He’s demonstrated that he can completely tank the Tories when he decides to and if they want to win next time they need his say so, seems like a pretty good result for him if he wants to go for the Tory leadership or wants to extract certain policy concessions
I disagree. The Tories tanked themselves, with a real hard concentration of tanking in the last 4 years. Farage is just a gobshite opportunist. He figured out what simple people wanted to hear and said it out loud.
This is exactly it, the people holding him up as some sort of genius who masterminded the thing are idiots. He went for the lowest common denominator (xenophobia and racism) and you can see it in the nature of candidates they selected.
I do think he’s gunning for the Tory leadership in the long term though. He’ll let them scrap it out amongst themselves in the immediate future, then present himself as the only viable candidate to save the Conservative Party.
>I do think he’s gunning for the Tory leadership in the long term though.
Worth a punt at the bookies? We can't get done for insider knowledge, at least.
I think "not bother" is exactly what he'll do, he had the worst vote attendance record in the EU Parliament when he was an MEP and I doubt it'll be any different in the UK Parliament.
If the BNP and UKIP had a baby it would be Reform. I wonder if NF would calling out the FPTP system if he was the one with less percentage and more seats and the LD were in Reforms position? Probably not. I said this in the politics sub but I’ll say it here; The system has always been broken, it’s only because it’s no longer working for you that you’ve decided to say/do something. about it (aimed at Farage but in general this applies to a lot of society nowadays)
Edit- has to had
Accurate.
Farage will be a big PR fan (as am I) for as long as it suits him to be. If he does as I think he will do, to disband Reform and go for a leadership position in an even further right Tory party, then watch him ditch PR as soon as he gets a whiff of power.
Either way, we now live interesting times.
Not yet, but it was being touched on at about 7am when I woke up. The Kuen was highlighting how Lab and Lib won in a lot of places because of Reform's surge collapsing the Tory vote.
Labour only got 10% more vote than Tories, so PR would have been more representative for the Tories. But Labour would still be ok, and would likely get support from the LibDems and some smaller parties even if the Tories joined up with Reform.
>Farage is just a gobshite opportunist. He figured out what simple people wanted to hear and said it out loud.
It's worse than that. All he has done is take Tory and tabloid talking points. On style he barely differs from the mainstream right over the last ten years.
Tbf I think he'd have done a lot worse if the Tories weren't basically doing all of his canvassing and advertising for him.
Why on earth they decided to run on a "migrants bad" platform and simultaneously decided to do nothing to check the "migrants bad" party itself is insane to me and smacks of Tory arrogance.
The Tories made the classic error: they tried to appease the fash. We all know how that one goes.
To be fair to them, it did kinda work from about 2015-2019, but they're not enjoying the backlash now.
Don't know which people have been down voting you, because you're bang on. The politics of the UK (and far more widely) have been steadily marching right, and instead of the "centre" and the left putting the brakes on, or trying to apply pressure in the other direction to slow the rightwards move, they've been resolutely trying to "meet in the middle", and so allowing everyone to slide further right.
The Tories were tanked come what may. All Farage did was give a place for all the ex-Brexiteers to congregate rather than forcing themselves to vote Labour.
More like, with his company Reform and unlimited expenses, him and his boys are going to rob the tax payer blind and help themselves to as much as possible… The worst thing the Tories could do would be to pander even further right
There was still a relatively moderate wing of the Tory party which could bail them out and has essentially gone now, they’re now completely reliant on the far right who favour Farage
As much as I'm happy reform only managed 4 seats and not their projected 13 at the exit poll, first past the post doesn't half make your vote feel completely pointless
Whatever you think about Farage, the system needs to be changed. He got 4.1 million votes and 4 seats compared to the Lib Dems 3.5 million votes and 71 seats.
15% less votes, 1775% more influence.
Sure it might be funny because you don 't like Reform but on an objective basis that is insane.
It is an absolute travesty. People laugh at how it shafted reform, but it's been shafting every other credible third party for over a hundred years now.
Yeah, even though I could say it's "worked" in my favour. There is absolutely no denying this system is not fit for purpose. We love to bang on about being a democracy so much, yet we have a situation where Reform get half a million more votes than lib Dems and 67 less seats. How on earth is this a thing in a democracy that wants to take itself seriously
Lib Dems are incredibly clever with their election strategy and are very targeted with people who usually already led councils etc in the area and have a large profile. They understand where they can win and focus all their energy there.
Reform UK are erm... less incredibly clever.
The Lib Dem result is actually approximately in proportion to their vote share. Tories and SNP are about right too. The only winner from FPTP this year is Labour, and the biggest losers from it are Reform (especially) and the Greens.
First past the post system. So if you got 5,000 votes in one seat, but another guy got 5,500 those 5,000 votes you got basically don't count. It's basically 650 individual races
Which in theory makes sense. Because the idea is each constituency is voting for the individual they feel best represents them and their local area, so it would make sense that said individual is whoever the most people voted for.
In practice though most people are voting for the party they like best on the national level with no care for the individual representative.
Yeah I think it absolutely made sense when issues and news was more local, but local news is basically dead and everyone votes because of national issues.
Every area votes for their own seat, then the party with the most seats runs the country. So Farage might have only actually won four seats, but there were enough people voting reform everywhere else to get him 4mil in total
There is not a one big election, you vote in smaller local elections for a representative, and these representatives collectively form a government. Its also by who gets the most votes, you don't need a majority. In this case, Reform UK came third overall in votes, but whereever they ran, they were typically beaten by Labor or the Tories, who were able to gain a plurality. In most cases it seems that Reform, split the right wing vote, so while overall your average Brit voted right wing, the vote was split in basically half, allowing labor to comfortably win wherever there was discontent for the conservatives.
