Why I'm Voting Liberal Democrat

Only two years on from Cameron vs Miliband and here we are again on the eve of another general election. Two years on from “hell yes I’m tough enough,” a hell of a lot has changed. After Jeremy Corbyn, an EU referendum, Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn again and now an election, politics has gone quite crazy. It is for a mix of all the above reasons that I find myself with little option but to vote Liberal Democrat on Thursday 8^th June despite having never voted, and never expecting to vote, anything but Labour.

On a personal level this election is hugely overshadowed by the spectre of Brexit. I’m resigned (resigned being the best word for it) to Britain leaving the European Union and the fact that I will likely not have any say in the issue again until 2022 but I cannot realistically watch, what I am certain will be, a catastrophe happen without saying I at least tried and used my democratic voice to appeal and fight it.

Election Backdrop

Firstly I think it is key to point out exactly why I place Brexit, and at the very least having a voice in what happens during it, as such a crucial factor in this election. Leaving the single market, accounting for £240bn of all UK's exports and 53% of our imports, will be a disaster. Before even leaving it we have seen sterling depreciate by 15% and borrowing increased by up to £100bn. Food and fuel prices are steadily increasing, inflation is growing and wages are flatlining, jobs are already leaving or making plans to and we have no trade deals to fall back on as we leave the single market.

This is before I mention the probable hard border between Northern and Republic of Ireland, EU citizens leaving or not coming, border controls possibly moving from Calais to Dover, farming and fishing industries suffering, workers rights, the ability to travel, live and work freely throughout Europe all lost. I could go on but I reiterate I am resigned to it happening, it breaks my heart but it is happening and unfortunately its effects affect how I view everything said during this election campaign.

Labour Backs Hard Brexit

This Brexit prism that I am looking at this election through means that I simply cannot support Labour because they are marching hand in hand with Conservatives towards a hard, devastating Brexit. They have committed to leaving the single market, to ending free movement and differ very little from what Theresa May or Nigel Farage want from the whole process.

It is this stance which I’m afraid makes lies out of other promises the Labour Party makes. Brexit has already increased borrowing by over £100bn according to Philip Hammond and it hasn’t happened yet. Unfortunately this means that it is just not possible to invest to the scale that Labour has suggested because without the single market the economy and ability to invest shrinks by, the markets and sterling depreciation suggest, around 15%. Not just that but the way that Labour suggests it will raise funds simply are not feasible alongside the hard Brexit stance they adopt.

Businesses are already relocating some or all of their staff from Britain to somewhere within the single market. How is this helped by raising corporation tax? As much as I want to see businesses pay their fair share of tax, I also want them to stay put in this country. What reason is there to stay if the UK is outside of the single market and raising tax levels. The same argument can be made about wealthy single investors, what reason to stay in the country when not only is the economy smaller, it has no/barely any access to the single market, they face paying more tax both personally and professionally as well as losing their European passport.

Let’s then take the NHS. Labour’s promises are nothing more than lies when prepositioned by their Brexit stance. 10% of registered doctors and 4% of nurses are EU immigrants, in total 55,000 EU citizens work in the NHS, where will the promised extra staff for the NHS come from when, as Labour promises, free movement ends? As a result of Brexit EU citizens have already left in their tens of thousands since Brexit with Labour only promising to continue this trend. 

Moving on to education and with an end to free movement, it also means an end to international students at universities. Since Brexit Cambridge has already seen a 14.1% drop in students from across the Channel. Universities receive around one eighth of their funding from this group and it is also estimated that these students contribute around £7bn to the UK economy. Labour would end this, shrinking the economy yet further and denying UK based students top universities and a wide range of courses. On top of this with the scrapping of university fees, universities would be facing a funding crisis, far from the life long learning that Labour says it will offer.

It is impossible to talk about this election without mentioning Jeremy Corbyn. He is another major reason why I simply could not consider voting Labour this election. His lies and inaction over the EU and during the EU referendum, his stance over anti-semitism including not expelling Ken Livingstone and still not talking to the leading Jewish newspaper during this election and his appearances on Iranian TV. For all of the above he lost my vote long ago.

The Only Truly Liberal Option

The party with the best and most realistic stance over Brexit, the NHS and Education is the Liberal Democrats.

• ·         Every person in the country be able to look at the actual Brexit deal, not the lies and fabrications of the referendum 12 months ago, and have their say on it.
• ·         A penny in the pound rise in tax ringfenced to fund the NHS would be a sustainable and easily managed way to increase funding for the NHS and provide the best health care in the world once again.
• ·         It is proven that targeting children when they are young with excellent education is the best way to increase achievement. The Lib Dems would triple the Early Years pupil premium allowing progress to be made earlier and quicker. There would be no new grammar schools and free childcare would be extended to all two-year-olds.
• ·         Fracking would be banned and four million properties would receive insulation by 2022 with fuel poor households targeted first. Reducing carbon emissions, helping the environment and lowering energy costs.

All of these promises are believable because the Liberal Democrats are the ONLY party fighting to stay within the single market and customs union, safeguarding jobs and incomes up and down the country, ensuring our economy does not shrink and there is money that can be invested in the NHS, in education and to build homes.

It has been difficult to change what I thought would be a lifetime of Labour votes but the Brexit stance, which undermines every single spending promise made, along with Jeremy Corbyn himself means that I simply cannot back Labour in this election. The Liberal Democrats have the most sensible, open and outward looking manifesto of all UK parties, their spending commitments can be trusted and they would give you, me and everyone over the age of 16 the right to have a say on whatever Brexit deal is negotiated. On Thursday, vote Liberal Democrat and change Britain’s future.