| Babies have been kissed, dogs patted, etc. |
British politics is going through an interesting phase. One year after the Brexit vote, the national mood seems to be pointed towards a slightly cuckish, right-of-centre Euro-skeptic Conservatism, combined with a cynicism about almost every other party.
Add to this the fact that UKIP effectively sawed off the branch it was sitting on, and you get the latest local election results in the UK, namely massive but unenthusiastic gains for the Conservative Party, massive losses for a Labour Party that has been hijacked by its activist base, and the collapse of UKIP.
The elections covered about half the local authority areas in England and all councils in Scotland and Wales. They also included some mayoral elections.
The Conservatives gained 563 councillors for a total of 1,899 and won control of 11 local authorities, including Derbyshire, Monmouthshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Warwickshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, and the Isle of Wight. Most of these were authorities where no party had overall control.
Labour lost 382 councillors for a total of 1,152 and lost control of 7 local authorities, including Glasgow, which it has run for centuries. It should also be pointed out that the main opposition party usually makes gains in local elections, not massive losses like the Labour Party just did.
There were mild gains for the Welsh Nationalist Plaid Cymru and mild losses for the Lib Dems, but the other big story was the annihilation of UKIP who lost 145 of their 146 councillors. The problem they have is that a most of their voters are just Conservatives who want out of Europe, and now that the UK is heading out of Europe they are about as much use as a dildo at a wedding.
The only way for UKIP to survive would be to immediately reposition itself as a strong identitarian party, hard on immigration and in favour of a much stronger “British” identity, effectively making itself into a British version of the highly successful Front National in France.
Their present political cocktail contains a major measure of now defunct Eurosceptism (with added bitters) mixed with a strong undertaste of globalist libertarianism and a dash of leftist cucking on social issues, especially on anything regarding pensioners. While the anti-conservative Right in France is made up of the young, in the UK it tends to be made up of Boomers or even older, which is hardly an ideal growth model.
Of course, my analysis could be wrong and UKIP’s demise might all be down to this: UKIP RABBI’S KINKY DOUBLE LIFE OF BONDAGE.
Of course, my analysis could be wrong and UKIP’s demise might all be down to this: UKIP RABBI’S KINKY DOUBLE LIFE OF BONDAGE.
In terms of overall share of the vote, the parties scored as follows: Conservatives 38%, Labour 27%, Lib Dems 18% and UKIP 5%, Others 12%.
Given the peculiarities of the UK voting system, this should translate into a massive landslide for Prime Minister Theresa May at next month’s General Election, leading to the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn the Labour leader, and and his replacement by Andy Burnham, a former health minister, who was one of the few bright spots for Labour, winning the Mayorship of Manchester with 63% of the vote.
| Burnham with ambition, the new mayor of Manchester. |
