Claims that there is no case for them beyond the interests of the Conservative Party ring hollow in the face of the Electoral Commission’s support.
The area has faced years of neglect from both establishment parties in Scotland, and that is why I was elected.
As we write, the Conservatives are still set for a win on Thursday, but there is risk of further slippage – unless key voters can be persuaded that Corbyn will crash the car.
Her strategy of winning over UKIP voters en masse while not losing Remain Tories to the LibDems worked well yesterday. What will Labour voters do on June 8?
It’s about leadership; it’s about making a success of Brexit, and it’s about ending that litany of Labour failure.
Plus: The coming local elections. My predictions – Liberal Democrats up, Conservatives up, UKIP down, Labour down – and maybe Corbyn out later this year.
When 90 per cent of people voted either Tory or Labour, a simple “may we count on your support” was probably sufficient. In this climate, we must be smarter.
Even if each of them who did anything at all did far less than paid up members, the sum of their individual efforts was at least as great and probably greater.
Too often, I fear we take the line of least resistance because it is easier than the alternative.
Asked what he had done to help in a recent marginal by-election, one replied, “Oh, I knew there would be enough of you lot running around for me not to have to bother.”
John Curtice wrote recently about how the Labour leader could limp to power backed by the LibDems and the SNP.
Those calling for a wholesale review of the national selection rules should put forward alternatives better than the arrangements we have currently in place.
The rights of incumbents should be balanced against the aspirations of new applicants. Here’s how we manage it in West Kent.
Plus: Hooligans shame the name of West Ham. Team Corbyn spins the local elections. And: Is Ruth Davidson actually Alec Douglas-Home in disguise?
Key voters include those who voted heavily to remain in the EU, and were decisive in the lost Tory seats of Battersea, Kensington, Kingston and Twickenham.