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Alternate Wikibox Thread

First in a series of three. Admittedly a large amount of wish fulfilment on my part.
Labour's Back in Towns! Pt. 1

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The September 2024 United Kingdom was held on 5th September 2024, to elect 650 members of the UK House of Commons. It was the first of two general elections that were held that year. Despite significant gains that were made by the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat parties at the expense of the incumbent Conservative government, no party was able to achieve an overall majority, resulting in a hung parliament.

After winning a clear victory at the 2019 Election, Boris Johnson’s government found itself increasingly beset by a range of problems. Britain’s exit from the European Union and the subsequent efforts to negotiate a new trading relationship with the bloc ran up against considerable challenges, and although a ‘no deal’ exit was averted through the signing of the EU-British Partnership (EUBP) at the end of 2020, the scope of this agreement was extremely limited, and failed to cover large sections of the UK economy. This was attributed as a significant factor behind the UK’s stagnant economic growth in 2020, and the significant downturn that took place during the recession of the early 2020’s, which hit the UK especially badly.

This, along with concerns about housing and the state of public services, enabled the opposition Labour Party to make a significant recovery under the leadership of Wigan MP, Lisa Nandy. Labour maintained consistent polling leads throughout the final three years of the parliament, causing the government to delay calling a snap election until September 2024, four months prior to the expiration of the five-year parliament.

The Labour campaign focused on reversing public sector cuts, creating jobs through investment in green industries, and addressing the UK’s ongoing housing shortage. This, along with the personal popularity of Nandy, who was widely judged to have outperformed Boris Johnson across two televised debates, enabled the party to retain it’s lead until polling day, which saw it pick up ninety-seven seats. Whilst many of these gains came from the so called ‘red wall’ of seats that Labour had lost to the Conservatives in 2019, a significant number of these remained in Conservative hands, with many of Labour’s remaining gains coming from traditional marginals in England and Wales, as well as in London, where the party recorded it’s strongest ever performance. The party also made six gains from the SNP in Scotland.

The Liberal Democrats, now led by Oxford West and Abingdon MP, Layla Moran, also recorded a strong result, tripling their number of seats from the notional total of nine following the 2021 Parliamentary Boundary Review, to twenty-seven. Many of these victories were achieved through the operation of localised electoral pacts with Labour and the Green Party of England and Wales.

The Conservatives also faced a significant challenge in some constituencies from Richard Tice’s Brexit Party, who campaigned in opposition to the EUBP, arguing that it did represent a ‘clean break’ from EU structures. However, despite winning 4.5% of the national vote share, they were unable to translate this into a single seat, and instead were believed to have largely acted as a spoiler against the Conservative’s, enabling other parties to win in several constituencies.

In the aftermath of the result, it soon became clear that no majority existed for a continued Conservative administration, and Nandy declared her intent to form a ‘progressive alliance’ government consisting of left wing and centrist parties. The arithmetic of the new parliament meant that such an arrangement would be dependent on the support of the SNP. However, talks between Labour and the Nationalists broke down after less than two days over the former’s refusal to grant permission to hold a fresh referendum on Scottish Independence.

By the beginning of October, it was clear that no majority existed in the Commons for any new government, causing Boris Johnson, who continued to occupy the office of Prime Minister on an interim basis, to call for a fresh election for December 12th. This gave the brief September to October Parliament of 2024 the distinction as the shortest serving parliament since the English Civil War, having only been in session for fifteen working days. It also marked the first time in exactly fifty years that two UK general elections have been held in the same year.

Significant figures who lost their seats included the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, as well as his predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, who were both defeated in their Surrey constituencies by Liberal Democrat opponents. Another notable defeat for the Tories came in Hillingdon and Ruislip, for which Boris Johnson had served as an MP during the outgoing parliament, before opting to stand in the safer Conservative seat of North East Essex, where he was comfortably re-elected.

The election of new MPs was shortly followed by the first submission of representatives to the newly created ‘House of the Union’ on the 19th September, with being delegates chosen by regional electoral colleges consisting of councillors, Mayors, and representatives from the devolved national parliaments. As with the House of Commons, Labour was able to secure the most representatives in the new upper chamber, but remained some way off of an overall majority.
 
