Shropshire Star comment: Time to make up your mind
We’ve heard the pitches, and now we are on the eve of making the choice.
And one of the choices in this general election is unique. It goes beyond education, the economy, law and order, and all the other matters which influence the way people vote in “normal” general elections.
This is a divided country. It’s become a cliche to say that. Yet whatever you may have heard, that is nothing new in politics. One party says one thing, another party says another, both believe they are right, and both believe the other side is definitely wrong.
In the UK, we don’t seem to put much store in coalitions, co-operation, and collaboration. Here politics generally is the art and practice of division, of carving out distinct policies and separate political identities, of deliberate contrariness. Government and Opposition – it says it all.
What is new is the nature of the division. It is a divide which our adversarial party political system does not cope with all that well. The labels of Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat have been pasted over as a new loyalty to a different cause has assumed importance. Leave or Remain, Brexit or No Brexit.
The Brexit fissures run through the main parties. There have been disagreements and defections from those who see a higher responsibility than following the party line on an issue that is bigger than party lines. So it is going to be fascinating and crucial tomorrow to see the extent to which voters’ feelings on Brexit guide their pencils on the ballot papers.
It is a far-reaching choice in a general election in which there are clear choices. Labour has a radical left wing vision which would break up the modern consensus in, it may seem strange to suggest, as profound a way that Margaret Thatcher did when she shook things up in 1979, in political mirror image of course.
Then there is the Get Brexit Done message of the Conservatives to a nation weary of the tortuous debates and the Parliamentary games. This pledge to deliver the result of the referendum is a stark contrast to Labour’s ‘neutral’ stance and its plans for another public vote on the issue. To add to the mix we have the Lib Dems with their clear Stop Brexit message.
As for the campaign, it has been characterised by allegations of misinformation and lies. That will do little to rebuild people’s trust in our politicians. Nor will it if whoever is elected does not deliver on their campaign promises. It will reinforce the impression that politicians will say anything to get into office, and then conveniently forget it all.
At times it has almost been like an auction, with the main parties all pledging to spend quite amazing amounts of money. Don’t worry, the pockets of no ordinary people will be hurt in the process, or so they assure us. While cynicism is understandable, voting is important. This is your chance to have your say at a critical moment in this country’s history. You might think that “politicians are all the same” but this time round, even if that were true, the policies and choices before the electorate are demonstrably not all the same.
Laid out before us are markedly different paths, both for Brexit, and for different visions for the shape of future Britain.
So it is time to make your mind up in the first December general election in nearly 100 years. We are in the winter. Vote for your spring.
