General election 2019

Ok, so…

Having stayed up until the result of the election was clear, I have only just got up. (It’s my day off so that’s completely fine.) So, having slept for a few hours, I thought I would offer my reflections.

Short version: It was not the result I was hoping for but it was a decisive result. We must now move forward and work together to build a society of which we may be proud.

Longer version:

I think people—myself included—voted almost entirely on Brexit. I couldn’t in conscience—for reasons I will explain below—vote for a pro-Brexit party. The fact that so many seats were won by the Conservatives show how strong the Brexit motive was. Many Brexit areas voted overwhelmingly for the Conservatives and this was clear.

Up until the Brexit referendum, I was a Conservative voter. In large part because I believe that we are all responsible for our lives and that the decisions that we make affect the rest of our lives. Being from a working-class background, and having made the decisions I have made in life, I have done relatively well. Others who haven’t made wise decisions have not done so well. I am still a believer in working hard to get where we want to be. I don’t think that we can or should rely on the state to bring us all to a prosperous position. In 2015, I heard a lot of comments from people who might ordinarily have not been Conservative voters but who were voting Conservative because they were getting tired of working hard and struggling while others spent their lives, making poor decisions, and sometimes (apparently) ending up with more prosperous lives. (I am not saying that they were correct but it was an explanation I heard a lot. Comments like “they’ve got a bigger TV than I have got” or “I can’t afford to go to Turkey on holiday”.)

Of course, there are, always have been, and always will be, people who, for many reasons, will need the support of the state and local communities to provide for them. I don’t believe that we can or should vilify those who cannot work or have no choice but to rely on state aid. I have also met people and spent large amounts of time speaking to people, on the other side of that coin, for whom reliance on state support has being something of a lifestyle choice. The reasons for this are many and complicated. I have always believed that those who genuinely cannot work or lift themselves out of poverty should be supported and not forced to live in poverty or have to beg for money or food. I believe in a basic level of human dignity: even—especially—for those who struggle to or simply cannot seize it themselves.

One of the reasons I changed the way I vote this time was that I didn’t feel I could vote for a Conservative government without some of the protections that being in the EU offers. The Conservative party appears to be moving to the right and I don’t feel I can support this. What is surprising about this election is that many of the communities that have switched to voting Conservative are exactly the communities who have tended to suffer under Conservative governments. I don’t believe that the Conservative party will do enough to support poorer working-class communities. I fear that poorer communities and our society’s most vulnerable are at threat. I think that many of those communities have voted for poverty and difficulty, simply not to be part of the European Union.

One of the reasons that I could not—and cannot—support Brexit is that, in my understanding, it all grew out of Europe’s experience of two world wars, in which much of Europe was brought to its knees. The nations of Europe—and indeed the world—began to see that coming together to create a European community would be the key to not having wars in Europe again. And they were correct! (Recognising, of course, that there have been conflicts largely within nations, like the former Yugoslavia, for example.)

The ability to travel within Europe is something that can only be described as a joy and blessing. For somebody like me, who is passionate about learning languages, the ability to travel easily through Europe is a great gift, even if I don’t have the money to travel as much as I would like to. The ability, as a country, to cooperate with and learn from our European neighbours, within this country and within mainland Europe, is a huge asset. Not to mention how many EU nationals have been working in our health service and in many other invaluable ways.

Coming out of the EU, to me, seems like a retrograde step. Of course, we are not the only country who has been talking about leaving the EU. Many European countries have also witnessed a rise in far-right parties who seek to hold onto sovereignty or ‘take back control’. However, if countries leave the EU, we always risk opening the door to arguments about territory and to conflicts arising between countries within Europe.

Of course, much of that is my opinion and I may be wrong. However, what have we witnessed in this country since 2010? It seems to me—though I am happy to be proven wrong—that we have seen:

• an increase in people being forced to rely on foodbanks;
• an increase in homelessness and extreme poverty;
• an increase in xenophobia;
• an increase in islamophobia;
• people feeling that their very ability to remain and work in this country is under threat.

Casual glances on social media show an increase in sentiments that I cannot agree with. Within minutes of the exit poll, I began to see posts on social media, which can only be described as xenophobic. One of them said, “This is England: we drink beer and eat pork. If you don’t like it…” If this is to become the kind of thing that we see more of under this Conservative majority government, then I think we should hang our heads in shame. I fear that, under this Conservative majority government and leaving the EU, we will see a rise in xenophobia. I think we will see a rise in racist attacks. I think that many people will feel that they now have permission to express views publicly that many of us would not consider acceptable, because we are taking back control.

I predict that the rise in poverty, homelessness etc. will continue. When we leave Europe, which are very likely to do now, I think that we will see an increase in all of these things. I think that many people who have voted Conservative because of Brexit will find that there lives become much harder. I predict that we will see a rise in xenophobia and perhaps even racist attacks. I believe that we will see an increase in Islamophobia.

All that said, I do hope that there will be significant investment and improvement in the NHS. I hope that there will significant investment in education. I hope that our country will become stronger. However, at the moment my fears seem to outweigh my hopes.

I shall continue to pray for Her Majesty the Queen and her government. I shall pray for a fairer society of which we can all be proud but I feel bound, as a Christian and as a priest, to pray with Our Lady that the proudhearted my be scattered, and the lowly raised up.

Those of us who are relatively comfortable or even wealthy will, I think, need to be much more generous to those who are not as comfortable. We will need to take responsibility for looking after and caring for the most vulnerable. I have a lot of fears but I hope and pray to be proven wrong in time.

For now, I would like to say to my European brothers and sisters:

• Je vous aime.
•  Ich liebe euch.
• Ik hou van jullie.
• Jag älskar er.
• Jeg elsker jer.
• Os quiero.
• Us estimo.
• Vi amo.
• (‘I love you’ to all of you whose language I don’t know well enough to type that without having to look it up.)

I will continue to travel whenever I can to experience the varied riches that you offer—not talking money, of course!

To my muslim friends, I say ‘assalamu alaykum’.

Let us move forward to create a society of which we can be proud. May God deliver us from having to bow our heads in shame. We will have to take much more responsibility to help those in need. We will all have to take much more responsibility to raise up the lowly. We will have to do much more to support the vulnerable in our society.

God save the Queen!