The bi-elections by themselves don't matter (although it does reduce the slim Conservative majority), but they do give confidence and belief to Remainers. When the next general election happens, there is a potential for quite a few of the strong Brexit MPs to be removed from their seats - especially in London (Johnson and Gove in particular could see a backlash) with a concerted campaign against them. The likelyhood of the negotiations being finished by 2020 are slim at best, as are the chances of negotiating any new trade deals with countries - especially seeing as we are very short on skilled negotiators anyway and certainly don't have enough to work on multiple deals at the same time. What would happen if a Pro-Europe party or more likely collation with the SNP/Irish parties won enough seats to be in government and went on a platform to take Britain back into the EU whatever the cost - including free movement and adopting the Euro? There is a large enough Remain minority to do that if they were organized properly and the majority of MPs are pro-EU anyway. Somehow I can't see the Brexit camp accepting that quietly either...
53% turn out actually. Stats eh. It's a good result because it will put pressure on for a soft Brexit, wipe the smug smile off Goldsmith's face and is still an anti-Heathrow vote. Hopefully it'll reduce the chance of an early general election too.
53.6% actually... Still less of a mandate than the Brexit result like. Goldsmith's a fool and this obsession with trying to label Brexit which is prompted by the Govt's inability to deal with the issues at hand. It also plays into certain remain campaigner's hands who want to scare us all with threats of a 'hard' Brexit. They should look here for a reasonable path. http://www.eureferendum.com/documents/flexcit.pdf
Also a lot of the Brexiteers won't see the inside of a polling station again. Most of the Remainers were regular voters. That's what the mps will be wary about imo. Not saying all who voted to leave are part time voters by the way but I saw people at our polling station who didn't even know what to do and taking their ballot papers to the desk.
Don't forget, though, that the referendum was only consultative - it contained no legislation or requirement for the UK Govt to implement the result; merely a vehicle for the electorate to voice their opinion, which may/may not then influence Govt policy-making.
Say what you want but that result in Richmond it is a Kick in the teeth for Brexit, the Torys and UKIP. Yipeeeeeeeee
Of course he will in the same way that others with agenda's claim all sorts - including those that claim the British People voted for a hard brexit in the referendum . In reality I think that in this case most people voted against Goldsmith rather than for the Lib dems specifically . Though in a lot of areas where brexit is seen as a bad thing the Lib Dems may well do quite well
If they vote in enough Remain MPs at the next General election, we could conceivably end up even further into the EU than now. Its not impossible to see a position where we end up applying to rejoin, including accepting the Euro...
There shouldn't have been a referendum. It was a cynical ploy by Cameron that backfired and the country risks paying a high price for it. I don't deny that the vote reflects the feelings of alienation many people feel - particularly in our neck of the woods. But sometimes the medicine can turn out to be worse than the disease.
Goldsmith's campaign was built on anti 4th runway policy. In any other time it would have won the popular vote. It's a Brexit backlash, nowt else..
Exactly that . People voting for UKIP even at the expense of NHS. Nuttall is a big advocate of the American insurance scheme ,a scheme that leaves out large percentage of people , whereas the insurance firms contest legitimate claims and the delay in many cases is too late for the claimant. Horrible party Horrible bloke . His history is all right wing Tory but ordinary folk still FL for his deceit.
Don't ever forget that lieing *******s from ukip. Said they spend the money'saved',on the NHS People believed them
And it did backfire on him. Its typical londer mentality... oh londoners say its good so weve won mentality. And from camerons folly others are seeing that there is more to belonging to a corrupt autocratic union. People are starting to rediscover (not always in the best way minds) their national pride. The 'EU' is a rotting corpse. Its only a matter of time before it self combusts or it causes world war three.
It wasn't UKIP - or at least it wasn't Farage, it was the official campaign, so Gove and Johnson, and they did say *could* spend the money on other things, like the NHS. It is looking increasingly likely that there won't be any extra money to spend - we'll either be paying nearly the same amount for access to the single market, or as a country we'll be counting our losses in the significant billions. UKIP are the political equivalent of the NF mating with the Tory hard-right...
One of the main reasons the original Common Market was set up was to try and foster increased trading relations and thereby help reduce the risk of WW3. Remember that both WW's were largely European in origin. To be honest, I think Trump is much the bigger risk in terms of conflict.
The EU is far from perfect, but it has helped prevent any conflict between Western Europe, for probably the longest time since the Roman Empire, by giving people a common interest. Something that should have been nurtured at Versailles in 1919. And again after the collapse of communism and the break up of Russia, Czech and Yugoslavia creating volatile relations between new states. Many WW2 veterans argued the same during the referendum campaign, but many 'patriots' chose to ignore them...
It is a backlash vote. In a way it feels like the London Metropolitan elite voting to show their dissatisfaction and anger at not getting their own way. I also have a feeling that Heathrow will be even happier than Tim Farron.
I just don't see that happening but I do see a lot of seats being fought based on the way the MPs standing voted in the referendum.
You keep saying this and you're wrong. UKIP made no promises, they're not in government so how could they? It was Boris Johnson who made that claim and he said the money 'could be spent'. Nobody I know voted based on what was on the side of a bus so maybe it resonated with you but I think you're in the minority.