As Europe goes to the polls, there’s another election taking place in Europe, that of the bloc’s absent friend, the United Kingdom’s snap general election, scheduled for 4 July with a change to a more EU-friendly government likely to be on the cards.
On Friday (7 June), the BBC held a leader and deputy leader debate ahead of the upcoming vote, called by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the end of May.
The smaller parties fronted their leaders, with the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats sending their deputy leader, or for the Conservatives, one of their more popular MPs, Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt.
Mordaunt repeated claims that Labour’s policies would amount to a £2,000 tax rise for every working family.
Mordaunt added that Labour would mean “higher taxes, higher bills and a raid on your pension.”
Sunak said in a debate on ITV that the figure was based on independent analysis by Treasury officials, but this was rebutted by the Treasury’s Permanent Secretary, James Bowler.
Labour’s Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner MP, said that the Conservatives had raised taxes to the highest levels on record, she described Labour’s plans as “fully costed”.
On migration, she said that Labour would secure the UK’s borders “not with gimmicks, but with a credible plan to smash the gangs.”
Dismal polls
The current Tory government is facing some of the worst polling results in its history with YouGov, an institution with a good track record in predicting election results, estimating the opposition Labour Party will win 422 seats, compared to the incumbent ruling party’s projected 140.
This is a significant drop from the 317 seats the conservatives won in 2019 to ‘Get Brexit Done’.
Former UKIP leader and top ‘Brexiteer’ Nigel Farage’s Reform Party is unlikely to gain any seats in the UK’s heavily skewed first-past-the-post system, but that is not to say that it will not have an impact. The party, primarily built around Farage as its leader, is likely to sweep up the votes of disillusioned Conservative voters.
Farage acknowledges that Labour will form the next government and that the debate centres around who will create the opposition in the next parliament, but any opposition will hold little sway if Labour has such a large majority.
Not much on Europe
There was little on Europe in the debate as the three parties avoided the divisive topic of Brexit. There is speculation, however, from some that a Labour government will seek to nurture a better relationship with the EU, but there has been no official statement from party leadership.
In Scotland, however, you can vote for the Scottish National Party (SNP), which is projected to keep 17 seats in Westminster, a substantial reduction from 48 seats in 2019.
Their Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, said in the debate, “There is a conspiracy of silence over Brexit” that ignores its economic impact. Flynn went on to say that voters should challenge Labour and Conservative about what they are doing to rejoin the Single Market and that voters should ignore the snake-oil salesman who delivered Brexit [referring to Farage].
As for the Liberal Democrats, once the UK’s most pro-European party, they have remained silent on the UK’s relations with the EU. Deputy leader Daisy Cooper MP said, “Everything feels broken”, and said that Liberal Democrats would invest in public services.
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
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