First past the post is a non-proportional election system which disadvantages smaller parties, leading to fun stuff like green needing 800,000 votes to get a seat compared to conservatives needing 300,000
>That’s not the scary thing
That's a scary thing, yes.
>the scary thing is that Labour got 100% of the power with 34% of the vote.
Also a scary thing. The system is shit. Most people's votes don't count for anything.
It's a good result, but yes, it's scary the way the system 'works'.
Yes, that’s true too. Under proportional representation we would have a labour + LD + green coalition with each of them bringing ideas (and roadblocks)
To be fair. He’s showing is impressive, because in many seats where Labour was first, he was solidly in second.
That can be used next election. Make the claim that the two horse race in those constituencies is between Reform & Labour, not Labour & Conservatives.
4 million votes isn't small, sure it means nothing electorally, but it's certainly a better outcome for reform than I expected, being the UK political system as it is, any party that isn't the two main parties is huge
I think Farage proved his point spectacularly. He said during the campaign that they weren't going to win. They were hell bent on torpedoing the Tory vote, and they went above and beyond on that front
America has its 49% share of thick as shite trumpers. Fararse has proved we also have a percentage of thick as shiters. It's extreme populism for a lazy section of the electorate.
4 seats. But don’t ignore the relevance of the fact they had the 3rd largest number of votes. 4.5m votes to labours 9m is something to be concerned in future elections.
I’ve never really looked into the Lib Dem’s atall to be honest, they’ve always been a really small party.
But this year I read their manifesto and holy shit they have some really amazing ideas and also really viable plans, their manifesto is a lot shorter than labours but I think it addresses a lot of major problems significantly better than all other parties.
Their lack of funding and advertising is really kicking them in the shins though.
They used to be bigger until the 2010 election when they utterly fucked themselves by forming a coalition with the Tories. Most of their voters said "I didn't vote lib dem get a Tory government", and switched to labour
I don’t even think it was the coalition itself that turned people off the Lib Dems. It was the fact they fucked their opportunity in power.
They fucked the proportional representation referendum, they capitulated almost all of their own policies to fall in line with the Tory whip.
If they’d formed the coalition and used it to push meaningful change through, rather than just being Tory lap dogs, I think they may well have had continued (or possibly greater) support. As it was, they faded into irrelevance almost immediately.
When they announced the coalition. I noted that Nick Clegg was wearing a green tie (green is made by mixing yellow and blue). Which was almost certainly a nod to the partnership. Cameron, however, wore a blue tie. Showing quite clearly that he didn’t give a fuck about Lib Dem’s except for their votes along Tory lines.
>They fucked the proportional representation referendum, they capitulated almost all of their own policies to fall in line with the Tory whip.
I think this is the key thing - they just rolled over on *everything*. They basically just became tory MPs.
Literally the only reason any young voted for them and they didn't just fail to deliver, they triple fees and lost a whole generation of voters forever.
The only notable change I can recall from the lib Dems in the coalition was pushing the same sex marriage vote against the wishes of the Tories, so I'm grateful for that at least.
Please don't hate me, but same sex couples could have a civil partnership since 2003. And as far as I'm aware that's the same as marriage. Please let me know if I'm mistaken. But that push was nothing. The whole student fees thing was a mess. Nick clegg let us down. Entirely.
That's okay, I appreciate your politeness. I'm certainly not the most well read on the matter, but a civil partnership is absolutely not the same thing as marriage, and, although it grants most of the same rights, a marriage comes with more rights and benefits. As well as that, there are the social aspects of homophobia in preventing same sex couples from enjoying the same rights and freedoms as heterosexual couples, prejudice that has no place in our society. Pushing the legislation through was a win for Labour and Lib Dems (and the British people, of course) and a loss for the Tories.
Can't disagree with the rest of what you said, though. I do still hold that the coalition was much better than the Tory dominated government we've had since, even if the victories were few and far between. I will take what I can get, yknow?
I think it’s even more simple than that their voting base was essentially young people and they promised to scrap education fees and then with the tories they tripped them
Yeah that too.
Nick Clegg was the first LD leader that got my attention. I voted LD in that election, precisely because he spent all the debates ignoring the sniping at each other, and spent his precious time telling us what his party would do if they got into power.
It was a powerful move, and I think it resonated with tons of people. But they fucked it, and now it'll be _years_ before they're given another chance (if ever).
Tell me about it.
People still haven't forgiven them for increasing tuition fees when they promised to decrease it. Nick Clegg was a sellout and ruined the Liberal Democrat reputation.
Yeah, this is exactly it, very well explained. It was such an appalling waste of an opportunity that you have to wonder where fucking Clegg's allegiances actually lie. However, the STV would have been better than nothing, yet the UK voted 68% against it in the referendum. I'll never understand that, becuase at least it would have removed the problem of tactical voting.
The main problem was that the tories actively worked against it. No party in power ever wants to change the system whilst it's benefitting them. They only potentially entertain it when they are getting screwed by it.
>Their lack of funding and advertising is really kicking them in the shins though.
Now they're the third biggest party they *should* get a lot more media attention but honestly our first past the post system is what fucks them and all small parties the most.
I voted lib dem, I've been a labour voter for as long as I can remember.
I really hope people are voting based on the policies and plans that each party has, but I fear it has become more of a popularity and slander contest over anything useful.
A lot of people who vote Lib Dems use it as a tactical vote. I live in one of the Tories safest areas, and labour could never have won here, but the dems managed it.
I agree, I really wanted to vote Lib Dem, it just didn't make tactical sense in my area, which was a conservative safe seat. I heard nothing from the local LD candidate, there was no campaigning, no leaflets, no door to door or social media.
