Election TV Debates

Well I didn’t think it would really be worth watching but somehow or other I let myself drift into watching the leaders’ debate on BBC1. The publicity around Jeremy Corbyn’s last minute decision to join in was what probably did it. But the main thing I was interested in, trying to work out what is happening with Brexit, barely came up. This was one of the consequences of Theresa May’s decision not to participate. This makes her a bad sport and created the opportunity for some humour at her expense. I particularly liked the one about ‘not so much the lady’s not for turning as the lady’s not for turning up’ from Angela Rayner. But without the big woman of Brexit being there it didn’t really allow for much debate on the issue. It was also the case that the questions from the studio audience didn’t really call up the subject much either. So it was left to Tim Farron to talk most about it.


 The trouble is even he seems to have become oppressed by the public mood. The voters aren’t interested and so given that there’s an election on the subject has just gone dead. In fact Jeremy Corbyn, contrary to expectations and definitely contrary to previous form, was the one who was clearest about what he wanted. He was after tariff free trade but with control of immigration. That isn’t currently on offer, but it might be something that Labour would be able to deliver.

I can’t see the EU wanting to make any concessions to the Conservatives, but given how pro-Europe the Labour Party is overall nowadays (Corbyn himself excepted) they might be willing to stretch the point. Britain is after all not a small country, at least not economically. Allowing Britain to stay in the single market and the customs union in return for fairly liberal immigration terms might be just about palatable. In fact it might work well as a chance for the EU to revisit freedom of movement on a wider scale.

Of course Paul Nuttall was not at all reticent about Brexit, which is completely understandable from his point of view. He did however completely fail to stir up anti-immigrant feeling in the subtle way that Nigel Farage is able to do. With Farage you feel that he must be racist but you can’t find any way of pinning it on him. Nuttal just sounds like a racist. I suspect that neither man actually is in reality, but they know which side their bread is buttered if they want to attract support. So overall it was a bit of a let down from my point of view. I am expecting the result of the election to be even more so