Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

It's not an emergency for me i live in Lincolnshire.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

If you stick large red blobs on a map it will obviously look worse than it is.

It is still mostly a risk of flooding, or actual flooding in a series of local areas. Not much to be done on a wider scale. If any area needs help, I'm sure it will be supplied, but it's not a countrywide emergency.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

It would be if it was in Northampton no doubt...

---------- Post added at 20:44 ---------- Previous post was at 20:42 ----------

Are you sure Smurf? Several flood warnings close to Cleethorpes. Get the boat ready !

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Well, I live in the Thames Valley and it rained today. We even have puddles but it's not made the news yet.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

We routinely get flooding in the south of Northampton. We have the river Nene, and the Grand Union canal passing through. There are even flood alert sirens on 5 sites. It is still essentially a local matter.

As of 2017.
So 5 of those 29 in Northampton.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

The funny thing is the SE of the UK is sinking and NW of the UK is rising. It's due to a geological process called ‘isostatic rebound'. Coupled with climate change, i wouldn't be anywhere near the Thames if I were you..... Could solve a lot of our problems if the SE went under.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Wokingham could get very crowded then. Enjoy ;)

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

But it is official, a No. 10 spokesman said so:

Boris Johnson's adviser Dominic Cummings: Tory MPs 'don't care' about poorer people or NHS

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

It's fairly obvious to anyone who opens their eyes.

I'm happy to be on Dom's side for this one.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Maybe the local people make it clear they are not wanted there?

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Corbyn aides are meeting with Czech spies again lads. I can’t work out if that puts him on the same side as Trump/Putin/Farage or not.

When this garbage gets peddled you know the media oligarchs are terrified.

Edit: oh dear Uncle Rupert isn’t happy. Sunday Times tomorrow:

Nine Russian businessmen who gave money to the Conservative party are named in a secret intelligence report on the threats posed to UK democracy which was suppressed last week by Downing Street.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

The countries that only care about the poor are the ones that end up in even more poverty, Eg Venezuela, Greece.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

There’s no evidence for that statement at all. That’s just the usual BS bingo card along with anti-Semitism that the Tories wheel out. “We’re better than Greece and/or Venezuela” doesn’t strike me as a good slogan for the Conservative bus.

The fact remains a senior Downing Street advisor told us they don’t care.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Look, he's just annoyed that we - the poor and weak - said it first that we don't give a flying digestive about them. They're just trying to even things up :D

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

A broken clock is right twice a day.

I don’t have to agree with him all the time, I can do it on an issue by issue basis and a man of his political expertise, especially observing and analysing gameplans, is certainly worth listening to.

What he has done though is distracted the poor, got them annoyed about other stuff, and some will vote for his employer. Hats off to him, that’s skill.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Indeed. Shocking anti-patriotic behaviour.

https://twitter.com/TomJHarper

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Not so secret report then.

---------- Post added at 00:24 ---------- Previous post was at 00:23 ----------

As National security has been protected why publish?

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

It's a matter of who and what you focus on. If you focus on things like price controls, as in Venezuela, any planned gains are more than wiped out by what should've been the wider concerns and impact. Being free and easy with money, whether from borrowing or from oil resources, rarely works out well. Our economy is in a far, far better state than Venezuela or Greece, unless and until Corbyn gets in.

Link

All that in a country that should be rich from oil revenues. If the government had been prepared to subsidise the producers in some way, it might have not turned out so disastrous. The UK effectively does a simliar thing by having a zero VAT rate.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Interesting theory. Shame about the floods, though.

---------- Post added at 02:09 ---------- Previous post was at 02:07 ----------

Why do you think we are protecting ourselves against the hordes?

**Joke

---------- Post added at 02:11 ---------- Previous post was at 02:09 ----------

Really? Well, that says it all about your perspective, jfman. :D

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Transparency so we can make informed decisions. The security services have no issues, so why not?

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

And none of that has any bearing on the Labour proposals here. It’s lovely scaremongering though.

