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Labour more likely to win because Britons want change: Scholar

Wednesday, 31 May 2017 6:24 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 01 June 2017 3:14 AM ]

Rodney Shakespeare

British voters are more likely to vote for the Labour Party in the June 8 general election, says a scholar in London, arguing that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is the only candidate who represents a real change.

Dr. Rodney Shakespeare, a university professor and political analyst, made the remarks when asked about Labour’s recent rise in polls.

The latest YouGov survey showed on Tuesday that British Prime Minister Theresa May’s ruling Conservative Party was likely to lose 20 parliamentary seats and Labour could gain almost 30 in the upcoming vote.

That means Tories could ultimately win 310 seats at the election, falling short of an absolute majority of 326 seats needed to form a government.

Such a result on June 9 would be catastrophic for May, who called for the snap election back in April, arguing the UK needed certainty, stability and strong leadership in Brexit negotiations with the European Union.

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“I don’t usually bet or gamble, but I have placed two bets on the UK general election: one is that there would be no overall majority and two that Labour will win,” Shakespeare told Press TV on Wednesday.

“The reason is actually the same reason that led people to vote for Brexit,” he argued. “Brexit was motivated by lots of people suffering economic hardship that has increased rich-poor division.”

The “anger over economic insecurity” was what Shakespeare said would come into play in favor of the Labour Party this time.

Aside from this, the issue of terrorism was another factor that was going to help Labour, according to Shakespeare.

He argued that concerns for more terror attack like the one that took place in Manchester recently won’t go away unless a “fundamental change” takes place in the UK’s current foreign policy.

“The only way that we can stop that is strike at the philosophical of that [terrorist] belief which is in fact the Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia,” he said. “There is a chance that Jeremy Corbyn at least would stand up to be counted.”

The scholar argued that Corbyn would certainly bring about change in Britain’s Bahrain policy, but it remains to be seen if he can do the same with regards to Saudi Arabia.

“Very urgent is to vote in somebody, that means in practice Jeremy Corbyn and Labour Party, who is going to at least start what should be a huge change in foreign policy,” he added.

“Saudi Arabia, the USA, the UK and Israel… they are all in together... we have to stand up to be counted,” Shakespeare concluded.

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