The UK election to the European parliament on Thursday, May 23 is being viewed as a gauge to determine the current sentiment on Brexit. But interpreting the results is going to be problematic since the whole process is a shambles. The latest is that the talks between the Conservative and Labour parties in the hope of arriving at deal they can agree on have broken down. Not that there was much hope of success anyway. Given that neither party speaks with a unified voice on this highly divisive issue, a consensus solution emerging would have been nothing short of a miracle.
Turnout in the EU elections is usually low (in 2014 it was just 36%) which shows that it is not a major factor in people’s live. In low turnout elections, passion and anger tend to be the drivers that make people take the trouble to go out to vote and in this case, I suspect that the Leavers have the edge since they are the one who are likely to be angry that the Brexit they voted for three years ago has still not come to fruition. Furthermore, they have a clear choice of voting: the Brexit party or Ukip. Hence it should not be surprising to see that the Brexit party is leading in the polls.
The Remainers, on the other hand, have less to be angry about since they want the status quo and the status quo is being maintained. Also the two major parties are split on this issue and the Labour party’s tortured stance that seeks to appeal to both Remainers and Leavers is hardly inspiring. It would not surprise me to see the clearly Leave parties and the clearly Remain parties such as the Liberal Democrats and the smaller parties.do really well and the ambivalent Labour and Conservative parties to do really badly.
But the most likely result is that this election may end up providing no clear way forward and the UK will keep lurching erratically like a drunk who does not know where he is or where he is going,.
Faux journalist Jonathan Pie handicaps the EU elections in his own distinctive style (Language advisory)
I’m sick of hearing about the “return” of Nigel Farage, because he never bloody went away! Personally, if I were one of his constituents, I’d be pretty ticked off with him talking about “coming out of semi-retirement” -- he’s supposed to be a full-time MEP.
Er… no. The status quo is NOT being maintained, because we’re still talking about Brexit because as of now it’s still definitely going to happen. This is NOT a reason to be happy if you voted Remain. Unfortunately Remain voters are not, as a demographic, angry (enough) people because they are disproportionately younger and better educated.
The Remainers have more to be angry about because the Leavers have BOTH major parties (Labour and Conservative) currently committed to “respecting the result of the referendum” (i.e. Leaving). If you’re a Remain voter, there is nowhere to put your vote other than the appallingly opportunistic and power-corrupted LibDems.
Those people made it a manifesto promise in 2010 to abolish university tuition fees. Offered a place in the ruling coalition after a hung parliament, they didn’t just swing 180 degrees -- they went further than that and actually voted to TRIPLE tuition fees. I’d never voted for them before (lifelong Labour voter), but at that point I promised myself that no matter what Labour might do, I’d never turn to the Lib Dems as my protest.
And now, bastards, Labour have given me no choice. There’s simply no other effective protest vote in England. (In Wales or Scotland the nationalist parties are a better place to register protest). I detest being in this position, and blame ALL of it on Corbyn and his small coterie of nutjobs, and in turn blame them on the horde of wreckers and Conservatives who joined Labour for a laugh and got Corbyn into the leader’s office in the first place. All my adult life Labour have been the only sensible, progressive vote, and Corbyn has destroyed that. He has been up against undoubtedly the worst Prime Minister in a hundred years, possibly ever, and has done precisely nothing with that opportunity. We now face the prospect, before this year is out, of being led as a country by Alexander bloody “Boris” Johnson, as if we weren’t already enough of an international laughing stock. I despair.
Heh. You could say this about many countries and their current leadership and opposition.