UK's May faces local election losses as key Brexit tests near

[webfact]

UK's May faces local election losses as key Brexit tests near

By William James

 

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May walks out of 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, May 2, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Voters will pass judgement on Prime Minister Theresa May's party on Thursday in local government elections expected to show rising support for her opponents in London that will add to pressure on her position over Brexit.

 

The elections will be viewed as a gauge of support for May at a time when she is facing a possible revolt over her Brexit strategy and a scandal over immigration policies that has already forced the resignation of one of her closest allies.

 

A poor set of results is unlikely to spark internal calls for her resignation, but could weaken her authority over a party deeply divided about the right approach to Brexit ahead of several key parliamentary tests of unity on future customs arrangements with the EU.

 

"Winning elections keeps people together, losing causes dissent. Conservatives will need to avoid the ill-discipline of fighting like ferrets in a sack," said Rob Wilson, a former Conservative lawmaker, writing for the party's grassroots website ConservativeHome.

 

Thursday's vote will decide more than 4,400 council seats, determining the makeup of 150 local government authorities who are responsible for the day-to-day provision of public services. Just over 40 percent of the seats are in London.

 

The headline-grabbing results in the capital are forecast to see a swing towards the opposition Labour Party, reinvigorated under socialist Jeremy Corbyn and fighting a campaign focused on the effects of eight years of Conservative-led spending cuts.

 

A Survation poll on Wednesday in London showed Labour 20 percentage points ahead of the Conservatives.

 

May's party could lose control of some of the eight London boroughs it currently runs out of 32 in total. This would reflect both weariness over cutbacks that affect citizens' daily lives and broader issues like Brexit and the treatment of migrants.

 

Holding Conservative strongholds in London's Westminster and Wandsworth boroughs is seen as the dividing line between a bad day and a terrible day for May. Expectations are low enough that May could lose seats elsewhere, but still emerge with credit.

 

Results in the London borough of Barnet, which has no overall political control, could provide a boost for May if criticism over anti-Semitism in Labour affects the votes of its large Jewish population and prevents Corbyn's party from taking control there for the first time.

 

"I think some of the predictions about the outcome (have been) a bit wild, but we will be campaigning across the country, as we have been, to return more Labour councillors and have more Labour councils to protect people from the impact of Tory (Conservative) austerity," a Labour spokesman said.

 

OUTSIDE LONDON

The outcome outside the capital is likely to be less clear-cut.

 

May was punished right across the country in a general election last summer, losing her parliamentary majority after a campaign that alienated core voters with unpopular social policy and saw her style criticised as robotic and impersonal.

 

But in recent weeks May's ratings have been boosted by her handling of national and international crises such as her decision to take military action in Syria a row with Moscow over the poisoning of a former Russian spy.

 

Corbyn by contrast has been criticised by opponents and some in his own party for misjudging the public mood in his responses.

 

"The last few weeks have reminded some in the Labour heartlands why they don't like Jeremy Corbyn," said Robert Hayward a former Conservative lawmaker who now sits in parliament's upper house and specialises in polling analysis.

 

One bellwether result will come in Trafford in the northern city of Manchester. While Labour dominate politics in the wider region, the Conservatives have held control of Trafford council since 2004, making it a key target for Labour and one May's party would desperately not want to lose.

 

Results in other parts of the country where Brexit has been a dominating factor in recent years will also be closely watched.

 

Of most interest will be how the votes previously hoovered up by the anti-EU UK Independence Party, which has collapsed in popularity since the Brexit vote, are redistributed among the main two parties.

 

A swing to the Conservatives in pro-Brexit areas like Peterborough and the industrial regions across central England will be taken as a much-needed endorsement of May's EU exit strategy.

 

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-03

[Get Real]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

UK's May faces local election losses as key Brexit tests near

Just getting more and more tired of this. Hearing all the time that May faces this and May faces that.

Get to the point! When is it going to stand a headline "May faces mental evaluation for maintaining the Brexit negotiations" ?

