generalelection

A General Election debrief

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An AI-generated illustration of an elephant dressed as a politician standing in front of a podium, surrounded by supporters.

So, it’s been around 13 hours since the polls closed last night, and we have a new Prime Minister in Sir Keir Starmer. Obviously, as a Labour Party member, I’m delighted that Labour have won the election, and with a sizeable majority too.

This is a quick, stream-of-consciousness blog post reacting to the results, and what I think it means for each party. I’ll be referring to these statistics from the BBC throughout.

Labour

Obviously this is, for the most part, a fantastic result for Labour. Having had a dire outcome in the last General Election in 2019, to come back and win a sizeable majority of seats is an impressive turnaround.

It’s not a perfect result; some polls in the run-up to the election suggested an even bigger win, and Labour has only gained 1.6% of the total votes compared to last time. And some seats have been lost, notably two in Leicester and one in the new Batley and Dewsbury constituency (which covers part of the old constituency of Batley and Spen where Jo Cox was assassinated in 2016). These both have large Muslim populations who have not approved of Labour’s stance in relation to the war in Gaza.

The limited swing in the popular vote suggests that people have not voted enthusiastically for Labour, but are voting against the Conservatives. Whilst it could be 2029 before we have another election, Labour may need to do more to convince people to stick with them next time. I believe Labour’s strategy has deliberately been vague and uncontroversial to get elected, and marks a break from the Jeremy Corbyn era (who incidentally retained his seat as an independent candidate). Now that they’re in power, with a healthy majority, I hope that they will pursue a more progressive agenda. Labour could definitely do more to reward those on the left who have backed them, especially around LGBTQ+ issues. Kier Starmer wrote an op-ed piece for Attitude magazine, to which its editor has had to add clarification based on Starmer’s comments about Trans* people in recent weeks.

Conservatives

The Tories have taken a deserved battering. After winning a majority last time, we’ve had two changes of Prime Minister, and a government that has looked increasingly out of ideas. Big issues like the state of the NHS, failing school buildings, universities approaching bankruptcy, and thousands of refugees fleeing conflict risking their lives on small boats in the English Channel, have not been tackled. Instead, we’ve had ‘culture wars’ and inaction.

No wonder this became the worst defeat in the party’s history for what it calls itself ‘the natural party of government‘. It wasn’t as bad as some polls suggested – one had the Tories in third place behind the Liberal Democrats. But they have less than 1/5th of the seats in the Commons now, with a net loss of 250 – more than two-thirds of the seats they were defending. And whilst Rishi Sunak retained his seat, many of his government colleagues did not – nor did previous Prime Minister Liz Truss. It’s also notable that Wales now has no Tory MPs anymore.

Liberal Democrats

As mentioned, some pre-election polls predicted that the LibDems would win more seats than the Tories, making them the official opposition. It would be very funny if that had happened, with both the government and main opposition formed of centre-left parties. This didn’t come to pass – the Tories didn’t quite as terribly – but with 71 seats, the LibDems have more than they did in 2010 when they entered a coalition with the Tories.

Whilst Ed Davey has some skeletons in his closet from his time as a minister with responsibility for the Post Office during the Horizon scandal, he ran an entertaining and well-targeted campaign. His various stunts brightened up the pre-election period, and by focussing their campaign on a number of core target seats, they’ve pulled off a great result.

Reform UK

Urgh. If I have to say the phrase ‘The Right Honourable Nigel Farage MP’, it’ll be through gritted teeth. On his eighth attempt, he has finally become an MP, representing Clacton-on-sea in Essex. Reform’s popularity surged throughout the pre-election period, and even last night’s exit poll predicted that they would win 17 seats. Despite more than 4 million people voting for them (urgh again), they only picked up 4 seats – three of which are seaside constituencies: the aforementioned Clacton, along with Great Yarmouth and Boston & Skegness.

If we had some form of proportional representation, then Reform would have won more seats than the LibDems and become the third-largest party. As it is, by fielding a candidate in just about every constituency, arguably they spread themselves too thinly. At best, they split the right-wing vote and helped Labour into power.

Green Party/ies

The Green Party of England and Wales have held a single seat in Brighton for a few years, but never managed to capitalise on this elsewhere. Until now, having won 4 MPs this time, and almost 2 million votes. That puts them on a par with Reform, so, theoretically they should receive the same amount of airtime. This is a really good result for them.

Workers Party GB

George Galloway’s latest vehicle has run into a siding, again. Having won a by-election in Rochdale just four months ago, Galloway managed to lose his seat, and none of their other candidates did any better. Nationally, they picked up over 200,000 votes, which is more than Plaid Cymru achieved in Wales. No doubt Galloway will pop up again in another constituency by-election in time.

A new Prime Minister

So, we have our sixth Prime Minister since our eight-year-old was born in 2015. I’m hoping for a period of relative stability – for context, I was 32 when my sixth Prime Minister, Theresa May, took up the post in 2016. Keir Starmer has promised ‘change’ – let’s hope it’ll be effective change for the better.

As for the rest of the world? I hope that Britain’s ability to move on from having a right-wing populist government will give some hope to those in the USA and France, who have imminent elections.

The 7 election candidates in Halifax

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A screenshot of the map of the Halifax parliamentary constituency

So, there’s a General Election coming up on the 4th July. Although I live in Sowerby Bridge, our local constituency is Halifax, as we’re lumped with the larger town just up the road.

Since the last general election at the end of 2019, there’s a couple of changes.

New constituency boundaries

The first change is the constituency boundary. Whilst there will still be 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom, the boundaries have changed to ensure that there’s a more even balance of population in each. In our case, the Halifax constituency has grown slightly, and now includes part of the Ryburn ward which used to be in the neighbouring Calder Valley constituency. This adds the villages of Sowerby and Triangle.

