2019 UK election 2

Newest poll has the Tory lead at only six points, in line with most recent polls showing the race tightening:  

Cons 39%

Labour 33%

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/general-election-latest-p...

The photo that sums up the imbalance of wealth in Britain

Cliff Judson's photo highlighting the imbalance of wealth in the capital went viral

Election 2019: Transatlantic socialism rising

The ‘green new deal’ (GND) can appear an odd frame for climate justice organisers in the UK. After all, the UK never had an original New Deal. This was presumably the thinking behind Labour’s attempt to rebrand it as a ’green industrial revolution’, capturing the historic resonance of an important period of economic and social development for a project of rapid national mobilisation on the interlinked issues of climate change and economic transformation.

The energy among the Labour grassroots, however, has stuck with the notion of a GND, which in Labour’s conference policy includes a 2030 decarbonisation target and a just transition for affected workers. The frame has cachet not because British voters have developed an overnight affection for Franklin D Roosevelt, but because the GND today connotes something different – a movement and policy connection with the most progressive elements of the US left, typified by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders.

This connection is not imaginary. Indeed the connections between the US and British socialist movements have become deeper and the fruits of their cooperation increasingly concrete. Sanders now speaks of public ownership of utilities and renewable power generation – a concept foreign to his 2016 campaign – while Labour has committed to deeper and faster decarbonisation than in 2017.

Ownership funds

The Democracy Collaborative has facilitated some of these exchanges, particularly on the issue of worker ownership and control. This includes the proposal to mandate worker-controlled ownership funds in major companies. These would be asset-locked and risk-free for workers. They would pay an annual dividend but otherwise be non-tradeable, giving workers an incentive to use their ownership stake to increase wages and agitate for better conditions and control rather than maximising share values and selling to the highest bidder.

Just as financial deregulation and the ‘right to buy’ council homes gave many British workers a direct stake in the individualised capitalism of the 1980s onwards, ownership funds would be a direct and tangible link between economic democracy and workers’ pockets – and a model for further democratisation later. The strategic dimension is important here. Labour’s economic programme needs to provide immediate and tangible benefits to maintain consent for the deepening of a democratic socialist programme.

NDPP wrote:

Poll Reveals the Tories Have A 13 Point Lead Over Corbyn

https://twitter.com/BrexitCentral/status/1201161602109759488

"Labour erupts into civil war and blames pro-Remain MPs for the loss of Brexit-backing voters as yet another poll shows them behind in the polls."

At least half of Labour voters are Remainers. They support Labour's election platform and remaining in the EU, which can be done simultaneously.

The biggest mistake Labour has made during this election has been allowing itself to be represented by a leader with extremely low approval ratings.

JKR wrote:

NDPP wrote:

Poll Reveals the Tories Have A 13 Point Lead Over Corbyn

https://twitter.com/BrexitCentral/status/1201161602109759488

"Labour erupts into civil war and blames pro-Remain MPs for the loss of Brexit-backing voters as yet another poll shows them behind in the polls."

At least half of Labour voters are Remainers. They support Labour's election platform and remaining in the EU, which can be done simultaneously.

The biggest mistake Labour has made during this election has been allowing itself to be represented by a leader with extremely low approval ratings.

1) He's only seen a drop in popularity due to four years or relentless Tory/BBC/Murdoch lies.  The man hasn't actually done anything wrong.

2)As quoted upthread The polls show that Labour's position on the EU issue is more popular than than either "no-deal Brexit" OR "Revoke Article 50".

Sorry no 'deepening of a democratic socialist programme' allowed under existing EU

..lets be clear, it's not the eu saying it can't be done it's ndpp saying this. the only way to find out in reality is to go for it..just like struggles everywhere. meanwhile it's the same struggle as a brexit struggle would need to be to remain out of the eu clutches. 

..the reality of this election is not the same as the struggle against the eu be it via brexit hard or soft. the struggle of this election is to elect a labour government. to do this labour has to attract votes re remain, leave and otherwise. to not see this one must have to deny reality. so going around blaming leave or remain would be counter productive. 

..and the best chance of labour winning the election lies in it's manifesto. 

As usual, epaulo says what needs to be said. Thanks.

