Why a General Election Would Cause More Harm Than Good
The political turmoil of the past few weeks has been unprecedented. After forty-five painful days, Liz Truss has earnt her place in history as Britain’s shortest serving Prime Minister. Not only did Truss fail to outlive a lettuce, she also failed to earn the respect of her parliamentary colleagues. Her failed economic policies and numerous u-turns sent the markets into disarray – jeopardising pension funds, devaluing the pound and sending interest rates sky-rocketing. In following an idealistic pursuit of growth, her experiment with the British economy has backfired, causing catastrophic ramifications for many millions of households already battling the wrath of the cost of living crisis.
During a time of such grave instability and financial disarray, Britain needs political continuity under a steadfast leader, the likes of which Truss was unable to deliver.
Truss proved an incompetent leader whose vision escaped the bounds of reality. The time in which she caused such seismic damage is the only legacy that she leaves behind: within weeks she shattered the credibility of the Conservative party and annihilated the final few fragments of trust that remained in British politics.
The United Kingdom is teetering on the edge of collapse. Holding a general election now will only cause more harm than good – Britain needs leadership, and it needs it now.
As Conservatice politicians eagerly swoop to place their name on the leadership ballot paper, we must not forget the gravity of the situation at hand. It’s easy to view the past few weeks under a comical lens: comparing the political careers of politicians to the shelf-life of vegetables, or watching famous comedians make a laughing stock of the government on television.
But at the end of the day, the work of government has a profound impact on people’s daily lives. And in a time of great uncertainty, rising bills and war on the European continent, we cannot afford our political landscape to look more like a TV drama than a functioning system of governance. The primary focus of the next government should be delivering certainty – delivering a roadmap for the forthcoming winter storm which will protect household energy prices and those of businesses too.
Since the fall of the infamous Boris Johnson, Ministers have been in and out of office like a merry go round, bringing into question whether any ministerial work has actually occurred: the NHS faces its annual winter crisis and a staff shortage equivalent to the population of Newcastle, the rail system is facing wide-scale industrial action and former air force pilots are selling their expertise to the Chinese military. Past governments have dropped the ball, not just in the realm of finance, and someone has to pick up the pieces.
Calling a general election might sound appealing – it appears logical to want to turn back to the electorate and sweep the past twelve years of Tory stagnation under the carpet. But now is simply not the time. A general election at the present moment would cause more harm than good. It would create greater instability in the financial markets, putting further pressure on interest rates and pension pots; pinching regular people where it hurts the most.
What we need is a government that can steer us through the winter. We need a government who can get us through the storm of rising energy costs and prevent many thousands of children from falling into food poverty in the coming months.
A general election would cost time that we simply don’t have and would produce a political outcome that we can’t be prepared to predict. At this point, a hung parliament would be the icing on the cake of political disaster.
To ensure stable financial markets, we require a predictable election result. Even with strong polls in favour of the Labour party, the results of an election are still dubious at best. We have seen how unpredictable polls have been in the past and cannot rely on them to guarantee our future.
The public is tired of changing governments and Prime Ministers – we’ve seen through four chancellors and three home secretaries in the past six months. Political fatigue is at an all time high and patience at an all time low. What we need now is short-term stability, to heal the wounds and the divisions, and unite in the face of the tough winter that is yet to come.
There is no doubt that the Conservatives have caused grave damage to the British economy. There is no doubt that the mandate the public voted for in 2019 has long expired. There is no doubt that a general election should be on the cards. But it is simply not the right time.
Sir Keir Starmer might claim to lead a government in-waiting, but he should wait some more if he has the public interest truly at heart. Britain has neither the time nor the confidence for further uncertainty: we need a government next week, not next month.
A general election in the here and now would cause more harm than good – for the moment, at least.