As we’re now well into the general election campaign I thought it would be interesting to have yet another look at the anti Hs2 campaign’s social media influence.

No doubt they’ve been hoping that the *cough* ‘millions’ they claim are affected by & who oppose Hs2 would be flocking to their banner. As usual, the truth is very different.

I’ve previously looked at their Twitter & Facebook performance in February & March. This looks at the groups themselves and the individual ‘main players’. I’ve added today’s scores in this little spreadsheet, along with the percentage change.

As you can see – it’s abysmal. They’ve hardly moved from a very low base & in some cases they’ve even gone backwards! Bear in mind that ‘followers’ doesn’t automatically mean supporters. Many folks will be following simply to see what they’re up to. No wonder the main political parties don’t see them as anything to worry about with such abysmal numbers as these. That said, UKIP & the Greens should take note too. They’ve been conned into thinking there’s lots of votes to harvest by opposing Hs2, which is pure moonshine.

Let’s put these numbers in perspective. The total number of UK parliamentary electors in 2013 was 46,139,900. I hate to think how many zeros would be on the figure if you calculated what percentage of that number the anti Hs2 campaign is reaching!

There’s another problem for the anti Hs2 mob. As the election campaign progresses it’s becoming clearer that voters are starting to seriously think about who they want to see in Government. It’s all very well considering placing a protest vote with UKIP or Greens but neither have a snowballs chance in hell of holding power. Polls are showing that voters are realising this, with votes transferring back to the main parties.

This is yet more bad news for the anti Hs2 campaign. Their ‘no votes for you with Hs2’ campaign’s been an embarrassing flop & they’re failing to persuade anyone who could stop Hs2 to do so. It’s not hard to see why. Their Twitter campaign is increasingly relying on the sort of people the PM once called ‘swivel-eyed loons’…!

When the election results become clear & the Hs2 Hybrid Bill Committee reconvenes, I suspect their campaign will go into another slough of despondency. I can’t see the people who bankroll it continuing to throw their money away forever. Perhaps it’s time Joe Rukin started looking for a proper job…