Election Fatigue in Britain

Voter tolerance

Have the political parties lost their tags or has fatigue set in after five weeks of electioneering?

It could be a bit of both according to some political commentators. Saturation point has yet to be reached,but having read the Party Manifestos,seen TV debates of seven party leaders and "pressed the flesh" with handshakes of both,the party leaders and the candidates around almost as many of the 650 constituencies around UK,there appears to be a growing feeling of "overkill" of the election message.

The voter in Britain according to opinion polls,is finding that "Ed Miliband,the Labour Party Leader, not as bad as he was." He is exceeding expectations". 

David Cameron, is promising "the moon and the stars" invoking the Thatcher spirit with "Right to Buy" Housing Association homes for the public, the  public sale of shares in Lloyds Bank,and the donning of Punjabi headgear,all in the name of voter relations. He too is undoubtedly exceeding all expectations,but perhaps,in the other direction. 

The voter is no fool, to assess all these modalities.They seem to grasp in one breath the Tories pledge to cut immigration and simultaneously wanting to pander to the immigrant worker, which according to the UKIP is not credible.

Britain has always been a nation of moderates, of shared values and fair play.At this election it seems "anything goes, everything is up for grabs and negotiable."

Issues  
   
1. Housing

Let us take housing and the housing crisis in UK,a prime issue at this election. The "Right to Buy" rented houses, is a double whammy, a dual disadvantage. It is said it could worsen the acute housing crisis by transfer of social and charitable assets of Housing Associations, to a select few wealthy and lucky individuals, as well as making it unaffordable for the majority of hardworking people.But who said: the Tories are a party of hard working people? It sounds fine to own one's rented house, but as Labour has emphasised, and many will agree, that the sale of highrise,antiquated Council houses, by Thatcher government in the 1980's, was a dream turned into a nightmare, as the first house traded twenty times the original purchase price?

2. Share sale

Let's take the share privatisation of the Thatcher era and the replication by sale of the State owned,Lloyds Bank.The taxpayer bailed out the bank after the banking crisis in 2009. Now the taxpayer will not benefit by the discounted "privatisation" at a future share sale of the bank. This according to Labour: "is giving with one hand and taking away with the other".

3. Care of the Elderly

Let's take the social service Health Care plan. We see the most glaring and hideous expansion of the NHS proclaimed by the Conservatives, which believe it or not, is seen in the "dumping of the Elderly in Care Factories" around the country. Labour party maintain that the number of over 85's is expected to grow from 1.65 million in 2015 to 2.84 million by 2030. Some 425,000 care beds have been made available in factory style in large house conversions into "Care Warehouses". This is a shameful experience for Britain which Labour say they will bring back consideration and care of the elderly in UK.

The Manifesto oversell

Labour accuses the Conservatives of "oversell." in their Manifesto. The Conservatives accuse Labour of being "bedfellows" with the Scottish Nationalists (SNP) jeopardising national security at a future coalition. The Liberal Democrats in their manifesto want to rewrite the education fees fiasco of the last Coalition. 

The voter has got news for all the parties. Election fatigue can manifest in one of two ways:
Voter turnout v Voter belief that their vote matters. Unlike in Australia,Belgium and Chile (ABC countries) where voting is compulsory,in Britain only 35% of all those eligible to vote, did cast their vote at the last election in 2010. In Sri Lanka, at the recent Presidential election, voters were lining up outside polling stations from early morning to cast their vote. Was it voter contentment or was it an indicator of voter political engagement?

Options and Outcome

One in ten MPs in the next House of Commons will be new and different, replacing 77 of the current MPs standing down.To bring in an ethnic flavour, two Sri Lankans are standing for election. Ranil Jayawardena, a young Tory Deputy Leader of Basingstoke Council, is contesting the North East Hampshire seat, whilst  Ms,Uma Kumaran, a Labour candidate is standing for the Harrow seat while there are other ethnic minorities seeking both election and re-election to parliament.

The prediction is it would take three parties to form a coalition. 

 If no single party could form a sustainable government, we could be in for a second election. 
 If none of the two main parties could afford to raise money in such a short time, we could well 

expect markets to get jittery and the fragile recovery could well be threatened.

Ed Miliband has to overcome voter doubts about Labour's economic competence,to form a
solely Labour Government with a majority. 

But, if David Cameron's Tories will be the largest party in the Commons,Labour could still 
 form a Minority Government, with support for the Queens Speech from other parties and 
 continue in government on a vote on issue by issue basis.

Victor Cherubim 
     

Women as handbags in the UK General Election campaign?

Female issues are they relevant to life in Britain today? Each of the contesting parties in UK elections have concentrated on NHS,immigration, the economy, but people issues connected to women and children have been sidelined, for some reason or the other.

The pay gap,domestic violence,expensive childcare,child poverty some of the pressing issues in Britain,have not been addressed by the major political parties up to now. The suggestion is that there are more important issues which face the nation for the next Parliament to tackle than women's issues. 

Fawcett Society,an organisation pleading for [Wo-(since 1866)-men] is campaigning for women's rights at the General Election 2015.This organisation states as follows:

"The gradual erosion in women's rights and equality ,combined with cutting public spending, have left women poorer with 74% of £22 bn. of austerity savings coming from women's pockets".

"With more women moving into less equal private sector, the gender gap has increased for the first time in five years".

"With vital support services such as child care and elderly care drain away,women are left carrying the load."

"With benefits that shore up women's financial security are rolled back,women are becoming less independent."

"Key decisions are being made at the highest levels of power, without women participating,with the public body,Women's National Commission having been abolished."

Women in UK

One in five MP's are woman, compared with just over half of the adult population of Britain being women. At the last Parliament there were 148 female MP's out of a total of 650 Members of Parliament. Women account for 22.7% of MP's.

According to Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics: "historically women have found it difficult to be adopted as candidates by the main UK political parties,and when they did find a seat it was likely to be less winnable than those selected for men."

Sexist attitudes

We hear about racial discrimination,but no one mentions too much about sexist attitudes in Britain. We hear about women having joint accounts in banks with their husbands. We hear about gender equality at Sunday dinner, or for that matter at home,We hear about women leading the fashion industry.We hear about journalists questioning the clothes women wear or the twaddle about Theresa May's leopard print kitten heels, or Labour's Caroline Flint's fashion accessories. We hear about women living longer than their husbands in Britain and inheriting their husbands wealth. 

Gender equality when it comes to politics

Predicting how many of women candidates stand a good chance of being elected at the UK Parliamentary General Election on 7 May 2015 is extremely tricky . We hear that the Green Party women candidates have more of a chance of being elected.While the uncertainties of the 2015 elections have made it difficult for forecasters,Kenny & Mackay state in The Guardian, "there is one outcome that we can predict with a high degree of certainty, the majority of MP's that Scotland sends to Westminster as elsewhere in the UK - will still  be men.

There is no genderquake at the General Election 2015, so it will probably be male,pale and stale, with issues other than gender issues taking prominence at the polls.

Victor Cherubim