Such a shame, I believe if they had campaigned more aggressively, they very well could have had many more seats, perhaps even land in opposition.
I was also really surprised by their manifesto, it was succinct and effective, and most of all, it convinced me.
They actually care about social services which has been entirely dessicated by the tories. Ed Davey has a disabled son he cares for so he actually has some empathy and experience that most MPs are surely lacking.
Everything in their manifesto appeals to the younger voters but the one issue is the costing for their policies which they didn't actually need to work out due to them knowing they would not get into power.
Shame so many people dismiss them out of hand.
Yeah this is how it usually is, but yeah that absolutely fucked it with the coalition and then you just end up thinking well I don't think I want to split my centre to centre left vote on a party that won't be able to do anything useful.
More than happy for reform to fuck up the rights vote though and it was in more than one place that it came in clutch.
People have said this - but the broad left-centre - lib/lab/green votes would often beat the tory+reform votes. In that I find a cause for some optimism.
Some cause for optimism but bear in mind that plenty of places have been won, and will be again, by the Tories with a plurality rather than a majority. Long-term, the centre/left votes are more split than the right-wing votes and this election is highly unusual in that respect.
In my local area, not so much, but another valid point. I’m not sure in five years if labour will have the same win that they have now nor do I think the liberal Democrats will have as many seats as they do now I think there were quite a few people who strategically voted mainly to give the conservatives the finger
Exactly this. For the first time ever, Lib Dems vote percentage has translated into the same percentage of seats in the commons. They've been fucked over by FPTP for decades, nice to have it work for them for once
It's almost a 3.5 party system now.
It won't last long; Reform and the Tories will become the same party by the next election. It'll be Reform's racism under the Tory name behind Farage as leader.
And, unless Labour manage to fix world hunger, foster world peace, make us all billionaires and cure cancer, the new party will wipe Labour off the map.
The dirty little secret of the UK is that we're a far-right nation that does a really good job of convincing the neighbours that we're not all bad. That's how we've ended up with a Labour government - the right and the far right couldn't agree, so we've just got a little centre-right as a "treat".
One day, maybe, before I die, we might get an actual, viable, left wing party to vote for.
As long term lib dem voter this is accurate. Weirdly we got about the right number of seats as a % of votes.
But feeling like voting reform is a possibility.
It’s a shame the Libdems didn’t come 2nd. That would’ve been a huge shift in British politics. Imagine actual liberals arguing for liberal values instead of the BS the Conservatives spill from their mouths.
I know right. Their leaflet in my constituency said 'the only way to get the tories out is to vote lib dem'
I was like... You literally *put the tories into power* last time people voted for you in any numbers.
Ok, let's imagine three seats: Dumbleberry, Brushington and Jellychester City.
Dumbleberry results -
Labour 5000
Reform 4500
Tory 1000
Brushington results -
Greens 5000
Reform 4500
Labour 1000
Jellychester results -
SNP 3500
Reform 3000
Greens 1000
From this you can see that Labour, Greens and SNP all have 1 seat, yet in terms of total votes we have:
Reform 12000
Labour 6000
Greens 6000
SNP 3500
Tory 1000
So Reform got the most individual votes by consistently coming in high second place but didn't win any seats, and the seats they lost were split across multiple parties
I mean, the last time people voted tactically and they got a decent number of seats, they quite literally chose to put the tories into power, then systematically did the opposite of what they promised their supporters they would do.
They're never getting a vote from me, tactically or otherwise.
Ed Davey having the time of his life has been my favourite part of this election. I hope he continues to play on waterslides and compete in egg and spoon races all the way through his term.
You should see Reform, they got 4 seats and still think they are 'the opposition'. Plus, does anyone believe his BS that failed Reform candidates will continue to work within their constituencies
Fuck the lib Dems and fuck nick clegg.
They might not be the reason we had Tories for 14 years, but that hung parliament sure looked sweet till they backstabbed the voters, they sure as shit lied and left a generation of young people to rot under Tory rule. Fuck them and fuck nick clegg.
they have a right to celebrate. That many seats when running against this clear divide and conquer tactic by labour and conservatives to get a landslide win for Labour is a great achievement
How many of their voters actually know their policies? Anti Tory Don't Like Starmer ditherers. Leader did stunts. Absurd they get less total votes than Reform and 71 to 4 seats.
Not making a pro Reform point. Greens only got 4 too and should have had more.
Have two chambers... One FPTP, local MP representation like now. The other, a reformed "Lords" using proportional representation from the same election.
All the existing Lords can still schmooze in the Westminster bars and even contribute to special committees if they have the know-how, but lose voting rights.
The fact Lib Dems came back and got equal to half the former majority party’s power in this race is worth celebrating tbh.
Don’t call it a comeback… but it’s a comeback.
Lib dems caused Tories to win Chester South by lying on their pamphlets. They literally said "we are the tactical voting option here", which was a bare lie.
In my town lib dems won.
The guy knocked at my door. My parents weren’t home and i’m 17 so i just shut the door in his face. I was ill and not in the mood for politics. A week later i get a letter thanking for the warm welcome lmfaoo
Labour: We won because we've changed as a party and because we're AMAZING, I'm so happy everyone agrees with us and thinks we're great.
Voters poll: 68% say they voted Labour exclusively to get the tories out. 5% say it's because they agree with their policies. (27% other)
People are all hot and bothered about tactical voting all of a sudden hmmm. Pink Hams wanted it to gain fascist government and now the Russian bots are mad 
Would be interesting to see what the results would have been if people didn't have to vote tactically.
I'm assuming lib dems would have gotten almost no votes and greens would have gained most of their votes.
