Explain English politics to me

[diptheriadan]

Yeah, this is going to be a thing. Maybe I'll create an archive thread for these and get the mods to sticky it.

Anyway, my problem doesn't really appear to be what the parties advocate for, but who they appeal to. I'll give y'all a quick rundown of what I think is the case and you can go from there.

Conservatives: I think they appeal towards the wealthy and former aristocrats. I'm also pretty sure that they appeal to farmers and those that are just getting into the middle class. I think in British politics they're called "Mondeo Men".

Labor: Originally, I think they were popular among the working class, but has slowly begin shifting towards the youth and cosmopolitan sorts.

Lib Dems: I've heard that the Lib Dems used to appeal towards the youth, but that's it. I think my problem here is that there is no Lib Dem equivalent here in the states.

UKIP: Old People. I've heard that they are starting to make gains in the northern working class with the absence of Labor there, but I don't know.

[Hnv1]

Yeah, this is going to be a thing. Maybe I'll create an archive thread for these and get the mods to sticky it.

Anyway, my problem doesn't really appear to be what the parties advocate for, but who they appeal to. I'll give y'all a quick rundown of what I think is the case and you can go from there.

Conservatives: I think they appeal towards the wealthy and former aristocrats. I'm also pretty sure that they appeal to farmers and those that are just getting into the middle class. I think in British politics they're called "Mondeo Men".

Labor: Originally, I think they were popular among the working class, but has slowly begin shifting towards the youth and cosmopolitan sorts.

Lib Dems: I've heard that the Lib Dems used to appeal towards the youth, but that's it. I think my problem here is that there is no Lib Dem equivalent here in the states.

UKIP: Old People. I've heard that they are starting to make gains in the northern working class with the absence of Labor there, but I don't know.

There are working class people who vote tory, but the main appeal is to rural voters (in the UK sense as in shire Tories) and white van Essex type I guess. The rich and the High Tories are really too little in numbers for a ruling party nowadays. there is a diverseness to the Tory vote the media fails to notice, they may not win seats at some parts but they are consistently getting nice chunks of voters everywhere, closest to a big tent party (or one nation tory as they think of themselves) as the UK can get right now.  

There's nothing young and hip about the Labour heartland, their representatives may appear to have that image but the majority of the Labour seats come from south Wales, the North East, the Metro areas of the north, and etc. There's nothing young or hipster about Wirral or Doncaster. There's also a big appeal for minority voters as you might see in East\North\South London or the Leeds Metro for example.

LibDem has a very broad audience, young and cosmopolitan, middle class voters, second and third generation to immigrants, rural voters from the Scottish highlands to Cornwall. It is due in part to how the party operated for a century between the two big ones

You'd be surprised to know how many young people I know voted Ukip. Very English.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

William Pitt the Younger died a virgin. That's all you need to know for now.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

England is a country. England doesn't have a government. Does that make sense?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

England is a country. England doesn't have a government. Does that make sense?

Interestingly, London has, being granted similar status of devolved government as Scotland, Wales and North Ireland.

My guess is that England never got a devolved government for two reasons:

1. It's much bigger than other constituent countries combined, and it you'd have a lot of conflict between what is the matter for central government and what should be handled by a devolved one.

Just to compare:

England: 54,786,300
Scotland: 5,373,000
Wales: 3,063,456
Northern Ireland: 1,870,451

2. The whole "muh indivisible union under teh crown" thing

[Clyde1998]

England is a country. England doesn't have a government. Does that make sense?

Interestingly, London has, being granted similar status of devolved government as Scotland, Wales and North Ireland.

My guess is that England never got a devolved government for two reasons:

1. It's much bigger than other constituent countries combined, and it you'd have a lot of conflict between what is the matter for central government and what should be handled by a devolved one.

Just to compare:

England: 54,786,300
Scotland: 5,373,000
Wales: 3,063,456
Northern Ireland: 1,870,451

2. The whole "muh indivisible union under teh crown" thing

What England really needs is regional assemblies - something that most people in England are opposed to, unfortunately.

There was a referendum (all postal ballot, oddly) in the North East of England in 2004 that went 78-22 against. Albeit the Assembly would've had little to no power over issue that the local government areas didn't already have.

[diptheriadan]

I feel as if I should put this here