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[Great King Bowser]

First 4 seats to Labour.

 

[DCharlie]

I like the Lib Dems as they at least seem to have a plan.

 

[DECK'ARD]

First gain goes to the Tories, Putney:

Tories +4%
Labour -9%
Lib Dems +3%

The Labour drop of 9% seems to be consistent so far.

 

[MrPing1000]

well bbc was prediction a labour majority of 66 last night and it seems they are spot on, unlike another country I know

Lib dems didn't do as well as I thought they would , still their best result ever.

now to wait for the ni results

:lol :lol

 

[mrklaw]

Fair enough. Although you might not agree with Labour or Mr. Blair, who would actually want the Tories in at the moment? They still aren't sorted out since they lost.

And I think they lost a trick. If Tony Blair has stood down and was replaced with Gordon Brown, I think they'd have had another landslide. Maybe they are saving that trick for the next one, where hopefully the Conservatives will be in some kind of order (not that I'd vote for them, but I want to at least see a reasonable fight)

 

[Stevie Gerrard]

well bbc was prediction a labour majority of 66 last night and it seems they are spot on, unlike another country I know

Lib dems didn't do as well as I thought they would , still their best result ever.

Yeah the prediction was spot on in terms of labour majority, they didn't predict as many gains for lib dems though. Turned out to be an ok night for lib dems in the end, picked up massive swings to take some urban seats and rumbled collins :lol

 

[123rl]

Any UK'ers seen today's papers? The right wing spin doctors* are going nuts and getting really desperate :lol (*The Express and Daily Mail aka the Conservative's PR folks)

 

[TheDrowningMan]

The Tory share of the vote barely increased at all. People just voted against Labour largely in protest for Iraq - that said, they certainly didn't move to the tired, outmoded Conservative Party. :lol

Essentially, all Labour need to do is avoid major catastrophe (and more contentious war!), replace Blair and they'll sail to another win - probably by a slightly bigger margin - with Gordon Brown as PM.

 

[DSN2K]

howard just quit.

 

[Ghost]

The voting system in this country is a joke, The breakdown of votes goes:

36.2% 33.2% 22.7%


for the three main parties, but the division of seats goes:

353 197 62

Which equates to 57% of the seats for 36% of the vote.


I'll be glad when the EU forces us to start using proportional representation.

 

[Diablos]

What's the Labour party closest to being like? Democrat, Republican...?

 

[MrPing1000]

First ni seat in Gerry Adams in west Belfast. He's babbling in broken Irish that nobody in the room understands :lol I still don't know why they do that. And some Irish word sounded like "fuckall"

 

[TheDrowningMan]

What's the Labour party closest to being like? Democrat, Republican...?

Democrat, and it's also followed them into becoming very centrist. I guess Blair's 'New Labour' was somewhat inspired by Clinton's Democrats.

The Tories keep lurching ever further to the right, something they need to reverse if they're to stand a chance in the next couple of elections.

 

[Error Macro]

Do you mean this?

http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/

It gave me a score of -19 for the Conservatives :lol I guess that means I won't be voting for them

My results:

Labour -15
Conservative 1
Liberal Democrat -5
UK Independence Party 14
Green 14


Quite interesting.

 

[gofreak]

This is apparently the favourite to take over the Tories. I can already tell he'd fail like the others.

And true, if Brown leads Labour at the next election, as I'm sure he will, a fourth term seems impossible to lose.

 

[Azih]

Proportional Representation! Everywhere!

 

[mrklaw]

proportional representation sucks! (so does first-past-the-post, but at least its the devil we know)

Proportional representation is supposed to deliver you a parliament that more accurately matches the popular vote. But what it usually delivers is coalition politics, weak government and disproportionate power to smaller parties.

If the UK was PR, you'd have Labour the largest power, but they'd need to join up with the Lib Dems to form a goverment(they'd never side with the tories), so the Lib Dems (with only 20% popular vote) would have significant leverage over them.

At least with our current system you have (relatively) strong goverments that go the full term.

 

[MrPing1000]

not quite true, last election if the uk had of used PR the Labour majority would have been even bigger, not this time though

 

[Azih]

Proportional representation is supposed to deliver you a parliament that more accurately matches the popular vote. But what it usually delivers is coalition politics, weak government and disproportionate power to smaller parties.

If that's what the popular vote dictates that that should be the way the government should be made up. I call bullshit on this idea that trampling on the democratic votes of citizens is justified solely becuase there's a greater chance of a party controlling executive power (especially when it doesn't have the voter backing to deserve it).

Plus it destroys the fear mongering campaign ploy of "don't vote for the ones you agree with, vote for us to prevent the other guys from getting in" which is the most horrible and cynical political tactic that I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing. It really fucking kills me inside whenever it is inflicted on me.... which is only in EVERY FREAKING CANADIAN ELECTION (except for municipal). Grahg!

Not only that but giving smaller parties that amount of power that they EARNED in a campaign is much better than the current system where they get shut out as token useless opposition whose sole purpose is to give the illusion that the electorate is actually being represented accurately at all.

 

[radioheadrule83]

Michael Portillo has been saying today he actually thinks this is an impressive result for Blair... under Thatcher or Major, this would still be considered a landslide.

The whole of Merseyside, where I live (with the exception of Southport), has put forth Labour candidates.

