The General Election Campaign Has Started

[Bobbisox1]

( Sky News) only there hasn't been a GE decided, no date, Boris wants the 15th October but Corbyn doesn't ?
So what will the 'campaign' contain?

[Old_Geezer]

A GE that is only agreed if conditions the opposition want are fulfilled ?

[ToraToraTora]

yes he could enable and election by an enabling act but that too would have to pass to RA in the normal way.

[Bobbisox1]

Nope nothing Danny which means the lot of them make it up as they go

[Gromit]

Poor old Jarvis made his Chancellors statement yesterday which was supposed to be an election boost. And then they decided not to have one.
It has been clear for several weeks that the Government has been dishing out money all over the place, thinking there would be an election.

[Old_Geezer]

Or at least to be popular. Still, not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Meanwhile, we still have the existing situation.

[ichkeria]

The Lords had 100 private members Bills to get through before the so-called No Deal bill got through. Or at least that was the plan: but the PM has I think cancelled the filibustering tactics and is now actively encouraging the Bill to pass - then challenge Labour again on an election.

[saintpeter48]

So if the remoaners, Lib Dems, Greens, Labour etc lose the General Election will they call for another GE as they didn't like the outcome!

[jim360]

ich, I think it was 100 amendments to the Business motion, rather than 100 Bills. Although some of the amendments were amusing, such as suggesting that the Lords should get around to debating the "No Deal Bill" only once a committee had finished considering the Bat Habitats Regulation Bill.

[THECORBYLOON]

BOBBI, you said the Lords sat til 5am, was that recently?

[Rationalist]

My view:
This will be the dirtiest, the most dishonest and the most distorted election the UK has ever seen.

With the cat out of the bag in terms of social media and targetted placing, both sides will use social media to the fullest. With minimal regulation on that medium, and many adverts are not seen by regulators or other independents (because they are targetted), both sides will be telling huge lies about the other side, or about their own and their opponents' intentions.

Personal attacks will be the currency of the campaigns, while racism, xenophobia and sheer nastiness will be the sub-texts, with 'fake news' being the tool of choice

The Johnson team has shown that it will bend the rules to the limit of conventions and legal permissibility (and probably beyond) in order to gain advantage.

The Brexit party will use dark money to fund many and diverse campaigns, largely on social media (as it did in the past).

The 'Rebel Alliance' will be unable to work together effectively and will present mixed messages, varying from 'we'll get a better deal' (Labour) to "we want to revoke Article50" (Lib-Dem and Green), while the SNP will campaign for another separatist referendum.

The Johnson-led Conservatives and Brexit will have a formal or informal pact to work together, especially to prevent the 21 former Tories from being re-elected. Their combined message will be "we tried to get you out of the EU; the remainers and the others in Parliament stopped us. Now give us a clear mandate"

Except that the language will be more emotionally-charged and less polite.

Conservative-Brexit will win with a solid majority, though not a landslide.

The election will take place as early as possible, because the results of a 'clean break' (no-deal Brexit) will be damaging to the economy. The super-wealthy behind the New Tories and Brexit don't want the public to realise just how bad it is going to be, before they vote for such a damaging policy – as they will in their millions.

[ichkeria]

Jim
No I think there were indeed 100 private members Bills before the main business, which itself had 92 amendments.
One of them was about bats (the winged variety) as I recall because I remember wondering what bats had to do with it .

[Bobbisox1]

Corby , it must have been a misquote by Sarah Jane Mee, it was 1-30am

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/05/brexit-lords-agree-to-push-through-bill-preventing-no-deal-by-end-of-friday

[THECORBYLOON]

JIM, you said, "it's clearly a fundamental flaw that the result of any given vote can be annulled because the opposition chose to abstain."

It was the number voting in FAVOUR that determined the outcome, not abstentions. The outcome would have been the same had the SNP and Labour voted against the motion.

[THECORBYLOON]

BOBBI, I know as I watched until the end. The voting system is ridiculous and the sooner electronic voting is introduced, the better.