Wake Up, Great Britain, and Start Voting!

May 2005 was the United Kingdom’s last general election. Only 61.3% of the total electorate bothered to turn up to the polling stations and vote. This was a dismal turnout! Likewise, in 2001, only 59.4% of the voting electorate voted. Why are people in the UK not voting anymore? On average 73% of the electorate turned out to vote in the elections between 1945 and 1997. Why this sudden decline in voting enthusiasm? The Brits cannot be that apolitical!

Many children graduating from high school leave with a very limited knowledge of politics. Politics is not part of the national curriculum in England, so unless students choose to study politics as part of their exams, the only knowledge they have of it is through their parents and the media. However, in most cases students, particularly 16 year olds, do not see the importance of politics and therefore do not follow it on television. Consequently, when these ‘ignorant’ 16 year olds reach their 18th birthday and gain the power to vote, they do not know what to do with it. This leads them to panic vote for a party that looks somewhat ‘interesting’ or not to vote at all. According to the 2005 election data, only 45% of 18 to 24 year olds voted, which actually proves the younger generation is not voting anymore. This is incredibly worrying because in twenty years time, this current young generation will be the new middle aged generation and if they continue not to vote, how many people will actually vote in the elections?

As most people know, the Labour party has been in power in the United Kingdom since 1997. However, the Labour party only won the 2005 election because of the lack of voters. Only one in five of the voting electorate actually voted for the Labour party which secured them 55 seats in parliament. This was due to the fact that the electorate turnout was so poor. Consequently, each voter had more power to decide who won the election. This has led to a government being in power that does not truly represent the political opinions of the nation.

The mosat important reason why it appears as though the British are apolitical is due to the lies and deceit from British politicians. British voters have lost faith in their representatives because of the widespread political corruption. In 2009, it was discovered that MPs were exploiting the parliament expense allowances to pay for meaningless gardeners using taxpayers’ money. For example, in May 2009, Sir Generad Kaufman charged the taxpayer about £2000 for a rug from New York and tried to claim £9000 for a television, Labour politician David Chaytor claimed £13,000 for a mortgage that he had already repaid. Even Gordon Brown, Britain’s prime minister, the man who is meant to run the show, charged taxpayers £6,500 to pay for his brother’s cleaner! Therefore, while the majority of the British public was working to make a living in this catastrophic economic situation, the government had been taking money from their wage slips to pay for politicians’ cleaners! It is inexcusable! No wonder the British population has lost faith in the MPs! If this story had not been leaked out, who knows whether the public would have ever found they were being deceived by their politicians? I can assure you that this has created widespread worry throughout Britain. For example, 59% of adults questioned in the Harris Poll believe that they would be more likely to support an ‘independent candidate’ in the next general election rather than the ‘corrupt’ MPs that the UK is churning out.

The answer to vote for ‘independent’ candidates has promoted the growth of right wing, anti-immigrant parties. These minority parties are beginning to become more powerful in Britain because their representatives were not involved in the above scandals. Even though their policies are extremist and racist, the British public feel they can trust these parties. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the young generation is more inclined to vote for these extremist parties because they do not notice the differences between the labour and conservative policies. This is another example of why Great Britain needs to educate the young generation about politics and the policies of different parties, so when they do vote, they truly understand who they are voting for. Nonetheless, this growth in extremism explains the rise of the British National Party (BNP). There is a fear that, in the 2010 election, a lot of people wanting to vote against the Labour and conservatives will vote for the racist BNP just for revenge. We can thank Gordon Brown and his corrupt politicians for this worry.

The BNP is only a minority party that, although it has two seats in the European parliament, does not yet have any seats in the British parliament. However, if the BNP gain seats in this election, there is a possibility that that UK will be removed from the European Union and an ethnic cleansing program will be advocated to rid the UK of all people who are not ‘true’ Anglo Saxons. There will also be an end to the foreign relations with the USA and a drive to make Great Britain self sufficient by charging extortionate taxes on imported goods. At the moment, the likelihood of this happening is very slim, but it is a possibility. This is why British voters need to wake up.

Political voting is not a game to see who can score the most points. Nor is it a lucky dip where you can just tick a box and wish for the best. It is a serious business. The Brits should be voting for parties and policies that represent their interests rather than just voting against individuals because they are corrupt. Individual votes matter. Each and every person has the ability to change the way their country is governed for the better or the worse. We have been given this vote as a right, therefore we should use it!