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Labour's Back in Towns! Pt. 2

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The December 2024 General Election was held on the 12th December, 2024. It was the second election of that year, and took place exactly five years after the Conservative victory at the 2019 General Election. As with previous election four months prior, no party was able to achieve an overall majority, despite further gains for Lisa Nandy’s Labour Party.

Following the first election of the year in September, in which Labour overtook the Conservative’s to become the largest party in the House of Commons, Lisa Nandy attempted to form a ‘progressive alliance’ government of centrist and left wing parties that had opposed the Conservative government of Boris Johnson.

However, these talks faltered over Labour’s refusal to consider a referendum on Scottish independence, which the devolved Scottish government had pressed for throughout the previous five years. As a result, fresh elections were called by the interim Prime Minister and Conservative leader, Boris Johnson, at the beginning of October.

In addition to the issues that had dominated the September Election, such as the economy, the housing crisis, and the cuts to public services a large focus of the campaign was on the issue of Scottish independence.

Both Labour and Conservatives attempted to use their opposition to a new public vote on independence as a means to win over unionist voters in England and Wales, as well as Scotland, whilst Nicola Sturgeon called on pro-independence voters to ‘deliver a clear message to Westminster’ by electing a strong contingent of SNP MPs, with the aim of blocking the formation of a new UK government pending the granting of a new referendum.

The ultimate beneficiaries of this situation were the Labour Party, who were able to win an additional twenty seats, fourteen from the Conservatives in England, and six off of the SNP in Scotland, mainly in unionist areas. Although the Tories won a higher percentage of the popular vote than they had in September, the higher increase in the Labour vote meant that they nevertheless saw a net loss of eighteen seats.

Holding two close elections in quick succession placed considerable strain on the resources of the smaller parties, with both the Brexit Party and the Greens opting to field a significantly reduced slate of candidates, whilst the Lib Dems and Labour expanded the number of seats in which they operated localised pacts from fourteen to thirty one. This enabled the Liberal Democrats to hold onto to most of the seats that they gained four months before, ending the night with a net gain of one seat over September, despite having won less votes.

Labour and the Lib Dems’ bid for government was bolstered by a good night for their allies in Northern Ireland, where the Alliance Party sensationally captured Mid Down from the Democratic Unionist leader Jeffrey Donaldson, and the SDLP gained South Down from Sinn Fein’s Chris Hazzard-leaving each party with three seats in the new parliament.

Although Labour was still short of a majority, the gains that it had made meant that it no longer needed to rely on SNP support to form a government. Instead, a confidence and supply agreement with the Liberal Democrats, known as the second Lib-Lab Pact, was negotiated, enabling Nandy to enter office as the UK’s first non-white Prime Minister, at the head of the first Labour government since Gordon Brown, more than fourteen years prior. When the support of the Liberal Democrats, the Alliance, the SDLP were factored in, the new government had a majority of fourty.

Having lost one hundred seats in the course of two elections, Boris Johnson announced his intention to step down as leader of the opposition with immediate effect. He was replaced by Michael Gove in a caretaker capacity, pending the outcome of a fresh leadership contest.

The result was also seen as a resounding defeat for the SNP, who lost another five seats to take them down to twenty-seven MPs. Whilst this still constituted a majority of the Scottish seats in the new parliament, it also represented a loss of twenty one seats since September. Moreover, the fact that Labour had been able to form a government without Nationalist support served to largely discredit Nicola Sturgeon and the ‘gradualist’ approach to independence that she had pursued over the previous five years. After coming under significant pressure in the weeks after the result, Sturgeon announced her intent to stand down at the 2026 Scottish Parliament Elections, where she would be replaced by a new leader and candidate for First Minister.

The election also caused the resignations of Adam Price of Plaid Cymru, and Jeffrey Donaldson of the Democratic Unionists.
 
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Labour's Back in Towns! Pt. 2

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The December 2024 General Election was held on the 12th December, 2024. It was the second election of that year, and took place exactly five years after the Conservative victory at the 2019 General Election. As with previous election four months prior, no party was able to achieve an overall majority, despite further gains for Lisa Nandy’s Labour Party.

Following the first election of the year in September, in which Labour overtook the Conservative’s to become the largest party in the House of Commons, Lisa Nandy attempted to form a ‘progressive alliance’ government of centrist and left wing parties that had opposed the Conservative government of Boris Johnson.

