Everyone can now see that the UK faces the worst, most damaging, most divisive situation since the Second World War. Indeed, today’s latest headline is: “UK inflation will hit 18.6% in early 2023, says leading bank Citi”. Unfortunately, the cost of living crisis is just one of a whole panoply of worsening crises currently afflicting the UK. For instance:

  • Every aspect of NHS provision is now stretched to breaking point. This manifests itself in: unprecedented waiting times for 111 calls, ambulances and hospital appointments; critical shortages of staff across all parts of NHS (including dentists and orthodontists); unprecedented levels of bed blocking; and delays to long-promised hospital building and refurbishment programmes.
  • Then there’s: the social care crisis; the export trade crisis; the water crisis (sewage dumping, river pollution, shortages of water storage and grid capacity, and obscene levels of privatised industry profits, dividends and executive pay and bonuses); unprecedented crises in Public Services, including policing, the courts, education, council services, etc, caused by 12 years of Conservative austerity and other misguided policies.
  • Moreover, there’s also: a crisis of poor national productivity; a crisis in staffing levels across multiple sectors of our national life and economy; our increasingly divided society; the ever increasing risk of our four-nation union breaking itself apart; our failing political system, especially in Westminster; and a government mired in cronyism, lies and sheer incompetence. I could go on, but won’t, because today’s growing list of crises is almost endless.

Another fundamental issue is that our current government is unwilling accept the reality that all of the crises mentioned above are either directly caused by or made worse by Johnson’s dreadful “Get Brexit Done” deal. This is a problem because, as Aaron Sorkin famously wrote, “The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.” Right now – far from recognising the need to negotiate improvements to the deal Johnson signed – the government is: threatening to break an international treaty over the Northern Ireland Protocol; arguing with the French over how to stop migrants crossing the channel; and putting UK science at catastrophic risk by not ‘associating’ with the EU’s €95.5 billion Horizon Europe research and information programme.

The answer is crystal clear: our country needs a new, progressive government to start building a fairer, more just, more equitable, more caring, more environmentally sustainable, more united, more democratic, more prosperous country from the ruins of Brexit and 12 years of Conservative rule.

This means holding a General Election as soon as possible. However, people say, “This is impossible. We’ll have to wait until 2024 before a General Election is held.” Frankly, this is not good enough. Put simply, we as a society must somehow find a way of overcoming this seemingly insuperable obstacle. People have already suggested measures such as a General Strike or the equivalent of the Poll Tax riots, both of which would be hugely counter-productive. So, the key question is: “Can anything actually be done to force an early General Election?” Personally, I think there is . . . and it goes roughly like this.

Imagine if, on the morning of Tue 6 Sep 22, following the announcement of our new PM, every progressive national and local newspaper that cares about its readers, their lives, their businesses and the future of the country, across the UK, were to publish exactly the same headline reading something like “General Election needed now: ‘Will of the people’ clear” [see mock-up attached]. Obviously, the Mail, Express, Sun and Telegraph would run their own sycophantic headlines along the lines of “Bright future beckons under new PM”. However, the contrast between what the right wing media is saying and what people are feeling across all four nations would be profound. This, in turn, would inspire widespread community action, for instance with millions of people placing stickers in their windows, gathering on the streets, writing to their MPs, phoning radio stations, and so on.

The phrase ‘Will of the people’ was used shamelessly to ram through Johnson’s pathetic Brexit deal. Today, in contrast, it could be used constructively to demand a General Election, without delay, to give voters the vital choice between Conservative chaos and progressive reform, not just in terms of the political policies that determine how our country operates but also the political system that governs how our country is led and managed. The impact of such reform is likely to be as historically significant as the massive reforms delivered in the wake of the Second World War.

Personally, I’d greatly welcome all thoughts, comments and suggestions concerning this suggested way forward.