There is probably no point trying to convince any students how to vote in the General Election, surely we’ve all made up our minds by now. The background of this article gives you a clue as to who I’m voting for (or rather would be voting for if I could: #foreign). But I would still ask you for one thing: vote so that you actually determine who gets to govern this country.
The one thing about this election people will remember is how messy it’s all been. So many parties, seven-way leader debates, uncertainty. The simplicity, clarity and effectiveness of the good old two-party system all seem to be disappearing.
Many people got really angry with the Lib Dems for breaking their promise on tuition fees. But don’t blame them, blame the British electorate. Broken promises are inherent to multiparty systems. If no party commands an overall majority, coalitions have to be formed, and parties will have to sacrifice some of their policies in the process.
There is nothing fairer about proportional representation or multiparty governments: you get coalition agreements that no one ever voted for. Look at Israel, where far-right parties with about five per cent of the popular vote almost entirely control a highly divisive and controversial foreign policy that has made them no few enemies, and then ask yourself whether the our political system is really that bad.
And look what these small parties are doing to Britain. If Labour is the largest party, it will have to enter some sort of deal with the SNP, and the Nationalists will get to dictate the terms of that deal. A party with less than four per cent of the popular vote – a party for which 92 per cent of the people in this country can’t even vote for – will dictate government policy.
imilarly, if the Tories are the largest party and have to rely on UKIP or the DUP (much, much less likely than the earlier example as UKIP and DUP are very unlikely to get more than 10 seats between them), our country will be subject to policies very, very few people will have voted for.
The next government will be either Tory or Labour. The next Prime Minister will either be Cameron or Miliband. That really is the choice we all face, and we should all pick between the two.
If I were really mean, I would say I love the Greens for example – they literally eat Lib Dem and Labour votes, thus helping the Conservatives in many marginal constituencies, including, incidentally, Oxford West and Abingdon. You may dislike that, you may think our electoral system is unfair, but you have to face the reality. Vote Tory or Labour, and actually have a say on who runs the country.
I hope your hangover isn’t too bad when you read this on Friday – be it caused by Bridge or by celebrating or drinking down the sorrows after staying up all night to watch what promises to be the closest-fought General Election in recent memory. But remember: the hangover of being run by people who want to break up our country could last five years.
