It’s been an odd General Election
so far here in the UK. Called unexpectedly the process meant hastily assembled
manifestos and a feeling that whatever any of the parties said, Brexit was the
real elephant in the room. If not a room actually in the elephant. At times its
been difficult to decide who is the least capable- the party leaders or the
people interviewing them. The rest of the media in its usual manner is either
excessively pro one side or the other or else determined to reduce the entire
thing to humourous memes and gimmicky records. Which is really going to put the
serious issues across don’t you think? Anyone who thinks this election in particular
is about having a laugh needs to wake up quick. Having winced at the Andrew
Neill interviews and noting that only Jeremy Paxman got a word in during the
Jeremy Paxman interviews, tonight we arrived at what last time was the best
live interview scenario Question Time.
Instead of journalists with bigger agendas than the politicians, we had the
general public asking Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn things. Not together
though. And finally it proved to be Jeremy Corbyn’s moment. If Ed Miliband’s stumble
from the giant question mark platform was the symbolic moment you knew he’d
lost, Corbyn’s eloquent, at times impassioned performance tonight is the sort
of thing that sways floating voters. In the current weird political climate
would you bet against a victory?
Detail is a quality often lacking
from television debates. Sure, the leaders have endless statistics to hand to
prove this or that but it is rare to see a party leader who appears to have a
genuine feel for what the country is really like. Not the graphs and
percentages, but examples we can identify with. Superficially he is already ahead
anyway because he always comes over in this sort of thing better than Theresa
May does. She seems ill at ease when faced with awkward questions and displays little
empathy for those asking them. Corbyn on the other hand is ready to engage with
the questions, even though he does know when to avoid something too
controversial that he can already envisage as a headline tomorrow.
I’ve had issues with the Labour
manifesto however costed it is. I felt it was more aspirational than realistic,
a manifesto a flush government might pull out to spend some of it’s assembled
monies. Yet listening to Corbyn explain some of its knottier points- and do so without
an inane interruption even 10 seconds- makes it all seem a lot more sensible.
His key argument seems to be that we have to approach some of the big problems
with a different method because though he didn’t actually say this austerity
has not worked. Again it may have statistically worked but what does that mean
to any of us still enduring cuts? Nothing. To actually hear a party leader
talking about investing in the economy (the missing Yin to austerity’s Yang)
was a refreshing change from Ed Miliband’s vote losing decision to just carry
on the cuts.
Corbyn’s vision seems to go beyond
the cuts and even beyond Brexit towards reshaping the way we look at elderly
care, student life, industry and so on. Its barely been mentioned in the
mainstream coverage that Labour want to expand our industrial base something
which both parties have allowed to contract for decades. He talked too of negotiating
on Brexit, of coming to a new trade agreement- this is so removed from the
Tories’ inflexible soundbite driven approach of looking tough. He condemned
Donald Trump in clear terms, again a contrast to Theresa May’s fudge on the
subject. He also explained properly how his party’s investments would be funded
and rebuffed some rather frighteningly warmongering members of the public who
seemed to want the government to start launching nuclear weapons all over the
place something that is not even a Tory policy. Theresa May has said that we
have to decide who we would trust with Brexit and based on both their performances
tonight I would rather Corbyn went in there than she did. Yes, I know neither
of them would be leading the detailed negotiations btw.
I still do have that nagging
doubt that a program such as Labour’s could easily spiral out of control – and why
won’t they scrap HS2?- but experience shows that almost any party manifesto is a
risk and in the end we are being asked to take that risk. The manifesto’s most outre
element of renationalising several industries was strangely barely referred to
though there are suggestions this may not be a wholesale return to the British
Rail slam door trains and mouldy pies.
The political climate in the UK
may be changing but the response to the Tories’ `Dementia Tax` shows how a
large number voters are unwilling to go along with something that means them
forking out more. Labour are gambling on a host of policies that mean there
will be more tax and yet when it comes down to it I think it probably is a
gamble worth taking. If that sounds grudging then bear in mind till tonight I
had more or less decided not to vote which would have been the first time ever
I’d abstained in any election I was eligible for. So, with reservations but
buoyed by the feeling that on balance more would benefit than lose out I am
ready to get in that wobbly wooden booth next Thursday and put my pencil cross
next to Labour. And if you’re a UK voter and have been having similar doubts and
missed the programme then I’d urge you to watch tonight’s Question Time on the
iPlayer without prejudice and see what you think. You might be surprised.
No comments:
Post a Comment