The European Parliament election results

by Robin Baker

The number of votes cast in the European Parliamentary election in the UK together with my assumption as to whether those voters were supports of Brexit of remain were:

Party	% of votes		Pro Brexit	Pro remain	Indeterminate
Brexit	31.6		31.6
Lib Dem	20.3			20.3
Labour	14.1				14.1
Green	12.1			12.1
Conservative	9.1		9.1
SNP	3.6			3.6
Change UK	3.4			3.4
Ukip	3.3		3.3
Plaid Cymru	1			1
Total	98.5		44	40.4

So, based on this assumption it appears that the number of those voting pro-Brexit exceeded the number voting for remain.

But in fact some Labour voters, indeed probably the majority, were actually remain supporters.  If just 38% (that is 5.8% of all voters) were remain supporters and the rest supporters of Brexit, then there were more remain than Brexit voters.

Of course drawing any conclusion form these results is dangerous, among other reasons because of the low poll.  However it seems to be to be very probable that more than half the Labour voters were in favour of remain.  If I am right, then despite all the Farage cheering and boasting, then these results are encouraging for remainers. 

Lessons from nature...

by Robin Baker

One of the advantages of being retired is that one can follow diverse interests.  On 23^rd May I was this watching a wild-life programme on TV5.  It contrasted the behaviour of elephant seals and killer whales.  The male elephant seals spent their lives fighting each other to give the winner the right to mate with the females.  The females fed their pups for two weeks after their birth and then left them to their own devices without even taking them into the sea, so that they could reproduce again.  Many of these you,g did not last very long.

In contrast, the female killer whales care for their calves for at least 2 years.  They feed them and they also train them.  The film showed killer whales hunting and then taking their prey to share with a mother who was feeding her calf and so could not hunt herself.  It also showed a group of them hunting by beaching themselves where there were seals on the beach which they could catch, and teaching the young how to do this.  All their hunting was done in groups which meant that they could feed in a way that have been possible for a whale hunting alone.

Is there, I thought, a lesson in this for the way in which countries benefit from working in groups together or by standing separately alone?

England's local election results

By Robin Baker

The results of the local elections in England on 2^nd May were:

	Councillors		Change	% change
Conservative		3561	-1335	-27%
Labour		2023	-82	-4%
Liberal Democrats		1351	704	109%
Green		265	194	273%
UKIP		31	-145	-82%
Others (mainly independents)		1179	662	128%

Of course local election results are heavily influenced by national political issues, but one must be careful not to misinterpret these figures.  They do not show that anti-Brexit parties came out as winners.  Indeed Conservative and Labour between them won two thirds of the seats.  But they do give a strong signal that the swing in popular political thinking today is away from Brexit.  Bearing in mind the narrowness of the referendum result in 2016, the change in what we now know what Brexit would mean and the appreciation of the lies used by Brexiteers to win the referendum, I do believe that they provide strong evidence in support of a people’s vote.

The Prime Minister’s comment on the result was that they show that people “want us to get on and deliver Brexit”.  That seems to me to be as intelligent and honest as most of her comments on Brexit.

European Parliament political groupings

The European movement Ireland have just published a very handy guide to the political groupings at the European Parliament. Read about it here: https://www.europeanmovement.ie/whos-who-the-political-groups-of-the-european-parliament