Amid Conservative victory, let’s not allow hopelessness to prevail
"Panel 4: "Challenges ahead -democracy in Europe" | PES Council 2016, Prague" by Party of European Socialists
Opinion Editor Zoe West-Taylor urges young people not to become disillusioned by the election results.
The exit poll last night was, for many, nothing but soul-crushing. Millions of people woke up this morning to find their initial horror confirmed by the official election results.
Yesterday, the British public opted for catastrophe by electing the Conservative Party. We will be punished cruelly and relentlessly for this decision over the next five years. Boris Johnson’s party of the elite, of nationalism, of racism, of austerity, has received the largest majority seen since 1987; in other words, the radical right in the UK has been given a lamentable mandate to enact its politics of hatred and inequality.
Young people are not to blame for this. The 18-34 demographic voted overwhelmingly in favour of Labour, with social media playing an enormous role in encouraging others to register to vote, and to vote for Jeremy Corbyn. It is the older generations, notably in the historically Labour seats – those behind the “Red Wall” – who opted to vote Conservative, often for the first time in their lives, for reasons including Brexit and obstinate dislike of Corbyn himself, and constituencies such as Wrexham were driven by a need for change that voters could not see possible in a Labour government.
The prospect of another five years of Conservative rule is bleak. Since the party took office in 2010, poverty has been rising; an estimated 1.5 million people in the UK live in what is known as “extreme poverty” as a result of benefits cuts and extortionate rents. Low wages and under-employment are another serious problem: even in families where both parents work full time, one in six children live in poverty. In 2018-2019, one in 50 British households used a food bank.
In the hope of change, of a wealthier and more equal society, the electorate has voted for the very same party that has been plunging the country further and further into poverty since it took office in 2010.
Corbyn, a figure representing hope, pledged investment in green energy sources, nationalisation of railways and bus companies, increased spending on the NHS year upon year, and abolishment of tuition fees, yet he was torn down – ultimately, even more successfully than many expected – by right wing media and pathetic excuses by voters that they “just couldn’t vote for him”. Biased media coverage was abysmal: the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg may even have broken election coverage law by discussing the results of postal votes live on air.
The prospect of another five years of Conservative rule terrifies me. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the NHS. My autoimmune disease means that I need regular checkups and the occasional procedure and prescription. NHS services in my area will suffer an estimated underfunding of £244 million by 2023 because of Conservative cuts. Likewise, as a student of European languages, my entire career is called into question by the prospect of Britain leaving the EU. But there are many, many other people in far worse situations than I am: those with severe health problems and disabilities, EU workers, those on benefits — these are the demographics actively targeted by the Conservatives, and they will suffer enormously under Johnson’s government.
But we must not let this discourage us. Corbyn may not be standing in the next general election, but the hope he inspired in millions of people will continue, and his politics of optimism, acceptance, and equality must not be suppressed. George Monbiot and Simon Jenkins’s articles in The Guardian today provide a glimmer of positivity for the defeated Left, animating us to do what we can to fight back.
Hopefully, as Jenkins reassures, “sooner or later, the grownups will have to take charge of this mess.”
Do not let this government of hatred win. Do not stop protesting. Expose and remember every scandal and lie this government will involve itself in. Defend every vulnerable person you know, volunteer at community centres, donate to food banks. Do not give up.
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