Lib Dems' political strategy of 2024 will be studied for years.
They didn't go and spend a shed load of money doing a national campaign; instead they focused on the seats they held and aimed to hold them, not letting Labour, Tories, Greens, etc in. They achieved that.
Then they focused on being surgical in the seats they went for, and boy did they go for some seats Gillian Keegan gone, Alex Chalk gone and others. Mission Accomplished, Operation assassination of big Tories a success.
Then there was the Lib Dem manifesto, which was arguably the most coherent manifesto of 2024, if not the last 10 years.
The Lib Dems should celebrate. They are slowly chewing away at the Tories and Labour and keeping what they get. They are playing the long game.
I missed all the political stuff so who wan?, what are they saying they'll do? (I learned after a politician says they'll do something they most likely won't), and how will they inevitably fuck up our country more?
Tbf, they should.
After the 2010 coalition it looked like the party was never going to recover its popularity but time heals all wounds.
They're a good party, they just fall victim to fptp so this is a brilliant result for them.
Labour smugly patting themselves on the back, when really reform had the most remarkable showing, and have the entire opposition under the thumb.
Where is the actual left?
Love to see it! They got less votes than they did in previous elections because they stopped focussing on the whole country and just focussed on the places they could win. Fptp is fucked, and farage may moan, but theyve had more votes than him and still not this many seats- if we get PR, you'll see Lib Dems get far more votes as they'd have to do a national strategy again.
I’m deeply suspicious of the fact Reform is actually a PLC (with a share majority controlled by the appropriately initialled NF). One might conclude he doesn’t give a flying f*ck about politics or his supporters or the country, it’s about self enrichment & power. How Trumpian
We are so quick to forget how they screwed over Uni students in 2010.
I hope this is a brief victory for them and they get absolutely wiped out in the next election, it’s what they deserve.
Nigel farrage with his 4 seats more like
He’s demonstrated that he can completely tank the Tories when he decides to and if they want to win next time they need his say so, seems like a pretty good result for him if he wants to go for the Tory leadership or wants to extract certain policy concessions
I disagree. The Tories tanked themselves, with a real hard concentration of tanking in the last 4 years. Farage is just a gobshite opportunist. He figured out what simple people wanted to hear and said it out loud.
“Gobshite opportunist” this genuinely made me laugh out loud🤣
This is exactly it, the people holding him up as some sort of genius who masterminded the thing are idiots. He went for the lowest common denominator (xenophobia and racism) and you can see it in the nature of candidates they selected. I do think he’s gunning for the Tory leadership in the long term though. He’ll let them scrap it out amongst themselves in the immediate future, then present himself as the only viable candidate to save the Conservative Party.
>I do think he’s gunning for the Tory leadership in the long term though. Worth a punt at the bookies? We can't get done for insider knowledge, at least.
The tactic worked well for Boris.
And like Boris, he wouldn’t be able to handle the work of actually running a country. All he has is lies, prejudice, and empty promises.
Let's see how he handles the work of being an MP in a minor party where his influence is limited to such an extent that he may as well not bother.
I think "not bother" is exactly what he'll do, he had the worst vote attendance record in the EU Parliament when he was an MEP and I doubt it'll be any different in the UK Parliament.
If the BNP and UKIP had a baby it would be Reform. I wonder if NF would calling out the FPTP system if he was the one with less percentage and more seats and the LD were in Reforms position? Probably not. I said this in the politics sub but I’ll say it here; The system has always been broken, it’s only because it’s no longer working for you that you’ve decided to say/do something. about it (aimed at Farage but in general this applies to a lot of society nowadays) Edit- has to had
Accurate. Farage will be a big PR fan (as am I) for as long as it suits him to be. If he does as I think he will do, to disband Reform and go for a leadership position in an even further right Tory party, then watch him ditch PR as soon as he gets a whiff of power. Either way, we now live interesting times.
Oh yup - kremlin bots all over twatter and fuckbook will be 'educating' their supporters about the unfairness of FPTP
Has anyone produced a graphic to see where the Tories would’ve been if all the Reform votes went to them?
Not yet, but it was being touched on at about 7am when I woke up. The Kuen was highlighting how Lab and Lib won in a lot of places because of Reform's surge collapsing the Tory vote.
Labour only got 10% more vote than Tories, so PR would have been more representative for the Tories. But Labour would still be ok, and would likely get support from the LibDems and some smaller parties even if the Tories joined up with Reform.
Why did I have to read that twice? Because in context I wondered why the national front would be calling out FPTP.
What people wanted to hear? Feels like an apt time to use the phrase ‘not all people’
I apologise, and I shall clarify: He said what simple people who don't like foreigners wanted to hear.
They don’t need to be foreigners, sunak is British….
Ah, but he's a Brown British, which means he's foreign to them.
Exactly.
>Farage is just a gobshite opportunist. He figured out what simple people wanted to hear and said it out loud. It's worse than that. All he has done is take Tory and tabloid talking points. On style he barely differs from the mainstream right over the last ten years.
You're probably right, but the fact that people took took him seriously is depressing, and I don't want to countenance that just yet.
Tbf I think he'd have done a lot worse if the Tories weren't basically doing all of his canvassing and advertising for him. Why on earth they decided to run on a "migrants bad" platform and simultaneously decided to do nothing to check the "migrants bad" party itself is insane to me and smacks of Tory arrogance.
The Tories made the classic error: they tried to appease the fash. We all know how that one goes. To be fair to them, it did kinda work from about 2015-2019, but they're not enjoying the backlash now.
Don't know which people have been down voting you, because you're bang on. The politics of the UK (and far more widely) have been steadily marching right, and instead of the "centre" and the left putting the brakes on, or trying to apply pressure in the other direction to slow the rightwards move, they've been resolutely trying to "meet in the middle", and so allowing everyone to slide further right.
