UK General Election 2024

[Busaholic]

No Lib Dems standing down is a surprise but I guess there are so few of them that standing down wouldn't make sense.

Most of the MPs standing down are either young enough to pursue other careers or old enough to retire.

Some Tory MPs standing down had their seats abolished in the slimming-down process and didn't get reselected for the new iterations.

 

[Ianigsy]

Some Tory MPs standing down had their previous seats abolished in the slimming-down process and didn't get reselected for the new iterations.

Our constituency had the opposite problem - Leeds North West was divided up between Headingley, Otley and Yeadon and Leeds West. Our sitting MP decided to stand for re-election in Headingley and Rachel Reeves stayed with Leeds West, so we had to find a candidate from somewhere.

But yes, I suspect a lot of the intake from 2019 were probably businesspeople and professionals who only half expected to be elected and would rather go back to what they were doing before.

 

[Gloster]

Some Tory MPs standing down had their previous seats abolished in the slimming-down process and didn't get reselected for the new iterations.

Well, sort of..not really. The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 would have (eventually) reduced the number to 600, but this was dropped in the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020.

 

[Busaholic]

Well, sort of..not really. The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 would have (eventually) reduced the number to 600, but this was dropped in the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020.

Admit that I'd forgotten that.

 

[najaB]

Sunak says that he's been 'changing minds' wherever he campaigns.

The prime minister told the BBC's political editor Chris Mason he was "thoroughly enjoying" himself meeting voters in the election campaign.

Asked if he was changing people's minds on the campaign trail, Sunak said he was. You can watch that clip below.

BBC News video link

What he doesn't make clear is if he's changing them for or against the Tories!

 

[jon0844]

Sunak was on the Night Riviera from Paddington last night. Amazing how he’s suddenly capable of ditching the private jet when he wants to look relatable in an election campaign!

Wouldn't the chopper have gone down to meet him so he could get around the campaign trail anyway?

I loved the video of him walking along, alone, like he was going backpacking. Some have commented that his backpack is worth almost a grand. I wonder if he packed the bag himself?

I also liked the fact he boarded and walked the wrong way. To be fair, it might be the first train he's been on.

 

[Thirteen]

Wouldn't the chopper have gone down to meet him so he could get around the campaign trail anyway?

I loved the video of him walking along, alone, like he was going backpacking. Some have commented that his backpack is worth almost a grand. I wonder if he packed the bag himself?

I also liked the fact he boarded and walked the wrong way. To be fair, it might be the first train he's been on.

£750 which is not quite a grand but still pretty pricey!

 

[The Ham]

Sunak says that he's been 'changing minds' wherever he campaigns.

BBC News video link

What he doesn't make clear is if he's changing them for or against the Tories!

When I read your first line I had the same thought as you put in the last line!

He talks about opportunities from doing national service, and I read an article where someone said they benefit from air cadets and so we're in favour of national service - why not just spend the money on giving more kids the option to do cadets, air/sea cadets, scouts, guides, and the like. If you want to have a system which also gives additional support to 18 year olds give them the training to allow then to be leaders in the above youth organisations rather than cleaning up sick in a hospital.

 

[edwin_m]

I was giving this National Service policy some thought (well someone has to, not sure the Tory party has). There are over 700,000 18 year olds in the UK at the moment. So, an organisation is going to have to be set up to organise, monitor, keep safe and care for over 700,000 people - every year. I don't know about you but that does seem non-trivial.

As I understand it there are only supposed to be 30000 places per year in the Forces, which was presumably somebody's idea of how many they could take (I doubt the Forces themselves were consulted at all). They've also said that the Forces placements would receive a "stipend", implying it's much less than minimum wage or indeed what recruits are paid now. I assume they get free board and lodging in the barracks, but it still means they have to spend a year in relative poverty, and are worse off than all the others who can get a normal job as long as they give up their 12 weekends per year.

 

[nw1]

I had a dream (nightmare?) last night in which it was the morning after election night, the results weren't complete yet but Labour and the Tories were level pegging on 230 seats so far, raising the spectre of a possible Tory win (albeit probably not a majority).

No details on seats other than that Reigate was a Tory hold (no surprise).

Hope this isn't a premonition of what actually happens. Perhaps it was the Diane Abbott situation which provoked it: IMV Labour's best plan of action would be to just let her stand, and the ambiguity about it is doing them more harm than good. Labour should not be frightened of letting controversial left-wingers stand, particularly in seats where they will win in any case: as Neil Kinnock said they are a "broad church" and I'd argue that Diane Abbott is considerably more in tune with Labour ideals than Natalie Elphicke!

