A generation or so ago the probability of such convincing Labour win would have caused angst amongst many voters especially those who supprted the Tories. However after Tony Blair's huge Labour victory in 1997, the Labour Party began its long overdue post WWII modernistion. Personally I was never keen on Tony Blair and at the time, rather than vote for his party and with the SDP having merged with the Liberals, I voted for, as I recollect, a local Independent Catholic (she was not elected).
Tony Blair got a number of matters right but was disastrously wrong about leading the UK into the war in Iraq in 2003. Having said that, old HCPT friend Bernie whose Catholic family is from Baghdad, initially supported the American led invasion but later took the view that the US had caused more problems than those it attempted to resolve.
But reverting to UK politics in 2024; my view is that the two main political parties namely Labour and the Tories are now so similar that even when Conservative MPs defect to the Labour Party their political views appear hardly to change. The Lib/Dems I would never vote for given their stance in 1967 on abortion.
The principal differences between Labour and Tories in May 2024 appear to be firstly, about fee paying public schools in respect of their school fees on which Labour wish to add Value Added Tax. A silly idea in my view but rather like the tax on private health insurance as regards the NHS being no better off as result, free state schools will become no better off. On the other hand Labour and Tories are both agreeing on amending the law relating to state maintained academies, allowing them to admit more of those with the same religious beliefs as their trustees/founders, which should soon result in more Roman Catholic acadamies being formed. The Lib Dems incidentally opposed this change.
Secondly, the Labour Party will succour Trade Unions in the UK which in my view is the principal reason railway unions are continuing with their train strikes. In other words the leaders of ASLEF and the NUR expect good settlements of their pay and conditions claims over beer and sandwiches with Labour in Number 10 Downing Street.
VAT on school fees and sops to trade union claims. Not my cup of tea admittedly but hardly significant in the broad scheme of today's political life.
Despite the dull nature of Keir Starmer's Labour and the defecting of so many from Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party, the next UK government of whatever hue sees unlikely to differ very much policy-wise from the current one.
On a more positive note, thankfully we do not have two OAP leaders vying to be elected leader of the UK ths year unlike the situation in the USA.
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