Arcadia England

Elections have a wonderful way of revealing what is important to a country. Whilst you might have a sense that the UK and the US are quite similar, even a glance at political debates at the moment reveals significant cultural differences.

No one is all that fussed about whether Labour leader Ed Miliband believes in God (he doesn’t). No one will mention guns and no one will ask the leaders about their position on abortion or marriage equality. Freedom doesn’t get a mention (although we are still keen on it) and candidates do not talk up their military service (because they don’t have any).

Got an issue? Get a tissue.

Health care is definitely an issue, but the candidates are gushing about how much they love free universal health care – any mention of privatisation could lose an election in much the same way that advocating strict gun control would in America.

Or they could reject the monarchy. That would be instant electoral death – everybody loves the Queen!

So, what do these strange British folk argue about? Well, there is plenty to be said about the management of the NHS (you can always threaten that your opponents don’t care enough about it) but there are two key election debates: immigration and the economy.

It's the economy

The Conservative Party (the equivalence of the Republican Party, but much more liberal) wants to talk about the economy. After five years of ‘austerity’ where the public has felt much pain for little gain, economic indicators like growth and employment are improving. The Conservatives like to say that they have had to make ‘Difficult Decisions’ (e.g. cutting welfare) but they have a ‘Long-Term Economic Plan’ that is ‘Working for Britain’. The Labour Party (equivalent to the Democratic Party, but almost openly socialist, sort of) say that the Conservative plan (each party is very keen on having a plan) works only for the wealthiest and is advocating for tax reforms that focus on the wealthiest and help out ‘hard-working British people’ (no one seems to care about lazy voters).

The rise of UKIP

The other prominent issue is immigration or social cohesion generally. In 2010 David Cameron said, ‘no ifs, no buts’ we will to cut number to ‘tens of thousands’. Net migration to the UK last year was almost 300,000, mostly from the EU. Many in the UK (particularly England and Wales) are concerned that immigration is changing the make-up of their communities and that the UK has no control over immigration. These kind of fears have driven the emergence of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) who have a clear message: the problem is immigrants, the solution is to get out the EU. In response the Conservatives have proposed an ‘In-Out’ referendum on the EU and Labour are treading a difficult line in being more positive about the contributions made by immigrants, whilst ‘acknowledging people’s fears’.

'Weird Ed' - politics & personality

The other (or maybe main) issue is personality. Labour leader Ed Miliband is portrayed by opponents and the right-wing press as a bit of a weirdo (apparently he has a communist kitchen) who is not strong enough to lead the country.

David Cameron wants to be presented as a stable leader, but is criticised as an elitist (like many politicians he was privately educated and has many friends in the ‘establishment’).

Nick Clegg’s (Liberal Democrats) image is not quite as positive – his party signed to a pledge to remove tuition fees for university students (they were £3,000). Once in coalition with the Conservatives they then voted for fees to be tripled which, as you can imagine, did not please people who voted for them. They claim to be softening Conservative policy, their opponents claim they are betraying their supporters.

Or we could forget about all that and judge a book by its cover.

Who would you vote for?

'Weird' Ed & The Labour Party?