June 8, 2017 - UK General Election

UK General Election - June 8, 2017

Every election is a box of surprises and this election couldn't happen at a more dramatic time in the political life of the United Kingdom.

This is an election that will be played at different levels and undoubtedly the outcome could be life changing for the mass media including the BBC and Sky and also for the printed media who have absolutely against the idea of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. But it also going to have a dramatic effect in the political balance in the country as a whole and in each of the component parts of the United Kingdom.

There are some fundamental questions. Will Caroline Lucas manage to survive a General Election? The only Member of Parliament representing Brighton could be on the way out. What could happen to the SNP majority in Scotland? Will local issues play a crucial role meaning the loss of seats in the House of Commons. Will they repeat the feat of 2015 when they got 56 out of 59 seats? Will SNP be able to keep its momentum in Scotland? What will happen in Northern Ireland where at the moment there is local government?

In England, a divided Labour Party that has effectively several leaders (the Official Leader - Jeremy Corbyn) and several unofficial leaders and plotters wishing to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn).

The Liberal Democrats hope that disaffected Labour voters will turn out to support them and allow them to overcome the dismal results of 2015 that left them with less than 10 Members of Parliament.

UKIP needs to find its way. The Conservative Party de-facto represents many of the views of UKIP and in fact called for the implementation of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. What can UKIP offer that is not already on offer by the Conservative Party?

The vote today in the House of Commons was remarkable in many ways. It was remarkable because of an overwhelming number of MPs that supported the government's call for a General Election. It was also remarkable because 13 Labour MPs voted against but it must be said that tens of MPs abstained.

Soon after, there was a series of announcements of present Members of Parliament that said that they would not be standing for re-election and it would be fair to say that they don't want to stand because they feel that they have no chance of being re-elected and they want to avoid the embarrassment of not being re-elected.

In any case, this promises to be a very interesting time in the political life of the United Kingdom.