The Labour party has won over 400 seats (out of 650) in the 2024 UK General Elections, and Keir Starmer is expected to replace Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister. The Conservatives, in power for the last fourteen years, have suffered a rout, losing over two-thirds of their seats. The SNP has collapsed in Scotland, mostly to Labour, and the Liberal Democrats have gained over sixty seats.
Among smaller parties, the Liberal Democrats have gained over 60 seats, and Reform, the Greens and Plaid Cymru have also gained seats. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, now contesting as an independent, retained Islington North. Labour lost another three seats to independents who ran against its inaction on Palestine. The SNP and DUP suffered big losses, while Sinn Fein’s fortunes seem to have remained unchanged.
There was an anti-genocide independent running against Starmer (the new PM) and they came in second. Image if they had won: biggest Labor majority in generations, you are all set to become PM and you loose your seat because you were vague about whether you support or oppose killing innocent women and children.
Labour lost four seats to independents running against its inaction on Gaza.
and men?
Yeah, it always kinda weirds me out that “killing women and children” is the rallying cry in most conflicts. Civilians. Killing civilians. That’s what’s bad.
Reminds me of an orville quote I can’t find now - something about firing on all the innocent families of a colony, and the navigator chimes in “yes, and all the single people as well!”
i hope this is an omen for what is to happen in the US
An overwhelming majority by seats but only 33% of the popular vote.
36% voted Tory/Reform so voters have not shifted left but split the more right wing vote
And socially progressive parties got 56% of the vote. But that’s split between about 4 parties.
Its missleading to bass too much on that analysis. The parties don’t compete for the popular vote but to concentrate votes within seats they feel they can win.
No one was aiming to win the popular vote. I agree that’s a problem but we can’t really read to much into the split imo.
Let’s hope my doomongering is just that, with other countries in Europe starting to swing that way I hope it’s not sign of the future.
But that’s better than nothing, right?
And ~54% of the votes went to left(ish) parties, so that’s something
So you’re tallying the right wing and comparing vs one party on the “left”?
I get what a lot of you guys are saying about Starmer and the Labour government not being as left wing as Corbyn. I would also like someone who would use this majority to implement some really hardcore leftist policies.
But please can we just take a step back and look at what he wants to do:
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Massive amounts of NHS funding
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Nationalised green energy
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Tax private schools
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Allow regulators to hit company executives with criminal charges
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Nationalise the railways
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Increase the minimum wage to a living wage
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Free school meals
I don’t know about you, but that seems at the very least, left of center. Sure, he’s not making drastic sweeping changes right off the bat. But this country needs an era of stability, whilst we make small but consistent steps in the right direction, and that’s what Starmer will give us
Still let’s not forget the right-wing policies from their manifesto:
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Increasing military spending by 13 billion
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Increase police funding
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More border security force to “stop the boats”
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Build more prisons
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Pour money into polluting industries (car gigafactories, steel production, “carbon capture”)
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Keep oil and gas production in the North Sea for decades, with the only focus on jobs and none on environmental issues.
So yeah I guess it’s better to have an authoritarian social-ish democratic state than an outright fascist one but that’s not a very high bar and will only work until the climate crisis boils us all alive :)
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That’s a great wish list, but I’m not sure how many of those will happen. Increased NHS funding is sadly unlikely given your economy and xenophobia against immigrants. I’m hoping you get increased support for green energy, free school meals and rail nationalisation, and at least a modest raise in the minimum wage. Cheap, clean energy, educated and healthy children, and an affordable and reliable transport system can do so much for the economy.
If you would get to know just one, single thing about blairites, that one thing would be to know that regardless what they promise, they do austerity and neoliberalism.
Starmer and the Labour government not being as left wing as Corbyn
It goes a lot farther than that. From the Cass Report to the HS2 to the genocidal approach towards migrant refugees (deliberate sinking of boats in the Mediterranean), Starmer’s Labour party has demonstrated very little interest in reversing Tory policy.
They campaigned as moderate administrators of Tory extremist platforms and they are positioning themselves to continue to looting of the UK with a liberal demeanor.
They’ll increase policing and call it a day.
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Can we have some of this in the US, please? While we still exist.
Pretty sure our right wing is left of your left wing. So no you can’t have it because you don’t have a system that supports anything other than the right-wing hellscape you got now.
Yeah. There is no left wing party here. Decades of right wing propaganda have convinced our populace of the Ingsoc motto. 😭
Leadership that detests trans people and wants to genocide Palestinians? You’re in luck, bud! You get that no matter who wins!
Now watch them do nothing of consequence.
Oh I’m sure they can privatize the NHS some more. Maybe make some more arms sales to Israel. Cut off healthcare for trans people.
They’ll do all sorts of stuff!
Right, forgot about those devastatingly important priorities.
The least exciting Labor victory in history.
let me guess, they will do nothing and fascism will come back again…
Good that the Tories are out. Starmer is the most middle of the road centrist thou. Would be nice if the elected a left wing party
watching from abroad it seems that keir has got no incentive or menace to make him go more to the left, which means he won’t do it and sees this victory as a reward to his positions. meanwhile tory tactics of incorporating farage’s discourse has finally broke down, and the votes they made out of it have returned to their rightful (pun intended) owner. libdems did their homework. sad for the snp and well deserved for the dup.
The problem is presuming someone needs incentive or malice to do that. The guy was soft-left and known to be so for years, right up until the very second he ran in the leadership election against corbyns heir Rebecca Long Bailey. At that exact moment, as if by magic, he became a neoliberal.
Its almost as if people made it up.
Not sure what you mean. He’s well known for having one stance under Corbyn and another when leader. The first being quite radical and socially progressive, the second being essentially Tory but a bit better. Which bit did they make up: the before or after?
Well known by who? Where are these people? Are they in the room with us right now?
There isn’t anything to corroborate that he was ever either one of those, let alone switched. The people who didn’t want him to win the leadership simply declared it to be thus and such. Despite their claims, that not the same thing as it being true.
The “he switch after he won the leadership” is the part they made up. You have to realise that the label of neoliberal was given to him not only by his enemies within the party but by people who also don’t actually know anything at all about neoclassical economics and simply use the term as a slur to throw at anyone right of the socialist campaign group that they dont like. In fact, the term has all but lost its meaning due to them.
You’d have thought that there was something in-between being a socialist and a neoliberal but, Apparently, were to beleive thats not the case.
Well known by… his policies? The jury’s still out because he only just got into power. He could go back to more Corbynite policies by stealth.
Na, his policies were nothing close to definitive on any positions. Honestly, that part of the left has been fighting the far right so long that they’ve lost track of where the lines are supposed to be and just lie as policy.
