The British election verdict will impact Brexit and anti-terror plans
Conservative support in the north of England, although this accretion did not result in seats for the party.
However, the other fissures have widened. The spectre of “two nations” that had alarmed the likes of Benjamin Disraeli in the Victorian Age has resurfaced. The Conservatives are still the majority party of England, winning the support of the middle classes, farmers and the elderly.
However, in urban Britain, particularly London and places populated by non-White Britons and the young, it is the radical alternative proffered by Corbyn’s Labour that has resonated.
There is a sharp rupture between those who prefer social stability, moderate taxation, tough law and order and Britishness and others who prefer a culture of entitlements, equity and multiculturalism. Young Britons are talking a different political language from their elders.
The schism is likely to have a direct bearing on both the Brexit negotiations and the strategies to cope with immigration and terrorism. There is an unresolved confusion over “hard” and “soft” Brexit that will be exploited by hard-nosed EU negotiators determined to show that it doesn’t pay to renege on the European project.
Britain had begun talks with nonEU partners, including India, over a postBrexit future. Now these may lose their urgency and await a clarity of purpose in Whitehall.
For the moment, Britain appears to be on crutches. Maybe not for long but even a short-term sickness is damaging. follow suit.
Switzerland voted last month to phase out fossil fuels and focus on clean power. The new President of France has announced a similar plan.
Germany has already set itself very high targets. China is investing more in clean energy than anyone else and expects to create 13 million new jobs in the sector by 2020.
This is a race to dominate the most important industry of the future. It is also a race to save the planet before climate change overwhelms us.
Farming-heavy states like Punjab and Chhattisgarh are already feeling the effects as monsoon patterns keep changing. Climate change affects farming and crops and thus will hit India particularly badly.
India is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. Indian cities dominate the list of the most polluted on the planet. It needs clean energy so Indians can breathe properly, but also to power growth, educate the youth and create more opportunities.
“What’s happening with solar in India gives hope for the future,” I was told by Alasdair Cameron at Friends of the Earth. He added: “As the costs of solar continue to fall India has a real opportunity to become a world leader in the transition to a clean, 21st century energy system.”
This boom is changing our world so quickly it may look unrecognisable soon. But it needs the Modi government to get ambitious and deliver. If India wanted it could not only become a world energy leader but save the planet in the process.