As Brits head to polls, May focuses on Brexit
LONDON – On the eve of Great Britain’s historic election, Prime Minister Theresa May returned to her core message that only she can deliver a good Brexit deal, moving on from a heated national debate over security after two deadly terrorist attacks in the last three weeks.
May unexpectedly called the snap vote seven weeks ago, seeking to increase her working parliamentary majority of 17 seats ahead of the start of negotiations on leaving the European Union.
But the campaign has seen unexpected twists – the shrinking of May’s poll lead over the opposition Labour Party from over 20 points to a range between one and 12 points, and attacks in Manchester and London that killed 30 people.
Pollsters still expect May’s Conservatives to win, although talk of a landslide majority of more than 100 seats has faded. The latest poll, by ICM for The Guardian, put her party at 46% and Labour at 34%.
The polls started narrowing after May launched a policy on care for the elderly that proved unpopular. She backtracked days later, prompting opposition parties to pour scorn on her claim to offer “strong and stable leadership.”
Then came a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester on May 22 that killed 22 children and adults, and a van and knife attack on London Bridge and in nearby Borough Market that killed eight people on Saturday, five days before the election.
The attacks threw the campaign spotlight onto security, and prompted questions from May’s opponents and media about her record overseeing cuts in police numbers during her years as home secretary from 2010 to 2016.
But the security issue was not seen as helpful to her main rival, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has voted against counterterrorism legislation and expressed reservations in the past about police shoot-to-kill tactics.
On Wednesday, May tried to bring the campaign back to Brexit.
“When it comes to the election tomorrow, I think the choices and the questions that people need to ask are exactly the same today as they were right at the beginning of the campaign,” she told a campaign rally in Norwich, eastern England.
“And the first is a question of who do you trust to actually have the strong and stable leadership that is going to deliver the best deal for Britain in Europe,” she said.
May has sought to portray Corbyn as the weak leader of a spendthrift party that would crash Britain’s $2.5 trillion economy and lead the country to ruin in chaotic Brexit negotiations.
Corbyn, a veteran left-winger who unexpectedly won the Labour leadership in 2015 after three decades on the party fringe, has hit back that Conservative fiscal austerity has hurt the poor and increased social inequalities.
Labour proposes to build a fairer society through policies such as increasing taxes on the richest 5%, boosting workers’ rights, scrapping university tuition fees and investing £250 billion in infrastructure.
“The choice is quite simple. Five more years of a Tory government, five more years of austerity, five more years of cuts. Or something different,” Corbyn told supporters in Colwyn Bay, north Wales, to cheers and applause.
IT specialist Mike Wansworth is vacillating over which party wins his approval.
“I usually vote Conservative, but I guess I will end up voting Labour. Unlike [Margaret] Thatcher, May does so many U-turns we end up going round in circles. First she would never call an early election – then she did. By not even turning up for one of the main TV debates, she showed weakness. She’s the one who requested the election – but we the voters are left trying to figure out why.”
Company director Daniel Rix is adamant that the attacks in Manchester and London only hardened the public’s resolve to vote Conservative.
“Decent, law-abiding members of the public don’t have an issue about tightening up web security,” said Rix. “If the average person had so much to hide they wouldn’t plaster their entire lives all over Facebook. The only ones stirring up concern are the typical West London lefties who take their children to Karate club on Tuesday nights. If we have to trust our country’s security to the Left or [Liberal] Democrats, we might as well send an open invite to anyone to just pop over and do their best – or worst.”
Taxi driver Adnas Hussein says he will vote Labour, claiming that they “will give equal rights in everything. Take Brexit – at the moment anyone from Europe can get to the UK and take our benefits. I tried to get my father over here. He lives outside Europe. I had to pay £1,000 for visa – and they still are not letting him in. What a waste of money. The system is unfair. Once we’re out of Europe, Scotland and Ireland will leave us. It will be the end of the United Kingdom.”
Security has been increased nationwide, and the recent violence has dominated the final weeks of campaigning.
May responded to the recent attack with a pledge to crack down on Islamist extremism and strengthen police powers.
“If human rights laws get in the way of doing these things, we will change those laws to make sure we can do them,” she said in an interview with The Sun.
The head of Amnesty International said the pledge was outrageous and a gift to autocratic leaders around the world.
Two of the three London Bridge attackers, who were all shot dead at the scene by police, had been known to authorities beforehand.
Italy said it had flagged Youssef Zaghba as a risk after he moved to England last year, while Khuram Butt was known to British security services. •