The General Election and The EU, God Help Us
Ever since the UK's decision to leave the EU in 2016 the state of our politics has been, no understatement, categorically horrendous, an embarrassment so to speak. The UK is, in more modern terms, straight up not having a good time. Amidst the chaos of Brexit, Theresa May stepping down and Bo Jo accomplishing his life-long dream of being Prime Minister, the political disparity and increasing rate of tension has significantly worsened.
All I seem to hear are the words: "Johnson is ruining this country, bringing the UK to complete political demise," or "Jeremy Corbyn wants a purely communist state, he's trying to destroy our economic future and ability." Those, as many of you know, are the mildest comments when it comes to addressing our PM and the Leader of the Opposition. The saddest thing of all is that the angered passion doesn't even seem to be about the country and the actual politics most of the time, but a boring, school-boy-like battle of inflated egos between the parties.
Now, after Johnson's calling for another election in October, we have approached the day which might just allow the UK to push forwards with Brexit, whatever route that may be, and find its political stability and regain some sort of respectable reputation again.
I bloody hope that this General Election will be the election that allows us to proceed with whatever course of action the elected government chooses to take; the UK is supposed to have an election every five years, this would be the third since 2015, we haven't even reached five years yet. If this fails to speak volumes to you about the political chaos and instability of our country then I don't know what will. Thankfully, I believe that there WILL be a change regardless of who is elected.
Boris Johnson religiously chants "get Brexit done," whenever given the opportunity, however evidently failing, and with the governmental divide Johnson strongly believed that a General Election was imperative in order to have unity in Parliament and nail the Brexit process that he salivates over down.
Currently the two favourites are the Conservatives and the Labour Party, as you all know the UK has a conservative government; if they win then they'll, as promised in their manifesto, push forwards with Brexit. If Labour win they will attempt to reverse Brexit by holding a second referendum; dramatically different approaches, and the voting is very close. Tuesday night’s forecast (10.12.19) suggested that a Hung Parliament may be a very possible outcome, which would be a repeat of the chaotic government we saw under Theresa May. Due to a Hung Parliament having no majority party this could instil even more issues within moving forward. Do you want this? However, as of today (11.12.19) opinion polls show that although close, the conservatives are still leading with an average of 9.6 points, a sizeable lead. This tells us that the UK's future is unpredictable, we don't have much clarity on who will end up in Number 10, everything is extremely close.
This therefore means that every single vote cast counts, and if you have the ability to go and vote you should. Forget about work or the weather or the terrible excuse of 'my vote won't make that much of a difference'; you're not just ticking a piece of paper and having a minimal impact; truly in this election, every single vote is vital to moving towards the change that you want to see.
So, who are the main candidates and what are they proposing. I'm starting from left to right.
Labour
Leader: Jeremy Corbyn
Promises:
£400bn national transformation fund, including £150bn for schools, hospitals, and housing as well as £250bn for energy and transport and tackling Climate Change.
Increasing the minimum wage to £10-an-hour
£75bn for 100,000 new council homes a year by 2024
Another referendum on Brexit
Green
Leaders: Jonathan Bartley and Sian Berry
Promises:
£100bn per year for a decade invested into the Climate Crisis
Net-Zero Carbon emissions by 2030 in the UK
1 Million new jobs via green investment
A People's Vote, providing another referendum on Brexit and the Greens will campaign to remain
Liberal Democrats
Leader: Jo Swinston
Promises:
Stop Brexit completely; argue that this will provide money to be spent on public services
Increase NHS budget by £26bn per year by 2023-24
Increase school funding by £10.6bn per year by 2024/25
£130bn investment in nationwide infrastructure
Conservatives
Leader: Boris Johnson, PM
Promises:
Bring back Withdrawal Agreement Bill to Parliament before Christmas to achieve Brexit by the end of January
£20.5bn additional funding to the NHS in England by 2023-24, with 50 million additional GP appointments and 50,000 more nurses
20,000 more police officers on the streets, returning to 2010 figures, over the next three years
An Australian-mirroring points based immigration system where all are equally treated regardless of nationality
Brexit Party
Leader: Nigel Farage (brb being sick)
Promises:
Leave all EU institutions and organisations and focus on the importance of UK Laws
Negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU with a set deadline of July 1, 2020
If a free trade deal cannot be arranged leave the EU (obviously) and follow World Trade Organisation trading rules
£200bn investment in infrastructure, wi-fi (ffs) and services for young people
And yes, I seem to be blabbering on about Brexit myself, and that is because it is and will be arguably one of the most monumental changes to ever impact the UK. A lot of people (most famously the Love Island girls) are unaware of how Brexit will impact day-to-day life and the economy itself, we lose the right to live freely in Europe, and without a trade deal these things will occur:
Electricity and gas prices will rise
Imported foods (30% of the current food supply in the UK) will become more scarce and the price will increase
Travelling in and around Europe won't be as easy
Medication will be less accessible and more expensive
Imported goods from the EU will get more expensive (the UK's top trading partners are Germany and France)
Housing Prices will slowly fall and have already done so consistently for the last 3 years
UK students in the EU and EU students in the UK could face a period of uncertainty
So, it will impact you, most definitely. It might just be something that you try to block out on the news but it will. So think about it, who you're voting for, and why you're voting for them. Your future and everyone else's is at huge potential of damaging change,
I was trying to keep this article very unbiased, but whatever happens next will have profound consequences on us as UK citizens. Although the EU is seen to be terrible by the Brexiteers for its institutions and organisations, the EU has over the last 40 years of the UK's membership strengthened employment rights, food standards, enhanced our legal systems, heightened our national security, enriched our culture massively, and has made the UK much more than just an island.
We weren't meant to stand alone in an increasingly volatile world with cyber threats and fake news, we need the EU and they need us just as much. We don't want to design our future based on our past.
We are better and stronger together.