However, these talks faltered over Labour’s refusal to consider a referendum on Scottish independence, which the devolved Scottish government had pressed for throughout the previous five years. As a result, fresh elections were called by the interim Prime Minister and Conservative leader, Boris Johnson, at the beginning of October.

In addition to the issues that had dominated the September Election, such as the economy, the housing crisis, and the cuts to public services a large focus of the campaign was on the issue of Scottish independence.

Both Labour and Conservatives attempted to use their opposition to a new public vote on independence as a means to win over unionist voters in England and Wales, as well as Scotland, whilst Nicola Sturgeon called on pro-independence voters to ‘deliver a clear message to Westminster’ by electing a strong contingent of SNP MPs, with the aim of blocking the formation of a new UK government pending the granting of a new referendum.

The ultimate beneficiaries of this situation were the Labour Party, who were able to win an additional twenty seats, fourteen from the Conservatives in England, and six off of the SNP in Scotland, mainly in unionist areas. Although the Tories won a higher percentage of the popular vote than they had in September, the higher increase in the Labour vote meant that they nevertheless saw a net loss of eighteen seats.

Holding two close elections in quick succession placed considerable strain on the resources of the smaller parties, with both the Brexit Party and the Greens opting to field a significantly reduced slate of candidates, whilst the Lib Dems and Labour expanded the number of seats in which they operated localised pacts from fourteen to thirty one. This enabled the Liberal Democrats to hold onto to most of the seats that they gained four months before, ending the night with a net gain of one seat over September, despite having won less votes.

Labour and the Lib Dems’ bid for government was bolstered by a good night for their allies in Northern Ireland, where the Alliance Party sensationally captured Mid Down from the Democratic Unionist leader Jeffrey Donaldson, and the SDLP gained South Down from Sinn Fein’s Chris Hazzard-leaving each party with three seats in the new parliament.

Although Labour was still short of a majority, the gains that it had made meant that it no longer needed to rely on SNP support to form a government. Instead, a confidence and supply agreement with the Liberal Democrats, known as the second Lib-Lab Pact, was negotiated, enabling Nandy to enter office as the UK’s first BAME Prime Minister, at the head of the first Labour government since Gordon Brown, more than fourteen years prior. When the support of the Liberal Democrats, the Alliance, the SDLP were factored in, the new government had a majority of fourty.

Having lost one hundred seats in the course of two elections, Boris Johnson announced his intention to step down as leader of the opposition with immediate effect. He was replaced by Michael Gove in a caretaker capacity, pending the outcome of a fresh leadership contest.

The result was also seen as a resounding defeat for the SNP, who lost another five seats to take them down to twenty-seven MPs. Whilst this still constituted a majority of the Scottish seats in the new parliament, it also represented a loss of twenty one seats since September. Moreover, the fact that Labour had been able to form a government without Nationalist support served to largely discredit Nicola Sturgeon and the ‘gradualist’ approach to independence that she had pursued over the previous five years. After coming under significant pressure in the weeks after the result, Sturgeon announced her intent to stand down at the 2026 Scottish Parliament Elections, where she would be replaced by a new leader and candidate for First Minister.

The election also caused the resignations of Adam Price of Plaid Cymru, and Jeffrey Donaldson of the Democratic Unionists.
This is great! Though I'm not sure about Michael Gove being acting Tory leader, I think even in the worst case scenarios Boris would stay on until his successor was elected.

(Also, the picture for the first part doesn't work for me)
 
This is great! Though I'm not sure about Michael Gove being acting Tory leader, I think even in the worst case scenarios Boris would stay on until his successor was elected.

(Also, the picture for the first part doesn't work for me)
My assessment of Boris is that he's not particularly committed to anything which doesn't serve his own ambition, and he wouldn't be particularly willing to stay on and carry out the hard work of holding things together once it became clear his chance of becoming Prime Minister was gone. It won't be mentioned in the next part, but he resigns his seat early on in the next parliament to focus on his literary career.

I've reposted the original infobox in Part One-can you see it now?
 
My assessment of Boris is that he's not particularly committed to anything which doesn't serve his own ambition, and he wouldn't be particularly willing to stay on and carry out the hard work of holding things together once it became clear his chance of becoming Prime Minister was gone. It won't be mentioned in the next part, but he resigns his seat early on in the next parliament to focus on his literary career.

