Clear choice for UK voters

Terror attacks in London have shifted attention away from the major political event of the week in the United Kingdom where the general election is being held.

The polls close at 10pm on Thursday, about 9am Friday in New Zealand, and the first exit polls are expected soon after.

Prime Minister Theresa May called the election in April when her Conservative Party had a huge lead in the opinion polls.

Voters had practically written off the chances of Labour and its leader Jeremy Corbyn. The party was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Mr Corbyn was seen as ineffectual and in the back pocket of powerful union bosses. He was a long-servicing backbench MP who apparently supported the Irish Republican Army and had committed various political sins during his career.

And, to a point, the publicity about Mr Corbyn was correct. Labour MPs decided to stand down rather than face what they then thought would be a humiliating defeat for them and their party.

But the polls have narrowed and Labour is within the margin of error. It is not impossible to think now of Mr Corbyn being asked to form the next government.

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly where opinion changed for Mrs May. Whether voter fatigue set in after re-electing the Conservatives for a five-year term just two years ago. Mrs May, in theory, had another three years before having to call a general election but she decided she needed a strong mandate to negotiate Brexit with the European Union.

The vote for the UK to leave the European Union was not as convincing as it was made out to be and Mrs May cannot talk tough with the EU without overwhelming voter support. That is not likely to happen.

Brexit negotiations are due to start on June 19. And in a sign of just how things have soured, Mrs May's personal rating turned negative for the first time in a recent poll since winning the job last year.

Mrs May faces another problem north of the border in Scotland where the Scottish National Party remains a thorn in her side. Despite best intentions from Mrs May to offer an olive branch, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon remains a strong advocate for independence for Scotland. The SNP took seats off Labour at the last election, seats Mr Corbyn is unlikely to win back. His strength will be in the built-up cities where the poor, low-paid and union activists hold sway.

Polls have been wrong before and Mrs May only has to look across the Atlantic to see how wrong pollsters were before the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. But in that case, the disaffected decided to ''drain the swamp'', turning away from established politician Hillary Clinton to the unknown of Mr Trump.

In France, a similar outcome meant the election of Emmanuel Macron, who entered politics through an appointment from former president Francois Hollande.

The political climate has changed in Western democracies and those who fail to read the signs will be the losers.

The Conservatives are taking a lot of the blame for the increased terror attacks in Britain - three in the past three months. Rightly or wrongly, the party is being blamed for slashing police numbers at a time terror attacks are increasing.

Mrs May has also sent conflicting messages on taxation for top earners, an issue about which the Conservatives are sensitive because Labour casts them as the party for the rich and privileged.

The fall in Mrs May's popularity coincided with an announcement last month she would make elderly people pay more for their social care, despite concerns it could undermine support among ageing, wealthy homeowners - a core source of Conservative votes. She later backed down, insisting nothing had changed.

In contrast, Mr Corbyn has run an unexpectedly strong campaign, leaving voters with a choice that was not apparent just two months ago.

 

Comments

Jeremy Corbyn is buying votes. Free University study and plans for wealth distribution. Big nationalisation plans as well. Paid for by significant increased taxation, new land taxes and borrowing. This will surely be a financial disaster for the UK.

Main problem at hand is the killers who ever gets in has to take a very hard line. to get things under some sort of control ...Thanks to The women in Germany the UK has a large problem