YOU might not know this, but it’s only 100 days to go, until the General Election on Thursday 7th May 2015, and it promises to be the most exciting election, ever.
During the course of today (27/1/15), we heard a number of stories across newspapers, mobile news apps, and television news programmes, about what each political party is going to do, to secure our vote.
For the Conservative party, they brought out Chancellor George Osborne to tell us, that they are the ”only party” to keep Britain’s economic recovery on track, and that a Labour government would ”wreck the recovery”.
But, what recovery is Mr Osborne talking about? You might say. Many believe there is a ‘North vs South’ recovery happening. With the new jobs being created in the south of the country, whilst the North is not seeing job growth as quickly as the south. The north has seen job growth, but its slow.
Another fact to add in, is wages. Wages in the south are extremely high, compared to the north, because living there is expensive, but people in the north, haven’t seen a wage rise, and with food, energy, and clothing prices still high, the poorest, are becoming poorer.
Labour on the other hand, sent leader Ed Miliband to talk to reporters, choosing to focus on the National Health Service (NHS). The party pledged to train 10,000 more Nurses, to cut spending on bringing in agency staff from abroad, and to pour more money in to the service. ”Under David Cameron, there have been 8000 fewer nurses trained and hospitals have been left scrambling to repair the damage”, Mr Miliband said.
To pay for more investment in the NHS, the party would take money from its new ‘Time to Care’ fund costing £2.5 billion, which would be funded from a higher mansion tax, reclaim money from tax avoidance and, place a levy on tobacco companies. The Conservatives have come out saying Labour would ”lose control” over NHS spending and, plunge the service into a ”black hole”, in which it would never recover from. Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary even compared Labour, to the new left-wing party in Greece, Syriza.
But, a new Comres poll for ITV News, reveals that the NHS is high on voters agenda, with more people trusting Labour with the NHS, than the Tories. In the same poll though, it reveals that the Conservatives are the most trusted party to look after the economy, and Labour are still struggling to convince voters about their plans.
This election is not just about the main parties though, it’s about the ever-growing popularity of the small parties – particularly UKIP and The Green Party. With trust in politicians at an all-time low, people have turned to the smaller parties to improve their lives, because after decades of either Conservative or Labour governments, they feel nothing has changed for them.
UKIP appeal to working class people in particular because of it’s ‘no nonsense’ approach, and with the party cleverly depicting leader Nigel Farage, as a man who ”loves a pint and cigarette” down his local, they believe he is one of them, and someone who can bring the change they so desperately want.
On the other hand, The Green Party have seen a surge in popularity recently, due to the comments many UKIP candidates have said about gay, black, and disabled people during the past few months, and the fact they were left out of the TV debates in the run-up to the General Election. It added 2,000 members in ONE day amid a blaze of publicity over the issue, with membership soaring past UKIP, and even the Liberal Democrats.
A new poll for Sky News, the ‘Poll of Polls’, has predicted that Labour will be the biggest party, and hold the ‘balance the power’, with 282 seats, 44 seats short of an outright majority of 326 seats. The Conservatives are predicted to have 270 seats.
No matter what people say, or what the politicians do, this will be the closest and, most exciting General Election, ever!
Liam F - Journalist 