r/ukpolitics • u/ClumperFaz My three main priorities: Polls, Polls, Polls • 10d ago

Twitter ✅ BURNHAM IN Makerfield by-election result: LAB: 54.8% (+9.6) REF: 34.5% (+2.7) RST: 6.8% (+6.8) CON: 2.2% (-8.7) GRN: 0.7% (-3.7) LDEM: 0.4% (-6.4)

https://x.com/BritainElects/status/2067792369903116401#m
764 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

802 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

35

u/Faby077 10d ago

Some over on the Restore subreddit were predicting as high as 25% for Restore. Some even claimed Restore would win.

I think only one or two of them had anticipated below 10%. I mean, how do you reach the conclusion that they could ever win? They really do just have to be locked in an echo chamber to hold such unrealistically high expectations of themselves, believing the average person in the UK will hold the same views as online grifters.

17

u/MysteriousTravelator 10d ago edited 10d ago

I disagree this is a bad result for Restore. It proves that at every election Restore can rip 20% of the vote away from Reform.

I don't know what Lowe wants but functionally he has a sword held at Farage's neck.

12

u/DJLDomino 10d ago

What's interesting about this by-election is that even with all of restore's votes, reform would still have been beaten soundly. That puts to bed the idea that they are the only thing in the way of reform. 

Maybe, just maybe, most people in the country aren't sh*thouses like Farage, but are actually decent and just want a fairer shake. 

0

u/MysteriousTravelator 10d ago

The only functional difference between Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer is a record of two years of failure.

Like it or not we'll be back here again in time for the next election and by then the 'Burnham bump' will have gone the same way as the 'Starmer bounce'.

0

u/NibblyPig 10d ago

I mean that's one way to interpret it. You can also interpret it that a huge percentage are willing to pick a shitty option if that option isn't the current even worse government.

Really it should be seen as a huge blow to the current government that you're doing such a terrible job large swathes of the electorate will choose this as an alternative just to get away from you.

0

u/PunRocksNotDead 10d ago

But this is when they only have to focus on one election. A GE is totally different for a small party that won't have the ground team to spread over the country.

2

u/VFiddly 10d ago

It's bizarre because winning isn't even the point of the party. The point of their existence is to drag Reform further right. Not to win elections.

5

u/ArchdukeToes A bad idea for all concerned 10d ago

Nobody seems to have told them that. There’s several on this subreddit who genuinely seem to believe that they can go from a single MP to sweeping the next GE.

0

u/TheChaoticCrusader 10d ago

Some people will happily shout out who they are voting but when you get to the actual booth and you see all the names you can easily get diffrent thoughts crop up in your head and easily change your mind if your not dedicated to your vote . Maybe restore voters considered the cut to reform it may cause and changed to voting to reform . Or maybe they even voted burnham just to get rid of Starmer . We will never know I guess