Because there haven’t been enough articles analysing the aftermath of the general election, here’s my 50 pence. What do you think? Feel free to comment below.
Judging by Facebook and Twitter, Labour were very well supported, and you could have been forgiven for thinking the reds would be the largest party. The fact they weren’t serves as a timely reminder that social media isn’t necessarily an accurate reflection of everyone’s opinion. It can create an echo chamber effect, whereby we surround ourselves – not necessary deliberately – with those we predominantly agree with, sometimes to the extent that we think the views of us and our contemporaries reflect what everyone else feels.
You won’t win people back to your way of seeing things by telling them that they’re wrong, stupid or ignorant. It’s been disappointing to see the reaction to the result by both some Labour supporters and leading public figures on the left – Neil Kinnock, Polly Toynbee and Giles Fraser for example. It is one thing to express sadness that your party didn’t get in, but quite another to imply democracy has failed, violently protest, and claim parts of the electorate are stupid/cowardly/ignorant/horrible for voting for the ‘baddies.’ This mind-set has been perpetuated by social media and its propensity to encourage and exalt declarations of so-called indisputable truths, and at the same time vilify those who dare differ from the consensus. As such, when they didn’t get the ‘right result’ some have thrown their toys out their pram and got shirty at those who dared diverged from ‘the truth’. I’m afraid it rather smacks of arrogance and self-righteousness, and isn’t helpful to the left’s cause. Labour and its supporters need to win people over with a new exciting vision – incidentally, they can do this without going back to the Blairite centre – by getting out and talking to people again, and not being swayed by social media. They’ve come back from defeats like this before and can do so again.
It would of course be unfair to paint all those upset at the result in the above way. I’ve spoken to many who respect and uphold the democratic process, but who have expressed concern regarding what this government might inflict on the poor and vulnerable in our society. Will the Conservative’s £12 billion of promised welfare cuts come to pass, and if so, who will they impact and how will lives be affected? This is a reasonable question to ask and is especially pertinent given that they won’t have the Lib Dems to ‘hold them back’ or ‘restrain’ them – either one depending on your point of view.
Could it be that the Conservative messaging throughout the campaign worked more effectively than Labour’s? The word on the street is that on the doorsteps people were concerned about the SNP threat to the unity of Great Britain. This coupled with the ‘what if Labour wreck the economy again?’ question could have led a significant proportion of the electorate to adopt a ‘better the devil you know’ attitude. That is, they might not have been especially in love with David Cameron et al, but the alternative could be far worse. This Tory poster poster typifies this anxiety inducing strategy:
The polls predicted a very closely run contest, and it wasn’t! It will be fascinating to see the reason/s for this. There are at least three possibilities: a) A late swing to the Tories; b) the shy Tory effect (not everyone declares their allegiances as openly as others); and c) there’s been a consistent error in the methodology – maybe people who bother to talk to pollsters and take part in surveys are more left-leaning?
Boris Johnson made a good point in the early hours of Friday morning. Due to the recent high levels of support for EU membership and the fact that UKIP had a disappointing night in terms of actual seats won, the new government should announce a referendum within the first year of the parliament. It’ll satisfy the Tory euro-sceptics who could make life difficult for Cameron and his fellow modernisers in this parliament if they so desire, and would capitalise on a time of relative weakness for UKIP while they sort themselves out following Nigel Farage’s departure*.
Our democracy is indeed far from perfect and change is needed. The fact the Greens and UKIP can get four million votes between them and end up with just two seats demonstrates a great need for reform. Put simply, we don’t live in a two party state any more, or at least no longer in the traditional sense. I’d like to see some sort of proportional representation element introduced to our electoral system in this parliament. I doubt we’ll get it, though.
Listening to some people, it’s as if the apocalypse has come. Yes, things are far from perfect in this country, could yet get worse, and it’s good to want to make things better. We do however still have so much to be grateful for. Most of us can walk down the streets without getting shot, stabbed or beaten up. We can take part in free and fair elections. We have access to clean water and food and in general peace and order reigns. For these blessings and more we should be very grateful. Perspective is important, whatever your political stance.
If you’re a Christian and things didn’t turn out how you wanted, be gracious and pray for your leaders. If you’re a Christian and things did turn out how you wanted, be gracious and pray for your leaders.
Image credit: UK Parliament via flickr cc