The Brexit Election?

Then why is one major party ignoring that issue?

In a couple of days, that portion of the British electorate who can be bothered (usually around 30%) will go to the polls in one of the most unusual General Elections in recent history.

This election has been called at remarkably short notice. It is being held late in the year -a time usually avoided in the hope that this islands’ notoriously unpredictable weather will not effect turn-out. It has been called by a Prime Minister who has been in office only a few months, who has no majority and has failed to get a single piece of Government legislation passed except the one calling for this election.

The reason it was called is, of course, Brexit. Britains’ departure from the EU, campaigned for over decades, and voted for by 17.4 million people in the referendum of 2016. Years of obfuscation, dither, delay and occasional outright sabotage by everyone involved have led to the resignations of two Conservative Prime Ministers, the loss of the governments’ majority and deadlock in Parliament. Deep fault-lines have been revealed in both major parties and a change has rippled through the electorate.

This election is a final, desperate attempt to secure a clear majority in Parliament and break the deadlock. If that happens, the winner will go down in history as a hero, the loser as a fool. Until historians of a later generation ‘take a fresh look at the evidence’ and reverse the judgement, of course.