---------- Post added at 07:32 ---------- Previous post was at 07:25 ----------

There’s no link between the proposals in Venezuela and what Labour Party are proposing here. It’s the “socialist” bogeyman being wheeled out once more.

The Venezuelan economy is also suffering from US sanctions. It’s not like them to get involved in South American politics because of ideology...

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

That’s really surprising, as we all know that we we talk about the weather on the tv or radio in the UK we only mean southeast

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Venezuela had problems long before any sanctions were applied, and mostly the sanctions are aimed at individuals.
The earliest sets of sanctions were terrorism-related(financial support for Hezbollah) and Drug Trafficking-related. Obama then added ones for "Antidemocratic Actions, Human Rights Violations, and Corruption".


Venezuela targeted freebies at the poor without looking at the bigger picture. EG if Corbyn starts forcing companies to give away part of their shares for nothing, then who in their right mind is going to invest in any UK company.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

More Venezuela chat. If Corbyn did this... if Corbyn did that...

There’s no evidence at all that Corbyn intends to follow the same policies. For a start EU membership, or single market alignment and a customs union, would be totally unsustainable. (That would be the Labour deal that will protect jobs, protect the NHS and protect workers rights).

If you read the actual Labour proposal you’ll find out it’s quite boring really. Employees at no point own shares, nor does the state, and the maximum dividend any employee can get is £500 (or about 25p an hour onto their salary for a full time employee).

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Jeremy Corbyn's £1.2TRILLION election bill revealed (that's £43,000 per household): Dossier exposes eye-watering cost of Labour plans to nationalise public services, give Britons a four-day week and guaranteed income



Oh dear the true cost of Marxist Britain.



The astonishing figure, based on the additional cost of Labour's policies over a five-year Parliament, is contained in a Tory dossier produced despite furious objections from Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell over the use of civil servants in its creation.



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...yns-plans.html

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

A laughable article. Unsubstantiated figures, antisemitism and the IRA all get an outing in there.

Might as well have a front page headline “LOOK! A SQUIRREL!”.

Interestingly the national debt is up £1 TRILLION since the the coalition and we’ve nothing to show for it.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Compiled by civil servants ignore at your peril,unless your wolfie smith,or a member of the Tooting popular front.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

If you carefully read the sentence it doesn’t actually confirm servants were involved.

It confirms John McDonnell was furious at the fact the proposal that they could be. It doesn’t say who actually pulled the figures. Could have been Dominic “the Conservatives hate the poor” Cummings in between briefings for all we know.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Turn it into a conspiracy theory if it makes the figures go down better.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

https://www.theguardian.com/business...h-labour-plans

Substantiated article confirming the Civil Service would not publish figures. If that was true then, it’s even more likely to be the case now as the Civil Service is governed by even stricter impartiality rules in the pre-election period.

It suits the Mail though to not be specific.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Now lets see how the Conservatives own figures add up as then the undecided's can form our own opinions about each parties financial figures.

Oh hang on the The business minister Kwasi Karteng has decided that us the voters have no right to know what the Conservative financials figures are as well.

https://news.sky.com/story/sophy-rid...ments-11858673

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...tics-live-news

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

You seem to be very picky when it comes to your take on Corbyn and McDonnell. Of course the full horror of what this dreadful duo have in store for our country does not appear in their manifesto, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. I believe the majority of the population has been spooked by what McDonnell has been saying and the media has done a pretty good job of reminding us of Corbyn's record.

These two Marxists are dangerous and people absolutely do need to be reminded what they stand for.

Incidentally, as has been pointed out before, the national debt is so high because we had to bring down the deficit, so we do have rather a lot to show for it, actually.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

While the sums won't add up for their manifesto we can comfortably say they will spend less as they continue to roll back the purpose and function of the state. The relentless attack on the poor will continue, the benefits freeze resume, working terms and conditions reduce. Inequality will rise, food bank use continue to rocket, the fifth richest country in the world will continue to claim it "can't afford" to do otherwise.

What little remaining state assets that can have profit extracted from them will be privatised. The NHS falling prey to US venture capitalists and insurance companies.