[terryw]

This journalist clearly has not looked at the latest Opinion polls. In London the Tories will have a bad but not disastrous election whilst in the real England the question will be why did Labour not do well.

[Retiredandhappyhere]

1 hour ago, Get Real said:

Just getting more and more tired of this. Hearing all the time that May faces this and May faces that.

Get to the point! When is it going to stand a headline "May faces mental evaluation for maintaining the Brexit negotiations" ?

At the same time, I guess, as you face mental evaluation for maintaining the "Remain" position.

[RuamRudy]

47 minutes ago, terryw said:

This journalist clearly has not looked at the latest Opinion polls. In London the Tories will have a bad but not disastrous election whilst in the real England the question will be why did Labour not do well.

It seems that Operation Smear has done the trick - the PM could be caught roasting puppies over her backyard barbecue and much of our idiot countrymen would still vote Tory.

[Get Real]

3 minutes ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

At the same time, I guess, as you face mental evaluation for maintaining the "Remain" position.

Oh, sorry! Did that mean you didn´t understand what you just read? 

[Baerboxer]

54 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

It seems that Operation Smear has done the trick - the PM could be caught roasting puppies over her backyard barbecue and much of our idiot countrymen would still vote Tory.

 

And the alternatives? Hardly anymore impressive. So yes, many will probably vote for who they consider the least worse.

[RuamRudy]

1 minute ago, Baerboxer said:

 

And the alternatives? Hardly anymore impressive. So yes, many will probably vote for who they consider the least worse.

Well what we have now is:

 

- NHS in meltdown

- Social care in meltdown

- Housing crisis

- Massive rise in homelessness

- Institutionally racist home office policies

- Massive rise in violent crime

- Huge cuts in police numbers

- 4 million children now living in poverty

- 1.3 million food bank parcels given out in 2017

- Libraries, youth services, social services etc cut across the country

- Growth collapsing

- National debt up to 1.8 trillion GBP

- Brexit

 

So tell me, please,  whether you think our government is on the right track, and whether could Labour actually make any worse of a job of it?

[Baerboxer]

Just now, RuamRudy said:

Well what we have now is:

 

- NHS in meltdown

- Social care in meltdown

- Housing crisis

- Massive rise in homelessness

- Institutionally racist home office policies

- Massive rise in violent crime

- Huge cuts in police numbers

- 4 million children now living in poverty

- 1.3 million food bank parcels given out in 2017

- Libraries, youth services, social services etc cut across the country

- Growth collapsing

- National debt up to 1.8 trillion GBP

- Brexit

 

So tell me, please,  whether you think our government is on the right track, and whether could Labour actually make any worse of a job of it?

 

Based on previous performance, the views expressed by the current Labour  party leadership, their desire to re-nationalize and implement ideas that have previously not worked, their lack of creativity and innovative new ideas, and their usual idea to tax the economy to death, then yes, I do think they could actually succeed in making a worse job of it.

 

 

 

 

[RuamRudy]

2 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Based on previous performance, the views expressed by the current Labour  party leadership, their desire to re-nationalize and implement ideas that have previously not worked, their lack of creativity and innovative new ideas, and their usual idea to tax the economy to death, then yes, I do think they could actually succeed in making a worse job of it.

 

So the horribly depressing list of failures that I posted that our present government, either willfully accomplished or through incompetence, has foisted upon our country is insufficient justification to suggest that their model is not fit for purpose? Are you seriously suggesting that they are moving us in generally the right direction, and that a fundamental change of path is not in our interests?

 

Our country is on its knees and falling fast; this is not simply a Tory doing - it is the results of a right-wing dogma that is blighting the world; namely the privatisation of profit and the nationalisation of failure. Will Corbyn make things better or worse? I have no idea, but things have been on a downward spiral for the majority for more than a decade - surely it is time to try something else?

[dick dasterdly]

I suspect (or more accurately hope), that the electorate realise that they are being 'sold down the river' by May and MPs when it comes to brexit.

