I have been away awhile from this blog whilst working on job applications and in general taking a well-needed break. However, with Britain going back to the polls in a surprise General Election this week; there feels like no time like the present to get back into it…
In this post, as the title suggests, I will be comparing the election manifesto’s put forward by the two parties most likely to be in government come the morning of 9th June. That means it is a straight comparison of the Labour and Conservative Parties in the battle for the keys of Number 10 Downing Street.
Whilst I can be accused of being narrow-minded in only comparing these two parties and not a broad range as you have seen in the TV debates; I do have my reasons:
1. Since the EU referendum last year, UKIP have been a farce electing a new leader in Diane James before she lasted only 18 days in the job before resigned. However, even with a newly established leader in Paul Nuttall (who seems to want the job), they are now a spent force and their timing of their manifesto launch could not have been anymore distasteful; within 48 hours of the Manchester Arena attack.
2. Plaid Cymru and the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) only contest seats in Wales and Scotland respectively. Whilst the SNP won the majority of the seats in Scotland back in 2015; they do not contest enough seats to win a majority and therefore very unlikely to be in government
3. The Green Party finished the 2015 election with an almost equal share of the vote as UKIP but like the SNP and Plaid Cymru, they don’t have a realistic chance of being involved in government.
4. The Liberal Democrats under the leadership of Tim Farron were originally going to be a part of this comparison but my mind was easily altered after reading just the first two pages of their Manifesto. Farron was brutally honest in his assessment and deserves credit for that in admitting the party are unlikely to win the election and are merely competing to be the official opposition. However, for the sake of this comparison, I am not going to cover a party who is not aiming to win. read more