At the moment it does feel like a general election with almost act as a referendum on Brexit, which does have a number of issues, from the first past the post system giving some voters a disproportionate influence to the fact there are a lot of other important issues out there. It’ll be interesting to see whether the political narrative shifts once campaigning begins properly. I’ve heard Boris Johnson mention ‘parachute funds’ to help certain industries cope with the impact of Brexit. I’ve heard him mention more money, particularly for policing. I’ve heard him talk about tax cuts to stimulate the economy. But does he have a carefully costed plan? Or has he got a magic money tree growing in his back garden?
On one hand I can see a strong argument for saying something needs to break the stalemate. On the other hand, if we do leave the EU and the government starts negotiating trade deals around the world, a government with a strong majority might be able to act decisively, but the lack of scrutiny is also concerning.
I think if the discourse does move over from Brexit to other issues, the Brexit Party stands to do badly out of it, the Conservatives will also suffer and Labour might come out quite well, although I’m biased, because I’m more left wing. I do think there has been a gradual change in the use of zero-hour contracts and a rise in people who are underemployed. There seem to be a lot of people on zero hour contracts who rely on multiple jobs or benefits to top things up. But then again, a lot of work class people do seem to vote for the Conservatives, which boggles my mind.
