At this stage Labour is doing so badly in the polls even a repeat of the 1983 defeat wouldn't actually be too bad.  Thatcher gained a 188 seat majority over Labour in the wake of the Falklands "victory" even though the Tories only outvoted Labout 42-28% and actually lost 1.5% of the vote compared to the 1979 election.  The unfairness of the FPTP UK election system is illustrated by the fact that the Liberals only gained 6 seats despite gaining 12% of the vote, and the Tories gained a net 37 seats despite losing 1.5% of the vote.

By way of comparison current polls put the Tories c. 45-27% ahead, so an even worse drubbing for Labour is in the offing.  So even if the Labour Manifesto only manages to move the debate on from an exclusive focus on Brexit to a more traditional Tory bashing of "socialist" policies, Labours fortunes could improve, especially if Corbyn manages to united and mobilise the traditional left behind him.

I think we could also have a slight "1945" effect where Churchill was defeated despite winning WWII. Having won the Brexit argument, Theresa May may find that a less than grateful nation is more concerned with greater social justice rather than nationalist triumphalism. The comparison is only slight because WWII had ended whereas the Brexit fight is only beginning.  Also the lack of opinion polling in 1945 meant the result was an utter surprise.

So I am not suggesting a Labour win is possible, or anything even close: Just that the Labour defeat may not be as bad as currently feared and the Theresa May victory not as convincing as Margaret Thatcher's in 1983, despite what current polling suggests. Returning Labour to its traditional policy strengths is not what the Blairites would want, but may be the only thing that could prevent an utter Tory Landslide.  Not that anybody will give Corbyn any credit for that.

Index of Frank's Diaries

Revisions to Regulation 1370/2007 on the award of public service contracts. These are intended to facilitate the opening of the market for domestic rail passenger services. Competitive tendering will become the norm for public service contracts by December 2023, with exceptions permitted under specific circumstances and direct award contracts required to include performance and quality targets. Open access operators will be able to offer competing commercial services on domestic routes from December 14 2020, although restrictions designed to ensure the continuity of subsidised services will be permitted subject to `objective economic analysis' by regulators.

Of course, a lot of people are still claiming they'd never vote for labour while Corbyn is running the party, but they're probably the same people who claimed that Ed Miliband was too clueless to claim their vote either.

But this is really the brexit election. I imagine that nearly every "leave" voter who votes (a lower number than for referendum) will cast their vote for the conservatives. It's just not possible to really examine their motivations because taboid conditioning is now so reinforced by the BBC that it has more or less overtaken any rational analysis of policy positions.

I'm not even trying to discuss politics with some of my FB peeps, it's just not worth it. Theyre so full of tabloid nonsense that there's almost no point of entry into the conversation anymore. It has taken me 2 years to find a way to find shared values and discuss politics with my sister. But however much I manage to persuade her that many of the things she presumes to be true are far from being so, she remains proud of her leave vote and will cast her vote for the tories as usual.

who knows what's in the tory manifesto? Does anyone know what Theresa May thinks about anything? Nbody, but the tabloids reassure everybody that she's strong and stable so people will cast their vote accordingly.

In some ways, given the inevitability of brexit, this may well be a good election to lose. Cos everything is gonna get very bad in the next 5 years whoever is in power, better that the tories catch the blame

keep to the Fen Causeway

For god's sake turn this into a campaign poster pic.twitter.com/BZLpdMwPDa

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The Tories and Tony Blair are economically left-wing:

The Guardian view on Theresa May's manifesto: a new Toryism | Editorial | Opinion | The Guardian -

The Guardian view on Theresa May's manifesto: a new Toryism
Editorial

Like Tony Blair in 1997, Mrs May is where the majority of voters are: to the left on the economy and to the right on social issues. She plays to this mood, a political judgment that risks society closing in on itself rather than opening up