Saturday, May 08, 2010

Politics is out of touch with the people

There can be no doubt that the British people have delivered a devastating critique of British politics at this election. The clear message is that the electorate are deeply unsatisfied with all of the main parties.

It was apparent right from the start of this campaign that the things which concerned the people of Britain were the dire state of the economy and rampant immigration, but the three main parties either avoided or skirted around the issues which concerned the electorate.

Not one party has put forward any coherent plan to tackle either the economy or immigration. With immigration, this isn't entirely surprising as all three remain committed to membership of the European Union - and as long as we remain part of that organisation we will not have control of our borders and can not, therefore, have any significant control of who enters our country.

On the economy the parties have offered very little of real substance. There is the talk of "efficiency savings" (why couldn't they make efficiency savings while the economy seemed good?) and some talk of cuts, but nothing on the scale that will be necessary.

You do not have to be an economics expert to understand the problems. Our nation is deep in debt and on top of that our government are borrowing more each year than they can earn. For a simple, household analogy it is like this ...

You have a massive mortgage, your credit cards are maxed out and each month you are spending £500 more than you have coming in. Cutting £5 off your monthly spending is not going to keep the debt collectors away or the bailiffs from your door, but that is, effectively, what the three main parties have offered us.

Even so, having been given a resounding thumbs down from the electorate what is it the three main parties are concentrating on? Is it the economy? Is it how to control immigration? No - they are concentrating on "electoral reform" - the one thing that nobody outside of the political parties gives a damn about.

Worse still, the political media are encouraging this discussion as if they seem to think it is the central issue as well. Apart from worrying a little that "the markets" might be a little unstable while our government remains in a somewhat confusing state, it is the only issue they are talking about!

How incredibly out of touch they are - the parties and the media.

No one gives a damn about electoral reform. It is a non-issue as far as the election was concerned and as far as the electorate were concerned - but for some reason it has become the only issue as far as the politicians, parties and political media are concerned.

They live in their own little world, totally detached from the rest of us.

1 comment:

Antisthenes said...

I normally do not have an issue with you on your analysis of things but on this one I must protest that you have lost the plot.

Firstly the UK immigration problem is not down to the EU, only in a minor part, as the immigrants from that area are on the whole transient and ebb and flow dependent on employment circumstances. The problem stems from immigrants from elsewhere and many of them are illegal about 1 million or so and how to deal with them and to stop others is the real question. None of the parties have an answer which is to be expected as no one as yet has come up with a workable solution.

Secondly the question of the electoral system being at the forefront of the news rather than economy is because the party that holds the balance of power are preoccupied by it and seeking to gain agreement on that as part of the price of support.