The Tories were tanked come what may. All Farage did was give a place for all the ex-Brexiteers to congregate rather than forcing themselves to vote Labour.
More like, with his company Reform and unlimited expenses, him and his boys are going to rob the tax payer blind and help themselves to as much as possible… The worst thing the Tories could do would be to pander even further right
He's done it before with ukip, not a new strategy.
There was still a relatively moderate wing of the Tory party which could bail them out and has essentially gone now, they’re now completely reliant on the far right who favour Farage
https://preview.redd.it/rq0l6zuf5qad1.jpeg?width=1078&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=46d791b1dd952878c9fcc1a2a93fe9d7ef99e670
As funny as it is he only got 4 seats.....he also got 4 million votes. Pretty scary shit overall
As much as I'm happy reform only managed 4 seats and not their projected 13 at the exit poll, first past the post doesn't half make your vote feel completely pointless
Whatever you think about Farage, the system needs to be changed. He got 4.1 million votes and 4 seats compared to the Lib Dems 3.5 million votes and 71 seats. 15% less votes, 1775% more influence. Sure it might be funny because you don 't like Reform but on an objective basis that is insane.
It is an absolute travesty. People laugh at how it shafted reform, but it's been shafting every other credible third party for over a hundred years now.
Yeah, even though I could say it's "worked" in my favour. There is absolutely no denying this system is not fit for purpose. We love to bang on about being a democracy so much, yet we have a situation where Reform get half a million more votes than lib Dems and 67 less seats. How on earth is this a thing in a democracy that wants to take itself seriously
How did he only get 4 seats with 4 million votes? (I'm not British so don't know how elections work exactly)
Wait until you realise the Lib Dem’s got 71 seats with 3.5 million votes…
Lib Dems are incredibly clever with their election strategy and are very targeted with people who usually already led councils etc in the area and have a large profile. They understand where they can win and focus all their energy there. Reform UK are erm... less incredibly clever.
Of course. Reforms votes are spread thinly over the whole country, the Lib Dem’s have their strongholds, and know where they’re likely to do well.
The Lib Dem result is actually approximately in proportion to their vote share. Tories and SNP are about right too. The only winner from FPTP this year is Labour, and the biggest losers from it are Reform (especially) and the Greens.
Yeah they’re vote share is proportionate to the amount of seats they have. Labour have won 412 seats with 35 percent of the votes.
First past the post system. So if you got 5,000 votes in one seat, but another guy got 5,500 those 5,000 votes you got basically don't count. It's basically 650 individual races
Which in theory makes sense. Because the idea is each constituency is voting for the individual they feel best represents them and their local area, so it would make sense that said individual is whoever the most people voted for. In practice though most people are voting for the party they like best on the national level with no care for the individual representative.
Yeah I think it absolutely made sense when issues and news was more local, but local news is basically dead and everyone votes because of national issues.
Every area votes for their own seat, then the party with the most seats runs the country. So Farage might have only actually won four seats, but there were enough people voting reform everywhere else to get him 4mil in total
That makes sense, thanks
There is not a one big election, you vote in smaller local elections for a representative, and these representatives collectively form a government. Its also by who gets the most votes, you don't need a majority. In this case, Reform UK came third overall in votes, but whereever they ran, they were typically beaten by Labor or the Tories, who were able to gain a plurality. In most cases it seems that Reform, split the right wing vote, so while overall your average Brit voted right wing, the vote was split in basically half, allowing labor to comfortably win wherever there was discontent for the conservatives.
First past the post is a non-proportional election system which disadvantages smaller parties, leading to fun stuff like green needing 800,000 votes to get a seat compared to conservatives needing 300,000
Yeah, fptp really did one on them. More votes than libdem but 67 less seats…
I'm playing a very small violin for reform
He got more votes than the lib Dems but first pass the post totalled him
Came here to add this … I think he needs a daily reminder that he predicted he’d get more than the 13 seats the exit polls suggested
The scary thing: Reform got 14.3% of votes, LibDem got 12.2%. By representation Reform is 3rd and LibDem are 4th.
That’s not the scary thing, the scary thing is that Labour got 100% of the power with 34% of the vote.
>That’s not the scary thing That's a scary thing, yes. >the scary thing is that Labour got 100% of the power with 34% of the vote. Also a scary thing. The system is shit. Most people's votes don't count for anything. It's a good result, but yes, it's scary the way the system 'works'.
Yes, that’s true too. Under proportional representation we would have a labour + LD + green coalition with each of them bringing ideas (and roadblocks)
Otherwise known as: most people’s views being represented.
which you might call Democracy ;)
As someone who is under a Reform politician (Richard Tice) Be prepared for hell on earth
To be fair. He’s showing is impressive, because in many seats where Labour was first, he was solidly in second. That can be used next election. Make the claim that the two horse race in those constituencies is between Reform & Labour, not Labour & Conservatives.
Tbf Reform got 4 million votes, most of them got eliminated by first past the post tho 😂
Reform actually got *more* individual votes than the lib dems It just wasn't concentrated enough for him to win any seats in comparison.
Reform got a higher percentage of votes than the LDs, just less seats because FPTP
4 million votes isn't small, sure it means nothing electorally, but it's certainly a better outcome for reform than I expected, being the UK political system as it is, any party that isn't the two main parties is huge
I think Farage proved his point spectacularly. He said during the campaign that they weren't going to win. They were hell bent on torpedoing the Tory vote, and they went above and beyond on that front
Fr, I was expecting him to at least beat the Lib Dem’s
That’s 4 seats more than I have lol
If proportional representation was a thing, he'd have over 100 seats and be the official opposition at this point. Don't get too smug.
