The Alternatives

Nationally, the Labour Party has prevailed. Who could’ve guessed? They’ve won over 63% of all seats, despite winning a mere 33% of the vote. That’s less than Corbyn in 2017, and less than Cameron in 2015. What in the fucking failed democracy is this?

The Tories have utterly collapsed, winning a mere 121 seats, with 23% of the vote. This again, wasn’t unexpected. However, Reform UK’s performance is a shocker. The once majestic Reform, polling second, at about 21% for a few weeks, has utterly shit itself. Reform have gained a mere 5 seats (up from 30p Lee’s sole Ashfield defection), yet Nigel Farage persists on being the “Leader of the Opposition”. And of course, the so-called “third party”, the Liberal Democrats. Just as insignificant as they are in public perception, will they be with their greatest result in a century, 71 seats (I am a big fan of Ed’s stunts though…)

To no one’s surprise, this election was not due to some nation-wide fanaticism about Starmer’s Labour Party, but rather, a unifying cause to #GetTheToriesOut. In consequence, tactical voting has been in the backs of everyone’s minds, despite obvious bias toward the Red Tories on a number of websites.

So, you must be thinking… “what about the Left?”, “what about the Greens?”, “or the Worker’s Party?”

The 2024 General Election has not been quite the leftist flop as previously thought. Firstly…

═══ The Green Party ═══

The Exit Poll, provided by Ipsos in collaboration with the BBC, ITV, and Sky (among others), predicted the Green Party of England and Wales to win a grand total of…

2 SEATS – Siân Berry’s Brighton Pavilion, and Carla Denyer’s Bristol Central.

Obviously, we were sceptical. The Greens had been polling well in a number of seats, including Waveney Valley, North Herefordshire, Isle of Wight East, Birkenhead, Sheffield Central… and the list goes on.

Then the first declaration. Carla Denyer had gained Bristol Central from Thangam Debbonaire (LAB), with a majority of 10,000. Holy shit, Green surge? Then the night went on. Ellie Chowns had gained North Herefordshire. Adrian Ramsay had gained Waveney Valley. And Siân Berry held Brighton Pavilion following Caroline Lucas.

“So what? they only got 4 seats”. The Green Party has entered a new era of British politics, a 5-party era. The Greens will continue to grow and grow, offering an Alternative to the disenfranchised leftist (and others, we don’t discriminate) voters. Even if the likes of Jo Bird’s loss in Birkenhead was devastating for Alternative for Liverpool, the Green Party shows promise, even in times shrouded by undemocratic voting methods. NEXT!

═══ Worker’s Party GB ═══

This was a spectacularly disappointing night for the Worker’s Party. It was sort of unpredictable whether George Galloway would keep his seat in Rochdale. Well, his 6,000 majority from Leap Day 2024 was reduced to a majority of -1,500. He lost his seat to Labour. This was replicated in other target seats, including Birmingham Yardley (where Jody McIntyre’s gang sneered and jeered at Jess Phillips during her victory speech), and Birmingham Ladywood (where infamous Andrew Tate-ist Akhmed Yakoob lost to incumbent Shabana Mahmood).

However, solidarity with Cllr James Giles, the candidate for Birmingham Hodge Hill & Solihull North, who was narrowly beaten by 1,566 votes – maybe next time.

NEXT!

═══ The Separatists ═══

Where to begin? As expected, the Scottish National Party got utterly fucked by Keir’s Labour. Down from a Westminster-Scotland majority of 48 seats, to single digits; 9. How the fuck has Swinney managed this?.. the same way as the Tories nationally. Though the SNP shows great promise into socio-political progressivism, the Scottish people have grown tired of their ruling party, turning to, as expected, the Labour Party. This flop in political performance is too damning to even go into detail about.

Plaid Cymru, on the contrary, has excelled. Though only winning 4 seats in the Commons, Plaid have boosted their majorities in every seat they won. Yes, Wales won 4 seats in 2019, but also were the number of constituencies reduced from 40 to 32.

Finally, the most interesting result…

═══ The Alternatives ═══

The 2024 General Election has redefined modern UK politics in another way. The Independent candidates. These so-called “Alternatives” offer residents a new voice – one not initially offered to them by traditional party politics.

First Past the Post, as well as contemporary British media, have not been kind to independent candidates – being given less media attention, funding, and all the boring niches in the political word. Supporting this, was Novara’s damning poll for Islington North. Corbyn at 28%? Impossible we thought. This is the problem with standing as an Indy candidate – the public simply doesn’t know who you are, or, in Corbyn’s case, that you’re not the Labour candidate.

We sat in suspense, before the first results came through.