The looming General Election

Parliament was prorogued on Wednesday 13^th May 2014, bringing this session of Parliament to a close.

It reassembles on Wednesday 4^th June for the Queen’s Speech that will set out the Government’s programme for the next eleven months.

Sixteen Bills have been passed and five others are carried over to the new Session, were the next session will conclude with the General Election on Thursday 7^th May 2015.

The economy will inevitably be a major electoral issue.

The Conservatives will claim credit for the recovery and blame the last Labour Government for mismanaging the economy and creating a huge debt by spending more than the taxes brought in.

Labour will counter that the Conservatives are on the side of the wealthy and they alone are concerned for the poor who have been hit hard by the benefit cuts.

The Liberal Democrats will say that when no party had a majority they had no choice but to join the Coalition to make stable government possible and have proved they can govern and now want an opportunity to do it by themselves.

Europe will be another big issue because of UKIP’s campaign for withdrawal.

Ironically, if UKIP takes votes away from the Conservatives they could prevent the In/Out referendum Cameron has promised.

Nigel Farage says UKIP would back a minority Conservative Government to secure the referendum and that would be welcomed by right wing Conservatives, who want Britain to leave the EU, but not by a majority of Conservative MPs.

Recent polls put the Conservatives narrowly in the lead over Labour but not far enough to obtain a majority and UKIP comes third in most polls, five percent ahead of the Liberal Democrats.

UKIP are expected to do well in the Euro elections on Thursday 22^nd May but it remains to be seen how that will transfer to national elections.

The Scottish referendum on Thursday 18^th September 2014 could also influence the result in next year’s Parliamentary election because a ‘yes’ vote in the referendum would mean the 41 Labour MPs representing Scottish seats would no longer be eligible to sit at Westminster, which could be a good thing.

Although we're Better Together, because the best choice for the people of Scotland is to remain a strong and proud nation while benefiting from the security and opportunity Scotland can take advantage of as part of a bigger United Kingdom

A welcome but gruesome debate on Tuesday 12^th May was about North Korea which highlighted the truly horrendous ways those in power treat the people, especially Christians.

The MPs, most of whom were Christians, called for the BBC World Service to broadcast to North Korea to tell the suffering Koreans that they are not forgotten and they called on the UN to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court.

Replying, Hugo Swire, the Foreign Office Minister, welcomed the debate and said the Government would press for a tough resolution at the UN General Assembly in the autumn.

The North Korean economy is close to collapse and sooner or later the regime will do so too.

The British Embassy in Pyongyang must be ready to persuade those in power that there is a better way.

So, Parliament may not be sitting now but there is still a lot of politics happening for Christians to follow and prayerfully reflect on.