1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:24,040 Hello everyone, my name is Frank Driscoll and welcome to Driscoll's election dissection, 2 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,800 your election analysis for Across the Circus. 3 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,200 I hope you all are doing well today wherever you are. 4 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:35,520 So we had a busy last couple weeks as you may know, a lot of primary elections going 5 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:36,760 on throughout the country. 6 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:42,920 The next major statewide primary is in Arizona and that's not going to be until July 30th. 7 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:47,120 So we won't be having much statewide primary news from then. 8 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,400 There is a special election coming up in New Jersey which we will talk about in a couple 9 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:52,400 weeks time. 10 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,920 However, today is a very special edition of Driscoll's election dissection because I'm 11 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:01,720 trying something that I've never tried before and if all goes well, we might do it again 12 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:02,720 eventually. 13 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:05,720 Today, we're packing our bags and we're heading international. 14 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:11,600 Yes, we're going to be talking about a major general election coming up that could potentially 15 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:16,240 change the land's politics for years and years to come. 16 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:20,600 And as we have a very close relationship with them here in the United States, it can mean 17 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:22,200 important things for us too. 18 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:27,640 Although ironically, this election is taking place on the day our country got independence 19 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:28,640 from them. 20 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,480 Yes, we're heading to the United Kingdom. 21 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:37,960 The amalgamation of four countries, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales as they 22 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:41,920 elect the lower house of their parliament, the House of Commons. 23 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:46,420 Now I do have some help here thanks to some articles from the Associated Press and Sky 24 00:01:46,420 --> 00:01:47,420 News. 25 00:01:47,420 --> 00:01:50,760 Well, because I don't live in the United Kingdom so I don't really know their politics that 26 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:51,760 well. 27 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:53,280 So here's what's going on. 28 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:57,200 There is a general election set to take place on July 4th. 29 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:02,040 Now according to the country's rules, general elections for the parliament seats cannot 30 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,320 be more than five years apart. 31 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:10,360 However, the prime minister can choose when to have an election basically at their discretion. 32 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:14,120 It could be two years, it could be five years, it could be six months. 33 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:15,380 It truly is up to them. 34 00:02:15,380 --> 00:02:20,120 Now this election could have taken place as far as the autumn, however, it will be taking 35 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:24,440 place during the summer, a little bit before the term is scheduled to end. 36 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:30,080 Now unlike here in the United States where we have a head of state and a head of government 37 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:35,120 in one individual, that being the president, England has a separate head of state, that 38 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:39,480 being the monarch, in this case King Charles III, and a head of government, in this case 39 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:44,500 being the prime minister, in this case being currently Rishi Sunak. 40 00:02:44,500 --> 00:02:51,960 So there are 650 seats in the House of Commons, or as they like to call them constituencies, 41 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,240 and the party with a majority basically commands the house. 42 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,520 If they have less than a majority, they call that a hung parliament and sometimes they 43 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,760 have to form a coalition with another party or just try to govern without a majority. 44 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:06,320 Basically the party with the most seats, their leader will be the new prime minister. 45 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:12,640 Now the United Kingdom is seen as a multi-party state where there are numerous political parties 46 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:15,720 that have a say in daily politics. 47 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:20,720 However, like most multi-party states, there are two major parties that virtually take 48 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:26,840 all of the major government decisions, those being the center-right conservative party, 49 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:31,880 or the Tories as they like to be called, which is led by current prime minister Rishi Sunak, 50 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:37,760 and the labor party on the center left, currently led by Keir Starmer. 51 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:43,360 Now the conservatives have had control for a while now, since 2010. 52 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:48,680 In the last election, back in 2019, they expanded their majority by a good chunk. 53 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:53,520 Now a lot has happened since the last election, including the United Kingdom's exit from 54 00:03:53,520 --> 00:04:00,240 the European Union, a global crisis in COVID-19, and the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, and 55 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,600 the start of the reign of King Charles III. 56 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:07,160 Now Boris Johnson was the prime minister at the time of the 2019 election. 57 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:12,080 Since then he resigned and was replaced by Liz Truss, and after a month and a half, she 58 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,520 resigned and was replaced by Rishi Sunak. 59 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:16,800 So yes, a lot has happened. 60 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:18,400 But let's get to the basics real. 61 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:25,120 There are 650 seats in the House, and each party nominates a local candidate, and it's 62 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:30,640 a first-past-the-post election, meaning whoever has the most votes, regardless of a majority, 63 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:31,640 wins. 64 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,760 And there seem to be a lot of issues heading into this election, the economy, immigration, 65 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,920 housing, healthcare, which is very similar to a lot of issues that we are having in our 66 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:41,840 presidential election when you think about it. 67 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:45,560 So there have been a lot of polls for this general election. 68 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:50,880 This is according to a website called electoralcalculus.co.uk. 69 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:57,440 So at the time of the last general election, the Conservative Party won 376 seats, and 70 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:00,400 the Labour Party won 197 seats. 71 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:05,280 And they've been taking polls and putting them together and making a prediction. 72 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:11,440 And according to this, just a couple days before the election, the website electoralcalculus 73 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:18,480 predicts that the Labour Party will win 465 seats, and the Conservative Party will win 74 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:19,480 65 seats. 75 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:25,400 And that does include a major third party known as the Liberal Democrats, winning 71 76 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,160 seats, more than the Conservative Party. 77 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,120 There are a few other small parties here. 78 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:35,720 The Reform Party, which was made from some ex-Conservatives, have 6 seats, the Green 79 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:40,040 Party, kind of similar to the Green Party here in the US, having 3 seats, and a few 80 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:45,880 local parties here and there, including the Scottish National Party, having 18 seats, 81 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:50,920 which prays for Scottish nationalism, for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom 82 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:52,720 and become its own country. 83 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:59,360 So things are looking pretty good for the Labour Party at the moment, seeing a landslide 84 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:04,360 much similar to one they had in 1997 under the leadership of Tony Blair, who ended up 85 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,840 becoming a major figure in British politics. 86 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:12,400 However, as I say on my show, the only poll that matters is the one on election day. 87 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,560 And we'll just have to wait and see. 88 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:19,560 So even if you do live here in the United States, pay attention to this election. 89 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:23,880 And if we do have some friends out there in the United Kingdom that are listening, I will 90 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:30,960 say this, as I always say on my show, I don't care who you vote for, but I do care that 91 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:31,960 you vote. 92 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:32,960 So please do. 93 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,520 Thank you for listening to Driscoll's Election Dissection. 94 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:40,280 If you would like to learn more about the show, go online to algidproductions.com slash 95 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:44,400 across the circus and be sure to listen to us on any podcasting form you like. 96 00:06:44,400 --> 00:07:10,960 Thank you all for listening, and I'll see you all very soon. 97 00:07:15,400 --> 00:08:40,760 This episode was brought to you by Algid Productions LLC. 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