 

But for whom can they vote to show their displeasure at the brexit 'negotiations'??

 

"But in recent weeks May's ratings have been boosted by her handling of national and international crises such as her decision to take military action in Syria a row with Moscow over the poisoning of a former Russian spy."

 

This depressed me enormously.  Politicians still able to use military action to boost support amongst the (IMO) feeble-minded nationalistic .

 

 

[Expatthailover]

2 hours ago, terryw said:

This journalist clearly has not looked at the latest Opinion polls. In London the Tories will have a bad but not disastrous election whilst in the real England the question will be why did Labour not do well.

And opinion polls are always correct.

In the uk the last 2 major polls ( brexit and election ) they got so badly wrong.

[i claudius]

Well what we have now is:
 
- NHS in meltdown
- Social care in meltdown
- Housing crisis
- Massive rise in homelessness
- Institutionally racist home office policies
- Massive rise in violent crime
- Huge cuts in police numbers
- 4 million children now living in poverty
- 1.3 million food bank parcels given out in 2017
- Libraries, youth services, social services etc cut across the country
- Growth collapsing
- National debt up to 1.8 trillion GBP
- Brexit
 
So tell me, please,  whether you think our government is on the right track, and whether could Labour actually make any worse of a job of it?

So just shows what a mess labour left the country in almost impossible to get it back on track

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[RuamRudy]

4 minutes ago, i claudius said:

So just shows what a mess labour left the country in almost impossible to get it back on track

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Labour has not been in power for 8 years - time to face the facts: David Cameron and Theresa May have failed in the most tragic of ways. Regardless of the origins of our country's demise, and I don't think you can blame the global recession on Gordon Brown, their means of recovery has been a disaster for those of us who are not Panaman bank account holders.

Edited May 3, 2018 by RuamRudy

[billd766]

57 minutes ago, Expatthailover said:

And opinion polls are always correct.

In the uk the last 2 major polls ( brexit and election ) they got so badly wrong.

 

Personally I don;t think much of any opinion poll because quite simply what it is.

 

An opinion. Other opinions can be completely different.

 

The best thing is to wait until the results are in and the votes counted.

 

How ever there will always be people who will say this was done wrong or right, but once again that is also only an opinion.

[gamini]

3 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

Well what we have now is:

 

- NHS in meltdown

- Social care in meltdown

- Housing crisis

- Massive rise in homelessness

- Institutionally racist home office policies

- Massive rise in violent crime

- Huge cuts in police numbers

- 4 million children now living in poverty

- 1.3 million food bank parcels given out in 2017

- Libraries, youth services, social services etc cut across the country

- Growth collapsing

- National debt up to 1.8 trillion GBP

- Brexit

 

So tell me, please,  whether you think our government is on the right track, and whether could Labour actually make any worse of a job of it?

and 1.7% GNP as opposed to Thailand 4.6%

[7by7]

Of course, using local election results as an accurate prediction of a general election result is a complete waste of time and effort; for three reasons.

1. Not every voter will have the chance to vote because not every ward in every council elect their councillor at the same time. Each local authority will either elect all the local councillors every 4 years, elect half the local councillors every two years or elect one third of the local councillors every year for 3 years and hold no elections in the 4th year
2. Turn out in local elections is much lower, averaging below 50%, than in general elections where the average is above 70%.
3. People do use local elections to show their dissatisfaction with the government, a form of protest vote. But the majority then revert back to their party loyalty come a general election.

So; 

• Not every voter has the chance to vote.
• Of those that that do, less than half will actually vote.
• Of those that do vote, many will vote for a different party to the one they would support in a general election as a form of protest.

All this wont stop the media and others from using today's results to judge the country's support or lack of support for May and her government, of course.

[citybiker]

Labour has not been in power for 8 years - time to face the facts: David Cameron and Theresa May have failed in the most tragic of ways. Regardless of the origins of our country's demise, and I don't think you can blame the global recession on Gordon Brown, their means of recovery has been a disaster for those of us who are not Panaman bank account holders.

