No one to vote for if a General Election was called now

Latest poll showing voting intentions

twitter.com/OpiniumResearch

BTW the seat above has always been Labour held. Being beaten into 3rd place by the SNP and Greens seems to indicate how the once dominant Labour Party has lost its faithful following in Scotland.

Another Council bi-election result which mirrors the one 3 weeks ago in my Council area. Worth noting the increases for the "other" parties and the loss of support for the "big 2".

Leith Walk (Edinburgh) result:

SNP: 35.7% (+1.4)
GRN: 25.5% (+5.9)
LAB: 15.5% (-7.0)
CON: 10.7% (-3.7)
LDEM: 8.6% (+4.?

IND (Illingworth): 1.5% (+1.5)
UKIP: 1.2% (+1.2)
SLP: 0.8% (-0.1)
IND (Scott): 0.2% (+0.2)
FBM: 0.2% (+0.2)
LBT: 0.2% (+0.2)

It is possible that there might be a GE this year but it is more likely that your first opportunity to cast your vote (depending on where you live) will be in the District Council Elections in May. I think you should vote for a good local candidate representing the party that has the best record in providing local services in spite of the government's funding cuts.

The next opportunity could be the EU elections, when you must support a party you agree with on Europe. The EU elections do not run on FPTP but on a PR system which does give smaller parties a better chance, especially in the largest EU constituencies.

I will be voting for the Liberal Democrats in both these elections.

@GillT57
Thanks for the welcome!
My comment turned into a bit of a 'rant' didn't it! But I am a political animal.
I often think that if people realised how quickly your life can change, in a flash sometimes, through accident or illness, they would not be so ready to condemn others, and unless you are very wealthy, disability and sickness will drain your resources, no matter how prudent and/or hardworking you are, or have been.
But, labels are sticky and they stick... and the narrative has been accepted... benefit claimants have been stigmatised quite deliberately, regardless, as the authors of their own misfortune. But none of us are immune, are we! Sometimes, in order to understand a situation you have to live it. It has happened in my family, and it really does concentrate the mind...

Vigdis I agree with every word you have written. It makes my blood boil too, the division between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' is growing, and you only have to read a few posts on here to realise that the media have done a great job demonising the poor, the unfortunate, those for whom life takes a bad turn. It could be any of us, any of our children. Anyway, I digress, I just felt cheered to read a post from someone who feels the same way I do. Welcome to GN!!

Like @MamaCaz, I could not vote for a Labour Party led by Corbyn. I don't really dislike the man and I do think he has been mis-represented, misquoted... and quoted out of context (Laura Kuennsberg, I'm looking at you), but he simply is not PM material, and I also believe he is, like May, playing Party politics. It's a damned shame because his drive for a more equitable society for all is honourable, in my view.
We are such a divided society now that I really doubt there can be any uniting force that will solve this issue because we have a large rift between the haves and the have-nots and this rubbish talk about a government that works for everyone makes my blood boil in its utter dishonesty.
I have no personal axe to grind, I am comfortable financially (at the moment, who knows about the future), but I have seen good people in despair struggling against the ideological cuts imposed on them; trying to follow the much-vaunted ethos of "hard work" yet taking 1 pace back for every 2 forward... and being condemned by the right-wing owned 'meeja' as scroungers, and people who don't work hard enough (tell that to the low-paid HCA who fainted on the ward I was in last year through overwork).
And IMO the reason we are in this situation - and the reason for Brexit (mostly) - is because this, like all, governments, know that divide and rule works. We are all fighting each other whilst those that hold the purse strings and most of the wealth are hoping that we continue to tear each other to pieces whilst they continue to economically rape and pillage and destroy everything that made life bearable and comfortable for the ordinary working class.
Another 'snap' election? Nothing will change, just a few jugglings of cabinet and back benches, and it will be the same old, same old.
And the impoverished will as always, bear the brunt and get the blame. It makes me sick to my stomach.

Link to the Conservative Councillors actions can be found here:-
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-councillor-tommy-robinson-retweet-islamophobia-andrew-bowles-a8809826.html

Well, it would seem that some Tory MPs and leading members are determined to make the Conservative party unelectable. Jacob Rees Mogg has taken to Twitter to sing out the praises of a German far-right party which has links to a neo-nazi group.

Rees-Mogg was later quick to deploy his tones on LBC, defending the tweet, erroneously stating, “re-tweeting”, meaning its not an original tweet, and in that “I don’t think re-tweeting is an endorsement of things that other people stand for”.

Mogg seems to have missed the point that if you do not endorse what someone speaks out for, then why re-tweet what they have written without a full criticism being attached to your tweet

Link to the above can be found here:-
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/04/jacob-rees-mogg-tweets-approvingly-german-far-right-party-neo-nazi-links

In the meantime, A Conservative council leader has been suspended after he re-tweeted an image describing Tommy Robinson the leader of the extream right English Defence League as a “patriot”.

Swale Borough Council leader Andrew Bowles shared a post on Twitter protesting about Robinson’s ban from Facebook and Instagram.

Of course, as with others that have had their membership of the Tory party removed or suspended for Islamophobia, Mr Bowles will in all probability be quietly let back into the Conservative ranks in a couple of weeks.

