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It's the right result for Acton as Rupa was clearly the best candidate but I think it would be wrong to overstate Theresa May's ineptitude or Jeremy Corbyn's brilliance.The Conservative's clearly thought they had sufficient leeway to put some unpopular policies in their manifesto. At some point a government is going to have to remove the triple lock and put a limit on the cost of social care for an ailing population. The Tories knew these things would go down like a bowl of sick with their core support i.e. the elderly but something clearly needs to be done about the massive transfer of wealth and opportunity from the young to the old especially if you are going to limit immigration and therefore have fewer young people.From this perspective this was quite an altruistic manifesto from the Tories - recognising the huge fiscal challenges ahead and trying to get some of the difficult decisions out of the way when there was an opportunity.On the other hand the Labour manifesto was never really meant to be the blueprint for Government because they never expected to win (which let's not forget they didn't). The policy that appears to have been decisive for Labour is the promise to abolish tuition fees. At a cost of £11bn this was clearly unaffordable given their other commitments and even students I've chatted to recognise that most of the money that will be saved by the taxpayer will end up going to the middle class. However, no young person with any prospect of being in further education is going to turn their nose up at this significant financial incentive.Whether by strategic brilliance or by accident this promise also cut the legs from the Lib Dems who were only going to make an impact if they could win over students and young graduates for whom there was still a legacy of distrust over fees in the first place. The Lib Dems could have won a significant amount of seats in university towns but for this.The problem we all have now is that when the next election comes, and it is likely to be before the end of the year, the circumstances will be very different. The Tories will not have the confidence to put forward policies that will alienate their core vote and Labour's manifesto will be judged as the possible legislative programme of a government rather than a fanciful wishlist. The economy is likely to be in a weaker condition when we go to the polls again and there will be much more focus on our fiscal position next time around. Alot of people voted Labour because they liked and admired their local MP, alot voted Labour because they thought Jeremy Corbyn had a useful role to play as a thorn in the side of an uncaring and ineffective government but very few voted Labour because they thought Jeremy Corbyn would make a good Prime Minister. Next time out there will be no pretending that isn't a possible scenario. In those 'awful Blair years' Labour convinced people beyond their core vote that they would be more competent managers of the economy than the Tories. To win the next election they will have to do that again - there is no way around that reality.

Mark Evans ● 3246d