Stop saying the Election was Fixed – You’re Embarrassing Yourselves

The result may not have been what you wanted, but that does not mean that the election was rigged.

If you’re a Labour supporter, like me, then the election results will have been devastating to you.  We lost pretty damn badly, in our former heartland of Scotland we were reduced to a pathetic one seat. We lost many prominent people; the Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander and Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy both lost their seats to the SNP, whilst Ed Balls was narrowly defeated by the Tories. But most of all, we’ve lost our leader Ed Miliband, whom many of us expected to be currently drawing up plans for how to form a government.

We weren’t the only losers though, the Lib Dems saw their ranks devastated. Vince Cable, gone. Danny Alexander, gone. Simon Hughes, gone. After the bloodshed, only eight Lib Dems were left, which leaves them on the same number of seats as the DUP. It was a mixed night for the Greens, their vote share increased hugely, and Caroline Lucas easily held on in Brighton Pavillion. However they failed to pick up Bristol West or Norwich South, meaning they still only have one MP. UKIP was in an even worse shape with Nigel Farage losing in South Thanet and Mark Reckless losing in Rochester and Strood. The only real successes of the night were the Tories and the SNP, both of whom did better than expected.

The disastrous result for Labour was simply not what the polls had led us to believe. We were neck and neck with the Tories, there was a sense of optimism amongst Labour ranks. We had a much easier path to the 326 seats for a majority; the SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru and the SDLP would never prop up a Tory government. With the Lib Dems facing bleak prospects, and UKIP only expected to gain a maximum of three seats, there was no way for them to get to 326, even with DUP backing.

However that does not mean the election was rigged.

I have no idea why the polls were so terribly wrong, some people suspect a late swing to the Tories, or a repeat of the 1992 shy Tory affect. Whatever it was, the fact is they weren’t accurate. Over the past 48 hours I have seen an increasing number of posts in Labour supporting groups that claim that the election was stolen by the Tories. I’ve even seen one person suggest we get the UN to get involved to investigate the apparent fraud. Look, I know you’re not happy with the result of the election, but that does not mean that it was rigged. Claiming that it was rigged is ridiculous, this country is a real democracy, not some country with a dictator. Claiming that the election was rigged is also damaging to our future prospects. By saying the election was stolen by the Tories suggests that we don’t actually have to change anything about our strategy, our message, or our policies.  Attitude like that will result in defeat again in 2020. We need to move on so that we can put up a united front to this Tory government and successfully fight the elections that will be held this time next year.

Crying out that it is all a conspiracy is not helpful, and rather embarrassing to the rest of us in the Party. Please stop. If you want to do something useful then join a protest, start a protest. But don’t just complain. 

Here's a selection of posts claiming that the election was rigged from the Facebook group "I'm Backing Ed Miliband" (https://www.facebook.com/groups/iambackingedmiliband/)

I would hope that they'd have been destroyed by now

Or the real world explanation that more people voted for them?

Yes, because a survey of people from Labour supporting backgrounds is
going to be totally representative of the general population.

There's one thing not to read an article before posting it and making a comment,
it's another thing to not even read the headline.
*BLANK* Ballot papers were stolen

I'm devastated to, but resorting to conspiracy theories to explain our
loss needs to stop.