I've reposted the original infobox in Part One-can you see it now?
Ah, thinking about it I can see him doing that.

And yes, it works now. Thanks!
 
The 2058 Illinois gubernatorial election took place on November 12, 2058. Incumbent Democratic Governor Zayden Waller ran for re-election to a third term in office, and was challenged by Republican nominee Kurtis Seele and prominent anti-poverty activist Howard Luis Garcia, who ran under the Commonwealth ticket.

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The election was arguably one of the most controversial in the state's history due to its conduct. Zayden Waller, who previously served as Calumet County Sheriff before running for governor in 2050, was increasingly unpopular with the Illinoisan populace due to his association with Chicago Mayor Edgar Aries, himself profoundly despised over his response to the 2057 slum protests and the Chicago housing crisis as a whole. Detractors accused Waller of turning a blind eye to the growing influence of private security companies, which have become popular among Greater Chicago's wealthier residents and corporations seeking to protect their property from "criminal elements" and which have frequently employed military-grade equipment and drones to disperse protesters. Other concerns regarding Waller's tenure include allegations of profiting off a contract with Jinjiang International (one that is ostensibly designed to build and manage refugee camps), and the passage of a controversial law that weakened police regulations.

Although Governor Waller's approval ratings reached as low as 29% by March, the 2058 Illinois race was not expected to be a particularly close one due to the population disparity between the Chicago metropolitan area and Illinois proper, as well as Waller's notable campaign skills and powerful PR team. As such, the Republican primary did not see many contenders aside from former U.S. Representative Sheila Gesner, State Senator Don Dillard, Mayor of Moline Paul Alguacil and Springfield journalist Kurtis Seele. In a surprising upset, Seele emerged as the victor of the primary, ultimately choosing State Representative Sal Kuczynski as his running mate. However, this was not as exciting as the campaign announcement of H. L. Garcia, the informal leader of the "Share Your Wealth" movement that shook Chicago's gated communities. Venerated by the state's Hispanic community and Chicago's suburban poor, the Mexican-American activist consistently led in most independent polls early on.

The general election was considerably dirty, with deepfake spams and violent quarrels between supporters of Waller, Garcia and Seele being fairly common (despite all three candidates publicly disapproving of partisan violence). On the debate stage, Garcia accused Waller of colluding with corporations to use Greater Chicago's slums as "target practice" and acting as a political patron for Aries and a number of allied politicians in the Chicagoland area, whereas Kurtis blasted Waller for letting downstate Illinois deteriorate while organizing a personal fiefdom in Chicago. Controversially, Kurtis was discovered to have been involved in a far-right disinformation outfit in the past, resulting in several Republicans retracting their endorsement and the Kurtis campaign taking a blow in the polls.

In the end, Waller ended up winning 54 percent of the popular vote, nearly thirty percentage points above his nearest competitor, mainly due to running up large margins in Chicagoland's heavily populated counties. The results proved to be a source of controversy, with H. L. Garcia, his supporters, and federal lawmakers alleging that systematic voter intimidation and fraud helped Waller achieve his victories in Greater Chicago. Their claims weren't particularly unfounded, though, as the troubled federal investigation, combined with the 2059 H. L. Garcia assassination attempt, would eventually lead to Zayden Waller's arrest.

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Cherie Laura Wayland (born May 17, 2014) is an American tech and aerospace mining entrepreneur and politician, currently serving as the senior United States Senator for Florida since 2051. A member of the Democratic Party, Wayland previously represented Florida's 4th congressional district, a Hispanic-majority Orlando-based district that has voted Republican since the 2048 presidential election, from 2047 to 2051. Born to Alexander Wayland, owner of the electronics manufacturing company Wayland Tech, and aspiring singer Stephanie Baume, Cherie grew up in Miami in a firmly middle-class household. Although Cherie's parents' relationship was considerably strained, both Alexander and Stephanie exerted a great deal of influence on their daughter, with Alexander teaching her to "keep a business going" and Stephanie giving Cherie a deep love for space (as well as expressing her wish to be "launched into the cosmos" upon her death, which Cherie would fulfill in 2055).

Graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2036 and from Harvard University in 2039, Cherie succeeded her father as CEO of Wayland Tech and went on to significantly expand her company's wealth, entering the aerospace industry and becoming one of the earliest asteroid mining tycoons. With a net worth of nearly $1.2 trillion, Wayland is the wealthiest person to have ever served in the United States Congress and is currently among the richest people on the planet.

Cherie Wayland is overwhelmingly popular in her home state of Florida due to being one of the few major businesspeople to not move her assets to a more climate-secure state following the Great Flooding, and has consistently won her congressional races by enormous margins, having attracted bipartisan appeal. Her philanthropic activities have also helped in this regard, with Republican Governor Matteo Busigo notably praising Wayland Tech in 2058 for their donations to Floridian local governments, small business, and initiatives as part of the Wayland Foundation; as such, most statewide polls give Wayland extremely positive approval ratings, rarely going lower than 75%.

Wayland is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has described herself as a "democratic socialist"; this has been a point of contention due to Wayland's status as a trillionaire and her stalwart opposition to bills limiting corporate freedom and regulating asteroid mining, and Wayland has earned particular ire from fellow southern Democrats due to her support for strict gun laws. In April 2059, Cherie Wayland announced her campaign for the 2060 Democratic nomination for President of the United States; officially, she supports an ordoliberal economic policy to deal with America's infrastructure decay, reduced international role and loss of land to the deep blue sea, greater international cooperation with major powers such as China and Russia, and a strong focus on development of space technology and biotech. While Wayland has emerged as one of the strongest candidates in the primary race, her campaign has been slightly tainted by allegations of "paranoia" and poor treatment of campaign staff, among other things.

Cherie Wayland married Portland-born lawyer and Democratic Party volunteer James Foster in 2039, having met him in MIT; they have had three children together, Marcella (b. 2040), Veronica (b. 2042) and Peter (b. 2044). James Foster was murdered in 2054 by a group of disgruntled ex-Wayland Tech employees, and Cherie hasn't remarried since. Her personal life has been a point of controversy and rumours as well, with her friendship with a Russian diplomat, Tamara Kozlova, being arguably the biggest source of conspiracy theories.

Juanita Griffiths (b. October 3, 2019) is an Argentine biologist, sheep and penguin farmer, and entrepreneur, best known as the founder of chief executive officer of Johnnies, a multinational company that focuses on fast food restaurants, textile manufacturing and genomics, as well as the creation of sanctuaries.

Juanita was born in Caleta Olivia, a prominent port in the province of Santa Cruz, to Welsh fisherman Raul Griffiths and Italian-born teacher Regina Caruso. Having graduated from the National University of Austral Patagonia in 2041 with a degree in biology, Juanita was resettled in a refugee camp alongside her family due to rising sea levels, and subsequently left northwards after marrying American emigre Letizia Dixon, doing various side jobs and volunteering for various animal charities. After returning home following the end of the Second Falklands War, Juanita founded the first Johnnies restaurant in Comodoro Rivadaria.

The company expanded over a span of seven years, buying up farmland, egg and (vegetarian) dairy outlets and signing contracts with local businesses; as of currently, Johnnies has a presence in South America, Australia, New Zealand and Southern Africa, with about 2,100 food outlets and genetic laboratories worldwide as well as 150 mini-sanctuaries. Johnnies has played a significant role in the preservation of Antarctic fauna, namely penguins, and the popularization of the Gentoo penguin (after which the company is named), which has become ubiquitous as a pet, poultry specimen and laboratory animal in Argentine Antarctica and elsewhere. While the company has been criticized over allegations of inhumane experimentation and its CEO has been accused of war crimes during her time as a military volunteer, Johnnies' income remains steady.

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Labour's Back in Towns! Pt. 3
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The 2029 United Kingdom general election was held on the 5th May 2029. It marked the first time that 16 and 17 years were entitled to cast a vote in a UK-wide election, and the first time a General Election had been held on a Saturday since the end of the First World War, more than one hundred years prior. The election was also notable for being the first occasion in which each of the six largest parties had a female leader, with the Labour, Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrat leaders also all being from BAME backgrounds.

Having governed in minority with the support of the Liberal Democrats since the December 2024 Election, the Labour Party was successful in securing it’s first majority in twenty-four years. The opposition Conservative Party, now led by Priti Patel campaigned on a right wing platform that called for a reversal of the Nandy government’s programme of public ownership, green taxation, and most controversially, the abolition of tuition fees-pleding to channel the savings from these into an array of tax cuts for the self-employed, small business, and people on lower incomes. The Conservative’s also called strongly for withdrawal from the European-British Partnership Agreement which the Nandy government had renegotiated to include considerably closer economic integration with the European Union through a customs union and alignment with the single market.