JKR wrote:

Ken Burch wrote:

1) He's only seen a drop in popularity due to four years or relentless Tory/BBC/Murdoch lies.  The man hasn't actually done anything wrong.

I agree that Corbyn has been treated unfairly but politics is usually very unfair especially to left of centre politicians. I think it made no sense for Labour to enter this election with an extremely unpopular leader, even though it was very unfair how Corbyn's unpopularity was created. Labour is now fighting a huge uphill battle because they are coming from far behind and it's actually impressive that they are over 30% in the polls. I think Labour would be in first place or close to first place if they were being led by someone with even just neutral approval ratings.

As I have pointed out in previous posts, if there were another Labour leader with the same policies as Corbyn, that leader would also have been demonized by the same people who demonized Corbyn, using the same methods. Sooner or later, you just have to defeat them with the leader you have, or they will always win.

As usual Ken grasps at any straw to support his Corbynite myopia.

He is only unpopular because the evil Blairites have demonized him.

Labour is only 6% behind , citing the single poll that shows the margin that close and not the rest which average out to an 11% Tory lead.

JKR is exactly right that Corbyn unpopularity severely handicaps Labour. The current government is deservedly unpopular but stands to win almost exclusively because Corbyn is so sweepingly unpopularity.

It was so irresponsible for Corbyn to cling to the leadership and not only doom Labour to another defeat but re-elect a truly awful government. Corbyn will bear the opprobrium of history and the thanks of the Conservatives. What an useful idiot.

Meanwhile, here is a more clinical assessment of what awaits Labour after Corbyn’s defeat on Dec. 12:

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/could-corbyn-cling-on-if-labour-lose/

Labour's Red Wall is Looking Shaky...

https://twitter.com/PeterRamsay2011/status/1201411061188087808

"The penny finally drops at The Guardian. 'In the absence of Brexit being delivered, why should voters trust politicians to do anything else?"

That's what party fandoms are for. Always cheer never question.

NDPP wrote:

Labour's Red Wall is Looking Shaky...

https://twitter.com/PeterRamsay2011/status/1201411061188087808

"The penny finally drops at The Guardian. 'In the absence of Brexit being delivered, why should voters trust politicians to do anything else?"

That's what party fandoms are for. Always cheer never question.

There's no way it could help Labour in the polls to take a position on Brexit that 80% of Labour voters oppose and will always oppose.  And that's what you're demanding in insisting that the position HAD to be "no deal Brexit", had to include abandoning the labour rights, human rights and environmental protection aspects of the EU-the only meaningful protections of labour rights, human rights, and environmental safety that apply to the UK at the moment-when it should have been enough to get out ot the economic constraints.

But let's face it...you were always going to end up campaigning for Labour's destruction in the hope that somehow, in some way, this might bring whatever it is in the UK that you see as the party political equivalent of the World Socialist Web Site into eventual power there.

It's sickening that you're willing to see the NHS destroyed-as it will be if the Tories get a majority-just to punish Labour for not doing exactly as you wish-that Labour doing 98% of what you wanted couldn't ever have been enough.

Tariq Ali on U.K. Elections, Corbyn’s “Radical Social-Democratic Program” & Rise of Extreme Right

quote:

TARIQ ALI: Amy, the first thing you have to understand is that the British Conservative Party has effectively been taken over by the extreme right wing inside that party, and they are waging a very right-wing campaign. On Brexit, their own position has changed from when they were threatening a no-deal Brexit to now accepting a compromise with the European Union. And Boris Johnson has decided to center the election on Brexit because he thinks he can convince people that every other politician in the land, especially Jeremy Corbyn, will never push it through.

The line Corbyn has taken is that whatever deal he achieves with the European Union will be put to the people and they will be given a choice again. Now, this is unpopular with some of his own supporters, but that’s the deal. However, what Corbyn has been arguing is that he refuses to fight the election on Brexit or no Brexit. He says this election has to be fought on real social and economic issues. And this is why he unleashed this radical social democratic program at Birmingham not so long ago, which is the most radical program Labour has had for a very long time, indeed for many, many decades.

quote:

And interestingly enough, amongst the undecided people, Corbyn scored a victory with that television debate, which you just showed an excerpt from. Not one of the great confrontations in British political history, but in any case, he scored well with unattached voters. So he knows that there’s everything to play for. And Corbyn is at his best when he’s campaigning, when he’s talking to ordinary people. He hates mainstream television and how it distorts politics and how it manipulates. And and who can blame him? So he’s at his best when he’s talking to people on the streets or big meetings or answering questions from real people.

