T_i_B
T_i_B's JournalUK General Election: Nick Clegg resigns after massive Lib Dem losses
Source: BBC
Nick Clegg has resigned as Liberal Democrat leader after his party was decimated at the general election.
The Lib Dems are set to end up with just eight MPs, down from 57 in 2010.
"It's simply heartbreaking to see so many friends and colleagues who have served their constituents over so many years abruptly lose their seats because of forces entirely beyond their control," he said.
Mr Clegg, who held seats, added that "fear and grievance have won, liberalism has lost".
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32633462
One of the worst political leaders in British history. Hopefully the Lib Dems elect Greg Mulholland as their leader and make some recovery as our Democracy will be poorer without them.
Engel scraped in with a reduced majority
North East Derbyshire may have been Labour since 1935, but I do think that this constituency will go Conservative at some point. It's gentrifying and turning away from it's mining past into a commuter constituency.
Tories did clearly outspend Labour here, and Labour went backwards in many of the key marginals like Amber Valley that they lost in 2010.
Elsewhere Clegg hung on in Sheffield Hallam, and the seats locally where Labour faced a strong challenge from the Lib Dems are now rock solid Labour with the Lib Dems in 3rd or 4th.
I don't like the results.
But things have panned out this way for a reason.
Labour ran a lacklustre campaign. The party that's meant to be for the common man has lost the common touch. And the less that's said about Jim Murphy's Scottish campaign the better.
And the Lib Dems have destroyed themselves by giving up everything they stood for to grab power in the last parliament.
NOOOOOOOO!
Too much of a Blairite, and lacks experience. Jarvis would be a singularly bad choice.
Ed Balls is too associated with the failings of Brown and Miliband. The British media would have a field day attacking him and he wouldn't be able to turn things around.
Chukka Umuna doesn't stand out for me, and the less said about Tristan Hunt and Rachel Reeves the better.
The name that stands out for me is Andy Burnham. He's been an effective opposition spokesman. The trouble is, his Blairite record in office has to count against him.
Trouble is....
....I've been angry with Labour since 2002 at least, and in that time the party has drifted along complacently. And now Labour is facing pressure on all sides, with a lacklustre, uninspiring platform, trying to appeal to voters on the basis that they are marginally less repellent then the Conservatives.
Has any Labour leader ever run a worse campaign than Jim Murphy?
http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2015/04/29/has-any-labour-leader-ever-run-a-worse-campaign-than-jim-murBy contrast to this purely negative message, Nicola Sturgeon's argument that a vote for the SNP is a vote for Scotland's voice to be heard in Westminster, is both positive and difficult to argue against. Whatever the result next week Scotland is set to play a far bigger role in UK politics than it ever has done before. The sheer scale of bile poured on both Sturgeon and her party over recent weeks, is all the evidence you need of the influence they are set to have.
To be fair to Murphy, Scottish Labour's problems predated his time as leader and Labour's collapse has far more to do with what happened in the referendum campaign than anything that has taken place since he took over.
But a different leader could at the very least have limited the damage done by the SNP to Labour's general election chances. Murphy has made those chances significantly worse.
The good news is that it's a tiny Tory majority
But do the Lib Dems stand much chance of taking the seat back? Especially given what's happened in the past 5 years.
The Tory candidate for North East Derbyshire where I am is forever banging on about how he's a "local boy". The only trouble with this is that until recently he was the Tory councillor for Maida Vale on Westminster Council. Westminster Council Tories are as much of an automatic no-no for me as Sheffield or Rotherham Labour. And by all accounts his record on Westminster Council wasn't very good either.
The Tories have been making more effort then usual this time around. But all the same, I really don't want them to win this seat as it's clear that their candidate Lee Rowley would be a terrible MP.
Who's your MP?
I think it's about time that I did a thread asking about the MP where you live as it's your local MP who you will be voting for or against rather then the party leaders.
My own MP is Natascha Engel (Labour), who I'm afraid comes across as just another careerist hack. Some links are below
Natascha Engel's website. https://nataschaengelmp.wordpress.com/
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/11534/natascha_engel/north_east_derbyshire
http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/natascha-engel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natascha_Engel
Not just the one election on 7th May
In addition to the general election for Parliament on 7th May there are also local and mayoral elections in many places on the same date.
http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/upcoming-elections-and-referendums/english-local-government-and-mayoral-elections-2015
Please feel free to comment on any local elections in your area and the situation with local politics where you live, as well as any significant local issues in your area.
I'm in North East Derbyshire, and we have district and parish council elections on the 7th May. However, the Tory and Labour campaigning in this area has been much more focused on the Parliamentary election. And the Liberal Democrats have declined sharply from having a strong local presence to not standing a single candidate in local council elections where I live.
True
Politics has ceased to be about serving the common good and the greatest happiness of the greatest number. It's become all about hatred, scapegoating and spite.
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