However, this strategy largely failed to bring the significant gains in Labour’s ‘red fence’ seats in the North of England, the Midlands, and Wales, that the Tories had hoped for, and the handful of victories were won in these areas were outweighed by significant losses in London and the South East, with Labour taking seats such as Basingstoke, Banbury, and Carshalton and Wallington for the first time in their history. The Conservative’s ended the night on 263 seats, two fewer than they had held prior to dissolution.

In Scotland, the election produced a considerable setback for the SNP. After Joanna Cherry's attempts to turn the 2026 Scottish Parliament Election into a de-facto referendum on independence failed to produce a majority for separatist parties,the SNP retreated from it's calls to hold a new referendum within the following term of the Scottish Parliament, leaving nationalists badly split over the best approach to achieving independence.

This resulted in a significant challenge to the SNP, who had previously held a virtual monopoly on the nationalist vote, from the fundamentalist ‘Independence Now!’ group, who ran candidates in all fifty-three constituencies in Scotland, polling over 10% of the vote. Although they were not able to win any seats, they were largely successful in their stated aim of acting as a spoiler on the SNP, causing Joanna Cherry’s party to lose more than two thirds of its seats, dropping from the first to third largest party north of the border. The main beneficiaries of this were Labour, who scored fifteen gains from the SNP, largely in the ‘central belt’, to once again become the party with the most Scottish MPs.

The election also marked seismic shift in the politics of Northern Ireland, as the non-sectarian Alliance Party-led by the now First Minister Naomi Long- was able to double it’s seat total to become the largest party in the region for the first time in it’s history, with all three of their gains coming at the expense of the Democratic Unionist Party.

A disappointing night for the Liberal Democrats saw them lose four seats, as Labour made inroads among their middle class vote to make several gains from them in London, whilst the Conservatives were able to take previously Liberal Democrat seats outside the capital in Westmorland and Lonsdale, and St. Ives.

The Green Party of England and Wales were able to record their highest popular vote total at any general election since their foundation, but failed to translate this into more seats, although co-leader Alexandra Phillips was able to become the UK’s second Green MP by retaining the seat of Brighton Pavillion following the retirement of Caroline Lucas.

In the aftermath of the result, the reasons for the Conservative defeat were variously cited as lack of appeal to younger and middle-class votes on issues like the environment, tuition fees, and Britain’s relationship with the EU, as well as a shift to the right on economic issues alienating them from target voters in ‘red fence’ seats who had largely benefitted from the interventionist policies of the Nandy government.

Priti Patel announced her resignation as Conservative Party on the Sunday, May 6th. She was shortly followed by Joanna Cherry, who also stated her intention to stand down as Scottish First Minister by the end of the year. Several weeks later, Layla Moran also announced that she would not lead the Liberal Democrats into the next election.

Nandy continued on as Prime Minister until 2033, when she stepped down, and was succeeded by the Home Secretary, Louise Haigh.
 
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Labour's Back in Towns! Pt. 3
View attachment 17639
The 2029 United Kingdom general election was held on the 5th May 2029. It marked the first time that 16 and 17 years were entitled to cast a vote in a UK-wide election, and the first time a General Election had been held on a Saturday since the end of the First World War, more than one hundred years prior. The election was also notable for being the first occasion in which each of the six largest parties had a female leader, with the Labour, Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrat leaders also all being from BAME backgrounds.

Having governed in minority with the support of the Liberal Democrats since the December 2024 Election, the Labour Party was successful in securing it’s first majority in twenty-four years. The opposition Conservative Party, now led by Priti Patel campaigned on a right wing platform that called for a reversal of the Nandy government’s programme of public ownership, green taxation, and most controversially, the abolition of tuition fees-pleding to channel the savings from these into an array of tax cuts for the self-employed, small business, and people on lower incomes. The Conservative’s also called strongly for withdrawal from the European-British Partnership Agreement which the Nandy government had renegotiated to include considerably closer economic integration with the European Union through a customs union and alignment with the single market.