---------- Post added at 10:48 ---------- Previous post was at 10:42 ----------

More utterly baseless hyperbolic nonsense from Conservative Party HQ there old boy. I'd have thought you'd have tired of regurgitating it by now.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

The Guardian article prints Javid's response on the Conservative spending plans:

Javid says what comes in in taxes will match the day-to-day spending. We may borrow £20bn to fund capital investments “but we can afford to do that”.

The detail of that will be set out in the manifesto, so this nonsense has been blown up out of proportion. We all know that it is Labour's spending plans that are the ones to watch. Labour cannot be trusted on the economy, and with Corbyn and McDonnell in charge they will oversee spending like nobody has seen before.

I wonder if McDonnell has taken possession of his new money printing machine yet...:help:

---------- Post added at 10:58 ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 ----------

Given what you said about Labour's plans, I really need to point out that using the same logic, what you have said cannot possibly be true, because it's not in their manifesto.

As it happens, it isn't true anyway.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

It's absolutely true, and the next step in attacking the poor and lowering the tax burden on the wealthy. They're unlikely to stick it on the side of a bus though, are they? That's why it's only when they let their guard down you hear the truth that they hate the poor.

If it's in the Conservative manifesto you can chalk it up to being unlikely. Where are all the starter homes that were promised? Javid can't balance the books and he knows it.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

As usual your posts are about as balanced as a blind novice trying to walk across a tightrope as undecided voters want to know the truth about each parties financial plans before they then decide which party they vote for and what they don't want is some subservient lickspittling sycophant being their constant messenger.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Lots of new 'starter homes'* being built around here by companies hand in hand with the local housing mob, (which used to be the council and now has another name, so costs, responsibility and accountability are lost somewhere in the usual goalpost moving thing), and any small plot of unused land is fair game.

Actually there are a great number of pubs and social clubs that have closed due to - well that's another argument - and have been demolished to enable 'affordable'* housing to be built in their place.

* small boxy type things equivalent to 2 storey rabbit hutches, complete with parking space for a fiat 500 and 1.5m square garden

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

So you prefer jfman's view of the world?

Good luck with that.

---------- Post added at 12:58 ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 ----------

Listen to yourself! They hate the poor? None of the Conservatives I know hate the poor, and neither do I. I'm beginning to think that you have a perception problem.

There are still a few countries practising Communism around the world, and look how they've looked after their populations. Corbyn and McDonnell are Marxists. They have admitted it, so don't argue about it!

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

That wasn't the Government commitment, was it?

---------- Post added at 13:11 ---------- Previous post was at 13:10 ----------

I'm quoting Dominic Cummings, a man so perceptive he's leading strategic output in Number 10 for Brexit.

It's not a preference for my view of the world, as you put it, it's a preference for reality. Austerity was a political choice to punish the poor for the financial excesses of the banking sector.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Actually there are many things l disagree with jfman over but thats utterly irrelevent as it was a nice try at your usual deflection tactics but you ain't going to get away that easy OB as we the undecided voters have every right to know each of the major parties spending figures and as such the Conservatives as witnessed this morning on TV have refused to come out with theirs.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Marxism
anti-Semitism
Money printing machine
The IRA

All absolute hyperbolic nonsense to deflect from 10 years of failure from the Tories. The Tories know that in 2017 the Labour message offered people a compelling alternative vision from the absolute misery that the Conservatives are blighting many of our communities with, one generation on from their hero Margaret Thatcher doing the same to those communities. We're the fifth richest economy in the world with increasing inequality and no plan to resolve it because frankly those most affected aren't on the radar of your Moggs of this world.

The drum of nationalism will only take you so far. You have to tell people how you are going to make their lives better. A message absolutely absent from the Tories.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Hopefully the Liebour party will be dead a buired on the 13th of December, what a great birthday pressie that would be.

