Will you be watching the results?

The nosedive in the % number of Labour votes speaks for itself. Surely it won't be a case of "wait and see at a GE" for Starmer, he needs to come up with something fast.

Any views on the Green Party’s (Polanski's’) proposed policy to make all drugs legal?

Sorry premature posting. I watched a documentary on the ravages of Ketamin on the very young.

They are presenting to A & E with bladder issues and incontinence late teens early twenties, which according to the medical professionals is irreversible.

You missed my point I think David49! I’m just waiting now for the plague of locusts….

Re the drugs policy, well I guess you'd have to be high to consider voting for the Greens, especially if you happen to be female - because they don't even seem to know what that means!

Why would they care about that. The middle class progressives love policies that most impact vulnerable people, look at their proposals on prostitution.

Mollygo

Unsurprised by the result. I’d like to apologise for the misspelling or bad autocorrect of Gorton in the title.
I hadn’t heard of family voting till now, but that wouldn’t surprise me either.
Maybe time for a one person at a time in the polling centre rule.

I'm suprised it isn't already the case.

GrannyGravy13

Any views on the Green Party’s (Polanski's’) proposed policy to make all drugs legal?

Or perhaps comment on the £20 billion annual cost to the UK (2021) that illegal drug use costs the economy, twice as much as the value of the market. Make drug use legal and you disrupt the organised gangs which supply and distribute drugs, and providing effective treatment and recovery services to help people with addictions

National Audt Office:

www.nao.org.uk/reports/reducing-the-harm-from-illegal-drugs/

A topic for a separate discussion.

Wyllow3

Here are the results numerically:

Labour were only just behind Reform, in fact overall Reform had a crashing defeat when you add Labour and Green together.

Your husband is bordering on some kind of racial blindness TheHappyGardener.

It took far, far more voters than the Muslim population for the votes for Labour and Greens to get what they did.

Its a classic white red wall northern population area with some young incomers seeking cheap housing as well as having Muslims living there.

Green Party - 14,980
Reform UK - 10,578
Labour Party - 9,364
Conservative Party - 706
Liberal Democrats - 653
Monster Raving Loony Party - 159
Advance UK - 154
Rejoin EU Party - 98
Libertarian Party - 47
Social Democratic Party - 46
Communist League - 29

Thank you Wyllow3 - your use of the term ‘racial blindness’ would be funny, if it wasn’t so ironic….

GrannyGravy13

Sorry premature posting. I watched a documentary on the ravages of Ketamin on the very young.

They are presenting to A & E with bladder issues and incontinence late teens early twenties, which according to the medical professionals is irreversible.

I've seen some stuff re the effect on people of some of these drugs - including that one.

I've never taken a recreational drug in my life - and it wasnt because I didnt have the chance. I've usually known exactly where I could get some if I wanted for quite some time back in my home city. Now I've moved = same again and I know exactly where I could get some.

But I analysed whether it was worth trying anything and that was that = no thanks then.

But a lot of others will take them if they are offered - whether it's young people taking them because all their mates do or older people taking cocaine at middle class dinner parties.

Either way - it's a burden on our NHS and the rest of us in all sorts of ways and that burden doesn't stop when they stop. I could go up to various people where I am now and ask them "Open your mouth" and I can see exactly who has wrecked their teeth for life (or a good dentist appointment or three). That's just the minor level health problems - but I've certainly read of the effect of ketamin on some younger people and it sounded pretty darn drastic to me.

It ain't just health concerns too - it's where do these drug-takers get the money they spend on these drugs and it will often not be from their wages...

Why on earth would anyone want to legalise these drugs is beyond me - as I really can't see any advantage to doing so (other than for the users and the pushers themselves). But I can certainly see the disadvantages for all of us.

DaisyAnneReturns

Mollygo

Unsurprised by the result. I’d like to apologise for the misspelling or bad autocorrect of Gorton in the title.
I hadn’t heard of family voting till now, but that wouldn’t surprise me either.
Maybe time for a one person at a time in the polling centre rule.

I'm suprised it isn't already the case.

That is a question I'm asking.

I would have thought that the officials at the polling station would already have been trained to allow only one person at a booth, maybe with exceptions for people with a disability which makes a second person necessary.

And, where I vote the booths are in sight of the poll clerks so they could see immediately if there was more than one person at each one.

Do we have anyone here who has been, or is, a poll clerk? I'm sure we have in the past.

If I was a Muslim I would have voted Green, and I suspect that most living in Groton did the same. Nothing wrong with that. Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.

Graphite

GrannyGravy13

Any views on the Green Party’s (Polanski's’) proposed policy to make all drugs legal?

Or perhaps comment on the £20 billion annual cost to the UK (2021) that illegal drug use costs the economy, twice as much as the value of the market. Make drug use legal and you disrupt the organised gangs which supply and distribute drugs, and providing effective treatment and recovery services to help people with addictions

National Audt Office:

www.nao.org.uk/reports/reducing-the-harm-from-illegal-drugs/

A topic for a separate discussion.