It would seem that right-wing extremism is becoming rife in the Conservative Party.

paddyanne please disregard quizqueen comments, she obviously needs a nice lie down!
Mind you, it is brave admitting to being a UKIP supporter, credit to you, but how come you were not elected? Given the plonkers that they put forward on TV, I am sure you could have done a far better, more lucid and coherent job than most of them .

That was in reply to sluttygran.
I went off to do something halfway through typing, then discovered after posting that there had been quite a few posts in the meantime.

I can only give my own reasons, and one of those is that I have found him very inconsistant in his stance on Brexit since the referendum.

Also, despite what some polls might show, I thing his leadership has lead to such a huge split within his party that it will almost certainly make them unelectable in a General Election.
Yes, a lot of that split dmight be based on misconceptions or even downright lies, widely encouraged by many newspapers, but I feel that if he can't see that by continuing to lead such a fractured party, he is preventing effective opposition, at the very time when it is so badly needed.
I would have much more respect for him if he stood down for that reason alone.

I would vote for any UKIP or the BREXIT Party candidate in the next election, as I would at any other time.

As far as Scotland saying the gas/oil belongs to them, if they are part of the United Kingdom then and resources assets belong to the Union. If it is to be claimed as solely Scottish, I presume there's an offer to pay back their % share of the exploration and other logistics costs first, which will run into many millions, or do you think it is right to just take over something that's just up and running. Isn't that what Idi Amin in Uganda and other similar despots do!

As Scottish people also receive more per capita under the Barnet formula, perhaps you would all like to chip in and refund the rest of the UK their fair share too so we are all treated equally.

A PM who praises Venezuela? No thank you

I was shocked and very disappointed that the Labour Party refused to vote for Joanna Cherry's amendment to save us from a disastrous no deal brexit by revoking article 50.

He does indeed speak common sense humpty

I'm with sluttygran; when I have heard JC talk during recent days I feel what he has said has been eminently sensible, putting the interests of the country at the forefront instead of TM who seems to think her party's best interests are far more important than the country's.

I agree with the OP though while I think Brexit has caused much of the current hullaballoo, Labour electing a Marxist as leader has been equally damaging.

The current polls have Labour on a 5% lead should there be a general election and, to be honest, however dire the Brexit shenaigans have been the thought of Corbyn, McDonnell , Diane Abbott and Seamus Milne having their Communist mitts on the levers of power fills me with horror.

We live in interesting times. I suffer from Branxiety though the Marxist Migraines are worse.

I’m still scratching my head as to why people seem so anti-Corbyn.
His policies and economics are sound and approved by the IMF, he’s not so very far to the Left, although the Daily Mail paints him as a modern day Karl Marx, and despite the constant repetition by that same paper, he has never been a friend of either the IRA, or Hamas. It’s true that he had talks with them in order to broker peace, as did many other politicians. He is also most definitely NOT antiSemitic - why on earth should he be ?
I am convinced that the red-top tabloids, (who have a vested and fiscal interest in keeping Corbyn out of power) think that if they repeat their lies and slander enough times, then they will be believed. So far I fear they have been correct!
If there were no Labour candidate in my constituency, I would vote Green. I may do so in any case as I live in a Tory stronghold, which has more to fear from the Greens than the Labour Party.
However we all decide to vote, and it is very much a matter of personal principles and beliefs, I’m pretty sure that most of us agree that the present government is one of the worst ever, and they must go.
I have lived through many parliaments of various political shades, and by and large they seemed to do a reasonable job, but this present rabble of expense fraudsters, self-seeking tax evaders, arms dealers, NHS privatisers and downright villains has got to be a record low in the history of politics.
Anyway, please vote when the time comes. Chartists and suffragettes died for our right to do so, and We ought to honour them.

I’d vote Green, I think. They wouldn’t get in, but at least my conscience would be at ease. I live in a very safe Labour seat, so I feel my vote has no influence anyway.

I’ve always been left-leaning, though not very far left, but there is no way I’d vote Labour and risk putting Corbyn in power. This is not a thing I thought I’d ever say, but I think some Tories would be preferable!

What has Thatcher to do with the O/P ? and the SNP can’t win a general election

Granny23, I’m not Scottish but English, but I am so sorry that you and Paddyann have to endure such treatment. It is wholly unacceptable, and must be hurtful.
I had an uncle (by marriage) who was a proud Scot. He was also my Godfather. Never lost his accent, but did lose his eyesight, it was very sad. I learned to love the bagpipes from him, and when he died last year, aged 94, the bagpipes were played at his funeral.

Sorry others folks, nothing to do with the original post, but I just wanted to say this. No one should be insulted for their political beliefs.

Maddyone As another life long Scottish Nationalist, I have been called all the same things as Paddyann and worse, to my face and particularly via the Comments Section of the Scotsman Newspaper. Most recently I was branded 'racist' here on Gransnet.

If you watch live coverage of debates and PMQs at Westminster you will be aware of the baying from the Government bench whenever an SNP MP speaks. It was always thus but has become much worse since Brexit reared its ugly/divisive head.

Never mind, we will not be silenced, only strengthened.

"They tried to bury us but didn't realise that we were seeds"

Paddysnn, I don’t know who called you those awful names, but I’m so sorry that you have been spoken to in such a way. It is unacceptable to behave in such a manner. It is really quite shocking. Everyone is entitled to hold their own views about politics and should be free to express them.

Well, they were a bit daft to fall for that, weren't they, varian. They knew what she was doing. I say 'they' but it was really Scargill who shafted the miners...