Andy Burnham says if the election result is narrower than polls suggest ‘the combined forces of this new British Right will be in a position to drive us in the same direction as France’
Tomorrow, millions go to the polls across Britain and their votes will reshape our political landscape.
But, with many voters still to make up their minds, much hangs in the balance. In the last 24 hours, I hope those undecided will look across the Channel before deciding which way to go.
From France, we are being sent a big warning. Weeks after the world gathered there to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, a far right party, whose co-founder had links to the Nazi Waffen SS, has won the first round of the French election.
Our grandads and great-grandads would feel betrayed. The poison of the populist right, which has taken hold in the US, risks making our near neighbour the sick man of Europe. The contagion is nearing our doorstep.
Promises made to improve the lives of ordinary French people, like “levelling up” here, were not delivered. And, just like in Britain, the traditional right has allowed itself to be dragged so far by the populists that it in effect no longer exists.
Only the combined forces of the left can now stop the march of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. But while France feels like it might have passed the point of no return, Britain stands at the fork in the road.
I hope we choose the path which rejects polarisation, discrimination and hate. Rishi Sunak’s desperate last throw of the dice is to plead with people to stop a “Starmer supermajority”. The suggestion is the country needs his Tory Party as a strong opposition. Don’t make me laugh. The old Tory Party died when Sunak stood by as Johnson expelled all the decent people like Churchill’s grandson Lord Nicholas Soames and Rory Stewart.
They are Reform Light. If the result is narrower than polls suggest, the combined forces of this new British Right will be in a position to drive us in the same direction as France. They are promoting a divisive, hateful politics that must be killed at its root to allow more moderate forces to reclaim the Tory Party.
When Sunak left D-Day early, it showed he doesn’t understand the sacrifice our grandfathers and great-grandfathers made. So, tomorrow, don’t vote for him. Vote for them.
