There’s less than a week to the 2010 General Election. I’m a Labour party supporter. I give money to the party indirectly through my Unison subs (I’m a Unison member too). I consider myself less ‘New Labour’, as that was a ploy to get the middle classes to vote Labour. It worked in 1997, but now has become a dirty phrase it would seem.
Currently, according to most polls, Labour is mostly trailing. The Tories are slightly out in front, and the Lib Dems are mostly weaving up and down the polls. There’s lots of talk of a possible ‘hung parliament’. Personally, I can’t help but feel that it won’t happen. The Tories are edging slowly higher on a daily basis. They need around a hundred seats to take a majority. It’s possible it could happen, and each day seems more likely.
A hung parliament could be a good thing, as it could bring around a lot of reform people have often spoken of. Electoral reform would be a great thing, given that our local seat is ALWAYS Tory, and has been since 1926. The likelihood of him losing his seat is amazingly low. I don’t feel represented in parliament because of this. My vote is effectively useless, because the winning party represent an opposite view to my own. Some sort of reform could change that. I don’t think a hung parliament is likely though.
The notion of a Tory government being formed concerns me, given how dead-set they seem on hacking so much money out of the government budget. Right now is the wrong time. I just know they’ll sell the government stake in the banks off almost instantly. It’s too soon to do those things.
It’s right the budget is too high though. The BBC put together this useful infographic on spending. It’s a never-ending issue that the electorate want a government that doesn’t tax them, but spends massively on public services. Efficiencies can be found all over government. Hacking money out at the top isn’t going to work. It has to start within. Despite what many people will say, there’s plenty of career benefits claimants milking the system. I fully agree in a totally free healthcare, schools, and a social security system to help those that need it. Claiming benefits shouldn’t be a viable alternative to working. It should be there for those who find themselves out of work suddenly, or can’t work due to illness or whatever. Social security accounts for a massive slice of government money. It should be carefully reviewed and reduced.
When I went through school, it was mostly under the Tories. I remember schools being like something out of the latter years of Soviet Russia. Poor books, peeling paint, ripped curtains, broken furniture. Just before I left things were turning around a lot. Taxation on the richest parts of society brought in money to fix those things.
The Tories are planning to raise the threshold on Inheritance Tax. Well that’s good – if you’re in a tiny minority of people. They want to cut corporation tax. Even better. Now those big corporations can earn even more off us. Money we never see! So fatcat bosses can earn yet more off share options and dividends. More money they can hand over to their children in inheritances. At least it won’t be taxed!
Meanwhile, the lowest parts of society, those who need it, will find themselves unable to get benefits they need. The career benefit cheats will however continue to claim.
The thing is, it’s ordinary working class and middle class people voting in the Tories. Why, I don’t know. They only do things to benefit the rich. Privatisation only made a bunch of rich shareholders richer.
I don’t believe everything the Labour Party has done is right. The war in Iraq was stupid and pointless. The Digital Economy Bill was a whitewash. However, I feel that Labour offers a much, MUCH safer option in this post recession climate.
It feels to me that we’re heading towards some very bleak years.
On a similar note, today saw the English Defence League pay a visit to our little town. It passed off largely uneventfully. However, the comments bandied around on Twitter and the news articles on the Bucks Herald website leave me cold. There’s this hard core of ‘ordinary’ people who are convinced their liberties and laws are going to be replaced with some sort of radical Islamic legal system. I’m really not sure why. A local event is being held on Monday to claim the town back. It’s our town – everybody who lives here. We all live together quite happily, and don’t need anybody poking their oars in trying to incite trouble.
In case you didn’t notice, today was the two-minute silence, to mark 