Other Political Parties UK

DrWatson

That's an interesting point, re how long does it take to forgive a Party for some horrendous mistakes?

I'm old enough to recall that the lovely cuddly, well-meaning LibDems had at one point one of very few party leaders to be tried for murder (Thorpe - look it up), and later on had everyone's fav politician in their ranks (that wasn't Labour or Tory), the beaming, roly-poly Cyril Smith. And then he was a paedo. We later learned that his . . .little foibles had been covered up for some time.

How long will it take for folk to forgive narcissist BoJo, or that the Tory members actually voted for the charisma and competence free Liz Truss to become leader?

And it's not that long since the Labour party inflicted on us the terrorist loving and anti-Semitic Corbyn.

That means we're running out of options, Reform and Re-whatever are led by carpetbagger racists, and the Greens leader is another chancer seeking his 15mins of fame.

No wonder a lot of voting slips get spoiled?!

Yep that why!

Olivebranch

Lots of politicos on this site which is great.
I don’t understand how anyone can vote Green— they want to get rid of prisons, defund the police, think they can get rid of nuclear weapons by negotiating with Putin and their main priority is Gaza. Polanski has been caught out in numerous lies.
Lib Dem’s want to reverse Brexit— more years of chaos. I am fed up with their authoritarian take on everything— don’t drive faster than 20mph.
Labour will just bankrupt us and Andy is way out of his depth— it’s not enough to do Tik Tok and fiddle with beer at football matches, a pound of bus fares etc.
Well Reform— cryto Nige. No worked out policies and I think Nigel would like to retire.
Restore—- crazy people but their leader is at least genuine.
That only leaves one party to vote for—- stop going on about their previous faults— they have admitted and apologised. New leader, new party.

I agree with all that.
Greens a party that want to legalise drugs for heaven’s sake, & all for Gaza.
Had to laugh at a woman who was interviewed for the Makersfield, by-election, ‘ oh I want Greens to win, because they will stop the boats, erm no, we will get a lot more of the same!
As for someone on here said their Kids have been to university & are intelligent (are going to vote Green) God help us!
They might have been for climate change in the beginning but with the nut job they have for a leader ZP- & that other silly woman they have got. ‘god help us’.
Same with labour god help us.
I have voted Tory but when they started allowing migrants into hotels, it all started going down hill for me.
I don’t know too much about reform, I do like RL, but don’t know much about their policies either (need to have a look)
I do like Kemi, but really will they do what they say they going to do, stop the boats, or are they really two wings of the same bird? Tory & Labour.

JenniRen

But with no overall majority, their share of the vote being well down on 2021.
Reform were only just behind with a slightly lower percentage of votes.
Why?

I think you're confusing two Parliaments.

Paddy and Frills posts above yours; are talking about the Scottish Parliament where Reform is NOT " only just behind with a slightly lower percentage of votes.".

SNP got twice as many votes as Reform, and won 57 seats to Reforms 17.

All but one SNP seats in Holyrood are held by Constituency MP's. ( FPTP).

None of Reform's are. All Reform seats In Holyrood are Regional seats ( voted by AMS)

We have a LD MP and Local Council they are "beige" trying to be all things to all people. They are OK, at least they keep the loony greens and bonkers reform out of local influence

I'm old enough to recall that the lovely cuddly, well-meaning LibDems had at one point one of very few party leaders to be tried for murder (Thorpe - look it up)

It was not the Liberal Democrat Party when Thorpe was the leader, as they hadn't joined with the Social Democratic Party then (which was formed by disaffected Labour politicians) to become the Liberal Democrats.

I voted Liberal for many years until the Thorpe scandal which shocked me.
The Lib Dems have had and still have many good members so I don't think the party should be defined by some in the past who were in fact criminals. That can happen across the political spectrum.

The person who made the decision to support university fees was Nick Clegg who long, long ago left the party and the country to make his fortune (and I am sure it is a fortune) in Silicon Valley. Cyril Smith is long dead, while BoJo and Truss are still active in their parties and Farage, Lowe and Polanski actually lead them.

