I am a bit busy at the moment, so these elections have largely passed me by. I was though, for completely unrelated reasons, talking this morning to a County Councillor in Wales, who is a Tory and past leader.

We agreed this was an odd election which has been very much impacted by the pandemic and the euphoria that people are feeling as things ease. Additionally, the Brexit impact, has been blurred by the pandemic and not really hit home yet. Brexit enthusiasts now have no other home than a Johnson led Tory party and retain their motivation.

My own view is that the very low turnout in Hartlepool of only 45.5% confirms this.

So drawing too many long term conclusions would be a mistake. We need an opposition and right now we don't have one. Whether Labour can reposition themselves to represent the huge swathe of people who now feel that no party really shares their values is doubtful. The working class no longer really exists and those that would traditionally fit such a description no longer have strife as their motivating force. Many now vote on populist values and not on principles.

Whether this means a continuous series of open goal elections for a populist version of the Tory Party or the much needed emergence of a new party of the middle ground, with integrity and compassion as its core message, remains to be seen.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Hartlepool is hilarious but I too feel that local elections are being skewed by the current feel good factor of vaccines etc.
Also - that whatever the consequences that we left the EU when we said we would.
Obviously and on top of that is the fact that Starmer just doesn't cut it - he has no charisma.
He is not someone you would want to follow if he was your leader.
I think that the left will again take Labour over and that will be the death of the Party.
If only it were an end to politics.
The UK needs to be run as a business with a social conscience and I would love it to happen in my lifetime - it might - if I live to 200 years old I guess!
Starmer will stand down in the next week I reckon.
Wallpaper and Hartlepool will see to that.

Blair and his were really closet tories with a bit of share the wealth to foreigners for votes.
It sort of proves that socialism only happens by force. The kick back in the USA will come along soon.

Funny how you are too busy when results go against you. How predictable you are

When you are in the middle of a house move it wouldn't matter if I had also just won the lottery. I only browse for a few minutes when I put my feet up.

In any case these results haven't "gone against me"! I have no love for the Labour Party. I also don't though have any for the current guise of the Tory Party.

My concern is much more about the lack of any kind of effective opposition and the huge representational gap that exists for people like me, of whom there are many.

If a serious, responsible and ethical new party emerged that presented well-balanced alternatives to the current dross then I am confident it would gain a foothold and eventually prosper.

It's the start up costs that prevent this happening and not the need.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

I think I said at the last election (on here, I can't remember TBH) that it at least 2 Labour leaderships are priced into future elections, given the swing, before they can govern.

Labour cannot hope to gain enough of a swing after the last election to have any hope in the next. That suggests there will be another leadership contest and another 3 years to regroup before the following election.

What I hadn't accounted for (obviously) was China flu and the absolute train-wreck Starmer is. I thought Labour would maybe see a bit of sense and start looking to appeal to the "working man", maybe even adopt a rigorous "get our workers to work and our kids to school" drive. But instead we have... well, see the attached. Says it all.

Next leader needs to tack towards Blair to have any hope of challenging for government, but it won't be at the next election that's for sure.

To see the usual idiots clamouring for a push back to the far left... sigh, it's just depressing. We need some actual opposition in this country. Not a party that jumps on the latest identity politics social media meme, and not one that would make Chavez and Castro blush.

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