UK General Election: The Game of Votes

Article published in Cafebabel

10 Downing Street. © Sergeant Tom Robinson RLC/MOD

Less than one month before the general elections in the UK, the politicians' agendas are crowded in a race against the clock. This is the time for sensitive speeches and promises, the time when words must be persuasive enough to make up people's minds. 

Through a Historical perspective and going back to the XIX century, when Queen Victoria was ruling the United Kingdom, the game of politics was already on, mostly played by both Labour and Tories just like currently. If we think of the House of Commons and the House of Lords as a regular place where friends meet for a coffee as a social gathering, we realise how banal politics can be. Misunderstanding, friction and mocking are the top ingredients in what is supposed to be a polite, respectful, solemn and fruitful dialogue between parties. Most often we hear screams and sarcastic laughs. This happens everywhere, not only in the United Kingdom. We have even witnessed a fight in the Ukrainian Parliament not so long ago. Politicians are just human beings who emanated from society to a privileged position. Some are gifted others are the worst nightmare of a whole country. 

The living environment in the UK has been one of extreme dispute and rows long before the campaigning period. Issues like immigration, economic recovery and the permanence of the UK in the European Union have been dominating the political spectrum for quite a while. Now, less than one month before the general elections, the political environment is burning. The latest poll by TNS ranks the Tories in first place with 34% of the electorate followed by Labour with 32%. UKIP was the great surprise with a decrease of 5%. Nick Clegg keeps struggling with 9% and the Greens with 5% of the constituency. 

Conservatives and Labour 

 David Cameron. Number 10 © Flickr 

What are UK politicians promising? On the Conservative side, economic recovery is one of the main issues to tackle, as well as immigration and the promised referendum about permanence in the EU. When interviewed about the recent defections to UKIP by the Daily Telegraph, David Cameron said "I would say to those people that I totally understand the frustration people have felt about issues like immigration where they want more done, and we will do more”. He warned of the risks of voting for UKIP, picturing the consequence of Ed Miliband’s victory. 

Naturally, Tories’ defections to UKIP represent a clear decrease in the number of voters for the current prime minister. The Conservatives also promised the construction of 200,000 homes to young buyers by 2020. In fact, the coalition government has already announced plans in order to ease the access of British youth to their own property. However, Ed Miliband has also promised the construction of new homes for the British people. Labour promised to cut the tuition fees for young people in colleges, in order to guarantee them a better future with no debts or loans. 

As for the leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, she defends free access to University. “Access to education should be based on the ability to learn and never on the ability to pay,” said the SNP leader during the first broadcasted debate by BBC. 

 Ed Miliband. © Riots Panel 

When it comes to economic recovery, Miliband has squeezed Cameron against the wall, after promising not to increase the VAT rate if he is to be the next prime minister. Cameron did promise to eliminate the deficit without exactly specifying how, while Miliband advanced his intention of eliminating the deficit and an extra £2.5b for the NHS, mostly paid by a considerable tax on properties valued over £2 million. The Conservatives have promised an extra £8b for the NHS by 2020. Also, they vowed to keep people working 30 hours on minimum wage tax free; 30 hours of free childcare per week for working parents of 3 and4-year-olds, and the so-expected referendum on Britain’s EU membership. 

Liberal Democrats 

The LibDems, struggling not to lose any seats, but very likely to, have promised to balance the budget fairly through a mixture of cuts and taxes on higher earners; to increase the tax-free allowance to £12,500 and to guarantee education funding from nursery to 19 with an extra £2.5bn and qualified teachers in every class. As for the NHS, Nick Clegg vowed an investment of £8b both for mental and physical health. When it comes to environmental measures, we can naturally expect promised legislation from the Greens, but besides them, only the LibDems promise to create five new laws to protect nature and fight climate change. 

UKIP 

 Nigel Farage. Gage Skidmore © Flickr 

Nigel Farage’s party has had its ups and downs, and recently experts have said that the right-wing party might lose one of its more important constituencies, South Thanet. The anti-immigration party who believes in the possibility of gaining four or five seats might well win only one, experts have predicted. Apparently the huge donation to Farage’s party by the Daily Express owner might not have been enough for UKIP’s performance during the general elections. However, with the recent defections from the Tories to the United Kingdom Independent Party, Farage’s party has benefitted from a confident image in the mainstream media. UKIP pledges to give British citizens a referendum on whether they want to remain or withdraw from the EU; control immigration; an extra 3£b per year for the NHS in England; no taxes on minimum wage and spending 2% of the GDP in defence. 

