These general elections are a turning point in recent British and world history. As we close on the end of a decade which saw so much change of leadership in the British government, many crises, Brexit and Theresa May dancing, I think it is fair to say it has been a pretty eventful few years. Since June 2016, the country has been in dismay, with the referendum vote going towards leaving the European Union. All we have heard on the news is No-deal, Article 50, the NHS and taking back control of our borders. With these elections, things could really take a turn for the worse, create more chaos or start solving the problem that is Brexit. While I am no specialist, I study politics and have read the manifestos of the three main parties that are running this year. So, here is my take on the general elections which start 12th December.
I enter several categories which are interesting to take into account as to why I am choosing the Liberal Democrats as the party to vote for. Firstly, being half French, I am not only an immigrant to the UK, I am also a proud European. A European that really enjoyed Interrail last summer, an adventure only made possible by freedom of movement. Even though I am half British, I still feel like I was given the opportunity to study in the UK with the EU. Even looking around the University of Essex, you can see how many different European nationalities you have, which really makes this university special. Taking all this into account, you can understand my despair when Brexit came out as a winner of the 2016 referendum. Since then, it has been disappointment after disappointment. Sometimes I resign myself to Brexit, with the hope of a ‘not-so-bad” deal, even though I know that will not happen.
However, sometimes, like with these elections, I get my hopes up for a second referendum. Stopping Brexit with a second referendum, where people know all the information and can vote for something that isn’t a crime against everything Britain stands for and its economy. By stopping Brexit, you continue to support the fact that Britain isn’t just John Smith in Hampshire, it is also the French community in London, the Polish all around the country, at the same title as the Indian community of Birmingham. The UK is a big melting pot and it should continue supporting immigration throughout the territory. Look at all the successful stories coming out of immigration in the UK: Sadiq Khan is the Mayor of London, Mo Farah one of the greatest sportsmen of all time and Rita Ora made a name for herself in Pop Music after leaving Kosovo. The Lib Dems promise to give the people move involvement in the EU with more representation and importance when voting. This was one of the main issues when Brexit happened: having Brussels controlling Britain was simply not accepted anymore.
Staying in the EU also has a dramatic economic impact. You can see that with the trade deals which would have import and export taxes once you leave the free trade zone, this has already pushed some companies to leave the British territory as well as cutting jobs and closing factories, even for British companies. Jaguar, like many car manufacturers, are cutting huge amounts of jobs. Panasonic has moved to Amsterdam, Philips will follow them to the Netherlands, Dyson moved to Singapore while Aviva and Barclays are moving to Ireland. This is largely due to the import taxes but also the lack of cheaper labour that would be coming into the country due to immigration restrictions. The pound is crashing, the uncertainty in leadership in the country scares everyone away and ultimately money that was said to be available to spend will not be there due to all the businesses leaving and the economy plummeting.
What about the goods we import every single day to the UK? Sure, you might not be aware about most of the top 10, but mostly technical goods such as machinery like computers, mineral fuel, vehicles, iron and more. This top 10 also includes pharmaceuticals, medical apparatus or clothing accessories. However, think of all the food that isn’t produced in the UK that you eat every day. 85% of our vegetables are imported from the EU, from potatoes, to tomatoes or onions. Bananas, apples and oranges dominate the leader boards of fruit imports, mostly from Latin America. They might not be disappearing from the country but would definitely be more expensive. Also think about our exports which could be cut as other countries find cheaper producers, potatoes and carrots being the main ones. Anyway, now you know a few reasons why Brexit would be a mistake and therefore trying everything to preventing it would be good. You could argue Labour are trying to present to a better deal and another referendum, but no deal will make the situation better than being part of the EU. Plus, little bonus, we will receive a £50 million bonus for staying in the EU, which the Lib Dems plan to invest in a number of things.
In the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto, you will find the areas where they plan to invest this money. Firstly, from an economic perspective, there are many things promised and while promises in politics are like Christmas presents, you really hope they come but aren’t always delivered. However, the ideas there are really interesting. There is a strong focus on main issues that society is facing: mental health, more support for small businesses and entrepreneurs, more protection for workers, giving more opportunities throughout life and fairer taxes. I will not go into detail for everything aspect, you can find that on their website. You do feel they really live in their era, as they have an understanding around the fact that people change work many times in their lives, that technology and innovation are the future of the country and ultimately the taxing system seems unclear and unfair to every person in society, whether it is too much or not enough.
