics, they will likely vote Boris because they find him amusing.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

A simple guide for forum members

Any simplicity is very welcome.

what I fear though is people still will vote for them. And nothing will change.

I think there's potential for damage to be done by people not voting at all, particularly with the parties backing Remain.

At this moment, I'm undecided about who will get my vote next month. Obviously there are parties that I wouldn't touch with a bargepole, but none of the party leaders instil any form of confidence in me. To borrow an overused political phrase it's going to be a case of the least worst option.

 

[Ome]

I think there's potential for damage to be done by people not voting at all

I agree.

There isn't much love for any of the leaders.


I'm sticking with Labour because I think that's the strongest option to get the tories out.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I'm sticking with Labour because I think that's the strongest option to get the tories out.

That's certainly a very real option for me as well. We'll see how the campaigns go.

 

[Ome]

We'll see how the campaigns go.

Yes!

I just hope Corbyn has got it in him to win the backing. I'm certainly intrigued by how the campaign goes. My other fear is that it doesn't seem to matter how many lies Boris gives the public, a lot of people just accept him no matter what.

I don't know what is more damaging, stupid people or selfish people.

 

[Michael Torrance]

I just hope Corbyn has got it in him to win the backing.

If Labour loses (which I believe it will) I think it will mostly be about him and his shortcomings. Brexit has become a corrosive issue which has realigned people radically, but somehow Labour cannot gain votes from any side because of his iffy stance. After all, long before there even was a David Cameron and a Brexit referendum , Corbyn was anti-EU from the 70s, and backing a withdrawal referendum back in 2011.

 

[Sarah]

For the first time I'm tempted not to vote. They are doing NOTHING for Northern Ireland at all and don't give a crap about us anyway.

However I'd do it for my friends in England/Scotland/Wales.

 

[Angela Channing]

It will come as no surprise to many that I will be voting Labour. I find Jeremy Corbyn to be a totally inspiring leader who has a real vision of how to make Britain a fairer and better society.

I rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty blunt penknife than vote for Boris Johnson and the Tories after the damage they have done to our country.

I wouldn't vote Liberal Democrat because they are the Tories' handmaids who enabled the Conservatives to implement the most wicked policies in their agenda including cutting social security for disabled people, cutting police numbers and starving schools of funding so they could pay for tax cuts for the rich. The Lib Dems plan to revoke Article 50 of the EU Treaty to stop Brexit, without even holding a new referendum, would cause more resentment, division and hate in the country to a level that would be worse than anything that Brexit will inflict on us.

Labour are not just the best option for a better Britain they are the only credible option for a better Britain.

 

[Angela Channing]

If Labour loses (which I believe it will) I think it will mostly be about him and his shortcomings. Brexit has become a corrosive issue which has realigned people radically, but somehow Labour cannot gain votes from any side because of his iffy stance. After all, long before there even was a David Cameron and a Brexit referendum , Corbyn was anti-EU from the 70s, and backing a withdrawal referendum back in 2011.

I think Labour have always had a clear Brexit policy and they have sensibly evovled it to reflect the issues as they have changed.

Labour's policy is to negotiate a better deal with they EU involving staying in the single market and protecting workers rights and to put that deal to the public in a referendum with a option to remain. That doesn't seem like an iffy stance to me at all and they are the only major party with a Brexit policy that potentially can unite the country at a time when the other parties move to more extreme Brexit positions.

 

[Angela Channing]

For the first time I'm tempted not to vote. They are doing NOTHING for Northern Ireland at all and don't give a crap about us anyway.

However I'd do it for my friends in England/Scotland/Wales.

That's not true Sarah. The Labour Party's policy is to respect the Northern Ireland Agreement. They will keep Britain in the European Single Market so there will be no border between the north and south of Ireland and no border between any part of Ireland and mainland Britain. Labour would revive the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIC) to try and break the deadlock which as lead to there being no government in Northern Ireland for far to long.

 

[Sarah]

There is a VERY funny Jacob Rees Mogg video circulating at the minute:

 

[Sarah]

That's not true Sarah. The Labour Party's policy is to respect the Northern Ireland Agreement. They will keep Britain in the European Single Market so there will be no border between the north and south of Ireland and no border between any part of Ireland and mainland Britain. Labour would revive the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIC) to try and break the deadlock which as lead to there being no government in Northern Ireland for far to long.

I'm sorry @Angela Channing - I meant the Conservatives specifically. Having a rough day, apologies for not clarifying.

 

[Angela Channing]

I'm sorry @Angela Channing - I meant the Conservatives specifically. Having a rough day, apologies for not clarifying.

No need to apologise and I'm sorry you're having a bad day. I fully understand that politics looks very different when viewed from Northern Ireland.

The Conservative Party don't care about Northern Ireland as shown by their total inaction over the Northern Ireland government not sitting at Stormont and in throwing Northern Ireland under a bus with Johnson's flawed Brexit deal.

 

[Michael Torrance]

I think Labour have always had a clear Brexit policy and they have sensibly evovled it to reflect the issues as they have changed.

That doesn't seem like an iffy stance to me at all and they are the only major party with a Brexit policy that potentially can unite the country at a time when the other parties move to more extreme Brexit positions.

As long as Corbyn is in charge of Labour, his iffy stance pulls the party there too. It's not like there were not a lot of contentious discussions within Labour about Brexit. And while the main reason there was even a Brexit referendum was Cameron, Corbyn was in favour of a withdrawal referendum back in 2011, and his anti-E.U. stance goes back decades earlier. There is a reason why the Liberal Dems are identified as the Remain party and not Labour--and that reason is the anything-but-clear stance of Corbyn.

 

[Angela Channing]

As long as Corbyn is in charge of Labour, his iffy stance pulls the party there too. It's not like there were not a lot of contentious discussions within Labour about Brexit. And while the main reason there was even a Brexit referendum was Cameron, Corbyn was in favour of a withdrawal referendum back in 2011, and his anti-E.U. stance goes back decades earlier. There is a reason why the Liberal Dems are identified as the Remain party and not Labour--and that reason is the anything-but-clear stance of Corbyn.

What's iffy about a policy of negotiating a better deal than the dire one the Tories are trying to flog and then letting the public choose between that and remain?

Labour's policy in the 1983 election was to hold a leave referendum while the Tories were a strongly pro-EU party so a lot of people have changed their view on the EU (not just Jeremy Corbyn) as the structure of the organisation has changed.

During the last referendum campaign Jeremy Corbyn gave pro-remain speeches at 15 rallies, made over 120 media appearances supporting pro-remain and sent over 100 pro-remain tweets. Meanwhile, LibDem Jo Swinson did almost nothing: she didn't attend a single rally, she didn't give a single speech and only sent one pro-remain tweet. So I totally reject the argument that the LibDem are strongest remains party and that Jeremy Corbyn isn't committed to the remain cause.

 

[Ome]

These debates really frustrate me!

All Boris wants to talk about is Brexit, Brexit and friggin' Brexit, while trying to score points against Corbyn's personality, whereas I see Corbyn not throwing as much dirt at Boris but more about his policies.

I really have no faith in a Labour win, I fear December 13th will be a very dark day for people who care about others no matter who they are.