Along with the Unliberbral Dumbercrates, who think it democrating to ingore 17.8m.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

All I see are houses being built, up to you to decide who's idea it was and which council (part of government surely) gave planning permission

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Houses being built by the commercial sector. That's seperate from the Conservative failed manifesto commitment.

I see plenty of homes being built too at ten times the average salary in the local area.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

aah sorry, I didn't realise you meant Council Houses

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

I didn't - there's no need to be obtuse, ignorant nor inflammatory with your comments. You know fine well the manifesto commitment to which I refer, and that the Conservative government drastically failed.

Given how 'freedom of movement' is derided because of our limited resources on an island you'd think the inability of a government to build 200 000 homes promised would be noteworthy. However, apparently not.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Reading the last couple of pages in this thread, it really brought to mind part of the sermon at today’s Remembrance Service at my local church.

"It’s good to disagree, challenge, argue, and if necessary, fight what what you believe is right, but when you demonise and hate your opposition, you are on the road to becoming as bad as those you oppose who use those tactics".

People, of course, are free to disagree...

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

I'm sorry if you think I was being 'obtuse, ignorant and/or inflammatory'.
I've no real idea about the manifesto commitment to which you refer, although I do vaguely recall promises of more housing by somebody in the past. I just thought that seeing houses built meant that . . well, houses were being built.

Again, apologies if I don't see things with the level of detail and information you yourself see :)

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

I think thats enough talk about housing, time to move on.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Oh, the irony... :D

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

So what? They said it would be explained in the manifesto.

Judging by Labour's fury at the prospect of Civil Servants calculating the cost of their manifesto, I think your concern should be aimed in a different direction.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Yaddah, yaddah, yaddah

Look everyone’s views on this forum are firmly entrenched, so it doesn’t make any difference what argument you make, I make, anyone makes. No one’s on the fence here.

Use your time wisely and go knocking on doors for Jeremy, go find a few floating voters to impress.

I’m bored of the whole thing, I wish the election was tomorrow. Another 4 weeks of this feels like purgatory.
I’m

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

You have to vote in church now?! What for? :)

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Quite right. The Tories will struggle to survive in front if they have another four weeks like the last one.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

The Conservatives don't look like they are struggling to me. Boris is way out front, and the more his opponents throw the kitchen sink at him, the more popular he will become.

The UK population is not prepared to accept a Communist government and so Corbyn will poll disastrously. He is not only going to lose votes to the Conservatives, Lib Dems and Brexit, but many traditional Labour supporters will stay at home.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Labour up in all the polls today OB, and over a.month to go ;)

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

So which of the spending plans have been denied by Labour? To say nothing of the impact of those and other plans. Eg if people think the high street is dead now, just wait and see what effect Labour would have, and indeed have had.



The anti-Semitism and support for the IRA and other certain groups of terrorists really cannot be denied.


Try turning off £158bn of annual borrowing overnight. Just imagine what the public debt would've been like if Labour had won. From 2011/12 to 2018/19 the debt rose from £1,236bn to £1,773bn. That a lot less than a trillion rise.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

That's because you are suffering from confirmation bias Old Boy. You are simply seeing what you want to see regardless of other evidence available.

---------- Post added at 20:03 ---------- Previous post was at 19:59 ----------

The plans haven't been denied the figures have. Drummed up by a Tory on the back of a cigarette paper, ignoring the economic benefits of Labour action in the economy

IRA and anti-Semitism the same tired old flawed allegations that have never been proven and never will. Yawn.

The coalition came to power before 2011/12. You must surely tire of making up arguments against points nobody actually made rather than conceding that I'm right.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

The 2010/11 spending plans were drawn up by Labour. Was the deficit for 2010/2011 in excess of £500bn? Of course not. Now add in the over £100bn of the buy now, pay later of PFI. People bleat enough about austerity as it is. Just think what it would've taken to overnight reverse an annual £100+bn deficit.:rolleyes: The ongoing spending commitments(eg tax credits) were set by Labour.


You mean videos, speeches, and appearances at events aren't proof?


