Church leaders in East Anglia are encouraging people to vote in the general election with the “wellbeing of all people in our communities in mind”.
Five years ago almost four in 10 of those registered to vote did not do so and in a bid to encourage more people to the polls, they have come together to urge people to exercise their rights.
In a joint statement, including Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev Graham James, and Bishop of East Anglia, the Rt Rev Michael Evans, said: “The churches in our area have hosted some of the best-attended hustings during this campaign and have done so in service to the wider community. The tradition of hospitality is well reflected in this area’s notable history of welcoming people fleeing persecution elsewhere in Europe, sometimes on religious grounds.
“As Christian leaders in this generation we believe living together with mutual respect remains the foundation of a civilised society. All human beings are created equally in the image of God. That is why racism is a sin. Christ calls us to love our neighbours as ourselves and in this forthcoming election we believe it is right to be vigilant about any party or individual candidate seeking to use people’s fears for their own wellbeing to stir racial or religious hatred.
“Inevitably this is an election taking place when people are anxious about their jobs, finances and future. We pray that the best and most generous traditions of our national life will guide all voters on May 6.”
Apparently Christians are more likely to vote than non-Christians. The CofE is right to encourage people to vote, but we have a variety of views and I think clergy also have a duty to be careful on how they say things.
Traditionally, elections were on a knife-edge between the main Labour and Conservative parties, but a number of things have happened in the last few years:
1. Boundary changes to constituencies which mean that Conservatives have a higher hurdle to overcome in translating a majority of votes into a majority of MP’s
2. The return of the third party Liberal Democrats to prominence again, attracting many who would have voted Labour, and some Conservatives on the liberal end.
3. The move of all the parties into the centre left, meaning on many issues that their policies are hard to distinguish, and on others there is no effective choice. This has probably been astute on the part of the Conservatives, to capture more of the voters on the middle of the ‘bell curve’, but risks alienating traditional voters. Labour made a similar move towards the centre right when they came to power.
4. The rise of regional parties in Scotland and Wales, now exercising real power through devolved government. Devolved government means that many of the policies being debated in this election only apply to England as for example health and education decisions are made in Scotland by their assemblies. They may become important in the event of a hung Parliament.
As far as this election goes, notwithstanding the rise of the internet, the endorsement of newpapers is still important, perhaps more so as they now have a broader readership online. There have been some significant shifts. News International run by the Australian Rupert Murdoch and his son, made a remarkable decision in Autumn last year to drop Labour and support the Conservatives. Their stable includes the most widely read and influential popularist tabloid paper, ‘The Sun’ as well as the traditionally influential broadsheet ‘The Times’. The important ‘Daily Telegraph’ maintains its Conservative support.
So the press picture including changes is:
The Sun: Labour to Conservative
The Times: Labour to Conservative
Daly Telegraph: Conservative
Guardian and Observer: Labour to Liberal Democrat
Daily Mail: Conservative probably:
The Independant: unclear
Daily Express:not clear, but does not appear to be supportive of Labour
Daily Mirror: Labour
BBC: no change in policy which is to appear neutral but others claim it is pro-Labour. Recently coverage has been positive for the Conservatives, particularly the Andrew Marr show interview with David Cameron on Sunday where Cameron appeared to be on a roll, as Marr observed.
Labour has recently lost a number of high profile financial backers to the Conservatives. The LibDems have always been challenged financially.
This year, there has been the innovation of three US-style television debates between the three party leaders. The consensus has been that they have taken a while to get used to the medium and there has been some awkwardness. Nick Clegg of the LibDems made an impressive showing in the early debates, but Cameron is said to have come through on the final debate. Gordon Brown has never appeared comfortable in this environment.
The polls are consistently showing the Conservatives ahead at 34-38%, but with Labour and the LibDems vying with one other at around 27-29%.
The Telegraph has a useful poll-tracker here
BBC Poll-Tracker is here
Polls in Britain carry a large health warning, because of the peculiarities of our constituency boundaries and electoral set up, and certainly going by past elections, polls often do not give an accurate predictor of General Election results although they may reflect trends.
There is little doubt that there is extreme antipathy to the Gordon Brown government, including from Labour supporters, but whether this will result in a clear overall majority for another party is too close to call. Much will depend on whether voters who are undecided or disillusioned with their own parties, when it comes down to it, will make the effort to come out to vote for their traditional party loyalties.
So we are in for an interesting time, and whatever happens, the new government, if there is a clear one, will inherit a poisoned chalice from Labour of humungous public dept and structural problems, in the middle of a worldwide recession.
If I had to give a prediction it would be of Conservatives taking the majority of Parliamentary seats, and the vote, but whether that is sufficient for them to govern or someone else to govern in coalition, I really wouldn’t like to guess because anything could happen, it is so close.
Thanks for the education about the various issues and parties surrounding the British Election. While I understand Cameron taking the Conservative Party to the left, I’m not at all sure that’s smart. Parties that ignore their base tend to pay for it.
The US election where McCain a moderate was on the national ticket, did not attract independent voters as hoped, and many disgruntled conservatives stayed home.
The result in one year is a rather drastic socialization of America and demonization of the free market to such an extent, that even if Congress changes parties, and a conservative Republican is elected in the Presidential election IMO it might take decades to undo what has been done just in the last 16 months.
#2: shoulda been Huckabee.
There have been some interesting developments today. In addition to the political declarations by news organisations linked in #1 above, the prestigious paper of choice for boardrooms and banks, the Financial Times has come out in support of the Conservatives with an Editorial entitled “The Case for Change”. The Sun Newspaper reports that their favored YouGov and other polls are giving the Conservatives a hardening 8% lead over Labour and are running a number of stories positive for the Conservatives including one on a Labour Parliamentary Candidate who has labelled Gordon Brown “the worst Prime Minister in history” which is presumably not very helpful to his party. I think it is hard to underestimate the influence that the Sun has with young working males in particular, although I rarely read it, and its influence may well be significant.
There are signs of panic in the government with three government ministers asking voters to engage in tactical voting to keep Cameron out of power, something which has been decried by both of the other parties.
With Cameron engaging in a gruelling 36 hour trip round the country to drum up last minute support, it is just possible that a conservative led hung Parliament will be translated into an overall Parliamentary majority enabling him to form a government outright. He certainly appears to be on a roll.
People are claiming that this is the closest election for many many years.
Thanks a lot, Pageantmaster,
That’s very helpful background info for many of us Americans, who are woefully ignorant about British politics. Much appreciated.
David Handy+
Houston – we have a problem