Mind you last time I had an election dream (on the night of the last one, I didn't stay up or even look at the exit poll) it was that Boris had achieved a majority of just 2. My conscious self was predicting a majority of 12 - so the actual outcome was a big, big shock. I think I failed to anticipate the Tory gains in the Red Wall, like many others.

 

[Chuffing Heck]

And avoids the current government having to fund lots of other big bills that are about to come in:

Non rail short term before the end of the summer (incomplete list - just few quick 9/10 digit £ items only) :

• Post office compensation
• Blood contamination compensation
• Thames Water partial nationalisation
• next Stage of Sizewell C funding contribution
• Wylfa partner choices (effectively has a funding commitment)
• MOD firm vehicle order

Rail

• Derby (if it hasn't already closed after an election)
• SWR 701 training
• Three sets of extra rolling stock leasing costs
• Euston tunnelling
• Lots of other things DfT has been consulting on to avoid making decisions (road and rail)...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 May 2024 ==


Yep and that is going to hit inflation pretty quickly.

There are tsumanis of bad news items going to hit before a potential Autumn or Winter election date hence July was the least worst remaining option.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 May 2024 ==


Stuff will start hitting mid July onwards

Add to that it hides the signing of WHO agreement “thought Europe was bad which what happens now something else we haven’t voted for”
Stops people like Andrew Bridgen showing up that most MPs are not there for us.
Also a lot of blame gets put Liz Truss, but the main problem for our economic woes, is the amount of money printing since 2008 which has now come to a head causing inflation it was pointed out years ago but the bankers were addicted to it, so it wasn’t stopped, add to that Covid Harms, excess deaths, have all been brushed under the carpet etc none off them are there for us what ever party they stand for.

 

[birchesgreen]

As I understand it there are only supposed to be 30000 places per year in the Forces, which was presumably somebody's idea of how many they could take (I doubt the Forces themselves were consulted at all). They've also said that the Forces placements would receive a "stipend", implying it's much less than minimum wage or indeed what recruits are paid now. I assume they get free board and lodging in the barracks, but it still means they have to spend a year in relative poverty, and are worse off than all the others who can get a normal job as long as they give up their 12 weekends per year.

Well only understates the task there. 30K means increasing the armed forces by over 20%, sounds cheap.

 

[Enthusiast]

...but the main problem for our economic woes, is the amount of money printing since 2008 which has now come to a head causing inflation it was pointed out years ago but the bankers were addicted to it, so it wasn’t stopped,...

Indeed. It's schoolboy economics. You can't print worthless money and expect the money already there to retain its value. The only surprise was that excessive inflation took as long as it did to rear its head.

 

[Western Lord]

On an unrelated and apolitical note, why are the BBC still referring to people as "MPs". Parliament has been dissolved so there are no MPs, but on last night's six o'clock news the BBC captioned the Labour leader as "Sir Keir Starmer MP". He's just a candidate like any other, though still Leader of the Opposition, just as Sunak is still PM but not an MP.

 

[Yew]

Indeed. It's schoolboy economics. You can't print worthless money and expect the money already there to retain its value. The only surprise was that excessive inflation took as long as it did to rear its head.

The recent bout of inflationn was caused by oil-price shocks resulting from the War in Ukraine.

 

[takno]

On an unrelated and apolitical note, why are the BBC still referring to people as "MPs". Parliament has been dissolved so there are no MPs, but on last night's six o'clock news the BBC captioned the Labour leader as "Sir Keir Starmer MP". He's just a candidate like any other, though still Leader of the Opposition, just as Sunak is still PM but not an MP.

Dissolution happens later today doesn't it?

 

[birchesgreen]

Dissolution happens later today doesn't it?

Some time today, i assume this afternoon.

 

[Western Lord]

Dissolution happens later today doesn't it?

As they were talking about rushing bills through last Friday, I had assumed that it had already happened.

 

[najaB]

As they were talking about rushing bills through last Friday, I had assumed that it had already happened.

They had to rush bills through last week because Parliament was scheduled to be in recess this week.

 

[dosxuk]

As they were talking about rushing bills through last Friday, I had assumed that it had already happened.

Dissolution happens exactly 25 working days before the election. The planned recess this week meant that the close of business and proroguing was performed at the end of business last week, but did not trigger the actual dissolution (which is tied to the election date, not the last date of Parliamentary business).

According to the House of Commons on Twitter, Parliament was dissolved at midnight.

Parliament has now dissolved ahead of the general election on Thursday 4 July 2024.

Therefore it is correct of the BBC to refer to MPs as such on yesterdays news at 6pm.

 

[Chuffing Heck]

The recent bout of inflationn was caused by oil-price shocks resulting from the War in Ukraine.

The oil & gas prices were substantially going up before Ukraine it is being used as a convenient blame game.

