Who will you vote for? How to make December 12th Count!

The time to vote has come - Who will you choose?

 

It’s election season again and, unless you’ve been living underneath a giant rock (or too busy crying over the premier league), you are probably a bit fed up by it now. Whether it’s the terrible, embarrassing attempts at political memes filling up your timeline - from people who probably pronounce it ‘ME-ME',  or some complete stranger knocking on your door chewing your ear off at silly o’clock in the morning, all the main political parties have been vying for your vote.

 

In a few days time we will all be heading to the polls, deciding the fate of this Island and even if it may not seem like it, it’s YOU that will decide it’s outcome (and rightly so!). Over the past few weeks, over a million under 25s have signed up to vote thanks to the advocacy of UK stars like stormzy and the sharing of fake news with the register to vote link attached. 

So, for those of you who are eligible to vote and are maybe confused on who to vote for - let’s cut through the fake edited videos, the car crash interviews and politics jargon and let's look at what each of the main parties' manifestos are and see what they are actually offering residents of the UK like you and I. 

The Conservative Party

Leader : Boris Johnson 

Slogan: “GET BREXIT DONE”

Let us start with the current Prime Minister and his Tory Party, The Conservatives are running on a platform of ‘getting brexit done’. They have a deal to take us out of the EU and argue that it is now time to leave, they hope to win this election so they can make this plan a reality, now let's look at their manifesto:

Brexit 

  • The Conservatives want to leave the EU by the end of January 2020 
  • They want us to still do business with the EU but believe leaving the union will give us more opportunities to make distinct deals around the globe.
  • They want an end to freedom of movement and want an integral 'points based' immigration system

The NHS and social care

  • They want to increase spending on the NHS, increasing the numbers of staff
  • They want to introduce free parking in hospital car parks 
  • They say the care system for old and disabled people isn’t working and they want to work with other parties to create a new plan 

Taxes

  • They want to make sure people don't pay any more for five years
  • They want poor people to pay less taxes so they can spend more 
  • They say this means people will have more money to spend 

The environment 

  • They’ll spend money to help stop people’s houses flooding after rain 
  • They will help poor people save on their heating by making houses use less energy
  • They want all homes to be fueled by clean energy like solar
  • They will make sure we recycle more, and offer financial incentives for returning bottles
  • Increase strictness on fly tipping 
  • Promote the purchasing of electric cars

The economy 

  • They want to spend more than they have over the past 9 years they were in government and improve libraries, parks as well as the NHS
  • They want to improve transport links to promote business in hard to reach more deprived regions of the country

Child care and education 

  • Schools given money to take care of their children after school and on holidays
  • Help parents who are training for new jobs by giving them more money for childcare
  • More money to help schools give more art, music and sports lessons 

Policing and crime

  • They want to increase the numbers of police on our streets
  • Increase the length of knife related prison sentences
  • Criminals will do more community work to pay for their crimes
  • Criminals will have to wear an electronic ban so police can check what they are doing

The Labour Party

Leader: Jeremy Corbyn

Slogan: “FOR THE MANY NOT THE FEW”

Oooooo Jeremy Corbyn! The leader that has become increasingly popular amongst the youth of the nation. He’s been Interviewed by JME and endorsed by Stormzy but let's see what his policies are: 

Brexit 

  • Labour will negotiate a new brexit deal within 3 months 
  • They will put this back to the people in a second referendum within 6 months
  • This referendum will be a choice between remaining in the EU and labour’s new deal

Health and care

  • Labour want to prevent the NHS being privatised in any way which they state The conservatives will do if they get into power 
  • Labour want a special new National Care Service a bit like the National Health Service (NHS)
  •  Labour want their new service to have support workers who work with the NHS. 
  • They want the new service to help people have better lives in their own homes

Poverty and inequality

  • Labour want those earning over £80,000 to pay more tax to help those with less money 
  • This will be a tax on the money that is earned over 80K and not the whole 80K
  • They want to build more houses and they want to change the rules so that people can stay in their homes as long as they like
  • Labour want to tackle unemployment numbers and improve the rest time people have from their job 

Education

  • They want to make a new national education service 
  • New schools for babies and very little children, looking after young kids so parents can go back to work 
  • Improve the education rates of adults 

Nationalisation

  • Want to stop businesses being the only ones in charge of necessities
  • Want water, gas, electricity, trains, the post and the internet to belong to everyone 
  • They believe this will be better for people, the environment and reduce pollution

Environment

  • Aim to spend a lot of money on stopping pollution and clean the air 
  • Want to plant £2billion worth of new trees

Liberal Democrats

Leader: Jo Swinson 

Slogan: “DEMAND BETTER”

Now - for the Liberal Democrats, not so long ago the Lib Dems were a party that had been placed more in the background behind the two front runners of Labour and The Conservatives. However, ever since the coalition government of 2010 the party and it’s base has grown and grown and is starting to be seen as a viable third option for many voters, so now what do they offer?

Brexit

  • They will stop Brexit completely and make sure we stay in the EU 

Economy

  • Want to support businesses and make more jobs to help the environment 
  • They want to balance the wealth better around the country 
  • They want to invest in better internet coverage for all of the UK

Taxes

  • They want people and businesses to pay the right amount 
  • Big businesses will pay more tax than small ones  
  • Rich people will pay more tax than those on the lower end of the salary ladder

Education

  • Want to increase spending on schools and teachers
  • Help babies and small children to be looked after for free
  • Help improve adult literacy rates and teach more skills to adults
  • Increase teachers wages

Health and social care

  • Social care doesn’t work properly they want to connect it with the NHS
  • People will be able to go to the doctor and get care and support simultaneously
  • They will introduce a new tax to pay for this

Poverty and inequality

  • They want fair taxed to improve the standard of living of the poor 
  • Reduce poverty rates up  and down the UK
  • Build more houses so that everybody can have a home
  • Provide enough money for the old and disabled to live comfortably

Environment

  • They Acknowledge the current climate crisis and want to introduce several laws which may benefit the environment
  • Will invest in greener sources of energy creating more jobs, and saving the environment
  • Want energy to come from the wind and the sun to stop pollution from oil

The power is in your hands!

So there you have it, these are the frontrunners for the December 12th election, and what they have to offer. Of course, there are various other parties involved and if you wish to read their manifesto’s here is an easy read version of each parties.

 

So whichever way you decide to go, get out on December 12 and VOTE!!

Ayoola Adeniji