Monday 1 December 2014

What choice to English voters face?

I often wonder what left-wing political choices voters in England face come election time? In Scotland, there is the SSP, Scottish Green party and SOLIDARITY. Whether or not the SNP and Scottish Labour are left-wing is arguable. 

In Wales, there are the three main parties and nationalist Plaid Cymru whose leader is openly republican.

Northern Ireland is more complicated. Sinn Fein and the SDLP are the parties of the left and the DUP and UUP are the Unionist parties of the right but not as far-right as the TUV.
"Republican Sinn Fein" do not stand in Northern Ireland and continue to oppose the peace process. 

The only real left-wing party in England I can think of is George Galloway's RESPECT who stand in few constituencies. However, the anti-austerity marches in England show there is an appetite for progressivism and an alternative to cuts to public services.

On the other hand, there seems to be plenty of right-wing (sometimes far right or centre right) parties to choose from although again, many don't stand and when they do they lose their deposit. 

The BNP, National Front, Britain First, UKIP, The Conservatives all lean towards the right. Thankfully it looks like the BNP are now defunct but we as people, left and right must stand up to the bullies of Britain First. They stand for everything British soldiers have fought for over the decades. Openly invading Masjids and intimidating Muslims has to be stopped now.

Many Scottish nationalists pointed out the gap between voting intentions in England and Scotland as a result to leave the UK but this is completely untrue - UKIP won a Scottish seat in the European Elections.

I hope Labour can shift slightly towards the left and win back those working class voters who are unfortunately turning to the likes of UKIP. 

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