mike

Dude, c'mon, work out what I'm saying! If you buy a dress to sell, for profit you pay tax. But if you buy a dress, wear it once, then sell it but happily make a profit... No tax! As it was your person dress.

The Greater Manchester mayoral by-election will take place on Thursday 30 July 2026. Labour has switched the voting system. SV will now be used. Here is how it works and why it could be bad news for Reform UK.. How the Voting System Works: Two Choices: You get to vote for your first-choice candidate and a second-choice candidate on the same ballot. The 50% Rule:  If a candidate gets more than 50% of the first-choice votes, they win immediately. The Run-off:  If no one hits 50%, the top two candidates go into a final round, and everyone else is knocked out. The Decider:  The second-choice votes from the eliminated candidates are counted and added to the top two. Whoever has the most total votes wins. Why this could be bad for Reform UK: Blocks a minority victory:  Under the old system, Reform could win by simply getting the most votes overall (e.g., 33%). SV stops this from happening. Triggers a "Stop Reform" coalition:  While Reform has a very strong and passionate base of first-preference voters, they struggle to get second-choice votes from other parties. Favours Labour:  Voters who choose the Greens or Liberal Democrats as their first choice are highly likely to pick Labour as their second choice. The Math Defeats Them:  Even if Reform is neck-and-neck with Labour in the first round, Labour could inherit a massive wave of second-choice votes from left-of-centre voters, pushing them over the finish line. Ultimately, the system is designed to reward candidates with broad, compromise appeal across multiple parties, making it incredibly difficult for a populist party like Reform to win a head-to-head run-off. All parties are running including Restore Britain.  Conservative voters may well give Reform their second-choice vote. But the Tory vote has collapsed in Manchester and those votes might well not be enough to help Reform in the second round. Let’s hope we don’t see a repetition of the bullying and threats from Reform. Someone lock Yusuf up - now is not the time for his vile posts if Reform wants people to lend them their vote.