Ten thoughts on the 2015 UK elections

Hi guys, allow me talk about something that is happening in the UK this week. A couple of my Singaporean friends have asked me how I am going to vote in the forthcoming UK elections that will take place on the 7th May, just a few days away. I will share some of my thoughts on the issue as some of my Singaporean friends were actually envious of the fact that no one can actually predict the outcome of this election - it is really way too close to call.

1. Are you excited to vote? 

Not really. The result for my constituency is a foregone conclusion. You see, I live in a Tory safe seat - the Cities of London and Westminster. That means that the Tory candidate will always win by a pretty large majority - my MP Mark Field won by a margin of 30% over his nearest rival at the 2010 elections. That was an even bigger margin than in 2005 and 2001, when he won by a 22.2% margin. This was despite the fact that his first marriage ended with a divorce in 2006 after he had an affair during the period 2004-5. Ironically, the affair and divorce didn't affect Mark Field's popularity at all and it looks like he is headed for yet another landslide victory in 2015. I had a look at the records for my constituency and we've only had Tory MPs, we have never ever elected a non-Tory MP in this constituency.

Will Cameron stay on as PM for a second term?

2. Will you be voting?

Of course, it is my democratic right and I always vote. Will I be voting for Mark Field? No, because I feel it is important to send a message to the other parties not to give up hope. I suppose you can call my vote a protest vote - I usually give it to the Liberal Democrats or even the Greens for a laugh, but it really doesn't have that much of an impact apart from perhaps helping that candidate not lose his/her deposit. I actually like the Liberal Democrat candidate (and the Labour candidate) this time, but I don't want to vote labour as I am very uneasy with their links to the unions.

3 I thought you were quite left-wing? Why don't you vote Labour? 

Simple: the Labour party is in bed with the unions and I feel very uneasy about that. In principle, unions are a good thing, they protect the rights of hardworking workers against exploitation and can help stand up for a helpless worker in a time of crisis. But in practice, too many British unions are aggressive and threaten strike action if their demands are not met - take the transport network for example, the RMT regularly strikes when their demands are not met, they hold ordinary commuters to ransom and poor Londoners end up paying more and more to use public transport because of these strikes. What was set up as a noble cause has been taken over by something far more sinister and driven by greed. Ed Milliband, the leader of the labour party, depended on the support of such unions to become leader of the Labour party (ousting his brother David Milliband in the bid for the leadership of the Labour party). As long as the wrong Milliband brother is in charge, Labour will be toxic in my eyes, despite their supposed left wing policies. I strongly believe in the principle of meritocracy and that should be the way in a free market economy.

Meritocracy should rule the free market IMHO.

4. Okay, who do you support them? 

It's a tough one. I don't trust Labour on the economy and I would prefer the Tories to run the economy. Any left wing party will just go on a spending spree to appease to their supporters - it may buy them votes in the short run but they will ultimately bankrupt the country. Austerity may be a bitter pill to swallow, but it seems like the Tories are the only ones who are willing to dish it out. I don't want the UK to become broke like Greece in ten years and I would rather have a unpopular party cut public spending in the short run so as to get us out of this deficit. Do the maths, the figures won't add up: we're still struggling to get out of a really deep recession and I wonder if I am the only voter who realizes that sometimes. However, I don't think that the Tories have done enough on certain issues like gay rights, education, public transport and the environment - these are typically areas where the more left wing parties excel at. So when it comes to say, gay rights and the environment, I'd gladly support the Green party but when it comes to the economy, I wouldn't trust the Green party. It's a tough one when I have to choose between the economy and my principles but the reality is that no one party ticks all the boxes for me. Such is the messy reality I have to contend with.

5. Who do you want as your next PM?

David Cameron. Definitely. Realistically, it is either Cameron or Milliband, given that no other party can form a government and between the two, I am choosing the man who has more charisma and will make a much stronger leader. You can call me shallow if you want (guilty as charged) but I need to like a politician before I will vote for him - I do not just look at policies, I believe that a politician needs to engage the electorate and you're going to need charm to try to engage this voter here. Go on, charm me, amuse me, inspire me if you want me to vote for you. Don't expect me to just read your long manifesto and make my decision based on that, oh no - that is not how politics works today.