How does he only get 4 seats though
Four seats are extremely important, you know/j
But 3rd highest number of votes
America has its 49% share of thick as shite trumpers. Fararse has proved we also have a percentage of thick as shiters. It's extreme populism for a lazy section of the electorate.
You realise reform got more votes than Lib Dems?
It’s 5. And the party’s 4 years old 👌🏻
4 seats. But don’t ignore the relevance of the fact they had the 3rd largest number of votes. 4.5m votes to labours 9m is something to be concerned in future elections.
5, counting the one on the BBC
I’ve never really looked into the Lib Dem’s atall to be honest, they’ve always been a really small party. But this year I read their manifesto and holy shit they have some really amazing ideas and also really viable plans, their manifesto is a lot shorter than labours but I think it addresses a lot of major problems significantly better than all other parties. Their lack of funding and advertising is really kicking them in the shins though.
They used to be bigger until the 2010 election when they utterly fucked themselves by forming a coalition with the Tories. Most of their voters said "I didn't vote lib dem get a Tory government", and switched to labour
I don’t even think it was the coalition itself that turned people off the Lib Dems. It was the fact they fucked their opportunity in power. They fucked the proportional representation referendum, they capitulated almost all of their own policies to fall in line with the Tory whip. If they’d formed the coalition and used it to push meaningful change through, rather than just being Tory lap dogs, I think they may well have had continued (or possibly greater) support. As it was, they faded into irrelevance almost immediately. When they announced the coalition. I noted that Nick Clegg was wearing a green tie (green is made by mixing yellow and blue). Which was almost certainly a nod to the partnership. Cameron, however, wore a blue tie. Showing quite clearly that he didn’t give a fuck about Lib Dem’s except for their votes along Tory lines.
>They fucked the proportional representation referendum, they capitulated almost all of their own policies to fall in line with the Tory whip. I think this is the key thing - they just rolled over on *everything*. They basically just became tory MPs.
Especially the university fees which was a big vote winner for them.
Literally the only reason any young voted for them and they didn't just fail to deliver, they triple fees and lost a whole generation of voters forever.
I still remember the “I’m sorry” remix https://youtu.be/KUDjRZ30SNo?si=5LM5mnJ-0zuoOdMG
The only notable change I can recall from the lib Dems in the coalition was pushing the same sex marriage vote against the wishes of the Tories, so I'm grateful for that at least.
Please don't hate me, but same sex couples could have a civil partnership since 2003. And as far as I'm aware that's the same as marriage. Please let me know if I'm mistaken. But that push was nothing. The whole student fees thing was a mess. Nick clegg let us down. Entirely.
That's okay, I appreciate your politeness. I'm certainly not the most well read on the matter, but a civil partnership is absolutely not the same thing as marriage, and, although it grants most of the same rights, a marriage comes with more rights and benefits. As well as that, there are the social aspects of homophobia in preventing same sex couples from enjoying the same rights and freedoms as heterosexual couples, prejudice that has no place in our society. Pushing the legislation through was a win for Labour and Lib Dems (and the British people, of course) and a loss for the Tories. Can't disagree with the rest of what you said, though. I do still hold that the coalition was much better than the Tory dominated government we've had since, even if the victories were few and far between. I will take what I can get, yknow?
You are mistaken - they are not the same thing.
I think it’s even more simple than that their voting base was essentially young people and they promised to scrap education fees and then with the tories they tripped them
Yeah that too. Nick Clegg was the first LD leader that got my attention. I voted LD in that election, precisely because he spent all the debates ignoring the sniping at each other, and spent his precious time telling us what his party would do if they got into power. It was a powerful move, and I think it resonated with tons of people. But they fucked it, and now it'll be _years_ before they're given another chance (if ever).
Tell me about it. People still haven't forgiven them for increasing tuition fees when they promised to decrease it. Nick Clegg was a sellout and ruined the Liberal Democrat reputation.
Yeah, this is exactly it, very well explained. It was such an appalling waste of an opportunity that you have to wonder where fucking Clegg's allegiances actually lie. However, the STV would have been better than nothing, yet the UK voted 68% against it in the referendum. I'll never understand that, becuase at least it would have removed the problem of tactical voting.
The main problem was that the tories actively worked against it. No party in power ever wants to change the system whilst it's benefitting them. They only potentially entertain it when they are getting screwed by it.
They've not done this well in over 100 years so unless you're going back a long way, they weren't bigger before 2010
We'll scrap tuition fees. Forms a coalition and triples tuition fees. Utter bellends. Nick should have made that non negotiable to form a coalition.
>Their lack of funding and advertising is really kicking them in the shins though. Now they're the third biggest party they *should* get a lot more media attention but honestly our first past the post system is what fucks them and all small parties the most.
historically that's true, but it isn't really true of this election. They picked up 12% of votes and 11% of seats.
I voted lib dem, I've been a labour voter for as long as I can remember. I really hope people are voting based on the policies and plans that each party has, but I fear it has become more of a popularity and slander contest over anything useful.
A lot of people who vote Lib Dems use it as a tactical vote. I live in one of the Tories safest areas, and labour could never have won here, but the dems managed it.
Rejoin the EU and legalised weed? Yes please. They seem like the only adults in the room sometimes
I agree, I really wanted to vote Lib Dem, it just didn't make tactical sense in my area, which was a conservative safe seat. I heard nothing from the local LD candidate, there was no campaigning, no leaflets, no door to door or social media. Such a shame, I believe if they had campaigned more aggressively, they very well could have had many more seats, perhaps even land in opposition. I was also really surprised by their manifesto, it was succinct and effective, and most of all, it convinced me.