And we hope that he will become the largest party in Parliament, if not something more than that. I mean, the campaign is now after a couple of weeks beginning to pick up. And when I last spoke to Julian Assange and I said to him, “Do you see any hope at all, Julian?” he said, “The only hope is a Corbyn government, Tariq.” Because he said, “I can’t depend on the English judiciary.” So on many, many levels—civil liberties, women’s rights, racism—I think this is the campaign that we’re going to see, and whether it enthuses enough people, who knows.

quote:

The interesting thing is that the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democrats, are waging such a right-wing anti-Corbyn campaign that now they’ve said that they’ll join a coalition with the Conservatives, Boris Johnson, if Boris just agrees to another referendum, which is very unlikely. And the Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, though I’ve nicknamed her Jo Strangelove, attacks Corbyn for not saying in public that if prime minister, he would press the nuclear button, saying he’s a pacifist, he’s this and he’s that, making a nuclear war one of the minor issues in this campaign. So, I mean, I think she will lose votes for saying that and I think she might even lose her own seat in Scotland, which is very hostile to nuclear weapons. But it’s a crazy campaign [inaudible].

A World in Revolt Against Neoliberalism & Corruption: Tariq Ali on the Roots of Today’s Uprisings

quote:

TARIQ ALI: Well, I think it’s extremely significant because what it reveals is a new generation completely alienated from the political structures of their societies, in most cases. It’s the case in Chile where Sylvie [sic] Bachelet, the socialist president for two terms, did nothing to transform, reform and get rid of Pinochet’s structures, political, socioeconomic structures in that country. And this is what young people in Chile are saying.

quote:

So the effect it has here—here, young people are saying it’s the Corbyn campaign. If Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t win, I think you will see trouble here. You’ve seen it in France with the gilets jaunes movement, the yellow vests, where the repression was horrendous. We now have got the figures—10,000 arrests, people shot with gas in the eye. The head of the French health service recently blogged, pleading with the government, “Please stop firing in young people’s eyes. We’ve had to remove one completely and many, many people are now suffering.”

So it’s not simply that it’s happening elsewhere. It’s happening in Europe as well. And of course, in your country, you have these huge gatherings. I mean, 26,000 people gathering in Brooklyn to hear Bernie Sanders—that sort of thing doesn’t happen every day in an election campaign. So I think underneath the surface and above it, there is a lot of rumbling.

TARIQ ALI: Yeah. That has been huge, very well-organized, unpredictable. Attempts to delegitimize it have failed because the courts have ruled that the police have no right to ban these demonstrations, which is one of the few legal victories a movement has won in this country in recent years. So that is happening here. And, you know, let’s hope it ties in with the election campaign. I think the figures are that over a million people have registered between the ages of 18 and 34. They’ve kept to the date, they’ve registered. So I hope that that helps. It would be amazing.

Also, Amy, if Corbyn wins and begins to implement the program, it will have a big effect globally. If it can be done in Britain, why can’t it be done in France? Why can’t it be done in the United States? Why can’t it be done in country X or Y or Z? It will show that it is possible to reverse all the damage inflicted by the neoliberal system, its economic policies, its wars, et cetera. Corbyn would be the first prime minister of this country who has been an anti-war activist and president of the Stop the War campaign for some years.

So that is one reason the right is so upset and the establishment has been trying to destabilize him and this absurd, absurd accusation of him being anti-Semitic has been thrown into the ring by right-wing and liberal Zionists, which has unfortunately had an impact. But you know, people are fighting back, including large numbers of Jewish activists from Jewish Voices for Labor. But they’ve hurled every possible charge you can imagine at him. He’s a terrorist. He’s an anti-Semite. He’s a communist. He’s going to be like Stalin. You cannot imagine it outside this country, what they’ve thrown at him. And he’s come back fighting. Well, this is probably his last fight politically to win this election, and let’s hope he succeeds.

I think Ken stated that 80% of Labour voters oppose a hard Brexit or a no-deal Brexit.

JKR wrote:

I think Ken stated that 80% of Labour voters oppose a hard Brexit or a no-Brexit.

