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Why this election matters to you and me?

By ucyow3c, on 5 May 2015

The 7th of May is fast approaching!

Besides the all-important exams, an important national event will be taking place on Thursday – the 2015 General Election.

This year marks the first time Members of Parliament have served a full five-year term before facing the electorate again. If you are planning to stay away from the polling booth, think carefully because:

1. This election is genuinely unpredictable (and interesting)

The latest polling results have produced mixed fortunes for the two major political parties. According to a YouGov survey done on behalf of The Sunday Times between 1st and 2nd May, the Conservatives are projected to secure 34% of the popular vote while Labour polls at 33%. Conversely, an online poll conducted by Survation for Mail on Sunday during the same period suggests Labour will capture the most votes (34%) with the Conservatives trailing at 31%. The contrasting results highlight the sheer unpredictability of this election.

Given the failure of either party to establish a clear lead, the future of the country hangs in balance. A prediction by www.electionforecast.co.uk indicates that the Conservatives will win 279 seats on 7th May and Labour 270, well short of the required 326 seats (or 323 after excluding Sinn Fein) to form the government. Britain has witnessed this outcome before in 2010 when none of the two major parties managed to secure the magic number. There is no doubt this election will return yet another hung parliament, only this time messier. With the Liberal Democrats being projected to lose more than half their current seats from 57 to 25, either the Conservatives or Labour will need to strike an agreement with parties such as UKIP, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party. The possibility of smaller parties holding the balance of power has made this election very interesting because Britain could be evolving from the traditional three-party system (or until recently two-party) to a multi-party one.

If you still believe your votes do not matter, think again! Close to home, the seat of Hampstead and Kilburn (where many UCL students live) was one of the most closely contested in 2010 with 42 votes separating the winner from the runner-up candidate. To put the number into context, the winning margin is smaller than the size of a typical lecture theatre in UCL! In an election as close as this, a few seats can decide the outcome so YOU could make all the difference. This is not to mention other marginal seats such as Hornsey and Wood Green as well as Finchley and Golders Green which could well change hands in a few days’ time.

2. Politics matter to you, me and us all!

Over the past month, different political parties have published their manifestos and plans moving forward. Looking at higher education as our area of focus, the Green Party reiterated their belief in free education while Labour proposed to reduce tuition fees in England and Wales from £9,000 to £6,000. Meanwhile, the SNP raised the idea of re-instating the Post Study Work visa (Irish and Commonwealth students can vote in the upcoming election) and the Conservatives intended to abolish the cap on students attending higher education institutions.

If you are currently studying at UCL, in the near future you will likely be working full-time (like me) so the tax plans proposed by the political parties will make a difference to our net pay. In this regard, the Liberal Democrats promised to raise tax-free allowance to £12,500 by May 2020 while UKIP would introduce a 30% tax band for income between £45,300 and £55,000, down from the current 40% band.

The examples above are but two instances where policies have a far-reaching impact on our daily lives. Politics matters to you and me, doesn’t it?

3. Apathy won the day in 2010

According to the official 2010 voter turnout figures, 15.6 million eligible voters out of 45.6 million (34.2%) of the eligible voters abstained. This is a staggering figure: 15.6 million voices being ignored, 15.6 million voices not having a say in the future of the country. The abstention rate is even higher for young people aged 18-25 with almost half not exercising their democratic rights. If apathy were a political party, they would have ruled the day.

With the election only days away, I would urge you to spare a little time in your busy schedule and mark a cross on the ballot paper. After all, you can hold your representatives to account only once every 5 years (it might be the first time for some of you) so use this chance wisely.

Don’t miss out, VOTE on May 7th!

Christopher Isaac Wongsosaputro
UCL Alumni, Department of Statistical Science (2014)

 

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