UK General Election

I would think a hard Brexit is more contingent on the good will of the EU than a soft one. It depends on what the EU wants the UK to keep doing (such as residency rights for EU ex-pats in the UK including access to healthcare) and whether certain protectionist policies would keep out or increase costs on EU goods etc...

My boldness highlights my point.
 
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Much as I know I shouldn't, I do enjoy following the opinion polls. The latest ones have the Tory lead increasing, but, more interestingly, have Ukip's share plunging. They appear to be well behind the Lib Dems, and at their lowest point for years. I said in this forum some while back that their fox had been shot and they would become meaningless, and I am really hoping that this is coming to fruition. Lib Dems might just get a little satisfaction from this polling, and there is nothing but misery for Labour, who start the campaign further behind the Conservatives than John Major was behind Tony Blair in 1997.
 
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Or you could look at the German model of co-determination in enterprises. Having work councils that appoint a number of members in the board, and that have to sign off on reorganisations and mass lay-offs and the social plans that accompany it.

There are plentiful ways of making this work or not work. What I find worrying by itself is that some plans are quite precise - half a million council buildings - while others are vague to the point of absurdity. Democratizing the economy can mean anything from unionizing labor (which is good) to worker-managed enterprises (which is Bad) and anything in between (e.g. worker-appointed member or two in the board). I don't see why politicians would deserve leeway and I see no reason to trust the Traitor to be able to tell what is good for the country from what is bad.

ETA: as to those plans for building more (council) houses, I agree with what others have reacted to you on this.

Building more council houses is the only tangible point in the program. It's a vote buying scheme which may or may not produce meaningful benefits to the genuinely disadvantaged. I am always wary of such schemes, they should be undertaken only if it is shown the cost-benefit of the scheme is better than alternatives, whatever those may be. Not being able to list alternatives is a sufficient reason to distrust the proposal to the point of opposing it. Price controls, which are a part of the proposal, are in most cases as bad a policy as you can get. No one seems to have mentioned those for some odd reason.

I'm not saying a turn to the left is bad by itself. Calling yourself socialist while promising a vote buying scheme and nothing else that would be meaningful gives me precisely zero confidence however. It's how banana republics are set up in the first place.

McHrozni
 
No, this is a mandate, and a clearer one is difficult to realistically imagine:

https://yougov.co.uk/news/2017/03/29/attitudes-brexit-everything-we-know-so-far/

If you want to spin it that way. The poll shows - after stripping out the don't knows - that 48.9% support Brexit, while 51.1% oppose/d it, but are split on what should happen next. It is also a question that does not address the type of Brexit we "should" have. The reality of that has not bitten yet, and even after it has, many people will not truly understand it until they're faced with the tabgible consequences of what they have lost.
 
I'm having a complete boggle over the Labour activists who were saying right up to about last week that Corbyn is an unelectable liability, now crowing about how this is Labour's great chance to take power in Westminster. Even in the face of them trailing 20 points in the opinion polls.

The latest in Scotland is a concerted effort by Labour spokesmen to smear the SNP for "wanting the Conservatives to remain in government" because their MPs abstained on the FTPA vote. Whereas Labour showed their determination to oust the Tories - by trooping through the division lobbies with them.

Labour's only Scottish MP is now urging Labour voters to vote tactically for the Conservatives to unseat SNP MPs. We're through the looking-glass and out the other side.
 
Much as I know I shouldn't, I do enjoy following the opinion polls. The latest ones have the Tory lead increasing, but, more interestingly, have Ukip's share plunging. They appear to be well behind the Lib Dems, and at their lowest point for years. I said in this forum some while back that their fox had been shot and they would become meaningless, and I am really hoping that this is coming to fruition. Lib Dems might just get a little satisfaction from this polling, and there is nothing but misery for Labour, who start the campaign further behind the Conservatives than John Major was behind Tony Blair in 1997.

People get obsessed with labels. UKIP voters will keep voting for UKIP policies. It's just that they will be labelled Conservative this time around. Reducing UKIP votes by becoming them is no more a win than gaining Labour votes by becoming Tory or Lib Dems gaining power by agreeing to everything the Tories say.

If people could get beyond the labels we might be less to have productive policy discussions at some point. Unlikely though.
 
I'm having a complete boggle over the Labour activists who were saying right up to about last week that Corbyn is an unelectable liability, now crowing about how this is Labour's great chance to take power in Westminster. Even in the face of them trailing 20 points in the opinion polls.

The latest in Scotland is a concerted effort by Labour spokesmen to smear the SNP for "wanting the Conservatives to remain in government" because their MPs abstained on the FTPA vote. Whereas Labour showed their determination to oust the Tories - by trooping through the division lobbies with them.

Labour's only Scottish MP is now urging Labour voters to vote tactically for the Conservatives to unseat SNP MPs. We're through the looking-glass and out the other side.

Not a great surprise. Labour stand for nothing anymore. It's a mess.
 
If you want to spin it that way. The poll shows - after stripping out the don't knows - that 48.9% support Brexit, while 51.1% oppose/d it, but are split on what should happen next. It is also a question that does not address the type of Brexit we "should" have. The reality of that has not bitten yet, and even after it has, many people will not truly understand it until they're faced with the tabgible consequences of what they have lost.

Point 4 shows why. A clear majority, 40% of the electorate, thinks UK can secure a free trade deal to it's liking while achieving control over immigration. The fact this would cause the EU to disintegrate doesn't seem to register with them.

McHrozni
 
I'm having a complete boggle over the Labour activists who were saying right up to about last week that Corbyn is an unelectable liability, now crowing about how this is Labour's great chance to take power in Westminster. Even in the face of them trailing 20 points in the opinion polls.

The latest in Scotland is a concerted effort by Labour spokesmen to smear the SNP for "wanting the Conservatives to remain in government" because their MPs abstained on the FTPA vote. Whereas Labour showed their determination to oust the Tories - by trooping through the division lobbies with them.

Labour's only Scottish MP is now urging Labour voters to vote tactically for the Conservatives to unseat SNP MPs. We're through the looking-glass and out the other side.

The best advice I can give to you is to establish a republic and start growing bananas. You have everything else already, you might as well do these last two steps.

McHrozni
 

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