I'm glad Labour didn't win too convincingly, but as I started this thread - I'm sure you might guess I'm glad that they won. Lib Dems have stirring propositions on Student Fees and a respectable/principled point on the Iraq War, and they deserve to have gained ground... possibly more than they already have. To be honest I can live with or without their take on those issues. The proposed Lab graduate tax is nowhere near as bad as students make it sound. Not having to pay upfront is good, paying back is fair. Making it more unattractive for the wealthy to live here is not a good alternative idea IMO. It'll only hurt those who dive into Mickey Mouse degrees without thinking at the end of the day. Maybe it'll make people think more carefully about their education. As for the war -- the nation has spoken. If there was indeed any foul play in the run up to the war, the government would be crazy to try it again. Time to listen to the people...

This will probably see Blair hand over to Brown sooner than expected. Bit of power transfer from New Labour blood to the old guard, which is a bit disconcerting. Galloway... I'm stunned. What a victory for him that is.

I'm all for PR as well. Here's hoping it's in place for the next GE.

 

[videogamer]

Labour 19
Conservative -17
Liberal Democrat 45
UKIP -17
Green 41

Voted neutral on several because I had no clue what they were. This feels like an American election, but without all the emotion. :lol

If the UK was PR, you'd have Labour the largest power, but they'd need to join up with the Lib Dems to form a goverment(they'd never side with the tories), so the Lib Dems (with only 20% popular vote) would have significant leverage over them.

Of course, you can turn it around and say that Labour has incredible leverage over the government with only 37% of the vote.

BTW, I like how you guys have all the candidates stand on the stage. Then some dude with a monotone voice reads out the results. I saw some interesting looking/dressed candidates last night.

 

[mrklaw]

I think the Alien from Alien Hominid was standing somewhere.

I remember when I was working for Mindscape we had Alfred Chicken up for election to get PR

 

[Suerte]

Huzzah, voted Lib Dem in my area and they were elected

 

[SickBoy]

I guess the question on proportional representation is would you rather have "weak government" (read: politicians having to fight hard to get legislation to work) or a "strong government" which is actually a single party state that rams legislation through whether it's popular or not?

Canada's had a minority government and were it not for some typical Liberal arrogance, the whole AdScam thing and the current non-confidence rules, things would be going pretty well. As it stands, Ottawa is gridlocked because the powerplay to bring down the government is in full effect.

Up until the last 6-8 weeks, I think this government has done a pretty good job of balancing its agenda with the desires of the other parties out in Ottawa. And I'd say it's taken a well-balanced approach that hasn't been seen in other recent administrations...

I think PR is the system is most representative of the public's views. And I hope to see it here... along with some parliamentary reform, because our current session has turned into a joke.

 

[Stevie Gerrard]

Michael Portillo has been saying today he actually thinks this is an impressive result for Blair... under Thatcher or Major, this would still be considered a landslide.

The whole of Merseyside, where I live (with the exception of Southport), has put forth Labour candidates.

I'm glad Labour didn't win too convincingly, but as I started this thread - I'm sure you might guess I'm glad that they won. Lib Dems have stirring propositions on Student Fees and a respectable/principled point on the Iraq War, and they deserve to have gained ground... possibly more than they already have. To be honest I can live with or without their take on those issues. The proposed Lab graduate tax is nowhere near as bad as students make it sound. Not having to pay upfront is good, paying back is fair. Making it more unattractive for the wealthy to live here is not a good alternative idea IMO. It'll only hurt those who dive into Mickey Mouse degrees without thinking at the end of the day. Maybe it'll make people think more carefully about their education. As for the war -- the nation has spoken. If there was indeed any foul play in the run up to the war, the government would be crazy to try it again. Time to listen to the people...

This will probably see Blair hand over to Brown sooner than expected. Bit of power transfer from New Labour blood to the old guard, which is a bit disconcerting. Galloway... I'm stunned. What a victory for him that is.

I'm all for PR as well. Here's hoping it's in place for the next GE.

I agree with most of that, apart from the graduate tax. Just because you don't choose a high earning job doesn't mean your degree was a mickey mouse one. That said, I don't agree with complete abolishment of tuition fees either!

Also, I'd hardly say Brown is traditional old guard... he's just centre-left rather than centre-right. I think he'd do a good job. Don't know how people would take to him in an election campaign, he seems like a bit of a grumpy bugger.

Lib Dems did well up here in scotland, particularly in terms of % gains. Now the 2nd party by a distance, could lead to some conflict in the scottish parliament though. Always makes me laugh how irrelevant the tories are up here :lol (By the way, those who are worried about a liblab coalition, it has worked quite well so far in scotland)

Thought it was interesting that the Tory gains only came in the south east. Further north they didn't make any impression at all, if anything they fell back. I know the country is regionally divided in terms of politics but it seems to be getting wider.

Best moment this election:
Kilroy :lol :lol :lol

 

[Timbuktu]

Best moment this election:
Kilroy :lol :lol :lol

For me, I have to say that it's the Galloway-Paxman exchange. It was just hilarious.

 

[radioheadrule83]

For me, I have to say that it's the Galloway-Paxman exchange. It was just hilarious.

I've seen people complaining about it on the BBC Have Your Say section... what happened?