Talking of these taxes, they express a real concern that large tech companies do not pay all the taxes that are due, therefore saying that the fact that Labour expects more income from higher taxes is unrealistic as these companies don’t pay. On the other hand, Conservatives would rather lower these taxes. The Lib Dems want to work towards reducing opportunities for tax evasion, work towards redistributing the money into the general public while also supporting start-ups and smaller businesses. These start-ups would receive an allowance to survive the first few crucial weeks, they should also get more support from banks who should take more risks by investing in these small companies and finally support local councils and towns who want to develop a high street over residential areas in order to help businesses to thrive.
A big point made in this economy section is made about youth. Certain parts of the country really struggle with opportunities for education, work and entertainment even. Spreading out businesses and general opportunities across the country in order to avoid pockets of dull lives and high unemployment. This goes hand in hand with the project to support the fact that young people nowadays don’t have easy paths to one job. They might go back to college or university to study something new, they won’t keep the same job their whole lives and supporting the transition between jobs is crucial to this generation of workers. A generation of workers who are inspired, creative and want to innovate. Their access to education from a young age means they are more likely to develop new technology which can cure cancer, help disabled people or make trains faster who knows. However, just like with small businesses, the research and innovation side of the economy isn’t supported enough to be able to make meaningful change and this party wants to push them forwards.
Youth also means a focus on education. This goes through an improvement on schools, from free meals, detecting mental health issues, giving everyone a better chance at succeed in school, preparing children to life with more life skills’ training as well as a better access to culture and sport. For too long, school has been the first creator of inequalities and so early on in life means it is difficult to catch up later. School dropouts, little access to extra curriculum activities as well as training to become an adult: all these lead to disparities, within schools and across the country where investments are scarcer. This goes through investing in teachers, whether it is number of staff members or simply better s-training to become overall better carers of the children, in order to detect struggling students a lot faster and know how to help them properly.
Like most of the parties, there is a part on climate change, and I think overall there is a rise of collective consciousness around this topic and it is important to take it into account when voting. All parties have somewhat a plan to do something for the environment and the differences in manifestos mostly rely on how much investment is set out to be put into this issue. Green industry, more eco-friendly energy in homes with less energy consumption, this comes back in most manifestos. Where the liberal democrats set aside is with the work, they set out to do with the train lines, improving transport in general to use cars less and do more public transportation. And finally, a raise of awareness around animal welfare which has become a crucial issue in the fight to save the planet.
Other than Brexit, one of the main topics of this election is the NHS and Labour with Liberal Democrats both understand this. The money saved from Brexit will go directly into the health and social care programs say Lib Dems. This goes through recruiting more nurses, giving a better access to care and more services to stay healthy and work on mental health. How do they plan to finance it? As I said through Remain money but also by raising ever so slightly the income tax, which by a tiny margin, can be a huge amount of money to invest at the end. They fully understand that the system is somewhat broken with some many issues when it comes to getting appointments, treatments and more. Although we are conscient that we have a better system than the US, there are definitely better systems out there, even in Europe.
The last issue that concerns domestic problems (I am generally not impressed with any foreign policies…) is creating a fairer society where everyone feels included. Supporting those in need, whether it is health issues, unemployment or child poverty. In this part, there is a discussion around creating a safer country, with an important approach to crime, which will be solved with more community policing. A focus on avoiding second offenses with a more down to earth and mental support approach to criminals once they come out of sentences. While youth is crucial to the future of the country, the pensioners are still important to society and they should be felt welcome: making their pensions higher and generally a better experience post retirement is an objective of the liberal democrats. Finally, a growing issue in the country is housing. Making it more accessible and affordable should be done through more constructions and a bigger control on prices to avoid another situation of a housing bubble like it has been the case for too many years. Housing also means those who don’t have a home, and the promise to get everyone on the streets to a home within five years is a big step, although ambitious it can be achievable.
Overall, the Liberal democrats as usual try finding good in both sides of party politics. They have interesting social plans as well as a major focus on stopping Brexit, a step which I personally find essential to the future of the country. By avoiding this separation from the EU, we not only keep this multicultural environment we have in the UK, we keep a certain standard of living with the free tax zone, precious immigration and ultimately, a £50 million budget to invest in social care, education and the NHS. Now while this has been very one sided, you all have your political opinions and stress the importance of certain topics more than others. Whoever you vote today, know that it will impact the country, the EU and the world, whoever wins. Consider voting Liberal Democrats, this isn’t dual partisan politics like in the States. Please go out and vote. I’m not even suggesting you vote well, just vote, it is crucial for our democracy and our country.
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