I suspect that the next General Election, whether it’s in Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter this year, will turn not on which Party has the most positive platform or indeed charismatic Leader. It’s looking increasingly likely that it will in fact be a vote against a tired, corrupt and immoral Tory Government which has patently run out of steam and in favour of a boring, clueless and utterly uninspiring Labour Party which is devoid of policy, principle or ambition even before polling day never mind after years in Government.
Labour do though have one big thing going for them: they’re not the Tory Party. If ever there was an election where voters will vote against something rather than for something this is it.
With this in mind I suspect that we need to have a wee bit of a think on just how we message the campaign. It’s important that voters understand that in SNP seats (I don’t think even the Archangel Gabriel could save the two Alba seats) a vote for another Party risks the tories getting in by the back door,(not unfamiliar for them). Especially in the Northeast where seats have been radically redrawn and the Tories are the “incumbents”.
Voting Labour may well get rid of this Tory government for the next 5 years or so, but with the budgetary traps already well in place by Jeremy Hunt and Labour committed to the Tory spending plane for at least the next 2 years we know two things. 1) Nothing will change because Labour are committed to the tory spending plans and lack any ideas of why, how or what to change; 2) with the right wing media out for blood Labour will be hounded out of office, blamed for every economic disaster the tories have prepared and the tories will be back in office in 5 years more rabidly right wing than ever with a Patel, Jenryck or even worse Farage at the helm.
If, for any reason, you doubt Labour’s commitment to Tory values, I refer you to Wes Streeting MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary in the Times earlier this month;
“THE NHS uses every winter crisis as “an excuse to ask for more money”, Labour’s shadow health secretary has claimed.
Wes Streeting told The Times the NHS was “the worst of all worlds, which is poor outcomes alongside poor value for taxpayers” but was “going to have to get used to the fact money is tight”.
He insisted the NHS should be aspiring to use systems like that in Singapore, where robots deliver medications, wash equipment and pick up drugs for prescriptions.
Critics have said Streeting is “quite openly and deliberately undermining public trust in the NHS” and has given staff “the most massive kick in the guts”.
He has previously made clear that if Labour wins the next General Election they would use private companies to tackle waiting lists, saying the Tories were “failing” to make use of private sector capacity.”
Yes, you read that correctly, “The Tories were “failing to make use of private sector capacity” Labour now advocate handing the NHS to the private sector – just think of how effective that is in, for example, the US.
In simple terms this means that if you want to get rid of the Tories for 5 years, voting Labour might do the trick. But, if you want to get rid of them long term there is only one route; Independence. And there is simply only one Party which can deliver.
It’s very tempting to look at the polls and predict a massive Labour win next year, the reality though might be very different.
A look at the electoral map shows that the bulk of the Tory seats lie in the Midlands and South of England. The South particularly has shown little enthusiasm for Labour over the years with a far greater tendency to lean to the great hypocrites of politics; the Libdums. Indeed, it was exactly these seats which the Libdums lost in 2015 to the tories which gave Cameron his majority and ultimately paved the way for Brexit.
2019 Result
Con 365
Lab 203
SNP 48
LD 11
DUP 8
SF 7
PC 4
SDLP 2
Green 1
Alliance 1