Makes the Lib Dems look squeaky clean. They cleansed their Augean stable!

That's an interesting point, re how long does it take to forgive a Party for some horrendous mistakes?

I'm old enough to recall that the lovely cuddly, well-meaning LibDems had at one point one of very few party leaders to be tried for murder (Thorpe - look it up), and later on had everyone's fav politician in their ranks (that wasn't Labour or Tory), the beaming, roly-poly Cyril Smith. And then he was a paedo. We later learned that his . . .little foibles had been covered up for some time.

How long will it take for folk to forgive narcissist BoJo, or that the Tory members actually voted for the charisma and competence free Liz Truss to become leader?

And it's not that long since the Labour party inflicted on us the terrorist loving and anti-Semitic Corbyn.

That means we're running out of options, Reform and Re-whatever are led by carpetbagger racists, and the Greens leader is another chancer seeking his 15mins of fame.

No wonder a lot of voting slips get spoiled?!

I suspect Nige will be long gone by 2029 but whether or not his Reform mob survive is another matter. Apart from getting rid of illegal migrants they don’t seem to have many policies.

3. Years away so will choose if i am still around.I don't trust any of them.Ì am not sure about the messiah from Manchester.

Not sure how I’ll be voting in a general election in 2029, but it won’t be Reform or the Green Party. I don’t like Zac Polanski. I don’t think he’s ‘ leader material ‘.

Like Ed Davey, the Lib Dem’s in my neighbourhood have worked very hard.Can’t stand Zak Polanski. Andy Burnham is a nice guy,and I think he’s very sincere in his thoughts and actions. Who wouldn’t like to give help and money to jobless ? But I will still vote Conservative…..just be careful Kemi !

Lots of politicos on this site which is great.
I don’t understand how anyone can vote Green— they want to get rid of prisons, defund the police, think they can get rid of nuclear weapons by negotiating with Putin and their main priority is Gaza. Polanski has been caught out in numerous lies.
Lib Dem’s want to reverse Brexit— more years of chaos. I am fed up with their authoritarian take on everything— don’t drive faster than 20mph.
Labour will just bankrupt us and Andy is way out of his depth— it’s not enough to do Tik Tok and fiddle with beer at football matches, a pound of bus fares etc.
Well Reform— cryto Nige. No worked out policies and I think Nigel would like to retire.
Restore—- crazy people but their leader is at least genuine.
That only leaves one party to vote for—- stop going on about their previous faults— they have admitted and apologised. New leader, new party.

I was more than happy to vote Liberal Democrat but I am unhappy with them wanting to reverse Brexit. It is a very different Europe to the one we left and I don't believe it would help the country at all. I think we would be penalised. I do think we should have close alliances with Europe but just not rejoin. Whilst the Lib Dems pursue that policy, I need to find another party to vote for and I just don't know who that will be but I do know it won't be Reform or Restore.

My voting life has been dominated by swings from left to right and back again although this century they have tended to morph into middle ground governments r "do nothing". Each time a party has remained in power too long - notably Labour governments - the country has gone into decline. Coalition governments are a complete waste of time Viz Cameron/Clegg and the newer minority parties are just idealistic fantasists that split the vote and offer no real options. I wish it would revert back to Left and Right with proper, career politicians

Global warming and climate change. Twee? Fashionable?

I'll remember that next summer when I watch news stories of people's homes burning to the ground or killed in forest fires.

I know quite a few people at the last election. Who voted tactically for Reform to try and get rid of the Labour MP where l live.

Complacent. Been there for years. Never spoke out. Nice cushy job for life with a good pension... Sat on massive over 20,000 majority which was cut by half.

They do not recognise the present Labour set up as being the Socialist Party they grew up with. Who really used to represent them and their working class decent values. And they couldn't stand Blair and his slippy bunch of cronies.