However, this strategy largely failed to bring the significant gains in Labour’s ‘red fence’ seats in the North of England, the Midlands, and Wales, that the Tories had hoped for, and the handful of victories were won in these areas were outweighed by significant losses in London and the South East, with Labour taking seats such as Basingstoke, Banbury, and Carshalton and Wallington for the first time in their history. The Conservative’s ended the night of 263 seats, two fewer than they had held prior to dissolution.

In Scotland, the election produced a considerable setback for the SNP. After Joanna Cherry's attempts to turn the 2026 Scottish Parliament Election into a de-facto referendum on independence failed to produce a majority for separatist parties,the SNP retreated from it's calls to hold a new referendum within the following term of the Scottish Parliament, leaving nationalists badly split over the best approach to achieving independence.

This resulted in a significant challenge to the SNP, who had previously held a virtual monopoly on the nationalist vote, from the fundamentalist ‘Independence Now!’ group, who ran candidates in all fifty-three constituencies in Scotland, polling over 10% of the vote. Although they were not able to win any seats, they were largely successful in their stated aim of acting as a spoiler on the SNP, causing Joanna Cherry’s party to lose more than two thirds of its seats, dropping from the first to third largest party north of the border. The main beneficiaries of this were Labour, who scored fifteen gains from the SNP, largely in the ‘central belt’, to once again become the party with the most Scottish MPs.

The election also marked seismic shift in the politics of Northern Ireland, as the non-sectarian Alliance Party-led by the now First Minister Naomi Long- was able to double it’s seat total to become the largest party in the region for the first time in it’s history, with all three of their gains coming at the expense of the Democratic Unionist Party.

A disappointing night for the Liberal Democrats saw them lose four seats, as Labour made inroads among their middle class vote to make several gains from them in London, whilst the Conservatives were able to take previously Liberal Democrat seats in outside the capital in Westmorland and Lonsdale, and St. Ives.

The Green Party of England and Wales were able to record their highest popular vote total at any general election since their foundation, but failed to translate this into more seats, although co-leader Alexandra Phillips was able to become the UK’s second Green MP by retaining the seat of Brighton Pavillion following the retirement of Caroline Lucas.

In the aftermath of the result, the reasons for the Conservative defeat were variously cited as lack of appeal to younger and middle-class votes on issues like the environment, tuition fees, and Britain’s relationship with the EU, as well as a shift to the right on economic issues alienating them from target voters in ‘red fence’ seats who had largely benefitted from the interventionist policies of the Nandy government.

Priti Patel announced her resignation as Conservative Party on the day after the election. She was shortly followed by Joanna Cherry, who also announced her intention to stand down as Scottish First Minister by the end of the year. Several weeks later, Layla Moran also announced that she would not lead the Liberal Democrats into the next election.

Nandy continued on as Prime Minister until 2033, when she stepped down, and was succeeded by the Home Secretary, Louise Haigh.
An excellent conclusion. Who's the Speaker at this point?
 
To be honest, I didn't give much thought to who it other than that Hoyle would probably retire and be replaced by a Tory who would be vaguely acceptable to the Labour benches. Leadsom maybe?
Since the time of Bercow's resignation announcement, I've always had a thought of Theresa May potentially rising to it sometime, though that's probably not realistic, I feel as if she would have the right gravitas in the Speaker's chair.

(Then again, this is probably mainly because I like her)
 
First in a series of three. Admittedly a large amount of wish fulfilment on my part.
Labour's Back in Towns! Pt. 1

View attachment 17566
The September 2024 United Kingdom was held on 5th September 2024, to elect 650 members of the UK House of Commons. It was the first of two general elections that were held that year. Despite significant gains that were made by the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat parties at the expense of the incumbent Conservative government, no party was able to achieve an overall majority, resulting in a hung parliament.

After winning a clear victory at the 2019 Election, Boris Johnson’s government found itself increasingly beset by a range of problems. Britain’s exit from the European Union and the subsequent efforts to negotiate a new trading relationship with the bloc ran up against considerable challenges, and although a ‘no deal’ exit was averted through the signing of the EU-British Partnership (EUBP) at the end of 2020, the scope of this agreement was extremely limited, and failed to cover large sections of the UK economy. This was attributed as a significant factor behind the UK’s stagnant economic growth in 2020, and the significant downturn that took place during the recession of the early 2020’s, which hit the UK especially badly.

