Since we moved to the UK we have participated in so many elections. We narrowly missed the independence referendum in Scotland in 2014 but since then we’ve had two general elections, several council elections and European elections, and a Brexit referendum. This week there’s a council by-election in our electorate and next month there’s another general election. This will make it three general elections in less than 5 years.
Yesterday the Labour candidate for the council by-election was canvassing in our neighbourhood. I answered the door when he knocked and he asked to speak to Ben Martin. Women got the right to vote in 1928 in the UK and here we are, nearly 100 years later, and a political candidate is asking to speak to my husband. Unbelievable! Needless to say, he will not be getting my vote. Instead, I plan to vote for the Lib Dems candidate who I happen to know and who supports active travel and clean air.
The general election next month will be exciting and could potentially produce very surprising results. It will be all about Brexit with many people voting based on their Brexit preference and this could lead to more swing voters than ever before. This is because there are lots of Labour voters who support Brexit and lots of Conservative voters who support remain. These people are likely to change their loyalties so it really is anyone’s game.
I don’t want to try to predict who will win but we could end up with a coalition and that’s fine with me. Both of the two big parties have problems. Jeremy Corbyn and Labour have been plagued with infighting over the past couple of years and accusations of antisemitism while the Conservative party has made a complete dog’s breakfast of Brexit, problems with Islamophobia, and Boris Johnson, in my view, cannot be trusted. Both parties are also at the more extreme ends of the political spectrum with Labour far to the left and the Conservatives far to the right. Consequently, the more moderate parties of the SNP and Liberal Democrats are likely to do well. For the general election I’ll be voting SNP.
rachel.blog 
I’d offer to lend you Jacinda for a wee while, but if that means we (NZ) get Boris in return, then no trade 🙂 What’s “active travel”?
Jacinda is so fantastic! You’re lucky and we’d love to have her 🙂
Active travel means transport under your own steam like walking, cycling, scootering or anything that involves exercise at the same time.
It’s hard to know what to hope for really
Maybe Elizabeth and Daniel will forge ahead and become great leaders. I think the younger generation will be more sensible than us, trouble is politics is so negative it’s off putting for anyone with good intentions.
I do feel hopeful for the younger generation who seem much more environmentally aware than my parent’s generation.