Liz Truss finding extra funds to protect Tory MPs from defeat by the LibDems

I do hope so varian.

There do seem to be a lot of very nervous Tory MPs worried about losing their seats to the LibDems

inews.co.uk/news/politics/tory-mps-blue-wall-general-election-wipeout-liz-truss-1825797

Sorry, should have said, that doesn't mean that local parties can't stand candidates, just that they know they will get very little funding.

Casdon

I understand that, but I’m still not clear what you mean in your original post, sorry I must be having an off day but surely all parties will stand for all seats where they have a chance of winning and the funds to do so, won’t they? It doesn’t surprise me at all that the Tories will employ tactics to win as many seats as they can, particularly in their previously safe areas, that doesn’t mean they will succeed though of course,

I think all parties have always decided where to stand candidates, haven't they? It is a case of making best use of the funding they have.

I was impressed by the last Lib Dem candidate last time, varian but I'm not sure if she would stand again. The Labour candidate was very pro-Corbyn, she came second, and the Tory got in again. Lib Dem a poor third but in fact with a percentage increase.

If the LP is clearly the main challenger in your constituency Calli I would expect the LibDems to field a "paper candidate" who might get a small number of votes, but many LibDems will vote tactically for the LP.

Our constituency has returned a Labour candidate about three times over the last 50 years and possibly could do so again as long as the vote is not split by the Lib Dems.

I agree with you Casdon. It is always best to give voters choice but the fact is that UKIP stood down to protect Tory seats so in much of the country there are LP, LibDem and Green candidates splitting the anti-Tory vote, in some places SNP or Plaid or other left wing parties as well whereas the Tories get a free run.

We need both the parties and the voters to be informed about how best to defeat the Tories, which is always an uphill struggle against the propaganda of 80% of the national press.

I will vote LibDem as we had a good LibDem MP for 18 years, followed by an utterly disgraceful Tory (now an "independent") who has been accused of sexual harassment by three different women, has been photographed looking spaced out with lines of cocaine, sent text messages saying "does your dealer do Westminster Bridge" and commenting on £160 being good value for his drugs, borrowed £150,000 from a very dodgy Russian who had been deemed an improper person to work in financial services, took said Russian into the Houses of Parliament and introduced him to Jacob Rees Mogg in an effort to reinstate his dealer status, and got a well paid part time job for a relative, courtesy of said dodgy Russian.

All this was splashed all over the Sunday papers in April but he has still not resigned. Every now and then he seems to check himself into a psychiatric unit suffering from "shock" (presumably shock at being found out).

Meanwhile constituents are approaching the prospective Liberal Democrat candidate for the constituency who tries to help them as much as she can by doing unpaid case work which should be done by an MP.

Obviously David Warburton should have resigned in April and we should have had a by-election in Somerton and Frome which I have no doubt the excellent LibDem prospective candidate would have won.

Having got all that off my chest, I will say that if I lived in a place where the Labour candidate was best placed to defeat the Tory I would vote Labour and if I lived in Brighton I would vote for Caroline Lucas..

Yes I would vote tactically to get the Tories off the UKs back.

Nothing would make me even more determined to vote tactically to defeat them!

I hope people vote tactically, our constituency is a safe conservative seat with a 25K majority, labour always come third so I'll be voting Lib Dem (as usual) in the hope there's enough voters who feel we need a change to also vote Lib Dem. It was a close run election in '97, 02 and 05 so you never know! I think they should cap the amount of money a political party can spend on Elections, but I doubt that will ever happen.

Your OP varian. I don’t think there’s anything surprising that the Tories will throw money at hanging on to seats? I’m in a LibDem/Tory seat fight here too. It would be undemocratic for Labour to stand down to allow a Lib Dem win though, surely! And the same for the LibDems to stand down to support a Labour win. How hard they campaign for seats they have no chance of winning is another matter.

When we first came to this area the Council was solid Tory, but the Liberals started to win seats. The Labour Party was non-existant.

Our local Tory councillor actually persuaded one of the local postmen (a very popular chap) to stand for the Labour Party by telling him his union would foot the bill, which they did.

The Liberal candidate did still win, but possibly not by the same margin as she could have had without a Labour candidate.

Do you mean my OP Casdon or where I responded to the post saying "they'll just split the vote"?

I understand that, but I’m still not clear what you mean in your original post, sorry I must be having an off day but surely all parties will stand for all seats where they have a chance of winning and the funds to do so, won’t they? It doesn’t surprise me at all that the Tories will employ tactics to win as many seats as they can, particularly in their previously safe areas, that doesn’t mean they will succeed though of course,

I think what has happened is that Labour are doing a token contest, but putting in very little money to seats that can be won by the Libs, and hopefully the reverse in more labour winnable seats..

We HAVE to get rid of this disaster.

It is up to the Labour Party which seats they contest and where they target their resources. I would expect the Labour Party to contest every seat as they are a major political party, funded mainly by the unions. If they really want to defeat the Tories they will concentrate their efforts where they will be most effective.

In the recent Tiverton and Honiton byelection the LibDem candidate Richard Foord won with over 50% of the votes, in spite of the seat having been Tory forever and the Labour candidate having come second previously. This was not in the LibDem list of most winnable seats. At a general election resources are more thinly spread so have to be used carefully.

The Liberal Democrats who are funded mainly by party members and have far fewer resources than Tory or Labour, will always concentrate campaigning in winnable seats.

The Tories, who have by far and away the most money, being funded by billionaires and supported by the rightwing press, will always have an unfair advantage over all the other parties and can afford to employ agents and other staff rather than relying on volunteers so they will campaign everywhere.

varian

Who will split the vote?

There are many seats where the LibDems are the challengers to the Tories and many "soft" Tory voters who could never bring themselves to vote Labour but could be willing to vote LibDem, especially those who voted Remain and are in despair about the damage that brexit has caused.

If the Labour Party campaign hard in seats like that rather than concentrating on the seats where they are the main challengers, then they could be guilty of splitting the anti-Tory vote.

I’m not sure what exactly you’re suggesting varian? The Lib Dems came second in the polls for 91 seats at the 2019 election. Are you suggesting that Labour shouldn’t contest those seats?

Whitewavemark2

Hoping Gove resigns and Libs get the seat.

Not sure how throwing money at the problem whilst still folllowing the same failed policies is going to do it

You say failed policies but from their point of view they have never had it so good. Businesses are making billions in profit, the rich are getting richer so paying out a few pennies to get the population to believe they are doing a good job makes perfect sense. If they changed their policies then that would hit their profits.

Lots of remainers in the Tory land in south of England. They are the graduates who have moved out of London and would perhaps have voted Tory at one time, but no longer.

The brexiters in the north, will need some persuading but I think the economy will do the persuading and the Tories will lose those seats as well with luck.

Who will split the vote?

There are many seats where the LibDems are the challengers to the Tories and many "soft" Tory voters who could never bring themselves to vote Labour but could be willing to vote LibDem, especially those who voted Remain and are in despair about the damage that brexit has caused.

If the Labour Party campaign hard in seats like that rather than concentrating on the seats where they are the main challengers, then they could be guilty of splitting the anti-Tory vote.

Hoping Gove resigns and Libs get the seat.

Not sure how throwing money at the problem whilst still folllowing the same failed policies is going to do it

They'll just split the vote.

Speaking as one who has voted Liberal and Lib Dem many times)

Like that’s going to work!?