With the upcoming General Election on December 13th, all parties have been relentlessly campaigning, putting out their manifestos, and engaging in televised debates to persuade the country as to why they would be the best fit for Prime Minister. With the most active week of preparation for the election thus far, here’s a summary of what’s been happening.

The ITV Leaders’ Debate

This debate saw the leader of the Conservative Party and incumbent PM Johnson debate the opposition party’s leader, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn. This in itself brought much controversy with the Liberal Democrat party, who lodged a complaint with ITV over the fact that their leader, Jo Swinson, had been excluded from this event. Swinson and leaders of other minor parties in the UK were given televised interview slots later in the same night, despite this complaint.

Johnson was generally perceived as a broken record when answering questions during the debate. With every answer, he seemed to resort back to one topic: Brexit. While this has been dubbed the ‘Brexit Election’, the electorate are tired of politicians only speaking on one issue. Throughout the night, Johnson’s ‘Get Brexit Done’ soundbite was well and truly represented, stating that the Conservative Party would do so by the 31st of January 2020.

Labour leader Corbyn’s position on Brexit and party’s policy on Brexit was widely seen as ambiguous and unclear, but Corbyn was able to clear up any confusion as he stated the Labour party’s policy on Brexit: Negotiate a “better” deal, put it back to the people in a second referendum with “remain” as an option on the ballot paper. Corbyn did refuse to state his own personal view on Brexit, but managed to clear this up in Leaders’ Question Time (a televised event where members of the public are able to question party leaders) when he said that he would personally remain neutral if there were to be a second referendum.

The National Health Service (NHS) was also a significant talking point of the night. Johnson’s party has repeatedly said they would build 40 new hospitals but was correctly fact-checked by Corbyn in the debate when he retaliated, by saying a Conservative government wouldn’t even build 40 hospitals, but will only deliver 6, with some of those being simple refurbishment of existing hospitals. Johnson claimed that the NHS will “never be for sale,” despite the privatization of it during Conservative leadership.

Johnson stated that they would open more new GPs, thousands of more nurses, even though the number of GPs since 2015 has fallen by 200,000 nurses have quit since Conservatives have taken office and 138 GPs shut down just in the last year. Therefore, their promises may look impressive, but compared to the great damage they have already done, it’s not sufficient. Corbyn, on the other hand, stated that the NHS is now at its “worst ever.” He promised that the Labour party would end the privatization of the NHS. In terms of GPs, the Labour party promises 27 million more GP appointments annually, and increase expenditure across the health sector by approximately 4.3% a year.

When asked if the truth matters in this election, Johnson naively responded: ‘I think it does’, earning loud laughter from the audience.

In the short-fire questions asked, leaders spoke on issues such as whether the Monarchy was fit for purpose, to which Corbyn responded that it ‘needs a bit of improvement’, and Johnson stated it was ‘beyond reproach’. This question’s significance comes from the recent controversy surrounding Prince Andrew and his connections to Jeffrey Epstein: a topic which was also brought up in this debate. Corbyn said that they should discuss the victims of the situation before discussing Prince Andrew himself, that nobody should be above the law. Johnson responded by saying that all the sympathy should be with Epstein’s victims and that the law must ‘certainly take its course’.

The climate crisis was brought up during this round too. Corbyn responded by saying it is “the most massive issue facing the whole world,” and that Labour party promises a Green Industrial Revolution. Johnson rebutted by claiming it is a “colossal issue for the entire world,” citing the Conservatives’ pledge to get to carbon neutral by 2050. Labour promises to do this by around 2030.

YouGov polls showed that viewers thought Corbyn performed better than Johnson in the debate, holding 67% of the vote as opposed to Johnson’s 59%.

FactCheckUK

During the Leaders’ Debate, the Conservative Party Press Office’s Twitter account rebranded themselves to “FactCheckUK”, presenting themselves as an independent fact-checking organization.

The account posted staunch pro-Conservative messages and anti-Labour claims throughout the night, disguising themselves as independent and neutral when in fact, it was the Conservative Party themselves. This was seen as deceitful by citizens and faced backlash by the public.

This is disgraceful, duplicitous and wrong. And as is becoming normal in politics, there will be no consequences, no punishment for the people or party who did it. Not even an apology #FactCheckuk https://t.co/gChK86GjIX — Rachel Parris (@rachelparris) November 20, 2019

Twitter would win a lot of plaudits & restore some trust by removing the CCHQ account's blue tick for the rest of #GE2019

I have reported 5 of their tweets under the 'misleading about voting' category.#FactCheckuk #LeadersDebate — Mike Hind (@MikeH_PR) November 20, 2019

Yet, Conservative MPs seemed to show no remorse. Dominic Raab, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dismissed it by saying “no one gives a toss about social media cut and thrust.”

Manifesto Launches

This week was the launch of many manifestos, filled with policies on what each party promises to do if they are voted into power. The Labour party launched what has been described as a ‘radical’ manifesto. The fully costed manifesto is titled ‘It’s Time For Real Change’. Lib-Dems’ Manifesto, ‘Stop Brexit: Build A Brighter Future’, advances the notion that this is, indeed, a single-issue election. The Brexit Party also launched their manifesto, joining the Lib-Dems in ensuring that Brexit is the focal point of their policies.

Leaders’ Question Time

This BBC televised event saw participation from four leaders: Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, Jo Swinson (Lib-Dem), and Nicola Sturgeon (Scottish National Party).

The most memorable moments of the night:

Corbyn finally cleared up the fact that his own personal Brexit position would be neutral, silencing the many and continuous claims that he had been ambiguous and unclear.

Sturgeon was challenged on Corbyn’s position on a second Scottish Independence referendum. She stated that if Labour were to win a minority government in this election, that would be the “price of your co-operation.” She further stated that the Scottish National Party would not support the Conservatives if they were to form a minority government, as she could not put Johnson into office in “good conscience.”

Johnson was challenged on his racism (calling Muslim women letterboxes, in reference to Hijabs, and black men piccaninnies with watermelon smiles) and was asked to apologize, to which he refused to do so. He claimed that he “never intended to cause hurt or pain… I defend my right to speak out,” he highlighted.

Undoubtedly, it seems that British voters’ trust in politicians has eroded, to the point where not a single leader seems an ideal choice. In the next few weeks, it will be vital that the parties work to regain trust and support in order to ensure they will not have to face a hung parliament on December 13th.

Advertisements

Share this: Facebook

Twitter



Leave this field empty if you're human: