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OK, the first thing to say about #GeneralElectionUK 2024 is this: #Labour lost, and lost badly. They lost, in fact, HALF A MILLION VOTES compared to their 2019 result.
All the major parties, including the #LibDems, lost. Labour just lost less badly than either the #Conservatives or the #SNP.
https://www.journeyman.cc/blog/posts-output/2024-07-06-the-election-and-after/
Interesting table. There are obviously some special factors in play - eg. for the SNP and DUP - but it does tend to confirm the big changes in voter behaviour that were already pretty clear in many 'western democracies':
1. Declining turnout; and
2. Movement to political extremes.
I would argue these are both in fact symptoms of disillusion with the 'moderate' political centre and its rotating duopoly that never seems to really affect people's lives.
But I have to say, even though I'm familiar with this trend, I was surprised that given just how appalling the Tory government has been - and not just its policies, but divided and incompetent and corrupt too - less than 60% of the electorate were motivated enough to try to vote them out.
/∞
∫ @GeofCox @simon_brooke every time someone seems surprised at the low turnout without mentioning the voter suppression law the Tories passed specifically to lower the turnout, I wonder if I'm missing something.
@GeofCox @petealexharris @simon_brooke If you wanted to increase turnout, you’d make it as easy as possible to vote. Enable voting in any polling station. The polling cards they send out could double as voting slips - just fill in your cross and drop it in. At the count you’d have a separate area for ‘outside’ votes which would then be communicated to the appropriate constituency. There wouldn’t be that many in most areas.
@seb321 @GeofCox @petealexharris Indeed. And given the number of separate envelopes we have to return anyway, one more would not be a great deal of extra hassle.
@simon_brooke @seb321 @petealexharris
It's true of course that voter suppression and other factors are in play in the UK, and some other countries - but declining turnout is an almost universal, long-term trend across 'western democracies', so I think you also have to look for factors common to all these countries that are increasingly driving people to give up on voting.
@GeofCox @seb321 @petealexharris we have developed a professional political class, all of whom have far more in common with one another than they have with ordinary people. Consequently, ordinary people feel alienated.
Because we are.
The parties have a consensus around the things the big donors want, because the same big donors fund all the parties. So they all support private ownership of the means of production, of services we all need, of housing, of fossil fuel extraction, for example.
I agree - and I would add 2 points:
1. Journalists and broadcasters on politics and current affairs are part of that professional political class - for them, it's interesting who's in and who's out, politics as a competitive game - but they therefore detach it from our everyday lives - they MAKE politics boring and irrelevant; and
2. 40 years of neoliberalism, plus globalisation and the internet, have resulted in such a massive transfer of wealth and power from the public (both people and governments) to super-wealthy multinational corporations and individuals that parliamentary politics really is more constrained, really does matter less and less.
@GeofCox @simon_brooke @seb321 @petealexharris
Well, collaboration with the EU on reining in big tech would make a big start. The EU has been doing stirling work
@mkarliner @GeofCox @seb321 @petealexharris Possibly because the UK is now out?
In the long run, it is possible that #Brexit will be good both for the continent and the planet, because the UK was acting as a brake on Europe's ability to pursue (some) progressive policies.
@simon_brooke @GeofCox @seb321 @petealexharris
My guess is that we'll land up as defacto members.
@mkarliner @GeofCox @seb321 @petealexharris well, personally I hope so. But it may not be a good thing for Europe.
@simon_brooke @GeofCox @seb321 @petealexharris
At the end of the day, the addition of the UK economy is too big a prize in both directions to ignore. I suspect they also will be less flexible about optouts.
We'll just have to see.
@simon_brooke @mkarliner @GeofCox @seb321
If the UK ever returns to the EU, there will be no special deals, no Extrawurst, no exceptions. They won't make that mistake again. What the UK economy is worth by then won't be enough to demand special treatment.
@mkarliner @simon_brooke @GeofCox @seb321 @petealexharris that’s the one thing that is pretty much guaranteed not to happen; the freedom of movement is fundamental to how the EU functions, there is very little accommodation the EU can make without that, even if the will was there.
@simon_brooke
While undeniably true, it's also hilarious that some of the best EU legislation was introduced at the behest of UK gov.
Even more hilarious is that some of that same legislation is being applied to us, as it is against all non-EU nations, and the cries of 'Who could have known this would happen?" we're swiftly answered with "We told you this would happen, and you would have known if you had the relevant documents!"
@mkarliner @GeofCox @seb321 @petealexharris
@stuartb @simon_brooke @mkarliner @GeofCox @seb321 @petealexharris
... the relevant *publicly-available* documents!
@SoftwareTheron
Whoops, meant "had READ the relevant documents."
@simon_brooke @mkarliner @GeofCox @seb321 @petealexharris
@GeofCox @seb321 @petealexharris true. Laura Kuenssberg is essentially just a village gossip – she has little interest in or understanding of policy, if you asked her a question about the Atlantic Meridianal Overturning Current she'd think you were talking Chinese.
She's interested in who's sleeping with who, who's dining with who, who's briefing against who; and that is the sum total of her interest in politics.
And although she's the worst, she's not alone.
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot @GeofCox@climatejustice.social @seb321@toot.community @petealexharris@mastodon.scot We need to stop getting our political news from gossip columnists.
We need to stop getting ANY OF OUR NEWS from gossip columnists. If it's not worthy of more than a gossip column, who fucking cares?