Thanks, Graphite. I was about to point out the advantages of stopping the black market for drugs, too.

Definitely a topic for a separate thread.

The winner of the by-election seems to be very community-minded - just the sort of person I might vote for in a council election or by-election, but not someone I would vote for in a general election. That’s a whole different kettle of fish, and I think it will be for many people.

Regarding the vote for non-English speakers - are voting papers only printed in English?

If those non- English speakers are entitled to a vote, then it makes sense for someone to help them with the voting paper, it could be a polling station official?

Graphite

GrannyGravy13

Any views on the Green Party’s (Polanski's’) proposed policy to make all drugs legal?

Or perhaps comment on the £20 billion annual cost to the UK (2021) that illegal drug use costs the economy, twice as much as the value of the market. Make drug use legal and you disrupt the organised gangs which supply and distribute drugs, and providing effective treatment and recovery services to help people with addictions

National Audt Office:

www.nao.org.uk/reports/reducing-the-harm-from-illegal-drugs/

A topic for a separate discussion.

Police officers who work in the organised crime/drug squads would beg to differ. I have family members who do just that and they are very much against legalisation.

I asked the question Maizie. This was the answer.

In the United Kingdom, the general rule is that only the voter is allowed in the polling booth when marking their ballot. This is to protect the secrecy and independence of the vote.

What the law says (in practice)

Under UK electoral law and guidance issued by the Electoral Commission:

Voting must be secret.

No one is allowed to interfere with or influence a voter inside the polling station.

A voter should normally go into the polling booth alone.

Exceptions

There are limited exceptions:

Voters with disabilities

A voter with a disability may be assisted by:

A companion (aged 18 or over), or

The presiding officer.

The companion must complete a declaration form before assisting.

Children

Very young children may accompany a parent into the polling station.

However, they should not mark the ballot paper.

What about “family voting”?

“Family voting” refers to situations where one family member (often a husband or father) directs or oversees how others vote. This is not lawful if it compromises the secrecy or independence of the ballot.

Polling staff are instructed to:

Prevent more than one adult entering a booth (unless lawful assistance is required).

Intervene if someone appears to be influencing another voter.

Galaxy

Why would they care about that. The middle class progressives love policies that most impact vulnerable people, look at their proposals on prostitution.

Are you assuming that the Muslim vote consists of middle class progressives, more and more bizarre if so?

I don't. I consider the green party and those who support the policies as generally middle class progressive thinking.

That’s a good example of why this thread is amusing though, isn’t it, if the more outlandish statements people make are taken as a factual response to this one result which is applicable more widely?

Family voting was always a thing,they all vote for the same party ask anyone in the family and they,ll answer ,usually here,Labour because my dad does or my grandpa.
I,m sure that’s been the way all p er the country but folk don’t do it so much….even the youngest voters 16 in Scotland have their own opinions .Apart from the very strong unionist areas like Larkhall where not only do they vote the same they won’t let the local chemist shop have green frontage because green is a “catholic colour” so the shopfront had to be painted blue of course they also support a football team they call the kings eleven….lol also wearersof blue.
Sadly they still exist but that ilk is dwindling .Just not fast enough

And the turn out was 47.5%... So roughly 10% voted Green.

paddyann54

Family voting was always a thing,they all vote for the same party ask anyone in the family and they,ll answer ,usually here,Labour because my dad does or my grandpa.
I,m sure that’s been the way all p er the country but folk don’t do it so much….even the youngest voters 16 in Scotland have their own opinions .Apart from the very strong unionist areas like Larkhall where not only do they vote the same they won’t let the local chemist shop have green frontage because green is a “catholic colour” so the shopfront had to be painted blue of course they also support a football team they call the kings eleven….lol also wearersof blue.
Sadly they still exist but that ilk is dwindling .Just not fast enough

Family voting in the context of polling stations, means a voter is accompanied into the booth to ensure they vote a certain way. I don't think that's been identified a problem in Scotland.

Visgir1

And the turn out was 47.5%... So roughly 10% voted Green.

I don't think we normally count those who didn't vote.

Of those who did vote only about a third voted for right wing parties, over 60% voted for centre or left of centre.

OldFrill

paddyann54

Family voting was always a thing,they all vote for the same party ask anyone in the family and they,ll answer ,usually here,Labour because my dad does or my grandpa.
I,m sure that’s been the way all p er the country but folk don’t do it so much….even the youngest voters 16 in Scotland have their own opinions .Apart from the very strong unionist areas like Larkhall where not only do they vote the same they won’t let the local chemist shop have green frontage because green is a “catholic colour” so the shopfront had to be painted blue of course they also support a football team they call the kings eleven….lol also wearersof blue.
Sadly they still exist but that ilk is dwindling .Just not fast enough

Family voting in the context of polling stations, means a voter is accompanied into the booth to ensure they vote a certain way. I don't think that's been identified a problem in Scotland.

Given the regulations quoted by DAR I am surprised that it happens in England.