18 Stories About The General Election You Should Read This Weekend

BuzzFeed News has reporters all over the country, telling the story of the election campaign taking place IRL and online. Here are some of the best stories we published this week.

1. This Town Has Been Labour Since 1919. It's About To Switch To The Tories

BuzzFeed News

If the polls are correct then Labour could be about to lose seats it has held for generations in pro-Brexit towns such as Newcastle-under-Lyme. BuzzFeed News travelled to the constituency to meet voters who are thinking of doing the unthinkable and voting Tory.

"I’ve always been a Labour man. Always," said one voter. "My family were Labour, but I can’t see what they’re doing; they’re going down."

"I may vote Conservative. I wouldn’t have dared vote Conservative before."

2. The Lib Dems Have A Problem: Lots Of Their Former Voters Are Pro-Leave

Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

The Liberal Democrats are fighting this election on an explicitly pro-EU platform. There's one problem: Many of the constituencies they held until 2015 are places that voted to Leave in the EU referendum, making it tough for the party to win back the support of former voters who deserted them at the last election.

BuzzFeed News went on the road with the party to find out how they are struggling to win back support.

"Everyone I know voted Leave," said one voter. "That Tim Farron is an idiot. Liberals just want to spoil everything with the Brexit vote. We won the Brexit vote."

3. The "Mayllennials" Are Young Women Who Love Theresa May And It's The Most Unlikely Fandom Of 2017

redbubble.com / Instagram

At the last general election we saw the rise of the Milifandom, as teenage girls flocked to Ed Miliband's vision of a Labour future. This time around the stranger, more niche, more apolitical world of Mayllenials – young women who are fans of the prime minister's dress sense and (sometimes) her politics.

"The term shows just how vibrant TM's support base is," one said. "You've got young people supporting her. In fact you may consider her the UK's Justin Trudeau. Yes. I'm a Mayllennial."

4. Jeremy Corbyn Says He Won't Quit Even If He Loses The General Election

Matt Cardy / Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn sat down with BuzzFeed News on Monday to discuss his vision for Britain, his love of the campaign trail, and his obsession with EastEnders. The Labour leader also confirmed that he intended to stay in his position, even if his party lost the election.

“I’m serious about winning the election," he said, sitting in a park in Leamington Spa. "I’m serious about going out there, I’ve been in Worcester and Leamington, I’ve been in Warrington, I’ve been in Croydon, I’m going all over the country on this because ours is an election to win. We’re fighting a campaign to win."

Corbyn said his manifesto would deal with "injustice, inequality, and opportunities" and warned his internal opponents that now is not the time for bickering.

5. How A Small Group Of Pro-Corbyn Websites Built Enormous Audiences On Facebook

BuzzFeed News

Media coverage of the party leaders – and especially how traditional outlets treat Jeremy Corbyn – has been one of the biggest stories of this election campaign.

In this piece BuzzFeed News talked to the leading lights of the new alt-left media scene, who are gaining enormous readerships by filling a gap in the market for relentlessly pro-Corbyn news coverage which then goes viral on Facebook – and the fears of the anti-Corbyn Labour MPs who feel such sites are now too powerful.

"People know they’re being misled but they work hard making ends meet and don’t have the time to think it all through," said the owner of Another Angry Voice, one of the sites featured.

6. The Tories Are Buying Adverts To Convince People Jeremy Corbyn Could Still Win The Election

Alex Spence

The Conservatives adopted an unusual strategy: Taking out adverts emphasising that Jeremy Corbyn could win the general election and talking up the chances of the Labour leader winning. Cynics suggested this is an attempt to ensure Conservative voters still feel motivated to go out and vote on 8 June, despite the Tories holding a healthy poll lead.

This follows the party's decision to buy dozens of front-page local newspaper adverts deep in Labour-held seats.

7. People On Facebook Only Want To Share Pro-Corbyn, Anti-Tory News Stories

BuzzFeed News

In an attempt to understand what people are actually sharing on social media we created the BuzzFeed News Social Barometer, an attempt to see which political news stories really dominate the UK internet.

The findings were stark: Jeremy Corbyn may be struggling in the polls but his supporters love sharing his content, with almost all of the most popular stories portraying the Labour leader in a positive light. Meanwhile, you'll be hard-pushed to find a positive story about Theresa May or the Conservatives which goes viral on social media.

The most popular story was from the blog Another Angry Voice – with six out of the top 20 stories coming from non-traditional outlets.

