Watching the UK election and how it unfolded induced something of a longing to a return to the FPP system of voting. Whether it has appeal or not, what the UK election showed is that it is easier to get the desired result if enough people want it. It avoids the situation of voting for a minor party in order to ensure the outcome you want, only to find that the party coalesces with the other side.
There are lessons to be learnt from the UK election by both major parties here at home. First, Jacinda needs to realise that the Corbyn agenda, which is so close to her heart, is an election loser even amongst those she would call the comrades, ie the working classes. These people want jobs and this wasn’t happening in the UK under the EU umbrella. This is why such a swathe of the north of England voted Leave. The election result mirrored the referendum only probably more so. This bore out what Nigel Farage was saying: that a second referendum would probably produce a stronger Leave vote.
The same scenario happened in America where Trump won over the rust belt of America on the promise of creating jobs through restarting or bringing industry back to America. In Australia, Scott Morrison did well on the promise of jobs through the expansion of mineral and coal mining. Conservatives also had wins in Brazil, Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands. This rather gives a lie to the premise that the youth, the millennials and Gen Z will all get out and out vote Chlöe’s ‘OK Boomers.’ So either the younger ones aren’t voting in sufficient numbers or they are voting along similar lines to Boomers, no doubt for similar reasons. Which destroys Chlöe’s rationale.
What can National take from all of this? For starters, look at the leader, and I say that mainly from a personality point of view. Look at the likes of Key, Trump, Johnson, and Morrison. To me, they all come across as someone you could easily share a beer with. Jacinda, dare I say it, exudes a likeability of a different sort, the kind, compassionate type. The difference is the other four know what they’re doing. Sexist comment! Immediate howls of outrage! The problem for National is that their leader, unfortunately, doesn’t have that type of personality. We live in an age of personality politics, and television plays a big part, especially how one comes across.
The other lesson National should take from the election is that the Conservatives didn’t win by being left-wing lite. Neither did Trump and neither did Morrison. Their policy platforms overall are to the right of National. Climate change didn’t rate in the UK, Trump is a ‘climate denier’ and Morrison didn’t let that deter him from boosting mining. National need to stop getting sucked into the left-wing agenda on matters like climate change. They need to make it clear to farmers that they appreciate the work they are voluntarily doing in this area and will support them without introducing onerous miles of red tape.
Areas of the country National should be honing in on are the West Coast, Taranaki and other areas where jobs can be created through industrial expansion including mining and hydro schemes. This would, of course, exclude National Parks. It’s plainly ridiculous that we are having to import coal purely because of the policies of a Government that is supposedly against it. It is also an insanity that you can’t put a spade in the ground in case you hit a snail or put hydro on a river in case a kayaker wants to use it. If we want to be a wealthy nation then we have to act accordingly.
National needs to break the Labour-lite shackles and give voters a real choice. They might be pleasantly surprised at the result.