General Election 2017: The Leaders (Part 1) – The Contenders for PM

The battle lines have been drawn. On 8^th June, Britain will decide between ‘strong and stable leadership in the national interest’ or ‘for the many, not the few’. Either Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn will be PM.

Firstly, voters can already be forgiven for being bored of these slogans. The party machines churn them out at such regular intervals in every newspaper article and TV appearance; it’s almost as if May, Corbyn and their teams have been turned into robots! They seem to be in competition with each other to see who can bore the electorate into submission first. But in all seriousness, the slogans do give an insight into the approaches of the two leading parties going into the election.

For Theresa May and the Tories, this election is very much about securing a mandate for the forthcoming Brexit negotiations. Therefore, they are focusing on the big national issue of the day. There has been criticism of May’s decision to call a general election on the grounds of securing a mandate for Brexit. Some would argue that if this is the case, then what on earth was 23^rd June 2016 all about? However, despite this criticism, May has clearly positioned the Tories as the party of leave and has even drawn compliments on her Brexit approach from Mr Brexit himself, Nigel Farage.

May is arguing that only her and her team are strong enough to go into the negotiations and secure Britain the very best deal for leaving the EU. She argues that Corbyn and Labour, propped up by a ‘coalition of chaos’, would derail the Brexit process. She explains this is for several reasons – 1) Corbyn is not a strong leader 2) in return for the SNP’s support, they would demand a second independence referendum which would put the Union in greater risk and weaken Britain’s negotiating position and 3) in return for the Liberal Democrats support, they would demand a second referendum on the final deal. Therefore, in May’s eyes, only the Tories can provide the leadership required to take the UK through Brexit and beyond. So, in summary the Tories seem keen to win the national issue of Brexit and are convinced that will see them to victory. It is clear their slogan conveys this approach.

On the other hand, Corbyn and Labour have used their slogan to make their pitch on the key domestic and local issues. Corbyn has argued that due to the public spending cuts since 2010, sectors such as Education, the NHS and access to justice have all suffered. This in turn, according to Corbyn, has meant that people have been ‘held back’ by the Conservatives. He argues that if the Tories win a landslide on 8^th June, Britain and its people can expect more cuts to the public sector, whilst the ‘privileged few’ receive further tax cuts. This analysis has given birth to Labour’s election slogan.

What is interesting is that Labour, as of yet, have not really adopted a clear, consistent or concrete position on Brexit. They have stated that there would be no second referendum and that they would get on with negotiating the best deal for Britain, however they have given very few details of what Brexit Britain would look like under Labour. Whether you agree with May or not, Brexit Britain under the Tories is quite clear. However, the Conservatives, despite the Energy cap promise, have not really ventured into the domestic policy debates as of yet. Therefore, it is still unclear on what funding for the public sector would look like under the Tories.

Therefore, it seems that the Conservatives are keen to win the national issue and their slogan highlights this. They clearly feel they are ahead on that important battleground. Moreover, it seems that Labour are keen to focus the electorate’s minds on domestic and local issues and the record of the Tories since they came to power in 2010. Again, they clearly feel they can win on that important battleground. Therefore, their slogan reflects this.

So, the choice that seems to be facing Britain on 8^th June is a government that is pre-occupied on the national issues, with domestic and local policy playing second fiddle or a government that is pre-occupied with domestic and local policy, with the national issues playing second fiddle. It is a tricky decision for voters. I’m sure voters would expect both the main parties to have a clear position on both national issues such as Brexit and domestic and local policy that will affect people differently in different regions. But, judging by the slogans, this seems unlikely.

To conclude, despite the monotonous and constant churning out of the main party’s election slogans, they do reflect the main priorities of the parties heading into the forthcoming election. Will it be the ‘strong and stable’ Conservative Party, concentrating predominately on Brexit? Or will it be the ‘for the many, not the few’ Labour Party, concentrating predominately on domestic and local policies? What is clear is that we will know the electorate’s answer to this question shortly. May the best slogan win…