THE REAL MACKAY: Gearing up for a year where political change is possible
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By Dan MacKay
There is going to be a General Election in 2024!
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is proceeding with a “working assumption” that it will be in the autumn, probably in November, after the October party conference season.
First we will have a Spring Budget with “tax reductions” (read “inducements”) from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is not ruling out the possibility of a May election if the Tories feel they can make a confident scoop.
With Labour now commanding double the amount of support over the Conservatives – according to the latest YOU GOV poll that’s 46 per cent to Labour and 22 per cent to the Tories: a massive lead of 24 points – there is much ground to be made up if Sunak and his cronies want to keep the keys to No.10.
It will be the only time in Broken Britain when the people truly call the shots. When politicians finally listen and feel the pulse of the nation.
Self-survival instincts will kick-in big style.
With some constituency boundary changes and recent by-elections not going in their favour many “honourable” members will be in a flap.
Many Brits feel jaded and exhausted by the country’s politics after an endless series of scandals, the devastating impact of the pandemic, the 7 million people on NHS waiting lists, the cost-of-living crisis, the pot holes…what difference will an election make anyway?
With a revolving door of failed prime ministers and countless ministerial post holders being regurgitated time and time again some MPs will be hoping that voter apathy may yet save their skins.
Starmer says it is time for change and that he has a clear mission to turn the country round, only he is vague and non-committal.
Yet there is anger in the country too and that might just motivate voters to turn out in large numbers to register their support, one way or another.
The situation in Scotland is shaky.
After a catastrophic year for the SNP, with Sturgeon and her headquarters cabal condemned to the history books, what chance for Humza Yousaf?
Polls consistently show that half the people of Scotland want to live in an independent country, though support for the SNP has been waning. How big a hit will they take at the ballot box?
Time will tell but with numerous MPS of all political persuasions indicating they will not be standing again there is much to play for.
Yet for all this it took a new year TV drama to expose the ongoing scandal of the Post Office debacle which saw many hundreds of postmasters and mistresses wrongly accused and convicted in what has been “the greatest miscarriage of justice in British history”. It has been known for 20 YEARS that the dodgy Horizon computer system was to blame, but no one was listening. Indeed, the government continues to award contracts worth billions to Fujitsu, the IT firm at the centre of the scandal.
There have been calls for Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Lib Dems and the former postal affairs minister, to resign.
New legislation is be be passed to exonerate all the victims. Compensation will be speeded up after years of dither and delay.
One suspects more knives will be sharpened, so expect more drama. It is going to get nasty.
