With first past the post it’s not the popular vote than counts . . .
Once again, a general election run under first past the post (FTP) results in a government with under half the popular vote winning over half of the seats.
Boris Johnson’s share of the vote increased by 1.2 per cent over Theresa May’s result in 2017.
But with FTP it’s not the popular vote that counts but where the votes actually go.
Here in Portsmouth South the Tories piled up votes where they didn’t need them.
Naturally the country will be glad to see the back of the most meaningless mantra in politics ‘get Brexit done’ to the next stage of the saga – namely, a trade agreement with the EU.
This is likely to be even more stressful than the Withdrawal Agreement.
Johnson has made no secret of wanting to be more competitive than the EU through tariff and tax changes and deals with the rest of the world.
It may well transpire that signing off the divorce papers was the easy bit as the EU digs deep to protect its own interest from its cut-price neighbour to the north.
Claims that the PM’s oven-ready deal was the product of his negotiation skills were somewhat exaggerated since the deal is merely the May 2.0 version with a front stop instead of a backstop.
Sooner or later the new government with its new north of England constituencies will discover that mantras are no substitute for changes that reduce poverty, improve the NHS, create sustainable jobs and protect the environment.
Ray Cobbett
Beach Road Emsworth