A new MP

Our previous Labour MP, Holly Lynch, decided not to run again. She is currently pregnant with her second child, and trying to run a re-election campaign whilst expecting doesn’t sound like my idea of fun. She’s been our MP since the 2015 general election, and was re-elected in 2017 and 2019.

So, using the list from WhoCanIVoteFor, here’s who I’ll be able to consider voting for next month:

Labour: Kate Dearden

Kate is the Labour candidate, and most likely to win; Halifax has elected a Labour MP at every election since 1987. Indeed, since 1964, the Tories have only held the seat for the four years prior to 1987. As I’m a member of the Labour party, I’ll be voting for Kate.

Though not born in Halifax, she grew up not too far away in Bingley, and has worked in trade union roles prior to becoming a political candidate.

Reform UK: James Griffith-Jones

Reform is Nigel Farage’s latest political vehicle, and is fielding candidates in just about every constituency in England, Wales and Scotland this time. Previously known as the Brexit Party, James previously stood for UKIP in a local council election in 2016, but there’s a lack of information about him on Reform’s web site. Reform may be popular with some of the more rural areas of the Halifax constituency but I can’t see him winning here. The Brexit Party previously came third in 2019, beating the Liberal Democrats, but only winning 6% of the vote.

This post was edited on Wednesday 26th June in response to a comment from James Griffith-Jones who states that he is not a ‘far-right’ candidate.

Green Party: Martin Hey

Martin is already active in local politics, having been elected a local councillor in the Shelf and Northowram ward a couple of years ago. Judging by his profile, he’s a bit of a NIMBY and concerned with the amount of housebuilding proposed for the area. In the last general election in 2019, the Greens came last with just 2% of the vote.

Independent: Perveen Hussain

In addition to the six parties fielding candidates, there’s one candidate standing as an independent, who is Perveen Hussain. According to her candidate statement, she’s a local businessperson and a campaigner, especially around Palestine. The Park ward in Halifax has a large Muslim community and she may see some support here.

Liberal Democrats: Samuel Jackson

We don’t know what Samuel Jackson’s middle name is, so I’ll leave the Nick Fury comparisons out for now. He’s a local lad, born in the constituency, who works in one of the local textile factories. As mentioned, the LibDems polled fourth in 2019 with a little under 5% of the vote.

Workers Party of Britain: Shakir Saghir

Now this is an interesting one. The Workers Party GB is George Galloway’s latest vehicle, and Shakir recently outed Labour in the Park ward in the recent local council elections. I happened to drive through the ward on election day last month, and his posters were everywhere, alongside photos of Galloway and lots of messaging around Palestine. Policy on Palestine has been one of Labour’s weak points this year.

WhoCanIVoteFor reveals that Shakir was previously a Tory, having stood several times for the Conservatives in local council elections. His switch to the Workers Party seems to have helped him get elected in Park ward, but I would be surprised if he can repeat that success across the wider Halifax constituency. Also, as someone who used to work in Bradford West during Galloway’s last stint as an MP between 2012 and 2015, he comes across as an absolute grifter.

Conservatives: Hazel Sharp

Hazel Sharp has her own, rather basic web site. She’s originally from Scotland, but now works as a physiotherapist for the NHS. Which, considering the current Tory government’s record when it comes to the NHS, is surprising. Having looked at her Facebook page, her campaign seems to be focussed on a handful of more rural areas, with nothing from the suburbs of Halifax itself.

The Tories have come second in every election since losing the seat in 1987, and only lost by 400 votes (1%) in 2015. However, with their frankly disastrous campaign and falling poll ratings, I would be very surprised if Hazel is elected as Halifax’s next MP.

FWIW, I realise that Diamond Geezer has done the same for his constituency in London, but I had planned to write this for some time. Anyway, if you live in Halifax, vote for Kate Dearden on the 4th July.

An incoming General Election

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A photo of our polling cards for the Halifax constituency for the General Election

If you’re in Britain, it hopefully hasn’t passed you by that there’s a General Election taking place on the 4th July. It was announced back on the 22 May in a very moist way by our current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. Had the Fixed-term Parliaments Act not been repealed, it would have probably coincided with the local and mayoral elections on the 2nd May, but instead we’re being called out for a second election in three months.

We’ve already received our voting cards through the post, but if you haven’t, or you’re not sure if you’re registered to vote, fill out the form now. You have until 23:59 on Tuesday 18th June to register, which is only a few days away.

This will be the sixth general election in which I’ve been eligible to vote. I turned 18 a year after the 2001 general election and so missed it, but I have voted in the 2005, 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019 elections.

The folks at Democracy Club have a couple of web sites to help you with voting. Where do I vote? tells you where your polling station is, if you’re choosing to vote in person rather than use a postal vote. This information will also be on your polling card, although you don’t need your polling card with you to vote.

Who can I vote for? meanwhile lists the candidates standing in your constituency. There’s a record number of candidates standing this time – a total of 4515 across the 650 constituencies, which averages at almost seven candidates per constituency. Indeed, every constituency has at least five candidates standing, which is a first. As well as the three traditional main parties, the Green Party and Reform UK are fielding candidates in almost every constituency too.

The most is 13 candidates in Richmond and Northallerton, which happens to be where Rishi Sunak is standing. As well as the major parties, Count Binface is there, alongside the Monster Raving Loony Party (who are fielding 22 candidates in total).

In a later blog post, I’ll talk about the seven candidates that I can choose in Halifax, where I live. Although, as I’m a paid-up member of the Labour party, it’s pretty obvious who I’ll be choosing.