8. Ken Loach Is Making A Film About Jeremy Corbyn

Anthony Devlin / Getty

Party political broadcasts are often boring things – but we revealed award-winning director Ken Loach is hoping to bring a bit of interest to proceedings by making a film about Jeremy Corbyn.

"All the evidence shows they're [the media] hostile to him in a way that's quite different to any other political leader," he told BuzzFeed News. "So we're trying to get it on record that he is actually a human being."

9. The Conservatives Are Paying To Push Theresa May Into Your Instagram Feed

Instagram / Conservatives

If you're wondering why Theresa May's face is popping up in your Instagram feed, it's probably because the Conservatives are paying for it to be there. With social media advertising one of the most important campaign tactics in this election, BuzzFeed News revealed how the Tories are now experimenting with pushing into the photo-sharing app – with mixed reactions from users of the service.

10. BuzzFeed News Has Been Denied Access To Campaign Events After Our Interview With The Labour Leader

Anthony Devlin / Getty Images

In an unfortunate incident a BuzzFeed News reporter was informed that the site would not be welcome at a Jeremy Corbyn campaign event after the site's interview with the Labour was headlined with his intention to remain as Labour leader.

After Corbyn appeared to deny ever even making the comment, BuzzFeed News released original tapes to prove otherwise. The issue is now resolved and BuzzFeed News will be allowed access to the rest of the Labour campaign.

11. Theresa May's Ruthless, Boring March To Power

BuzzFeed News

After spending two weeks on the campaign trail with Theresa May, BuzzFeed News reported close-up on the campaign strategy the Conservatives are using in their bid to ensure Theresa May is elected as prime minister.

“ set up the choice, keep punching the bruise, and don’t care if people get bored,” said one former Conservative cabinet minister, describing the campaign's relentless focus on message discipline.

12. Here's All The Misinformation Spreading About The General Election So Far

@HartStoppaUK

There's a lot of disinformation and bullshit floating around the internet at the best of times – and the election is no exception. Already we've seen photoshopped campaign images, dubious graphs, and outright lies go viral.

This is what you need to know.

13. Theresa And Philip May Appeared On "The One Show" And It Was Rather Weird

BBC / BuzzFeed News

The One Show is a deeply strange television programme at the best of times. It's even weirder when the prime minister appears to make small talk about Banksy with her husband. Our TV editor summed up the strangest moments.

14. We Tried To See If The Sums For Labour's Draft Manifesto Promises Add Up

Anthony Devlin / Getty Images

Labour's draft manifesto leaked this week, revealing a radical set of policies including the abolition of tuition fees, rail renationalisation, and increased funding for the NHS – paid for with increased taxes on the rich and big business. BuzzFeed News attempted to work out whether the sums added up.

15. The Liberal Democrats Will Pledge To Completely Legalise Cannabis

RayArt Graphics / Alamy

The Liberal Democrats exclusively told BuzzFeed News that their manifesto would include a commitment to introduce a fully legalised cannabis market.

"What we currently do is bad for health and mental health," said Julian Huppert of the Lib Dems. "The market is run by criminal gangs and they have no interest in public health – the system is causing huge amounts of harm."

16. UKIP Might Just Have Handed The Conservatives These 29 Seats In The General Election

BuzzFeed News

The biggest unknown in this general election is what will happen to the four million people who voted UKIP in the 2015. The party's poll rating has collapsed following the EU referendum and it hasn't even managed to field candidates in many seats – only sometimes out of choice.

BuzzFeed News analysed the electoral results and found 29 constituencies where UKIP has not fielded a candidate – and where the Conservatives can win simply by winning the votes of those who support Paul Nuttall's party. It's particularly grim news for Labour, who now face a tough struggle to hold off the Conservatives in many northern seats.

17. Labour Party Members Are Warning Of "Another Falkirk" After A Union Candidate Was Imposed In Walton

Liverpool Echo / Trinity Mirror

Labour saw some fierce selection battles, with pro-Corbyn candidates struggling to get on the ballot. There was one exception – Liverpool Walton – where BuzzFeed News' northern election correspondent found some local members were irate about the decision to give the Labour nomination to a senior Unite union aide rather than a candidate with stronger local roots.

18. 27 Strong And Stable Election Tweets Guaranteed To Make You Laugh

Adam Bienkov / Twitter

Because if you can't laugh, you're screwed.