 

[nw1]

Dissolution happens exactly 25 working days before the election. The planned recess this week meant that the close of business and proroguing was performed at the end of business last week, but did not trigger the actual dissolution (which is tied to the election date, not the last date of Parliamentary business).

According to the House of Commons on Twitter, Parliament was dissolved at midnight.


Therefore it is correct of the BBC to refer to MPs as such on yesterdays news at 6pm.

Wikipedia have been quick off the mark: looked at Gove, Zahawi and Elphicke as examples and all articles say they "were" the MPs for their respective seats.

 

[spyinthesky]

The Armed forces thing is crazy as we had to delay the withdrawal of our troops for several years from Germany until they could be housed and suitable barracks built for the equipment.
Will married 18 year olds (especially young women) with children be exempt?
It seems this scheme is a cheap ploy and something that just wouldn’t get off the ground.

 

[Thirteen]

I had a dream (nightmare?) last night in which it was the morning after election night, the results weren't complete yet but Labour and the Tories were level pegging on 230 seats so far, raising the spectre of a possible Tory win (albeit probably not a majority).

No details on seats other than that Reigate was a Tory hold (no surprise).

Hope this isn't a premonition of what actually happens. Perhaps it was the Diane Abbott sitI uation which provoked it: IMV Labour's best plan of action would be to just let her stand, and the ambiguity about it is doing them more harm than good. Labour should not be frightened of letting controversial left-wingers stand, particularly in seats where they will win in any case: as Neil Kinnock said they are a "broad church" and I'd argue that Diane Abbott is considerably more in tune with Labour ideals than Natalie Elphicke!

Mind you last time I had an election dream (on the night of the last one, I didn't stay up or even look at the exit poll) it was that Boris had achieved a majority of just 2. My conscious self was predicting a majority of 12 - so the actual outcome was a big, big shock. I think I failed to anticipate the Tory gains in the Red Wall, like many others.

I think you need to stop worrying so much, Labour is on course to do well and rebels like Diane Abbott and Corbyn aren't going to ruin them.

 

[edwin_m]

Indeed. It's schoolboy economics. You can't print worthless money and expect the money already there to retain its value. The only surprise was that excessive inflation took as long as it did to rear its head.

This continued for well over a decade under four prime ministers, three of them Tory (had to count them on my fingers just to be sure!). But it was the actions of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng that triggered the actual crisis.

 

[birchesgreen]

The Armed forces thing is crazy as we had to delay the withdrawal of our troops for several years from Germany until they could be housed and suitable barracks built for the equipment.
Will married 18 year olds (especially young women) with children be exempt?
It seems this scheme is a cheap ploy and something that just wouldn’t get off the ground.

The only exemption i have heard is for professional footballers.

The scheme is a cheap ploy, but it certainly wouldn't be cheap if they had to actually do it.

 

[jfollows]

My plan to vote Labour is undergoing serious re-evaluation; I won't vote Conservative but Labour appears to be the best anti-Conservative vote where I live.

The problem to me is that I don't feel happy voting for a party which accepts Natalie Elphicke as an MP (and, I know, she's no longer an MP and not standing for re-election) but which connives and conspires to prevent Diane Abbott from continuing as an MP. I admire Diane Abbott for what she's done, I hardly agree with her on anything, but to me she's representative of a significant part of what I think the Labour Party should be.

 

[HSTEd]

The only exemption i have heard is for professional footballers.

The scheme is a cheap ploy, but it certainly wouldn't be cheap if they had to actually do it.

It will be used to provide quite a lot of unpaid labour to care homes, propping up that system.
The net cost of forcing 700,000 people to do unpaid labour in care homes et al probably isn't that high. At least in cash terms.

 

[Enthusiast]

This continued for well over a decade under four prime ministers, three of them Tory (had to count them on my fingers just to be sure!). But it was the actions of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng that triggered the actual crisis.

That (or the war in Ukraine) may well have been the trigger. But if neither of those had occurred something else would have set it off because printing worthless banknotes for more than a decade was the explosive charge.

 

[Sorcerer]

The problem to me is that I don't feel happy voting for a party which accepts Natalie Elphick as an MP (and, I know, she's no longer an MP and not standing for re-election) but which connives and conspires to prevent Diane Abbott from continuing as an MP. I admire Diane Abbott for what she's done, I hardly agree with her on anything, but to me she's representative of a significant part of what I think the Labour Party should be.

The thing is she and many like her were a very significant part of the Labour Party in 2019 and consequently suffered the worst election defeat since 1935. Many people were put off by the idea of her being Home Secretary, so while I would accept them being part of a small faction of Labour who can influence the wider party to take a more distinctive left-of-centre stance so as not to become Tories in red ties, having them near positions of power is electoral poison.