Green political ideas have now become mainstream and a bit twee tbh..Not going to happen Even small children know about global warming and climate changes.

Younger people will vote for them in droves irrespective of the feckless Mr Polanski. Because it is fashionable and makes them look good. Lot of hypocrisy there when you unravel some of their lifestyles.

@Paddyann Thanks you saved me a job there!

A lot can happen by 2029 . So I am keeping my thoughts to myself but I suspect you know whom I won’t be voting for !!

Cossy

Cumbrianmale56

The Greens and Reform mercifully seem to have peaked, with both parties showing drops in support, and polls suggesting Labour being the largest party( but not with a majority) at the next election. I wouldn't actually mind a coalition government as it's more representative of the country than the situation we have now.

I would welcome a coalition - how you like this made up?

In NZ, as I’m sure you all know, there seems to have been a fairly successful 3 way coalition.

How about Lab/Libdem/Green ??

I could support that, but then again it could be Conservative/Reform/Restore 😱😱😱😱

I could go for Lab/ Lib Dem or Con/ Lib Dem. I think the Lib Dems playing a role in a coalition would push the exttemists to one side.

I supported the Greens back in the 80s. Was standing as a councillor when my partner died and I didn't really want to know about anything for a while. Went to Party Conference before that - terribly nice people whose answer to everything seemed to be to form a committee to talk about it. I have no idea really what their policies are today as I cannot stand their leader and would not vote for them because of their anti-Semitic views.

I'll be voting Labour if possible, in the cotswolds where I live we don't always have a Labour option & last time we had to vote LibDem to keep out the tories.
I wish Ed Davey was more serious in campaigning, it doesn't help me to see his antics, I need to know about his policies, but I've been around long enough to know that generally they're ok.

KayM

I was much struck by a political analyst who said the other day on Radio 4 that so far no political party has been brave enough to " tell the truth" about the economy. The truth is that the UK , and Europe generally, are in long term economic decline, not through lack of effort, but by comparison with the countries on The Pacific Rim. We cannot compete in terms of costs, because our costs are inevitably so much higher than theirs. So successive governments are basically rearranging the deckchairs. There are no lifeboats. For the first time in over 100 years the next generation will be less well off than we were. And it depresses people. They look for someone to blame. We are STILL a rich nation by world and historical standards, but decline since about the 60s, or 70s, has been steady. The sell off of social housing, far from creating a more self confident and independent nation as Thatcher expected, has been a disaster.

To be fair, whilst I’m not disagreeing, political analysts, much like scientists, do have differing views, even using the same data.

Our elder DS and my step-daughter, are considerably better off than my husband and I were in our forties. Bigger nicer houses, nicer locations. They do however, have much smaller families, one child in one family and two cats and a dog in the other family.

Not only do they have “better” properties, both families holiday abroad at least twice a year, and eat out fairly regularly.

We are happy for them.

DD1 (our first joint child) is about to move into a very nice three bedroomed semi, with a nice large garden, it’s a fair cry from my first property, DD and DiL are in their late twenties.

So not all of the next generation are going to be co worse off than this generation.

Labour said they would not concrete over the Green Belt - which is exactly what they are doing. I couldn't vote for any other party so I won't be voting next time round.

Cumbrianmale56

The Greens and Reform mercifully seem to have peaked, with both parties showing drops in support, and polls suggesting Labour being the largest party( but not with a majority) at the next election. I wouldn't actually mind a coalition government as it's more representative of the country than the situation we have now.

I would welcome a coalition - how you like this made up?

In NZ, as I’m sure you all know, there seems to have been a fairly successful 3 way coalition.

How about Lab/Libdem/Green ??

I could support that, but then again it could be Conservative/Reform/Restore 😱😱😱😱

The Greens and Reform mercifully seem to have peaked, with both parties showing drops in support, and polls suggesting Labour being the largest party( but not with a majority) at the next election. I wouldn't actually mind a coalition government as it's more representative of the country than the situation we have now.