Anyone but the Tories?
A summer general election means weeks of speculation and build-up and a chance to wonder just who to vote for
July 4 2024 will be a general election in the UK, the first in almost five years. The nation has been calling out for a chance to have a change of who is in charge, and it’s left many people with perhaps an easier decision than in most elections: Anyone but the Tories.
The Labour Party of 2024 is a far cry from the Labour Party of 2019. In many ways, for the party, this is good, as 2019 was a thumping defeat to Boris Johnson’s Tory unit. Yet in others, it feels as though it might be the complete opposite. It also shows that to think they can defeat the Conservatives after 14 years, they’ve had to move closer to the party they are supposedly in opposition to.
The summer election was fittingly confirmed on a day when the heavens had opened on 10 Downing Street. A soaked-through Rishi Sunak, distinct lack of an umbrella, confirmed the July date. The UK will head to the polls during a major football tournament for the first time in a long while, too.
The next election may lead some people to want to vote the Tories out, but without necessarily wanting to vote for Labour. A vote for Labour would help to have the Tories removed from power and would help to give the country the hope of a real change in government.
The early indication is that there are plenty of people who don’t want the Tories or Labour in power. If you want the Tories out of government more than you want Labour in it, then voting for anyone but the Tories will be easy enough.
A big question for voters to consider will be ‘Can Labour really not be better than the Tories?’ The reality of this will hopefully be clear either now or within the next six weeks. What will be made clear in the debates that come with an election campaign is that Starmer will likely get the better of Sunak. A trained and experienced barrister, Starmer has the edge in terms of talking the talk, but if the election goes the way the polls are suggesting then he will need to also show he can walk the walk very soon too.
The Tories have recognised the risk that Reform UK might pose to their election chances by outlining to the public that a vote for them is a vote for Labour. With the way the Brexit transition went and added to the immigration policy of the Conservatives, it seems likely the more right-wing Tory voters may be attracted to Reform, splitting the Tory vote.
An election has been overdue in the eyes of many UK voters. The Conservatives have lost MPs through defections and by-election defeats in recent months and everything about the party suggests they don’t feel confident in winning what would be their most unlikely victory of the 21st century.
The days of a Labour government are a distant memory for a lot of people, including myself. Although it won’t be the Labour government of the old days, voters will be hoping that they will at least be a genuine alternative to the Conservative rule that has continued to lose support and, theoretically on July 4, a lot of voters.