Greens 

Natalie Bennett, the Greens’ leader, vows to end austerity and restore the public sector, creating jobs that pay at least a living wage; to end the privatisation of the National Health Service; to work with other countries to ensure global temperatures do not rise by more than 2C; an £85bn programme of home insulation, renewable electricity generation & flood defences; to provide 500,000 social homes for rent by 2020 and control rent levels, and to return the railways to public hands. 

The Game is On 

The battle for number 10 Downing Street is either for David Cameron or Ed Miliband. Nick Clegg is campaigning to remain part of the governmental coalition, afraid of Nigel Farage’s popularity. On the other hand, though a coalition between Labour and UKIP is absolutely ruled out, however, Farage and Cameron together might be one of the biggest nightmares Britain has ever experienced. The game is on, and not only in Britain but all over Europe attention is pointed to the 7th of May, the day we will find out whether a Brexit is looming or not.

Political Swirl in the UK

Article published in Cafebabel

Cameron mocking Farage and Miliband. © Daily Mail

The political environment in the UK is tense. Either because of the EU in/out referendum that hangs in the air, or because of the internal situation they are facing following the by-elections. 

Liberal Democrat Vince Cable told the Huffington Post that Germany has ‘colonised’ the European Commission. This statement is pretty clear about his feelings towards Europe’s influence in Westminster. Nevertheless, Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister of the UK and leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2007, expressed in The Guardian that he would accept an EU poll (regarding the referendum), but that leaving would be an economic suicide. 

A few days after this declaration, the by-election in Clacton gave Douglas Carswell a seat in the Parliament, UKIP’s first seat. This recent development reinforced both UKIP’s position in the UK political panorama and the idea of Britain out of the EU. After this victory, curiosity gave way to studies which revealed UKIP could win 30 seats in the 2015 elections, according to The Guardian. 

However, from a European point of view, not everything has been a bed of roses for UKIP's leader as last Thursday, October 16th , Farage’s Eurosceptic MEP group – EFDD – collapsed. This was a result of the defection of Latvian MEP Iveta Grigule, meaning that the party no longer has MEPs from enough member states, according to the European law. 

On Labour’s side, Ed Miliband promised they will introduce tougher rules on benefits for new migrants, a political maneuver trying to steal votes from UKIP. 

Later, when asked in an interview on the BBC which one he would prefer to see as a Prime Minister of his country – Cameron or Milliband, Farage claimed, in a satirical tone, that the UK’s Prime Minister was Jean Claude Juncker. However, the bomb was about to explode when UKIP’s leader was invited to take part in the 2015 TV leader’s debates, causing effervescent reactions from the Green Party – whose leader, Natalie Bennett, was not invited to the debates - threatening a legal action. 

Meanwhile, Rochester by-election’s date was announced for the 20th of November, as David Cameron attacked UKIP’s “Media Circus” concerning UKIP’s MP election and subsequent cession of airtime to the Party. 

With all this political agitation, Labour is barely ahead of Tories in polls and Miliband is not feeling very secure, urging MPs to back him or warning that they will lose. Labour leader said the party must be united or will face an election disaster in May. And since politicians can be very incongruent, it should be noted that Farage declared in the Huffington Post that UKIP would prop up a minority Tory Government, and three days later the same political party manifested its desire for Labour to win the next elections, as it fears Cameron could win an EU referendum. Incongruity or political move? 

The last straw was when Conservative Lord Freud suggested disabled people aren’t worth the minimum wage. This inappropriate comment was made during the Conservative Party conference and unleashed a big amount of outraged reactions. As an attempt to defend his Party, David Cameron ordered Lord Freud to apologise for his verbal behaviour. “I would like to offer a full and unreserved apology (…) to be clear, all disabled people should be paid at least the minimum wage, without exception, and I accept it is offensive to suggest anything else”, said the great-grandson of Sigmund Freud. 

Despite Freud’s statement being a plausible reason to turn away possible Conservative voters, the political struggle continues in the UK, with UKIP gaining ground in the political arena, Labour sweating blood in a cry for support, and the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest party in the House of Commons since 2010, trying to keep its position as steady as possible.