Yesterday Owl received a comment  posted under the pseudonym “Delen Hallimore”, using a politically misleading email id, it read:

Conservatives Hold Exmouth & Exeter East  Well done, guys! Your tireless support for the Lib Dems must be significantly responsible for this vote split, right?

Owl understands that yesterday social media was awash with similar outbursts of anger. The one on the “Watch” provoked a number of riposts which Owl has placed on “hold”.

On Thursday, Labour won a huge majority; 63% of seats but with only 34% of the vote on a low turnout.

Locally: Exmouth & Exeter East has a Conservative MP with a wafer thin majority (121); Honiton & Sidmouth has a Lib Dem MP (previously, Sidmouth had been represented by Tories for 189 years); Devon County is Conservative controlled and we have a coalition district council, led by the Lib Dem candidate in the election. 

Many may not be “overjoyed” with the election result but Labour is going to have to work with the political mix the “first past the post” system throws up.

Sir Keir Starmer surely set the right tone in his first speech: Sky news (extract)

“…When the gap between the sacrifices made by people and the service they receive from politicians grows this big, it leads to a weariness in the heart of a nation, a draining away of the hope, the spirit, the belief in a better future, that we need to move forward together.

Now, this wound, this lack of trust, can only be healed by actions, not words.

I know that. But we can make a start today with the simple acknowledgement that public service is a privilege and that your government should treat every single person in this country with respect.

If you voted Labour yesterday, we will carry the responsibility of your trust as we rebuild our country. But whether you voted Labour or not, in fact, especially if you did not, I say to you directly, my government will serve you.

Politics can be a force for good. We will show that. We’ve changed the Labour Party, returned it to service and that is how we will govern. Country first, party second……

…….And so my government will fight every day until you believe again. From now on, you have a government unburdened by doctrine, guided only by the determination to serve your interest, to defy, quietly, those who have written our country off.

You have given us a clear mandate, and we will use it to deliver change, to restore service and respect to politics. End the era of noisy performance. Tread more lightly on your lives and unite our country.

Four nations standing together again, facing down as we have so often in our past, the challenges of an insecure world committed to a calm and patient rebuilding. So with respect and humility, I invite you all to join this government of service in the mission of national renewal.”