For the second time in two years, it's election season in the UK. A time where Facebook feeds are painted red by
Corbynistas, and yellow by Farron-fans. For many students like myself, it is a
time that is typically spent with our heads down, trying not to alienate ourselves
with centrist or, heaven forbid, right-leaning opinions. This time is
different. This time it has to be different. I believe that silence on one
side, for fear of being labelled a bigot, or a xenophobe, or a racist, is a big
part of the problem that is our highly polarised political scene. It is most
definitely a problem that dissenting political viewpoints, especially on
campus, are shut down by such labels, as there can be no political dialogue
when one side is too intimidated to voice their opinions. So, to the distaste
of the champagne socialists on social media, here are seven reasons why I will
be voting Conservative. Again.
1) Fiscal responsibility. The
Conservatives, under Theresa May, are the only political party that I would
trust with the economy. Under David Cameron the economy has made a strong
recovery from the financial crisis of 2008, and I believe that the
Conservatives will continue their good work in repairing the damage done by the
recession on the economy. Secondly, Jeremy Corbyn, with his promises of a
£10/hour minimum wage, and other grand social expenditures, would thoroughly
bankrupt the country. Reversing the tough, but necessary, fixes to the economy
that the Tories started implementing in 2010 would be detrimental to everyone
in the country. A £10/hour minimum wage would ruin small businesses, and result
in mass unemployment and poverty. Neither are good for working people, nor the
economy. As a student graduating with over £36,000 of debt next year, a strong
economy is of the utmost importance for me.
2) Brexit. On the issue of
Brexit, as someone who voted to leave the European Union on grounds of
sovereignty, the only political party that will be strong enough (let alone
able to form a majority government) to properly negotiate terms of our exit
from the EU is the Conservative Party. Once the terms of Brexit have been
agreed, MPs will finally begin the process of deciding which EU laws to keep,
and which to throw out. After this point our elected, accountable MPs will be able
to propose and vote on the laws of the land: laws that will be supreme, in a
sovereign UK.
3) The House of Lords.
Theresa May explicitly singled the House of Lords out in her General Election
announcement speech earlier this week. For anyone who would like an electable, accountable House of Lords, this was a clear signal.
4) Immigration. May has also
signalled the desire of the Conservatives to reduce net immigration into the
UK, and I believe they are the only party that would be willing, and have the
political capital, to implement a points-based immigration system. My interest
in reducing net immigration is twofold: first, a reduction in unskilled
immigration will benefit the poorest UK workers, and help to stop the dilution
of wages. Secondly, implementing a points-based system will ensure that anyone
who wants to contribute to the country will be welcomed. It is arrogant, and
willfully ignorant, to assume that anybody who is for controlled immigration is
an uneducated, racist, bigoted, xenophobe. Pushing this narrative will cost
Labour dearly with regard to ordinary voters, and it is something of which
students are often guilty.
5) Statesmanship. The only
political leader that has an ounce of the qualities required to be head of
state is Theresa May. This will be of paramount importance for the Brexit
negotiations, and for dealing with the other countries of the world, when we
emerge from the EU as an outward looking country, ready to trade with the
world.
6) Stability. If, and it is a
very big if, Corbyn does form a government following the election, it will not
be stable, and it most definitely will not last. From internal Labour
politicking, to vote of no confidence proposals from the Tories, a Corbyn
headed Labour government would not last a full 5 year term.
7) The need for a strong,
stable opposition party. Ironically to get the potential for a strong
opposition party to the Tories, this country needs a landslide political
demolition of the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn. From the ashes, hopefully,
a strong, centrist party may emerge, unified, to challenge the Conservatives on
all issues of state. Be it the revival of the Liberal Democrats, or a
Phoenix-like Labour party, or something else entirely. At the very least,
hopefully, Socialism will die in the UK with Corbyn's failure on the 8th of
June. If the disastrous socialist experiments of the 20th century have anything
to teach us, this will be a most welcome result.
These are the seven main
reasons why I will be voting for the re-election of my local Conservative MP,
Richard Graham, on the 8th of June. Finally, by means of a closing statement: I
welcome all forms of rebuttal and comment on this article, as this is what we
all need: open, free and civil political discourse.
By Zak Barlow, Student
7 Reasons Why I Will Be Voting Conservative in June | Zak Barlow
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Reviewed by Student Voices
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I agree that people from with different views should be able to talk about them without being called names or made to feel intimidated. that said i disagree with basically everything you've written and particularly after being in the US for a while and seeing what Britain could potentially become I think your point about not needing socialism is compeltely wrong. Also with the Tories chanigng the HoL I'd be very concerned as to what that would become as it strikes of the worst kind of poltiical opportunism as the Tories have been ardent supporters of historical institutions for a while and worked hard to prevent changes to them
ReplyDeleteAhh yeah, oops, I clarified my stance on "socialism" in a reply to James Poulter below your comment. Hopefully that helps highlight my position on the state of Labor.
DeleteHoL is an interesting one, agreed, but for me, it would be nice to have them publicly accountable for the way they vote on the laws of the land.
You criticize how the left single you out for you ideology then wish that a whole sect of the political world disappear from UK government. OK.
ReplyDeleteI’ll admit, the final two sentences of the penultimate paragraph were clumsily worded, rushed, and didn’t get my point across cohesively. I do not mean that all left-leaning peoples and movements should die!
DeleteThe issue is just how far left the left parties have gone (in this case, Labor under Corbyn) – and left movements in general in the west. Social security - things like the NHS, state pensions, welfare systems are not bad, heck they are aspects of the left which I think are useful for a modern society to utilise. Unfortunately, other aspects of the modern left, such as curbs on free speech and the collectivisation and grouping of individuals, is very much reminiscent of the Socialist experiments of the 20th century (see the Soviet Union, Maoist China, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, Venezuela etc.). The current narrative of blanket “Oppressed” and “Oppressors” in the west has alarming similarities to the Proletariat and Bourgeoisie of Communist doctrine. In this case, the control of speech under the guise of political correctness has worryingly Orwellian ramifications, and, among other things, leads to a lot of people self-censoring for fear of social ostracism. It’s now a running theme among left-wing (student) groups for thought policing and free-speech curbing. Unfortunately, with collectivist, identity-politicking, neo-marxist social justice warrior-type movements on the rise in the US and UK, this seems set to continue.
I am all for a strong centre-left (or centre-right, or strictly centrist) opposition party to the Tories, in fact, I welcome it as a classical liberal, but, I do not want to see the only realistic alternative prospect to the Conservatives being a step away from the extreme Socialist (Communist) regimes of the last century. If there is one thing to be learned from the history of the 20th century, it is that exceptionally far-left (and far-right) collectivist ideologies lead to economic ruin, poverty and millions dead. So, in my view, a strong left-of-centre party to oppose the Tories requires the fall of the extreme left in Labour. As we all know, having only one electable party in the country can only be a bad thing for citizens’ freedoms (for example, Tories easily passing the privacy-invading “Snooper’s Charter”).