8 years in power, and at least two government periods to sort out its mess, May has the Shiote stick that’s issued, the alternative being? (Please don’t tell me labour <deleted>)

I do agree though the electorate are too fickle and expects improvements too soon.

The national debt won’t go away and the liberal left labour lot need reminding of this issue when spouting off austerity BS.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RuamRudy]

10 minutes ago, citybiker said:

8 years in power, and at least two government periods to sort out its mess, May has the Shiote stick that’s issued, the alternative being? (Please don’t tell me labour <deleted>)

I do agree though the electorate are too fickle and expects improvements too soon.

The national debt won’t go away and the liberal left labour lot need reminding of this issue when spouting off austerity BS.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Austerity - the imposition of seemingly neverending Dickensian punishments on the poor because the rich got themselves in a bit of a bind due to their profligate greed.

 

It wasn't the working man who brought the world's banking systems to the verge of collapse, but it is the working man who had to bear the brunt of it, while the rich continue to plunder and hoard. The huusband of our own PM continues to make his millions helping his rich friends hide their money offshore, further isolating their wealth from any notion of fair taxation - and his own company doesn't even pay corporation tax. Yet you seem to think that austerity is somehow necessary? Here is a fact for you - austerity is a choice, made to appease friends and donors of the Tories. Alternatives exist - they just don't accomodate the naked greed of the bastardised version of capitalism that Tories love.

[citybiker]

Austerity - the imposition of seemingly neverending Dickensian punishments on the poor because the rich got themselves in a bit of a bind due to their profligate greed.
 
It wasn't the working man who brought the world's banking systems to the verge of collapse, but it is the working man who had to bear the brunt of it, while the rich continue to plunder and hoard. The huusband of our own PM continues to make his millions helping his rich friends hide their money offshore, further isolating their wealth from any notion of fair taxation - and his own company doesn't even pay corporation tax. Yet you seem to think that austerity is somehow necessary? Here is a fact for you - austerity is a choice, made to appease friends and donors of the Tories. Alternatives exist - they just don't accomodate the naked greed of the bastardised version of capitalism that Tories love.

As opposed to failed socialism.

Austerity a choice?

Perhaps you should point that out to Brown/Blair when they nearly bankrupt the U.K.

What alternative?
Whilst bringing the debt down, McDonald has made his fantasy policies well known.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Chomper Higgot]

16 minutes ago, citybiker said:

As opposed to failed socialism.

Austerity a choice?

Perhaps you should point that out to Brown/Blair when they nearly bankrupt the U.K.

What alternative?
Whilst bringing the debt down, McDonald has made his fantasy policies well known.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tory socialism:

 

Profits into the private pockets of the already wealthy.

 

Bank debts socialized into the backs of working people.

[RuamRudy]

14 minutes ago, citybiker said:

As opposed to failed socialism.

 

4 million children in the UK live in poverty. Homelessness is at levels most people have never seen before; the gap between rich and poor is growing daily. Is that some sort of triumph for capitalism?

 

16 minutes ago, citybiker said:

Austerity a choice?

Perhaps you should point that out to Brown/Blair when they nearly bankrupt the U.K.

Your understanding of the events that led to the global crises is somewhat parochial. Do you think that Brown & Blair brought down Morgan Stanley, GM, the economy of Iceland etc etc etc? They may have been fanboys of the system but they were mere cogs in the machine that continues to grind.

 

18 minutes ago, citybiker said:

What alternative?
Whilst bringing the debt down, McDonald has made his fantasy policies well known.

How about actually taxing the large multi nationals that take so much from the economy but return so little? How about ensuring that the elites of the country cannot avoid the tax obligations that the rest of us have to live with? How about preventing the PM's own husband from facilitating the hiding of the wealthiest UK residents' cash in obscure tax havens? And while we are at it, how about actually asking his company to pay taxes on their profits - you know, like all the little people have to do?

