THE electoral clock is ticking, the first large-scale referendum on this disastrous Labour Government, the UK’s 2020s’ downgrade of the 1940s’ Vichy French, albeit with not a single MP’s seat at risk. Well, not at this ballot at least, but one big job is absolutely on the line. Whatever happens after Thursday’s local elections, whether Keir Starmer is thrown on a bonfire by his ‘loyal’ cabinet colleagues, or throws himself under a bus (he’d probably miss), is not going to improve matters a jot.
Local votes may be the focus, but a national perspective and message must also be conveyed because the UK is in dire straits. Kemi Badenoch? Makes the right sounds, but burdened by 14 years of Tory lies. Lib Dems? Can’t find a laugh emoji on my laptop. The Greens are pure evil in both loud and unspoken intent (boy, would I love the chance to sort Zach Polanski’s dental issues!) And while I wouldn’t trust Farage to help a granny across the road, Reform are the only plausible option, this week at least. They make the right noises, but deliver on them? We need to vote and see.
Labour’s countdown looms and there’s so much noise about Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and finagling him into a safe Labour seat so that he can march into Westminster like a Lancastrian king. I’d actually love to see them try that. Imagine the Tories standing their candidate down. The Greens would ram-raid the Labour vote, and Reform would shove the Burnham-PM plot right up his weaseling wotsit. No mayoralty and no annunciation? Oh joy.
Angela Rayner for PM? Good God Almighty. That creature couldn’t run a bath, let alone a country. Wes Streeting? A sneaky, slimy little two-faced inconsequence. If Parliament was re-cast as Lord of the Rings, he’d be Gollum. Ed Miliband? That might be a good option actually because we could have millions marching on Westminster within weeks. I fear that unthinkable prospect is not only necessary but increasingly inevitable. This old patriot would willingly charge the gates of Downing Street, for sure.
That’s a short summary of the approaching dramas come Friday’s results, but I worry most about the unspoken threat to our fragile democracy – the silent majority. The detached, disbelieving, disgusted, disenfranchised people who will ‘vote’ with their backsides sunk into the sofa watching Emmerdale, having given up entirely on decades of self-interested, nation-betraying liars. No matter that these are local elections, for all the worthy words and engraved promises, local or national, they’ve never seen a single pledge delivered on in a generation. They’ve given up, and in increasing numbers.
Pay attention to the turn-outs that local council elections declare. I’d have a hefty wager that the only seats returning voting levels above 50 per cent will be heavily Muslim-loaded communities. You’ll see plenty, I suspect, where that number will be less than 30 per cent. So, whatever the ultimate results, by far and away the biggest voice will belong to the people given a voice but who can’t be bothered to speak.
Is there a plausible solution? I don’t know. Australia has mandated compulsory voting since 1924 when its turnout was around 60 per cent and since has consistently been above 90 per cent (the penalty for not voting is only about £10). When last asked, 77 per cent said they would have voted anyway, a figure way higher than our numbers.
More importantly for us, I worry that people have simply given up. Everyone I speak to seems to feel angry, betrayed, robbed, lied to and made fools of in every way politically possible. Taxes through the roof, billions thrown at Socialist hobby horses, our daughters raped, sons stabbed, invaders welcomed with a nod and a wink, and we adult masses treated to ad hominem dismissals from on high.
Is the anger real, or just pub talk? Will Thursday be a trigger for a new political age? I have to take comfort and encouragement from that possibility, and trust that given the opportunity, our brothers and sisters will turn their scrawled ‘X’ into the only weapon – for now – that we British patriots have at our disposal.