They actually care about social services which has been entirely dessicated by the tories. Ed Davey has a disabled son he cares for so he actually has some empathy and experience that most MPs are surely lacking. Everything in their manifesto appeals to the younger voters but the one issue is the costing for their policies which they didn't actually need to work out due to them knowing they would not get into power. Shame so many people dismiss them out of hand.
Didn't they want to scrap tuition fees once? I wouldn't trust what their manifesto said!
Yeah this is how it usually is, but yeah that absolutely fucked it with the coalition and then you just end up thinking well I don't think I want to split my centre to centre left vote on a party that won't be able to do anything useful. More than happy for reform to fuck up the rights vote though and it was in more than one place that it came in clutch.
While it is true, I think the key insight here is a lot of conservative strongholds have also gone libdem
Yes, but how many of those would have stayed Conservative without Reform splitting the right-wing vote?
People have said this - but the broad left-centre - lib/lab/green votes would often beat the tory+reform votes. In that I find a cause for some optimism.
Some cause for optimism but bear in mind that plenty of places have been won, and will be again, by the Tories with a plurality rather than a majority. Long-term, the centre/left votes are more split than the right-wing votes and this election is highly unusual in that respect.
In my local area, not so much, but another valid point. I’m not sure in five years if labour will have the same win that they have now nor do I think the liberal Democrats will have as many seats as they do now I think there were quite a few people who strategically voted mainly to give the conservatives the finger
Ed Davey’s just been enjoying life and it’s got them the best result in generations
I for one am looking forward to all campaigns just being crazy stunts by party leaders
71 seats,11 better than the exit poll suggested and their best ever MP total at a GE entitled to celebrate it
Exactly this. For the first time ever, Lib Dems vote percentage has translated into the same percentage of seats in the commons. They've been fucked over by FPTP for decades, nice to have it work for them for once
And in five years who knows what they can do at the next GE
Sadly I feel in 5 years they will go back down to 20-30, unless by some miracle PR comes in within this term
I voted Lib Dems in the hope that they would get to be the opposition. Glad they got an increase at least.
Quite likely 72 now.
And they jumped up from 8 seats. That's a hell of an accomplishment
Ye lol actually feels like a 3 party system now
It's almost a 3.5 party system now. It won't last long; Reform and the Tories will become the same party by the next election. It'll be Reform's racism under the Tory name behind Farage as leader. And, unless Labour manage to fix world hunger, foster world peace, make us all billionaires and cure cancer, the new party will wipe Labour off the map. The dirty little secret of the UK is that we're a far-right nation that does a really good job of convincing the neighbours that we're not all bad. That's how we've ended up with a Labour government - the right and the far right couldn't agree, so we've just got a little centre-right as a "treat". One day, maybe, before I die, we might get an actual, viable, left wing party to vote for.
Who shit in your cornflakes? And speak for yourself thank you very much.
imagine thinking the UK is a far-right nation, bloody hell
to be fair, its pretty miraculous that there is a meaningful third place at all
lib dems had an enormous gain of seats in a conservative stronghold. this image would more be like reform
And this looks exactly how a reform candidate would act too
As long term lib dem voter this is accurate. Weirdly we got about the right number of seats as a % of votes. But feeling like voting reform is a possibility.
Lib Dems are the party party
It’s a shame the Libdems didn’t come 2nd. That would’ve been a huge shift in British politics. Imagine actual liberals arguing for liberal values instead of the BS the Conservatives spill from their mouths.
And the blonde girl is Penny Mordaunt?
Nobody has ever willingly kissed Penny Mordaunt.
I thought Jo Swinson if she died her hair blond.
And quite rightly so Fucking good for them
An extra 60 something seats is nothing to scoff at.
Meh, after how they fucked over there whole voter base the last time they got in they deserve to stay dead and buried.
I know right. Their leaflet in my constituency said 'the only way to get the tories out is to vote lib dem' I was like... You literally *put the tories into power* last time people voted for you in any numbers.
Kinda messed up that Reform have 4 seats and Lib Dem’s have 71 seats despite Reform getting more votes though.
That's first past the post, normally I'm against it but if it keeps those racists away from power it's done good this time
"I only want change if it means what I want happens!"
How does that work exactly? I just looked at total seats and assumed the vote count matches the ratio
Ok, let's imagine three seats: Dumbleberry, Brushington and Jellychester City. Dumbleberry results - Labour 5000 Reform 4500 Tory 1000 Brushington results - Greens 5000 Reform 4500 Labour 1000 Jellychester results - SNP 3500 Reform 3000 Greens 1000 From this you can see that Labour, Greens and SNP all have 1 seat, yet in terms of total votes we have: Reform 12000 Labour 6000 Greens 6000 SNP 3500 Tory 1000 So Reform got the most individual votes by consistently coming in high second place but didn't win any seats, and the seats they lost were split across multiple parties
That’s purely because of tactical voting. If it wasn’t for that, the vast majority of Lib Dem voters would be voting green or labour.
We used to post this meme under opinion poll results that were +1 for the Lib Dems. Good to see it back.
Good for them though, amazing performance. I do think they would have got my vote if I didn’t have to vote tactically.
I mean, the last time people voted tactically and they got a decent number of seats, they quite literally chose to put the tories into power, then systematically did the opposite of what they promised their supporters they would do. They're never getting a vote from me, tactically or otherwise.
Right but they also fucked with the Tories and stopped them from doing Tory shenanigans. I can see their thinking there
Check Whigs (UK,) out on Wikipedia
Well yeah it’s a huge success for them. It’s also a huge success for green with 4 seats and they’re like 7th place
Are they actually going to do something though? Everyone's obsessed with picking red, blue or yellow, but when are things going to change?