Apart from a small blip in 2007, current house building is higher than every year of the previous Labour government.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

I’ve saw the late Ian Paisley appear in the same room as Martin McGuinness, a man accused of being in the IRA, does that make him a supporter? Of course not.

Please, find me these videos and speeches of Corbyn (Or McDonnell) advocating armed violence from Irish Republicans to further the cause of a united Ireland.

Further deflection from the fact the manifesto commitment was for 200 000 starter homes. None built to date.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

1) the commitment was for a particular specification.
2) The specification couldn't be defined because of the sabotaging of Parliament by Labour and the Remainers. All activity had to used to try and stop that sabotage.
3) For the past few years, around 150,000 homes/year have been built.
4) since 2010, the social sector building has been more than any year of the previous Labour government.
Link
Link
Just a few more examples in this link.

Link
They're all examples of active support.


Consider this, if Labour's spending had been such that they they left a deficit of zero, would the post-2010 government have added to the debt? The post-2010 deficit went down by a total of £600bn from the 2009/2010 borrowing level. That's an indication of how much extra, continuing with the full level of Labour's spending would have added.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

It’s actually against the Civil Service Code for Civil Servants to undertake Party Political work as part of their employment, which is why Labour (and other) were up in arms about it (and why the Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill ordered the Treasury to halt publication of an official analysis of Labour’s key pledges, saying it was too close to the election).

https://www.civilservant.org.uk/ethi...artiality.html

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Labours brexit election plan revealed, er maybe.

'I hope that the public will vote Leave... I mean Remain': Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry gets muddled as she tries to explain Labour's Brexit referendum stance



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...it-stance.html


clear as mud.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

If its anything like their 2017 manifesto it will be full of confusion , vagueness and broken promises....

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

After watching the remembering service from Albert Hall on Saturday night and remembering service on Sunday, How can anyone try to break up Britain. The SNP should be ashamed of themselves,

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

How can anyone try to break up Europe after what happened in 2 World Wars? No wonder the Russians have been bank rolling Brexit.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

The intentions of the 2 world wars was to join up Europe.:rolleyes: Were/are you in favour of that? The EU has NOT kept the peace. Many countries were not even part of it for a long time, and there was no wars between them. Any conflicts have arisen from areas/countries being bound together against their will.

Support for Brexit was there for a long, long time before any referendum campaign. Not sure what the alleged interference is meant to have been.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

A reports been done, but blocked by Boris till after the election. Wonder why?
https://time.com/5717670/uk-russian-...rexit-delayed/

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

BREAKING: JUST IN from Nigel Farage: Brexit Party won't contest 317 seats the Tories won at the last election but will run everywhere else.

https://news.sky.com/story/general-e...-2017-11859370

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Good as far as it goes - it will help the Tories retain seats in places a so-called “Remain alliance” might stand - but the Tories didn’t have an overall majority in 2017 and need to win some seats off Labour. Northern, leave-inclined Labour seats are what they need, but Farage is making it harder for them there.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Latest update from Election Maps:

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

so will stand in seats tories need to win to get a majority so another hung parliament almost certain ;)

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

A lot of the Remainer dead wood will be gone, former MPs like Rudd, Gauke, Hammond. Soubry, who was on a Wafer thin majority in 2017 in Broxtowe.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Brexit party will take votes from tories in the other seats tories need to win to get a majority and Brexit wont be only issue people vote on in this general election

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

The north will be Boris Johnson's maker or breaker as if he fails to breakthrough there he won't get a majority.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

most north hate Boris Johnson with a passion he wont win many at all up here but I as said lots of times we got worst choice in british history this election

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Columnist/Blairite Dan Hodges (Glenda Jackson’s offspring) tweets that the Brexit Party at a general election is an outlet for Labour voters who would never bring themselves to vote Tory anyway.

The numbers involved are small. The biggest risk to the Tories was in marginals they need to hold - there are plenty of natural Tories who will go Lib Dem. This might be more of a help to BoJo than it first seems.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Thats a understatement as l have never known such a worse bunch of political party leaders in my lifetime.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

He won't, but i think the Brexit party will make significant inroads in areas such as Hartlepool,Middlesbrough & possibly Sunderland.

