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Comment by tristanperry | Hacker News Reader

The Conservatives have also been buying Google Ads at a higher CPC than Labour, for Labour related terms.

In other words, a search for "Labour party" was showing https://www.costofcorbyn.com/ (a Tory-funded site) as the first result - i.e. the first ad.

They also registered https://www.labourmanifesto.co.uk/ and spread it around the day before Labour's manifesto launch.

And let's not forget them also changing one of their Twitter accounts to look like an independent 'fact checking' group during the first TV debate: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/19/tories-twee...

It is a worrying trend, and it's not just the Conservatives doing this sort of thing. It's odd to see just how many pro-Labour accounts reply to political journalist's tweets within mere seconds. Almost like bots are being used...

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I feel that electoral law needs major reform in the direction of transparency and openness. It is not equipped to deal with the digital age, and asking platforms to turn down cash and refuse to publish political advertisements is the wrong way to go about addressing this issue.

It seems like the Tories have already broken the system permanently. They have far richer supporters than Labour, so more donations, and can therefore pay more to get better prominence in online advertising and so can spread their message further. They use this to win a majority in parliament. The majority in parliament gets to set the rules for online advertising. Repeat ad (pun not intended) nauseam.

I agree that the Tories tend to spend more, although the unions are a fairly big funding source for the Labour party. And the Lib Dems and UKIP/Brexit Party show that small parties can pull in large donations.

FWIW, spending isn't always massively different. In 2015 it was £15.6m for the Tories vs £12.1m for Labour (https://www.prweek.com/article/1380236/uk-general-election-s...) - not a huge difference.

We have spending limits in the UK, so the amount that Labour and Tories can spend is roughly the same.

I've had 6 weeks of adverts aimed at a target tory/labour seat I live very close to in the North West, all from 3rd parties. The first 5 weeks it was mainly unknown groups like "Working for UK" and "Campaign Against Corbyn", all personal attack adverts on Corbyn (leader of the labour party), and when I dig deep I find the people behind these new companies (often set up in the last month or two) are people like a Conservative Councillor in London, or an Ex Conservative MP from Surrey.

In the last week there have been some "tactical voting" adverts from more establish groups (peoples vote etc)

I guess this is a way for the conservatives to get around spending limits, I guess like U.S. "Super Pacs"

That's very concerning! I live in a Labour safe seat in Wales so there's basically no campaigning here, but I was wondering what the situation is in marginals.

The Super Pacs is a good example - it does sound like the Tories are (worryingly) going down this route.

My (relatively rich, heavily remain, and mostly Tory voting) constituency is one of the rare cases that's currently polling a three-way tie between LabLibCon.

Labour (incumbent) have mostly been quiet in this HEAVILY remain-voting area, with a leaflet or two highlighting a "People's Vote". The LibDems have parachuted in a Tory defector, and have been absolutely going all out with the campaigning around "Revoke Brexit".

The Conservatives have been quietly content to stay out of the way and watch the non-Leave vote split between the former two.

Kensington?

Labour had no chance this year due to a shift in demographics, not to mention the fall in Labour vote share

Given that the Labour MP lost the seat by a mere 150 votes, I think it's a bit harsh to say she "had no chance".

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