Democracy’s Last Breath, Writes Chris White Ahead of July 4th UK General Election

Chris White.

That businesses will leave the United Kingdom after the coming general election is a foregone conclusion.

That this would only follow a Labour victory is a statement that has little or no foundation. Businesses react to higher wage demands and increasing levels of taxation rather than party politics.

What is true – and increasingly relevant – is that democracy is on the way out.

I have just left the annual Royal Marines Remembrance Concert on the green at Deal Seafront in Kent. This afternoon we could clearly sea the cliffs around the French Port of Calais. It was the thirty fifth concert in memory of the 11 marine bandsmen killed in the IRA bombing on September 22nd 1989.

Terrorism is a denial of democracy and as such has poisoned the close relations the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic once had despite some of the dreadful events of history. That Irish people I know were at the concert and joining in the prayers that included the line “..for unity and peace around the world” is impressive.

That thousand of people in the audience were waving Union Jacks and English flags with the cross of St George is testimony to the sense of falsehood in the general election coverage by the media, both established and social.

It should be noted that I have long argued that the press – now toted as part of the “media” – is no longer a pillar of democracy.

To that should be added the rest of the bunch currently making predictions on the basis of questionable polls and staged confrontations between members of the public and questionable political candidates of all parties.

Ignorance of the facts is a major factor in misleading voters. This is not the place for detailed factual information so the expression “check it out” comes into play. It is a fact that businesses were leaving the UK in droves when the UK was a member of the EU.

The Netherlands was just one country offering low corporation tax thresholds to companies that registered there whilst conducting their business in the UK. One of the massive historic failures on the part of the UK was not getting London established as the financial centre for the EU.

When Britain joined the EU the City of London represented something above 70 percent of the nation’s GDP but then Frankfurt was designated the financial capital of the EU and when Brexit happened it was in the region of 35 percent.

Currently it is in the region of 20 percent. London is no longer looking like a true capital.

Talking to people about the election I repeatedly hear criticism of allowing companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon to operate in the UK where Corporations Tax is 21 percent while registered in the Irish Republic where they pay 12.5 percent.

Voters are so disillusioned that there is a strong case supporting the forecast that a huge number will not vote or spoil their papers. “Not one party has come up with anything that would benefit the people and not bankrupt the country”, is one of the most common comments.

So, how is this reflected in the “questionable” polls?

Even the BBC, widely held to be biased in favour of Labour, has been questioning the validity of the polls that seem to have become integrated with aspects of social media. BBC News regularly conduct street interviews and if not all most people comment that they don’t know how or whether they will vote. So how does that fit with the polls?

If one had inside information and could place a bet then it would certainly be on a Labour victory. What cannot be forecast is how big their majority will be.

That there is foreign interference in this UK election is yet another issue as yet unstated in the media. That could break and take off in the next few days but probably will not because journalism has fallen to a very low standard and the issue is being ignored.

On that point it is hello Labour and goodbye true democracy. Perhaps it is appropriate to end on a light hearted note but one that sums up the situation very well. A child asks his father why the circuses no longer come around and his father explains: “All the clowns have gone into politics”.