[citybiker]

How about actually taxing the large multi nationals that take so much from the economy but return so little? How about ensuring that the elites of the country cannot avoid the tax obligations that the rest of us have to live with? How about preventing the PM's own husband from facilitating the hiding of the wealthiest UK residents' cash in obscure tax havens? And while we are at it, how about actually asking his company to pay taxes on their profits - you know, like all the little people have to do?

Blair & Brown were in the position to foresee, politically incompetent at the highest level, no excuses.

They’ll always be poverty, homelessness etc labour were not immune from this fact.

I’m no capitalist fan however I detest the liberal labour hypocrisy even more, the current labour shower are even more dangerous if allowed to return to office.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Chomper Higgot]

7 minutes ago, citybiker said:

Blair & Brown were in the position to foresee, politically incompetent at the highest level, no excuses.

They’ll always be poverty, homelessness etc labour were not immune from this fact.

I’m no capitalist fan however I detest the liberal labour hypocrisy even more, the current labour shower are even more dangerous if allowed to return to office.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You’ve given us a load of opinion but nothing to back it up.

 

Here’s some reading on homelessness:

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-charts-which-show-how-homelessness-has-soared-under-the-conservatives-a7198966.html

[RuamRudy]

2 minutes ago, citybiker said:

Blair & Brown were in the position to foresee, politically incompetent at the highest level, no excuses.
 

Apparently very few people foresaw, and those who did were ignored. But regardless, the issue is about the response to the crises, not the crises themselves.

 

4 minutes ago, citybiker said:

They’ll always be poverty, homelessness etc labour were not immune from this fact.

Personally, I find it unacceptable that we have had 8 years of Tory PMs while the levels of poverty in the UK have grown; the levels of inequality have rocketed; the quality of life for working class Britons has declined and the levels of service we have taken for granted for generations are disappearing. Nobody is talking about a magic pill to eradicate poverty - but we are moving in totally the wrong direction.

 

11 minutes ago, citybiker said:

I’m no capitalist fan however I detest the liberal labour hypocrisy even more, the current labour shower are even more dangerous if allowed to return to office.

So you support the ongoing transfer of wealth from the many to the few; the privatisation of the NHS, the erradication of workers' rights and the myriad other ways the tories are raping our country?

[Grouse]

6 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Based on previous performance, the views expressed by the current Labour  party leadership, their desire to re-nationalize and implement ideas that have previously not worked, their lack of creativity and innovative new ideas, and their usual idea to tax the economy to death, then yes, I do think they could actually succeed in making a worse job of it.

 

 

 

 

I cannot abide Corbyn or the execrable Abbot. However I would renationalise utilities.

[Grouse]

46 minutes ago, citybiker said:

Blair & Brown were in the position to foresee, politically incompetent at the highest level, no excuses.

They’ll always be poverty, homelessness etc labour were not immune from this fact.

I’m no capitalist fan however I detest the liberal labour hypocrisy even more, the current labour shower are even more dangerous if allowed to return to office.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please use a little more precision for clarity

 

I do not think Labour are partularly liberal these days.

 

Liberal Democrats are rather more liberal. I do so wish they had forced through tertiary education to be free at the point of delivery

Edited May 3, 2018 by Grouse
Parity error

[citybiker]

Please use a little more precision for clarity
 
I do not think Labour are partularly liberal these days.
 
Liberal Democrats are rather more liberal. I do so wish they had not forced through tertiary education to be free at the point of delivery

Ok, perhaps Labour are more under the ‘Momentum’ influence than many wish to believe?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Grouse]

3 minutes ago, citybiker said:

Ok, perhaps Labour are more under the ‘Momentum’ influence than many wish to believe?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree!

[RuamRudy]

12 minutes ago, citybiker said:

Ok, perhaps Labour are more under the ‘Momentum’ influence than many wish to believe?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So the 120,000 people who have died due to the unnecessary imposition of austerity is the price to be paid to keep labour out of office?