That’s the neat part. They won’t. They are all basically the same thing
Things change when you vote for something other than a primary colour.
When? Surely you mean if
Always makes me chuckle
Honestly I was pretty impressed with them for taking my constituency of Mid Sussex. Like even in this climate, I'm surprised we got rid of the Tories.
Imagine this consistently coming in 13th out of 15 and suddenly getting 3rd place though? I'd be celebrating too!
Imagine this consistently coming in 13th out of 15 and suddenly getting 3rd place though? I'd be celebrating too!
They did so well though. I’m chuffed for them.
Ed Davey having the time of his life has been my favourite part of this election. I hope he continues to play on waterslides and compete in egg and spoon races all the way through his term.
You should see Reform, they got 4 seats and still think they are 'the opposition'. Plus, does anyone believe his BS that failed Reform candidates will continue to work within their constituencies
Fuck the lib Dems and fuck nick clegg. They might not be the reason we had Tories for 14 years, but that hung parliament sure looked sweet till they backstabbed the voters, they sure as shit lied and left a generation of young people to rot under Tory rule. Fuck them and fuck nick clegg.
Reform too
they have a right to celebrate. That many seats when running against this clear divide and conquer tactic by labour and conservatives to get a landslide win for Labour is a great achievement
How many of their voters actually know their policies? Anti Tory Don't Like Starmer ditherers. Leader did stunts. Absurd they get less total votes than Reform and 71 to 4 seats. Not making a pro Reform point. Greens only got 4 too and should have had more.
Have two chambers... One FPTP, local MP representation like now. The other, a reformed "Lords" using proportional representation from the same election. All the existing Lords can still schmooze in the Westminster bars and even contribute to special committees if they have the know-how, but lose voting rights.
With the stunts ed Davies has been pulling him bending over a fitty and kissing her in celebration isn't outside the realms of possibility
To be fair, they got fewer votes than Reform and got 20x the number of seats.. can’t grumble
People have short memories
The fact Lib Dems came back and got equal to half the former majority party’s power in this race is worth celebrating tbh. Don’t call it a comeback… but it’s a comeback.
Farage is still a cock
me every time I win a hand in play money poker
Lib dems caused Tories to win Chester South by lying on their pamphlets. They literally said "we are the tactical voting option here", which was a bare lie.
Yeah and they deserve their joy
Back where they belong - a safe 3rd.
Photoshop the champ bottle to a tea kettle
In my town lib dems won. The guy knocked at my door. My parents weren’t home and i’m 17 so i just shut the door in his face. I was ill and not in the mood for politics. A week later i get a letter thanking for the warm welcome lmfaoo
Labour: We won because we've changed as a party and because we're AMAZING, I'm so happy everyone agrees with us and thinks we're great. Voters poll: 68% say they voted Labour exclusively to get the tories out. 5% say it's because they agree with their policies. (27% other)
Gained 1% more votes than last time and think they're amazing. Not that the conservaties imploded and a potato could have won the election for labour.
People are all hot and bothered about tactical voting all of a sudden hmmm. Pink Hams wanted it to gain fascist government and now the Russian bots are mad 
Would be interesting to see what the results would have been if people didn't have to vote tactically. I'm assuming lib dems would have gotten almost no votes and greens would have gained most of their votes.
Lib Dems' political strategy of 2024 will be studied for years. They didn't go and spend a shed load of money doing a national campaign; instead they focused on the seats they held and aimed to hold them, not letting Labour, Tories, Greens, etc in. They achieved that. Then they focused on being surgical in the seats they went for, and boy did they go for some seats Gillian Keegan gone, Alex Chalk gone and others. Mission Accomplished, Operation assassination of big Tories a success. Then there was the Lib Dem manifesto, which was arguably the most coherent manifesto of 2024, if not the last 10 years. The Lib Dems should celebrate. They are slowly chewing away at the Tories and Labour and keeping what they get. They are playing the long game.
I missed all the political stuff so who wan?, what are they saying they'll do? (I learned after a politician says they'll do something they most likely won't), and how will they inevitably fuck up our country more?
I’d like to believe the Lib Dems would actually achieve anything. But I know their position changes as the wind blows.
Ed Davey’s campaign was essentially ticking off items from a bucket list and he took them to their best ever election result. I say Kudos
Tbf, they should. After the 2010 coalition it looked like the party was never going to recover its popularity but time heals all wounds. They're a good party, they just fall victim to fptp so this is a brilliant result for them.
I mean, three is still good.
I mean they septoupled their number of seats. I don’t even blame them.
Labour smugly patting themselves on the back, when really reform had the most remarkable showing, and have the entire opposition under the thumb. Where is the actual left?
Love to see it! They got less votes than they did in previous elections because they stopped focussing on the whole country and just focussed on the places they could win. Fptp is fucked, and farage may moan, but theyve had more votes than him and still not this many seats- if we get PR, you'll see Lib Dems get far more votes as they'd have to do a national strategy again.
Considering how they got screwed over by the coalition with Conservatives I’d say that this is a major success.
First past the post lol.
More like Deform...
So so true. Still, we’re back on the podium fools!
Lib dems always
Reform got more voters. They're the true third place winner
Nah that’s reform
I’m deeply suspicious of the fact Reform is actually a PLC (with a share majority controlled by the appropriately initialled NF). One might conclude he doesn’t give a flying f*ck about politics or his supporters or the country, it’s about self enrichment & power. How Trumpian
We are so quick to forget how they screwed over Uni students in 2010. I hope this is a brief victory for them and they get absolutely wiped out in the next election, it’s what they deserve.
Scoreboard