It is of course the case that the outcome of any General Election is undecided until it actually happens; the voters could change their minds at any time and the polls are unimportant since the only poll that matters is the one on Election Day.
So all that can be said about the UK election which takes place a few days after the Summer Special issue of <em>Catholic Herald</em> magazine reaches subscribers, churches and retailers is that it looks very likely to return a large Labour majority. The party itself has been careful not to be triumphalist before the event, but broadcasters and journalists have been treating Labour as a government-in-waiting ever since Rishi Sunak rashly called an early election back in May.
If Sir Keir Starmer is invited by the King to form a government, then he will be the country’s first atheist prime minister. The most remarkable aspect of this is that it has been so little discussed–a generation ago it would have been a matter for concern and debate, not least in relation to the prime minister’s role in the appointment of Church of England bishops. But then the prime minister at the time of writing, Rishi Sunak, is a Hindu and this was seen simply as an indication of the progress that has been made in diversification of the UK political establishment.
Mr Sunak belatedly, midway through the election campaign, spoke of the importance of his faith and its ethos in his life–but for most Catholics it was more significant that shortly afterwards <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/uk-prime-minister-indicates-he-wouldnt-oppose-assisted-dying/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">he declared</mark></a> that he had no objection to assisted dying “in principle” and was simply concerned about putting safeguards in place.
Sir Keir has already promised that he would, as prime minister, <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/labour-leader-keir-starmer-commits-to-assisted-suicide-vote-if-prime-minister/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">give parliamentary time to debating a bill to legalise it</mark></a>. He himself is supportive of the measure as would be most of his party. As for the Tories, so many Conservative MPs voted in favour of socially-regressive legislation, such as buffer zones around abortion clinics, that it is now no longer the case that the party as a whole can be considered particularly Christian in its outlook.
It was once a jibe that the Church of England was the Tory Party at prayer; now both institutions have changed to the point that it is hard to know what that means. On the question of who would best care for the interests of the poor, there is not a great deal to choose between the parties. Certainly the problem of getting people who are not in work into employment has been shirked by all of them; there are some 900,000 job vacancies at present and 5.6 million on out-of-work benefits.
It is good for us that we should have work – the curse of Adam is also a blessing – and that we should be able to support ourselves and our families. And yet, especially post Covid, increasing numbers of people are choosing not to work or are locked into joblessness by the benefits system. Those caring for young children or elderly dependents are of course an exception, but even carers for the elderly could, with support, be enabled to stay in employment.
As for those parents looking after very young preschool children, only the Social Democrats, a tiny resurgent party, is actually proposing a transferable tax allowance between married couples with children which would make it easier for those couples who wish to do so to care for their own children.
At present the main parties are competing simply in promising more day-care for infants as young as nine months old. At the very least, <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/uk-government-continues-to-put-working-women-before-non-working-women/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">parents who look after their children at home should not be placed at a disadvantage</mark></a> in relation to those who place them full time in nurseries. Similarly, married couples should not be put at a disadvantage in the tax and benefit system by comparison with single or cohabiting parents. The present married couples’ allowance in the UK for basic-rate taxpayers is risibly small.
Unprecedented numbers of people in the UK are out of work because of mental-health problems, and yet the paradox is that being in work can be a means of addressing those issues, particularly through giving workers a structured way of life and a sense of purpose. This is one of the many issues that the political parties have shunned as too difficult, and it makes the question of whom to vote for very difficult for conscientious Christians.
Neither the bishops nor this magazine would seek to advise readers about which party to support, but we would encourage readers to take into account candidates’ views on life and death issues – including assisted suicide. We should certainly enquire what their views are. Failing all else, a vote for a candidate who promises to oppose assisted suicide would be a vote for the good.<br><em><br>Photo: Reserved seat for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at a campaign event on 29 June 2024 in London, England. With less than a week to go before the UK General Election all the main political are out in force this weekend campaigning for votes. (Photo by Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images.)</em><br><br><strong><strong>This article originally appeared in the Summer Special July/August 2024 issue of the <em>Catholic Herald</em>. To subscribe to our award-winning, thought-provoking magazine and have independent and high-calibre counter-cultural Catholic journalism delivered to your door anywhere in the world click <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/subscribe/?swcfpc=1">HERE</a></mark>.</strong></strong>
