Is Brexit just a distraction?

No worries, MacDonald said yesterday Labour is going to
Save the world.

Brexit is a classic example of Tory party infighting which got us into this absurd impasse in the first place and now the combination of the tabloids plus a buffoon masquerading as Churchillian seems to be what a large number of people want.

Tory austerity policies have caused so much suffering and so much destruction of our basic infrastructure but around where I live, vast numbers of older people tell me vehemently that there's no such thing as poverty, it's all mobile phones and coffee bars these days, you just need an allotment and know how to budget, sigh.

Exactly, trisher. Before the referendum leaving the EU was only an issue within the Tory party. It was then latched onto - because of the misleading Leave campaign - by thousands who had been dealt a tough hand by life and wanted to get their own back by voting against the govt. Understandable. But hard now to see how we can have a GE on these issues, largely because no deal Brexit, or even Brexit on a revamp of the TM deal, will make life worse for these very voters for many years. I now think a short=term caretaker govt the only answer.

They should be, trisher, but they won't be. It'll be a Brexit election.

Winterwhite hardly true! I haven’t been dealt a tough hand by life and neither have millions of other voters who voted to leave.I expect just as many remainers in poorer parts of London didn’t use that as an excuse either.
No trisher I don’t think that the mainstream news ‘only’ concentrating on Brexit is a way of ensuring anything at all.
It’s simply because it’s the most important political event of a
Lifetime.

I hope it will not and that the Labour party can continue to promote the idea that what matters is jobs and the economy and they are the only party who will protect them.

trisher, any election will be all about Brexit, too, with many of us voting differently because of it. For any government, Brexit's such a convenient way to 'bury' anything else they're doing.

with many of us voting differently because of it

And it's not because we don't care about the destruction of our society, it's just that Brexit is the greatest threat to healing it.

And I'm afraid I don't think that Labour would have a cat in hell's chance of protecting jobs and the economy if we leave the EU.

The problem with that MaizieD (and I'm a confirmed Remainer) is that it buys in to the Tory party propaganda that Brexit is all that matters. It is now a favoured way to split the Remain vote between Lib Dems and Labour, enabling the Tories to stay in power. If Labour is in government and makes a deal then everyone will have the right to vote on that. If it is Leave the Labour Party could bring in legislation to protect employment rights and standards much like those operating in the EU. It's not ideal, but it is better than leaving every thing to the Tories,

trisher Being realistic, I really can't see the Labour Party with its current leadership forming a government. Sorry!

BTW In my constituency, the most of the LDs' new support is coming from Conservative, not Labour.

Ooops! An extra "the" crept in somehow.

I fear it will be a Brexit election although I think that there are fewer Brexit obsessives than the media would have us think. In or out, we will be worse off with more years of the Tories and it is amazing that people can ignore that.
If the LDs take some of the Tory vote here, Labour might have a small chance but it is ultra safe Tory so will probably be no change.

Same here, Jaycee. The Conservatives have an overall majority, although almost no district councillors, having been wiped out by an independent group. The Labour Party has no voice at all. Both Brexit Party and the LDs are chipping away at the Conservatives, but they have such a huge majority, they'll almost certainly still win.

PS. Brexit will be the single most important issue in this constituency, which is why the LDs are gaining support. Some of the Conservatives think Johnson is being tough enough and should just walk away, which is why some of them will vote Brexit Party, who have already stuck two fingers up to the European Parliament.

growstuff Yes, the Brexit Party may take quite a few votes here. I think it could well be a very low turn out.
I had a large leaflet from the LDs this week but all it said was that they weren't the other lot. Whoever delivered them left a copy on every step in the main hallway so they ended up in the bin.

It is frankly shocking that Brexit party MEPs today refused to support enhanced measures to tackle attacks on our democratic processes from Russia and elsewhere" @catherinemep

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The main business of both parliament and government should be the ecological imperative to stop the hegemony of the fossil fuel companies.