Monday, May 27, 2019

I've woken up in a parallel universe

Yesterday the world was as it normally is: politics dominated by the two old parties. I woke up this morning and found I am in a parallel universe. The two old parties have been destroyed, the Lib Dems are resurgent and a hideous monster party has topped the polls. Some good bits and some bad bits in this unfamiliar parallel reality.

Congratulations to the team of Lib Dem MEPs whose numbers have increased from one to sixteen. Sadly, Fiona Hall is not one of them. Here in the North East, the bar we need to cross is so much higher as the region has only three seats. That has normally worked to Labour's advantage. Yesterday it worked to the advantage of the Brexit Party. Labour (Britain's new third party) however held one of their seats.

I attended the count in Gateshead and the result was very much as I expected, The only difference was that the Lib Dems were closer to Labour than I expected. Less than 3000 votes separated us from the Corbynistas.

Meanwhile, Sky have added up the votes for the clear Remain and Brexit parties. They calculate that the Lib Dems, Change UK, PC, SNP and Greens are on 38%, Brexit and UKIP on 37%. YouGov suggest 40% and 35% respectively. Very good news for Remain.

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