Labour Party......

[ToraToraTora]

Even with Boris' head on the block, EC have Labour 9 shy of a majority. If there was an election tomorrow they'd have to get into bed with the SNP in order to form a government. Not that there is any chance of their being an election. Essentially Labour need Scotland to Govern, even by coalition or by actually winning the seats back. The tories do not, that is why there is zero chance of Labour winning in the foreseeable future.

[saintpeter48]

Having been brought up in a Labour family and voted for them for over 50 years I switched to UKIP and then to Tory in the last two GE.
Labour have no chance what so ever of getting back into power in my lifetime, they are riddled with 'wrong 'uns', Starmer has the charisma of a an old pair of socks, those small beady eyes and his monotone voice, gee whiz, do me a favour, add to that the gobby Rayner, chuck in Jess Phillips for good measure, Abbott, David Lammy, Yvette Cooper and Milliband, not a chance in hell of winning.

[ToraToraTora]

Yes, StP I see your concerns, BA.

[JimF]

"Essentially Labour need Scotland to govern"

Actually, they don't. This is a common misconception.

[ichkeria]

Oddly enough I was just thinking that Yvette Cooper, David Lammy (great speech yesterday), Wes Streeting, Lisa Nandy, Chris Bryant
fur example

These are all people who’d greatly strengthen the current cabinet.
Many of the better Tories are outside the cabinet just now.
And I absolutely agree that Labour had allowed in some duffers (how Claudia Webbe snuck in is anyone’s guess)

I agree it’s an uphill struggle for Labour without Scottish MPs and there folks is maybe Johnson’s selling point now: he’s a walking PPB for the SNP

[rowanwitch]

All they need is a poster of Diane Abbott, with the caption could this be the next chancellor....or a few of the harder lefties being led like pets by Putin. The thought of a Labour government terrifies me, I was around through Wilson, Callaghan, Blair and Brown.

[ichkeria]

I guess most people would see through that?
I in any case raise you:

Jacob Rees-Mogg at No 11

No it’s not going to happen either :-)

[Stickybottle]

Talking of parties :

[ToraToraTora]

jimf: "Actually, they don't. This is a common misconception. " - ok I'll play, explain please.

[ichkeria]

Well mathematically he is correct

[ToraToraTora]

ich, how?

[ichkeria]

Are you serious?

Labour needs roughly 326 for an overall majority. There are about 60 seats in Scotland. Over 500 in England alone

[ToraToraTora]

yes but in reality even with the PM getting a kicking and popularity at an all time low Labour are currently showing as 9 adrift of a majority. The Tories are down 97 seats on the last election, that's all the red wall and marginals and then some. So even with partygate, crisis upon crisis, etc etc Labour can't get a majority. So they'd either need to get support from the SNP or turn those seats red themselves. Please explain another way Labour could get a majority: https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction_main.html
Labour need Scotland one way or another, end of.

[ichkeria]

Sure. It’s very hard.
But plainly far from impossible

[ToraToraTora]

no it's pretty close to impossible.

[ichkeria]

Tactical voting is increasingly a thing these days.
And gone are the days when you could count ok a uniform swing across the country.
If there was a general anti-Tory move on the above lines (after all reflecting the anti-Tory majority in the country) a 70+ majority would easily evaporate.
What’s more problematic is what you’d get in its place

[Spungle]

Sad fact that we have such a weak opposition in this country. I have no idea what Starmer or the Party stand for.

[youngmafbog]

They would only stand any chance if Johnson was the leader at election time. And I doubt that will be the case.

I to cant see any way labour could get such a turnaround that they wouldn't need the SNP. There's more chance of Johnson telling the truth for a day.

[douglas9401]

The Bumper Book Of Words An' That defines impossible as:

"Something obviously possible but running contrary to the world view of Brig. Bufton-Tufton (rtd)"

[Gromit]

The SNP gave Labour a bloody nose in Scotland a generation ago.
There is still a lot of animosity between the Parties.
But the common goal of seeing off the deeply despised and lying Conservative Government will bring the warring parties together.
77 is a huge majority, so it might take more than 1 election. But the next Conservative Government will be hugely diminished and struggle.

[JimF]

If you take the results of all of the general elections over the last forty years and remove Scotland from the equation, the party which gained the most seats would be different only twice.

The mistake that people make when quoting this statistic is to deduct the number of Scottish seats from the total number of seats.