Yes, but also things are heavily based on convention and precedent. There hasn't been a situation where a PM has refused to stand down despite losing the support of his party before (and it doesn't look like it will happen here either) but without a parliamentary VONC. In that sort of new legal limbo situation anything that happens would be an original decision, and it's most likely the crown would try to avoid having to make a decision, and if one was made it would be the one that felt less like a powergrab (I'd guess nothing, referring back to parliament to pass a VONC if they want change)
Worth revisiting this question two years later. UK: Getting its fourth government in six years Brexit and especially NI question still a clusterfuck Set for slowest growth in G-7 next year https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62299490 US: Trump still leading Republican Party Republicans likely to retake House Who is worse off (due to their respective ‘16 Boomer Backlash) in the immediate, medium and long terms?
You might be missing some of the impacts of Trumpism there. But I agree - currently it seems that the UK is worse off. Of course, it can be argued that this is part of a much longer-term trend. It's been mostly downhill for the the UK since 1900.
"Are we not men? We are Devo!" The earliest genesis of the devolution of the Republican party really got going with Nixon's "Southern Strategy" of racist dog whistles symbolized by choosing southern governor Spiro Agnew as vice-president. Ronald Reagan took up the strategy with his reference to "welfare queens" and of course GHW Bush rode Willie Horton to victory. Newt Gingrich's scorched earth strategy and his "Contract with America" painting "liberals" as enemies to be crushed, not friends to be persuaded. I guess you can connect those dots into a pretty steep decline that led to GWB before hitting bottom (I hope) with Fearless Leader. The mid-term elections in November should give us a better answer to the original question.
On the other hand, the UK started off further ahead. They might be in the middle of a string of corporate-whore PMs who desperately want to weaken and dismantle the NHS, but at least they have an NHS.
GDP per capita is a shit metric and yet this is quite the fall. Data: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?end=2021&start=1960 But hey, at least you got those blue passports… or are they red now? Whatever. Sure it makes it worth it.
Getting outdone by two former colonies and by a country that put itself back together 30 years or so ago, ouch... what's next, letting the French outdo them?!
JUST IN: Pound slumps to record low against dollar trib.al/triC0DC https://twitter.com/markets/status/1574203373485785088?s=46&t=rDvBO_lJeg5CjN1AlK5Rxg If the Brits can’t figure out how to right the ship they might be having to learn how to spell things correctly by the end of the decade. In case any of y’all want to get a head start: www.m-w.com
The letters of no confidence are already coming in, apparently. They're going to have to back down from at least some elements of the crazed nonsense they announced on Friday.
A "mini-budget". So called as to avoid all the normal forecasts and other procedures. It cut taxes, mostly for the very rich. And requires the UK to borrow heavily to pay for that. Thus stoking already-high inflation and piling on more borrowing.
Tons of trickle-down bullshit that has never worked but makes their pals in the city (banker's bonuses have been uncapped) happy. Very little help in real terms for anyone on less than £100k a year. Energy bills capped at £2500 but that's still a lot more than most folk would have been paying prior to the cost-of-living crisis and they plan to have us pay it back directly over time by surcharges on our bills once the crisis is over, instead of putting windfall taxes on the energy providers themselves.
It would completely get rid of the highest tax bracket wouldn’t it? Also the Chancellor stated that the government is only 19 days old and promised more tax cuts to come.
Yes, they also removed the 45p bracket for tax on the highest earners. So I pay (on £60k) the same rate as the boss of Shell Oil (if he actually paid any fucking tax) or anyone else on £150k+.
The "UK is fucked" stuff seems to be getting spread across a few threads. Here are some highlights I've picked up on in the last day or so. Opinion polling shows Labour taking a record lead, so we've at most two years to go of this shit. That's despite their own relative uselessness. I think they'll bring basic competence at least. Financial markets are pricing in an interest rate rise to 6%. That adds hundreds of quid to mortgages and will cause chaos. The BoE hasn't yet actually raised rates yet. Doing so will be a direct rebuke to the government. And there's speculation that the latter might be leaning on them not to. Extraordinarily, the Fed issued a statement trying to calm world markets and described Friday's measures as merely "proposals". So it appears that the Americans are having a word and may be asking the UK government to reverse itself. Against this background, breakup of the union appears more and more likely. Incomes in RoI are currently twice as high as those in the UK and the census results in NI are showing more Catholics than Protestants for the first time.
No, no. You see, borrowing only increases inflation when it's done to help the little people. Borrowing to help the very rich buy larger yachts is hunky-dory.
So apparently Letters of No Confidence have started coming in: Would be an incredible achievement to be elected leader of your party, become Prime Minister, kill the queen, tank the pound and get fired all within one menstrual cycle. Unreal girlbossing. https://twitter.com/judeinlondon2/status/1574357901329702912?s=46&t=WzObBDkx0_rEVAHek2kciQ
Bank of England: "We're going to calm the markets by buying government bonds" Pound: Wheeeeee!!!! No parachute, Ma!!
They said that they would do it for a few weeks, and then resume their tightening. Which is incoherent, and predictably has failed to reassure anyone.
Liz Truss is the worst media performer of all time. So of course, their solution to the current mess was to send her to do a round of interviews where she doubles down. It's excruciating to listen to.
Speaking of Liz Truss inteviews, here's one of the most brutal opening questions I've ever heard from a Journalist, Roma Ahmed from Radio Leeds (BBC). https://twitter.com/OwsWills/status/1575382219564240897
Oh, and Labour now has a 33 point lead over the Tories in the latest YouGov/Times poll. Turns out money is important to the people who vote conservative. Who knew? LOL. https://twitter.com/hzeffman/status/1575522489572229129
Which means fuck all unless a vote of no confidence in the government succeeds. Otherwise, the rules are we have to put up with these fuckwads till 2024/25.
