Hello Europe Podcast Podcast
Early elections: where is the United Kingdom now
In the United Kingdom, the various parties are in order of battle with a view to the early elections of December 12, to get out of the paralysis on the Brexit. The Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, leave in the position of favorites against a Labor Party lagging in the polls. Does Labor have a chance to turn the tide? Lighting.
From our correspondent in London,
It will be very difficult for Labor to catch up with the Conservatives, who currently have 10 to 15 points more in the polls, while their leader Jeremy Corbyn is currently beating all records of unpopularity. At the same time, they recall that in the 2017 elections, they had also started in a position of great weakness against Theresa May, but had finally managed to narrow the gap thanks to the unquestionable talents of speaker Jeremy Corbyn
We saw him at work on Wednesday, presenting a radical program of redistribution of wealth to reverse a system favoring a corrupt elite. Not sure, however, that this message is enough for young voters, who expected him to be very pro-European. But Jeremy Corbyn does not propose a simple solution, as his opponents do; he promises, if he wins, to negotiate a new agreement and submit it to a new referendum, which will not necessarily please the voters. What's more, this time he faces Boris Johnson, much more charismatic than his predecessor.
What will be Boris Johnson's flagship message?
" If you want Brexit, vote for me ". His master card is the deal he managed to barely negotiate in Brussels, but it's also his Achilles heel because his promise to leave the EU on October 31, " do or die ", whatever he arrives, has not materialized. To mitigate the humiliation of this failure, we will hear a lot " it's not my fault, it's the fault of Labor and Parliament ".
But Boris Johnson has a problem: in the past few days and the announcement of the elections, some 16 Conservative MPs have announced that they will not run in a toxic and hateful climate for MPs. And this haemorrhage of moderate and respected elected officials could distract centrist voters from a Tory party in the grip of some hardening on the right.
The other small parties will nibble votes on the right and on the left
The fiercely pro-European Liberal Democrats are on the rise, led by Jo Swinson, who will present herself as a young leader looking to the future and to Europe, seeking to preserve the country's economy. And then we must not forget Brexit Party Nigel Farage. He enters this campaign on Friday with him also a single message: Boris Johnson had promised an exit late October, he did not succeed, we can not trust the Conservatives who after three years, two prime ministers and two agreements, n have still not respected the referendum.
The only way is to vote for the Brexit Party, which proposes the radical solution of a clean cut, without agreement. And it's a rhetoric that will be very popular with pro-Brexit electors who have been voted Labor or Conservative in the past. Because the Brexit shattered the traditional partisan partisanship, made the electorate volatile and the most unpredictable elections that the country has ever known ...