Opinions are very divided when it comes to British politics.

6. Who do you think will win the election?

I honestly don't know. My prediction is that the Tories will have slightly more seats than Labour but neither will have enough MPs to form a government - it will then depend on the results involving the smaller parties like the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the SNP (Scottish National Party), Plaid Cymru, UKIP amongst others. It will be coalition government again, my preference would be for a Conservatives - Liberal Democrats coalition again, I think it is simply a question of "better the devil you know". I have no idea what the hell will happen if say Labour formed a coalition with the SNPs and the Westminster government will be held ransom by the demands of Scotland. Good grief! No way.

Do I support Plaid Cymru?

7. You're a fluent Welsh speaker, do you support Plaid Cymru?

Well that's a moot point given that I can't vote for Plaid Cymru (pronounced "pl-AYE'd Kum-Rri")  - they only field candidates in Wales and I live in England. They're very left wing actually and their policies don't sit well with me, particularly when it comes to the economy. And the leader of Plaid Cymru Leanne Wood isn't even a fluent Welsh speaker (though she has one helluva Welsh accent when she speaks English) and it is disappointing how they make it clear that they are not just a party for Welsh speakers and they want to embrace non-Welsh speaking voters. So I'm like, great - what's the point then? I would have had more respect for you if you discriminated against people who didn't speak Welsh and forced more people in Wales to learn and speak Welsh. After all, if I, as an immigrant, can study Welsh to a very high level, what the hell is wrong with the people in Wales who can't speak Welsh? So no actually, I don't think I support Plaid Cymru, they're just not Welsh enough for me. But like I said, it's a moot point.

8. What about UKIP? 

We have seen a real swing to the right in not just the UK but in other European countries as well - in France, le Front National (FN) has never ever been so dominant in French politics and in the UK, UKIP won the European elections last year. This is because some people tend to become extremely right wing during a recession and UKIP conveniently blames immigrants and the EU for all of the UK's problems. That's bullshit of course - even if you kick out the immigrants and get the UK out of the EU, they wouldn't have a freaking clue what the hell to do with the economy then. Of course, they will never ever get to that stage as the main parties won't allow it - so they thrive on the xenophobic anti-immigration protest vote. Their main problem is that they attract the most right-wing nutters and xenophobes and that tends to damage their credibility to more moderate voters who may have right-wing views, but do not want to be associated with some of UKIP's racist, sexist and homophobic elements. Interesting enough, in France, le FN is desperately trying to clean up their act to appeal to more mainstream voters, so they can be taken seriously as a political party at the next elections. UKIP has yet to do that, so they will be still stuck at the margin, they're not expected to win more than a few seats this time. To be fair, the extreme left wing also attracts equally loony people but such is extremist politics for you. The loony extremists are always found on the fringes and never in the mainstream.

UKIP is a controversial far-right party that has made recent gains.

9. Do you go around telling your friends how they should vote?

I believe that everyone has the right to decide whom they want to support and I respect their right to decide for themselves. So no, I tend not to go around telling people how they should vote - I met a woman who tried to tell me to vote for Mark Field (my current PM) recently and she did so by discrediting the Labour candidate, saying some pretty nasty things about him. When I told her that I intended to vote for the Liberal Democrats candidate, she was like, "no Alex, you don't understand this situation..." And that was pretty offensive, like hello? Excuse me, I am intelligent enough to make up my own mind whom I want to vote for, please don't lecture me, or tell me what I should think: back off! Yeah it can be a sensitive issue - like religion, so I tend not to talk about it with my friends as I want to avoid confrontations like that. What's the point? I'd rather not have an argument like that.

10. What about your friends - who do they support? 

I would say 60% of my friends support Labour, about 30% Tory and then 10% Liberal Democrats and a handful support the Greens. It is actually amazing how it is possible to predict exactly what party they will support based purely on their profession. A banker or accountant will always support Tory whilst someone like a teacher or an actor will usually support Labour. Most of my Labour-supporting friends are aghast that I support the Liberal Democrats because they got into bed with the Tories in this coalition government, but at least they are relieved that I am not voting Tory. It is really only during election time when I find out a lot more about their political beliefs via what they post on Facebook - otherwise, we rarely talk about politics and they probably wouldn't know what party I do support.