The YouGov 34 per cent a piece tie had our hopes up, it was a 263 Labour and 284 Conservative prediction. There was scope for real change as Ed Miliband, with hope in hand, promised us a ‘triple lock of responsibility’. There would have been no unfunded spending, the deficit would have been cut annually and the budget would have reached a surplus. The economy and budget aside, the young generation of today would have gotten some integrity returned to them with the capping of student fees at a much more moderate £6,000 after the cutting blow of the Tories’ £9,000 a year tripling of the fees. The minimum wage would have risen to £8 by 2020: ‘a rise of £1.50 an hour for Britain’s lowest paid workers, worth £60 a week to £3,000 a year for full time workers on minimum wage’. Lastly, the big one, the NHS would have seen an extra £2.5 billion rise that would have been covered by government gains from the implementation of the Mansion Tax on properties over £2 million.
However, the opinion polls had us believe a neck-and-neck battle for who can claw into power first was a far off and distant dream, yet possible none the less. A hung parliament could have seen Labour triumph into power and be able to make some sort of real change, one that would not leave the country’s most vulnerable down the dark and bleak rabbit hole. If the last five years have shown us anything, it is that the Conservative government lavishes in supporting the well-off 1 per cent, and with the stinging result of their victory we will have a continuation of the cycle – the rich will get richer while the poorer suffer.
Then came the harrowing exit poll that hurtled onto our screens claiming that Labour were 77 seats trailing behind the Conservatives’ premature victory; the poll that magically vanished Labour out of the realm of Scottish politics and left the Lib Dems shuffling with tails hanging between hind legs. The exit poll was a terrifying prospect for any Labour supporter, but everyone clung to hope. Hope that has now proved false as the exit poll doesn’t even do justice to the defeat actually suffered – with the result dealing the conclusive blow of the Tories achieving an overall 329 seat majority.
The Tories have made the promise that a new law will be introduced within the first 100 days that will put a ‘tax-lock’ on rises in VAT, national insurance or income tax. But these exorbitant claims must be solidified, so where will the money that they would have made from taxing everyone now come from? Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, revealed the Tory plan to make £12 billion worth of cuts to the welfare system: ‘I agree with the University of Fiscal Studies in that you cannot make £12 billion savings in the welfare system without attacking child tax benefit or without attacking disability benefits’. Thus, those worse off always end up paying.
Chris Leslie, the Shadow Chief to the Treasury, also commented on Cameron’s pledge calling it a ‘desperate gimmick’ which ‘nobody will believe a word of’. Well it turns out that people do believe the claims of the Tories. They could, on the one hand, seem optimistic. Take for instance, the two million jobs that they assure will be created in order to achieve ‘full employment’, or that supposedly the NHS will be increased by a minimum of £8 billion, or that children will be guaranteed a ‘good’ primary school place, and so on. However, on the other hand, the Conservatives’ ambitious pledges of reducing the influx of migrants to the tens of thousands seem bleak as they, ‘failed spectacularly’ during the last Parliament with net migration levels now almost three times higher than the Tories promised.
Now the policies that we must live with for another five dismal years include keeping TTIP and scrapping the European Human Rights Act. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership consists of trade negotiations carried out secretively between the EU and US. These sneaky negotiations will leave Britain open to foreign interests with their own self-seeking agendas. The trade agreement discusses issues such as reducing regulatory barriers to trade for big businesses consisting of bypassing environmental legislation, food safety law, banking regulations and the sovereign powers of individual nations.
This could have detrimental effects on services such as the NHS, as it could become available to US companies. Sounds a bit like we’re creeping right into the trap of privatising the NHS? Furthermore, the food standards on food safety and the environment could slide much closer to US regulations where the rules are much less strict, with 70 per cent of all processed foods sold in the US containing genetically modified ingredients, compared to the EU’s barricade of most GM foods.
The Human Rights Act, which was implemented in the United Kingdom in 2000, promises the following: right to life; freedom from torture or degrading treatment; the right to liberty and security; the right to a fair trial; freedom of thought, belief and expression; respect for your private and family life; the right to education and the right to participate in free elections – just to name a few. But, these are all petty personal freedoms, right? Everyone has access to all of the above and beyond without there ever being any omissions since trials are always fair, we always can say what we feel without being disregarded and our opinions are always respected. Never does a situation occur when an individual may need the help of a larger governing body when facing injustice in their own country; we don’t need any of these rights because they’re always self-evident and readily available to all, right?
So the Tories want to keep the TTIP but, simultaneously, organise an EU in/out referendum: let’s give the two issues some thought for a minute. If the TTIP is an EU trade agreement with the US then mustn’t the UK remain in the EU in order to participate? The two are clearly not mutually exclusive. Yet, Cameron appears to want out, interesting …
Well either way, apparently the Murdoch media corporations, most of which endorse the Conservatives, have had more of an effect on the general population than anyone thought. As expressed by the comedian-turned-politician, Russell Brand: ‘The Conservatives have won and I sort of feel like the media doesn’t have the same power it used to. [I thought] people don’t listen to the front pages of the Sun … but evidently, that is not the case’.
It is not the case indeed, we must live with the gifts presented to us by Mr Cameron for the next five years and make do as best we can. The trickle-down politics which dictates that we will benefit from the top 1 per cent, eventually will come true and the NHS will only prosper with foreign investment and privatisation instead of suffer an early death, right?
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