This, along with concerns about housing and the state of public services, enabled the opposition Labour Party to make a significant recovery under the leadership of Wigan MP, Lisa Nandy. Labour maintained consistent polling leads throughout the final three years of the parliament, causing the government to delay calling a snap election until September 2024, four months prior to the expiration of the five-year parliament.

The Labour campaign focused on reversing public sector cuts, creating jobs through investment in green industries, and addressing the UK’s ongoing housing shortage. This, along with the personal popularity of Nandy, who was widely judged to have outperformed Boris Johnson across two televised debates, enabled the party to retain it’s lead until polling day, which saw it pick up ninety-seven seats. Whilst many of these gains came from the so called ‘red wall’ of seats that Labour had lost to the Conservatives in 2019, a significant number of these remained in Conservative hands, with many of Labour’s remaining gains coming from traditional marginals in England and Wales, as well as in London, where the party recorded it’s strongest ever performance. The party also made six gains from the SNP in Scotland.

The Liberal Democrats, now led by Oxford West and Abingdon MP, Layla Moran, also recorded a strong result, tripling their number of seats from the notional total of nine following the 2021 Parliamentary Boundary Review, to twenty-seven. Many of these victories were achieved through the operation of localised electoral pacts with Labour and the Green Party of England and Wales.

The Conservatives also faced a significant challenge in some constituencies from Richard Tice’s Brexit Party, who campaigned in opposition to the EUBP, arguing that it did represent a ‘clean break’ from EU structures. However, despite winning 4.5% of the national vote share, they were unable to translate this into a single seat, and instead were believed to have largely acted as a spoiler against the Conservative’s, enabling other parties to win in several constituencies.

In the aftermath of the result, it soon became clear that no majority existed for a continued Conservative administration, and Nandy declared her intent to form a ‘progressive alliance’ government consisting of left wing and centrist parties. The arithmetic of the new parliament meant that such an arrangement would be dependent on the support of the SNP. However, talks between Labour and the Nationalists broke down after less than two days over the former’s refusal to grant permission to hold a fresh referendum on Scottish Independence.

By the beginning of October, it was clear that no majority existed in the Commons for any new government, causing Boris Johnson, who continued to occupy the office of Prime Minister on an interim basis, to call for a fresh election for December 12th. This gave the brief September to October Parliament of 2024 the distinction as the shortest serving parliament since the English Civil War, having only been in session for fifteen working days. It also marked the first time in exactly fifty years that two UK general elections have been held in the same year.

Significant figures who lost their seats included the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, as well as his predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, who were both defeated in their Surrey constituencies by Liberal Democrat opponents. Another notable defeat for the Tories came in Hillingdon and Ruislip, for which Boris Johnson had served as an MP during the outgoing parliament, before opting to stand in the safer Conservative seat of North East Essex, where he was comfortably re-elected.

The election of new MPs was shortly followed by the first submission of representatives to the newly created ‘House of the Union’ on the 19th September, with being delegates chosen by regional electoral colleges consisting of councillors, Mayors, and representatives from the devolved national parliaments. As with the House of Commons, Labour was able to secure the most representatives in the new upper chamber, but remained some way off of an overall majority.
I assume the boundary review didn't kick in during the parliament but only at the election?
 
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Bruce Wayne was a wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, and owner of Wayne Enterprises. He was richest man in his native New Jersey for most of his life, and estimated to be the 12th richest man in America at one point. He served as the Police Commissioner of Gotham from 1962 to 1969, succeeding longtime Commissioner and friend, Jim Gordon. In 1940, he adopted the orphaned acrobat Richard Grayson. His 1955 marriage to convicted felon Selena Kyle was considered scandalous during his day, but they remained happily married for 31 years and had one daughter, lawyer Helena Wayne.

For many decades, it was thought that Bruce Wayne had a connection to, or was, the notorious vigilante and crime-fighter, Batman of Gotham City. In his lifetime, Wayne denied such accusations and insisted on being merely a supporter of the “Dark Knight” like so many citizens of Gotham were. 34 years after his death, it was discovered that, and later officially corroborated by the Wayne estate, that Bruce Wayne was the original Batman of Gotham City, an inaugural member of the Justice Society of America, as well as one of the first superheroes in modern America.
 
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