Election Weekly From The Conversation Uk

Stefan Rousseau/PA WireAfter calling an election in the belief that she was on course for a large majority in parliament, Theresa May must now fight for her political life. Far from sweeping the board, her Conservative party has failed to win enough seats to form a government by itself. Meanwhile, despite having been written off as no hopers, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party has made a major comeback. The balance of power now hangs with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party, which has ten MPs and has agreed to work with May to support her administration. Where May once promised a strong and stable government, she now finds herself managing an arrangement that is best described as weak and flimsy. It could fall apart at any moment. All this is happening while the clock ticks towards Brexit. May is meant to start negotiations for the UK’s departure within a matter of days – even though it is now far from clear what the UK electorate actually wants from the deal. In this, the

When Theresa May first called a snap election for June 8, she was brimming with confidence. She was predicted a whopping majority – after all, why would she trigger a vote if she wasn’t sure of victory? Now, with less than a week until polling day, the picture is far less rosy for the incumbent. She has been roundly criticised for failing to engage with citizens in a meaningful way on the campaign trail and continues to struggle to recover from the social care policy fiasco that dogged her manifesto launch. Then came Jeremy Corbyn’s mic drop. Just hours before the BBC was to broadcast its seven-way party debate, the Labour leader agreed to take part. The prime minister, on the other hand, was a no show. This week, we look at the highlights from that debate and ask how serious a mistake it was for May not to take part. Paul Whiteley, from the University of Essex, is also helping us understand the volatile situation we’re currently seeing in the election polls. Is that forecast about Labour massively narrow

The 2017 election campaign stepped up a gear this week as Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats all published their election manifestos. We saw the Lib Dems promising to legalise cannabis and hold a referendum on the final Brexit deal. Labour made some generous offerings for everyone except the very richest among us. As we discussed in last week’s episode, we already knew a lot about Jeremy Corbyn’s manifesto because someone leaked it to the press in advance. But the final document confirmed such plans as raising income tax for the top 5% of earners to fund greater spending on the NHS, reversing a great many of the Conservative’s welfare reforms, and re-nationalising the railways. The Conservatives were the last of the three to publish – and took rather a different approach. Their manifesto was more focused on the philosophy of the party under the leadership of Theresa May than about making promises to woo voters. We were told the country faces “giant” challenges and that the collective go

A month ahead of polling day, the Labour party is scrambling to manage its message after someone leaked a draft version of its 2017 election manifesto, the day before a final version was to be agreed by the party’s leadership. The draft includes pledges to scrap tuition fees and nationalise part of the energy market. The party also looks to be avoiding taking a hard line on immigration, despite pressure from some of its supporters, and it doesn’t want to leave the European Union without a Brexit deal. In the second episode of the Election Weekly podcast guests Paula Keaveney from Edge Hill University and Stuart McAnulla from the University of Leeds join The Conversation UK’s politics editor Laura Hood to size up the promises and predict which are likely to make it into the final version of the manifesto – as well as pondering who might be behind the leak. Before Labour stole the headlines, the main story of the week seemed a little silly. Here was prime minister Theresa May sitting on a BBC sofa with her

A strong and stable leader? Rick Findler/PA Wire/PA ImagesIn a brand new podcast we bring you expert analysis of the 2017 UK general election campaign. We’ll be with you right up until polling day on June 8, helping to cut through the noise to make this snap election as painless as possible. This episode takes a broad look at the parties and the options on the table for voters at this early stage in the campaign. The Conversation’s politics editor, Laura Hood, runs through the important issues of the week with Andy Price, head of politics at Sheffield Hallam University, and Matthew Cole, teaching fellow at the University of Birmingham. Do the Conservatives have the election all wrapped up? Andy and Matt compare the party’s lead in the polls with historical examples and caution against hubris. While the polling continues to look good, we consider whether the PM has taken her “strong and stable leadership” message into the realms of “aggressive and presumptous” in her dealings with Brussels. Tactical voti

TC PhotoWithCredits On April 18, British prime minister Theresa May walked out onto the steps of 10 Downing Street and surprised the country by announcing a snap general election, to take place in a matter of weeks. Just two years after the last election and less than a year after the EU referendum, British voters are to head to the polls once more. This after May had repeatedly insisted that she would not call a vote before the planned date of 2020. So why the change of heart? Many point to her party’s huge lead in the polls and say it’s political opportunism. The prime minister insists that an election is in the national interest, to give the successful party a firm mandate as it goes into crucial Brexit negotiations. Either way, the unsuspecting electorate has just a few short weeks to get to grips with the decision ahead of them – and many of us are already feeling the strain. Even while most people are still digesting the news that we’re having an election at all, the politicians are already out knoc