Hartlepool i'm fairly sure will return the Brexit party candidate as their MP.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

The statement and the question still stand. Support for Brexit has been around for a very long time, and how has this alleged interference meant to have manifested itself enough for anybody to notice.


Was it anything like Soros giving £3m to Remain?

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

They hate Corbyn more.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

He makes some interesting points.

https://twitter.com/ElectionMapsUK/s...67427777597441

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

The wreath laying was clearly a misunderstanding. Saying people in armed struggle are brave isn't the same as supporting them.

You're just on the wrong side of the argument.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Prof Sir John Curtice in an interview on the World at One.

About 17 minutes into it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000b4qm

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Not just the SNP...

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics...about-northern 50% of Leave voters and 45% of Conservative voters (polled) wouldn’t be bothered either way if Northern Ireland left the UK.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

I have never voted Conservitive but I would vote them to keep SNP out, We really need to vote tactfully in Scotland,

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

The thing is with tactical voting is how much will people vote tactically in this election as this is one of the big unpredictables in this forthcoming general election in my view.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

tories will lose all there seats in Scotland

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

This is unlikely. It depends exactly how votes are concentrated but on present polling the prediction is that they keep around 6 or 7 seats of the 13 they held after 2017.

Don’t underestimate the extent to which Scottish electoral politics is beginning to resemble Northern Ireland. The Tories made big gains in Scotland in 2017 while Teresa May was losing everywhere else because the Scottish Tories positioned themselves as the party of the union, against Nippy Sturgeon’s demands for another referendum. The SNP is playing the same fiddle again (for it has no other), and if the Tories can again present themselves as the only effective way of resisting nationalism then they will do well.

Labour has nowhere to go in Scotland because 1. The SNP has stolen its socialist rhetoric and 2. Corbyn sounds like he’s going to facilitate a referendum. It’s hard to see where he’s going to make gains. The central belt tribal vote Scottish Labour used to rely on has largely gone to the Nats.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Agreed. However, I would add that the Conservatives should try to prise the conversation away from a Scottish referendum and on to the domestic agenda, where the SNP has not done too well at all.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Scottish domestic agenda or British domestic agenda?

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

He needs to draw attention to SNP failures and promote the Conservative manifesto. He also needs to talk more about how Brexit will benefit, rather than penalise Britain, since Project Fear appears to have convinced many that the sky will fall in when we leave.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

In what respect? By almost any devolved comparator Scotland outperforms England and Wales. The last thing the Conservatives want to do is talk about anything other than the constitution in Scotland.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

Really? Now who would you take this from? Ooh, I know!

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/arti...rs-snp-failure

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

While I appreciate you have diversified your sources to the extent you consider the Morning Star credible none of that contradicts the statement I made.

The Scottish Government budget is, of course, cut with Tory austerity which has material impact on their ability to deliver. However, we can confidently say the people of Scotland would elect them once more. They know whose door to lay the blame at.

Re: Election 2019, Week 1
 

He really doesn’t.

Scottish politics is Balkanised to an extent few people outside the country can appreciate. The constitution is the defining subject, with the SNP (and their useful idiots, the Scottish Greens) on one side, and everyone else on the other. Everything is viewed through the lens of the independence cause and how good or bad a proposition it is. In the current climate the only way to mount a credible challenge to the SNP in Scotland is to be seen as the party of the union. The Tories under Ruth Davidson got quite good at that, and that is why they are the second party in Scotland, ahead of Labour in both Westminster and Holyrood seats.

Boris Johnson’s bumbling upper class public schoolboy persona does not play well in Scotland. It is far too easy for his opponents to portray him as out of touch, regardless of how appealing his message actually is (and Scotland is a surprisingly socially conservative country - its sentiments are not quite as progressive or socialist as they are frequently made out to be).

The only thing that will win Tories votes in Scotland next month is a clear, simple message that they will not allow another independence referendum under any circumstances.