LibDems win Council seat in Sheffield

Watched the live (?) debate on Question time between Corbyn and Smith. Not impressed by either. But not impressed by Tim Farron either.

Where are all the leaders? Surely we can do better than this?

Me too Anya it was lacklustre. Tim Farron just isn't leader material either, sadly IMHO

Lib Dems winning a council seat in Sheffield means nothing.

I have to admit May has the air of a leader and a PM

The Corbyn v Smith debate was embarrassing and the audience no better . Nothing the Labour Party can do, we are stuck with the aging hippie because Momentum rules.

PMQ isn't worth watching , no oposition, apart from the SNP

ukpollingreport.co.uk/voting-intention

The LibDems are still polling less than 10%, which is way below the 2010 figures, when they were on over 20%.

The Conservative lead over Labour has jumped quite dramaticdally since the middle of July.

No surprise Daphne and it will jump higher , as a Labour Party member I have accepted we are in for Tory governments for years

LibDems winning a council seat in Sheffield means nothing. I won't disagree with that, roses, but it has certainly made a few people's mouths drop open here (Mosborough is our ward). It is an ex mining area and was always considered to be a safe bet for Labour. The swing was 31%. Pleasantly surprised.

Greyduster, was the libdem previously one of your councillors?
Does she live in the ward?

Some anti-Corbynite said that the labour candidate was a good town councillor, so why did she want to be a councillor for a different area?

A lot of Northumberland is ex-mining, but they still had a libdem MP until he retired, Alan Beith and now have a Tory.

Daphne, that list is a few months out.
A libdem has got a seat on Manchester City council.
He was an MP for part of Manchester before he lost his seat at the 2015 election, so he stood for the council instead this year.
Still not bad, though. Doubt whether he'll ever have the deciding vote on anything.

dj I don't know a great deal about her except that she has lived in Mosborough for twenty odd years, so I suppose that qualifies her to know a bit about the place. I didn't vote for her, but her people certainly put the effort in - they are the only party we had a visit from, not once, but twice. Never saw any of the other candidates at all.

Every single new backwards looking right wing policy promoted by the Tories, like the latest grammar school nonsense, makes people realise how valuable the LibDems were in the coalition years. This was a council election but people will take note of what is happening in government.

Thanks, dj. I should have realised!

The LibDem councillor is John Leech in Didsbury West, who was MP for Manchester Withington until 2015. Withington includes a large student area and my daughter helped defeat him in the general election. The LDs could get back, if students forget about the rise in tuition fees, especially as John Leech has shown that he's not deserting the area.

Yes, daphne, that is probably unusual for an MP who has lost his seat to go back to being a councillor.

Libdems might be doing a bit better now, but I think Clegg has brought his book out a bit too early. He should have given us a bit more time to forget his part in the coalition and the rise in university fees.

John Leech voted against joining the coalition with the Tories and against the rise in tuition fees. Apparently, he was considered a very good local MP, after having already been a councillor in the area. Nevertheless, the Withington constituency includes Fallowfield, where there are tens of thousands of students. It also includes Didsbury, which is a relatively affluent suburb of Manchester. The Didsbury voters would probably be Conservatives, if this weren't Mancheseter.

I will be interesting to see what Clegg has to say about tuition fees. I was told by our prospective LD MP that he traded them for the Pupil Premium when in coalition. His argument was that it is mainly middle class and upper class children who benefit from a university education, which is subsidised by lower paid workers, whereas the Pupil Premium would give the children from low income families a better start in life.

Talking about the Labour party doing daft things, apparently Clem Attlee's great nephew has just had his Labour Party membership suspended after 40 years in the party because he and his sister wrote a letter in support of Corbyn.
No wonder the party hierarchy is no longer trusted.

Hmmm! I couldn't care less whether he's Attlee's great nephew. One of Attlee's grandson's is a Tory peer. I agree that all the suspensions seem ridiculous. I can't keep up and can't be bothered. Corbyn will win the leadership election and then, I suspect, the ** will really hit the fan.

Something odd sorry, why suspend anyone for saying they support Corbyn? They must have said more . How come any Labour Party members here who support Corbyn and said so have been suspended. Let's have full facts please

Yes he will win Daphne, I doubt there will be uproar , it will take time before decisions are made. Such as who has already decided to leave politics , some have but not announced it yet. Snd I stress leave politics not start a new party.

There is the vote still to come on MP's selecting who joins the shadow cabinet, not ehich posts, that will still be the choice of McDonald - sorry meant Corbyn

Has Cath Attlee, who co-wrote the letter which was allegedly the cause of MacDonald's suspension, also been suspended?

Sorry, but this is Labour Party internal business. It needs to get itself sorted, so that people can be confident that they're voting for a political party not being torn apart by squabbles.

I think you could be right, Annie. Andy Burnham has obviously decided to leave Westminster and I suspect others will find jobs with local authorities, charities, journalism or even (shock horror) in business. There are a number of lawyers on the Labour back benches, who could easily go back into legal practice.

What is this letter Daphne?

www.thecanary.co/2016/09/12/labour-party-just-purged-great-nephew-clement-attlee-called-members-vote-corbyn/

Thank you for the link Jen, it also says he was suspended a month later after abusive
Behaviour on social media, so what else did he write is the question ,the link says possibly because etc, it does not say because of the letter

Apparently Michael Foster has also been suspended for his stormtrooper attack.
He was suspended for breaching a rule that said that' all eligible members and supporters must conduct themselves in a calm and polite manner and be respectful to each other at all times.'
I can imagine what he said to that..

But what of the allegation that some very distant descendant of Atlee has been suspended for writing a letter of support when there is no such evidence this is true.