That's correct.  Most people, I suspect, are actually somewhere in the middle-the Labour position on the EU is more popular, overall, than either "no-Deal Brexit" or "all-out Remain"-and would mainly like to get rid of the bad-the economic/spending/taxation constraints-without losing the good-the labour/environmental/human rights guarantees.

Corbyn's position does that.

BTW, no one has any reason to assume, were a second referendum to be held, that it somehow goes without saying that a landslide Remain victory would be a given.  There have been conflicting polls on that.

NDPP wrote:

GE2019: Dozens of Labour Candidates Vow To Double-Cross Their Own Voters By Fighting To Stop Brexit

...

"In total, 182 GE candidates have signed a pledge drawn up by the campaign group Remain Labour. It states: Labour is committed to a confirmatory referendum to give you the final say on Brexit. If elected as your Labour MP, I pledge to campaign to Remain in the EU..."

Giving people a final say is not a double cross, it's democracy in action. UK'ers should be able to vote on Brexit now that it is much more clear what Brexit would be about. UK'ers that still support Brexit would still be able to vote for it but now they would be doing so with much more information. Brexiters are afraid that the majority of voters would vote against Brexit once they know what the legislation establishing it actually entails. The voters of the UK should be able to vote on the exact Brexit they will have to live with. Anything less than that is fraud. Many of these Brexiters are fraudsters trying to force Brexit down the throats of UK'ers. Boris is a con man.

NDPP doesn't care that he always seems to be attacking even real left parties like Labour.  Doing that, and echoing right-wing talking points, is in the service of a greater cause.

NDPP wrote:

Never Forgive. Never Forget.

In my opinion, this approach to life is a guarantee of lasting misery. You are welcome to it, but I'll say no thanks.

BeadyManPoet - We are many

After 9 1/2 years or Tory austerity it's time for change, time to protect vital public services, time to put an end to homelessness, time to end the hostile environment that has caused so much suffering to immigrants, refugees and their families, time to redistribute the wealth of one of the largest economies in the world and time to protect our beloved NHS for future generations. Remember WE ARE MANY, THEY ARE FEW.

Dua Lipa urges followers to support Labour at general election: ‘Your vote counts’

Dua Lipa has encouraged her 36.7 million followers to vote Labour in the forthcoming general election, with a detailed Instagram post breaking down the policies of both Labour and the Conservatives on various issues.

The policy breakdown, which was put together by fashion and art publication The Basement, outlined issues such as mental health, LGBT+ issues, equality/inequality, and climate change and the environment.

The “New Rules” singer pointed out that Labour displayed a greater interest in those topics in their manifesto.

The post also highlighted the pledges made by each party, including those made for “younger people”.....

...

Dua Lipa - New Rules 

Be there TODAY: join the march led by NHS nurses and doctors, from 4pm in Trafalgar Square, then marching down the Mall to make our voice heard as Trump arrives at Buckingham Palace!

One nice thing about the UK leaving the EU is that people in the UK won't be able to blame all their problems on the EU anymore. Maybe without the EU, the UK will suddenly become a beacon of democracy?!?!? Maybe many in Scotland and Northern Ireland will want to leave Boris's and Nigel's fantasy island?!?! 

..the boys from brazil came into my thoughts when i looked at this pic.

Leaders of the Nato countries, and its secretary general, join Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. Photograph: Yui Mok/AP

Page 24 of Labour's 2017 general election manifesto pledged to 'accept the referendum result'. They didn't. Instead we have all the familiar machinations typical of collaborationist bourgeois political parties including UK Labour to save their EU overlords absolute dominion. Smear and fear campaigns of Leave 'deplorables' as 'racists', procedural trickery in Parliament, 'confirmatory refereundum', 'soft'- Brexit, BRINO/ Remain etc. This is nothing new. Other recalcitrant, resistent and no-voting populations resisting EU neoliberalist domination have also found themselves being made to vote repeatedly until the desired end for Brussels was finally achieved. UK Labour sold out. It's clear and plain and there's no nice way to say it.  But then what do you care as long as your 'team' wins? By any means necessary.

"Britain is leaving the European Union. That is the decision of the Referendum..." - Jeremy Corbyn

https://twitter.com/BBCLookNorth/status/862292802708832260