Today's election is as easy as ABC: Anyone But Corbyn. Here's why.
I can understand why people would dislike the Conservatives, Brexit Party, Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, Plaid Cymru, etc. I get that. You might well have a negative opinion of Johnson, Swinson, Farage and the others.
If I rehearse all the criticisms of other parties here, this article will never end. Suffice it to say that I share a lot of concerns.
My issue with Labour is one of scale. I'm going to give just 4 reasons why I'm scared of the consequences of Corbyn. There are many more.
1. You might perceive racism or sexism in other parties, but the scale of anti-Semitism in Labour is truly terrifying. Christians can go to church in the UK in peace; Muslims can go to mosque; Hindus and Sikhs to temple. If you're a Jew going to a UK synagogue there'll be security guards. I've been into Jewish buildings for a competition and had to go past armed guards and through metal detectors. A friend living near a Jewish ex-Labour MP told me that not only was she hounded out of Labour, but the local synagogue receives police protection.
I sympathise with those of all faiths who are facing nastiness, but the scale of what's happening to Jews in our country is an utter disgrace.
Anti-Semitism is a particularly pernicious form of racism. From pogroms to Stalin, the ancient Romans to Hitler, attempts have been made to wipe the Jewish people from the face of this planet.
Jewish Labour MPs have faced horrific abuse from within; most have been forced out of the Party. The Jewish Labour Movement refuses to endorse Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister. Labour is under investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission over anti-semitism. Only the BNP has faced this kind of investigation before. Jeremy Corbyn attended a wreath-laying ceremony for a terrorist involved in the Munich massacre. He described terror organisation Hamas as his 'friends', voted against banning Al-Qaeda...the list goes on.
When I visited Jerusalem on a cruise a fortnight ago, the taxi driver there was terrified of Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister. Let that sink in for a second: in a country where rocket attacks are a daily occurrence, he's worried about Jews in the United Kingdom. That's how bad this is.
2. Corbyn's attitude towards IRA terrorism
When even a member of his own Shadow Cabinet described him as a security risk this week, we should be concerned. Corbyn invited IRA members to Parliament a fortnight after the Brighton bombing, and even got arrested at a demonstration in support of others charged in relation to the Brighton bombing. He opposed the ceasefire. He put £20,000 of his own money up to seek bail for an IRA terror suspect facing extradition. And don't get me started on his Shadow Chancellor and Shadow Home Secretary...
3. Labour's Brexit policy makes no sense
Corbyn wants to renegotiate yet another deal with the EU within 3 months, which most of his own government will oppose. He wants a pro- and anti- Brexit Labour negotiating team, which presumably means they'll be trying to negotiate two deals at once. He then wants to put the outcome of this to a referendum within 6 months of the election, which means throwing the Electoral Commission's rules on referendums out of the window. This will leave a choice between a 'Brexit' deal which won't deliver on any reason anyone voted Brexit, and no Brexit at all. In short, he'd disenfranchise millions.
4. Labour's economic arguments are intellectually bankrupt (which, ironically, is where they'd take the economy)
Labour claim they'll save the average household £6,700 per year. This 'average household' has two people commuting to work every day by train, has kids but gets no free childcare at all, doesn't get free prescriptions, doesn't get free school meals, but they're only earning the minimum wage. I'd be surprised if one household in a million meets these 'average' criteria.
Of course, they account for price increases in recent years without adjusting for inflation - yet include inflation in their own projections under Labour to make their figures look better. They promise some savings by 2030, depending on nationalisation going well (which contradicts their Brexit policy because we couldn't legally do the renationalisation whilst in the Single Market and Customs Union).
Some of the papers cited are about renationalisation without compensation (i.e. literally stealing billions of pounds of business assets). Given that the Shadow Chancellor brought a Communist dictator's 'Little Red Book' to the despatch box, and that Corbyn praised the economics of Venezuela's government, I shouldn't be too surprised.
I don't like some of the other parties' manifesto costings, but none are as ridiculous as this. And that's before you start with their £60 billion pledge during the campaign to respond to the very real WASPI issue, which is all very well and good but totally unfunded.
We can fairly criticise all the other parties for a lot of the things they've done and said in this campaign.
The prospect of Labour winning isn't just the usual run-of-the-mill election stuff. It's chilling. Please, please, please don't vote for Labour today - vote ABC, Anyone But Corbyn.
