Hi r/ukpolitics,
I hope you're well this local election day. The elections have me thinking about what we're looking for in our political parties.
I ask especially because I wonder if we disagree on what we're looking for, or if we disagree on who is most able to provide that. If it's the latter, it's a case of strategies and the specifics of delivery. If the former, we have a more fundamental social, cultural, economic (etc.) clash of ideas and ideals.
For me, I'm primarily looking for:
- A clear vision for economic growth (including job creation)
- A strong platform on health and wellbeing (focusing on prevention of disease and ill health rather than only the functioning of the NHS)
- A serious take on Britain's role in the world in terms of soft power (culture, development, environment) but also trade and I suppose our foreign policy and military alliances
- A plan to improve education and job prospects (skills and employability) for young people
- Actions to bring down house prices and rent costs
I must admit, I find a lot of the headline issues on identity politics and immigration less relevant than these. I don't buy the notion that immigration is the source of all ills. I don't think we have a good analysis of its net effect, which may well be positive. In any case, it's a second-order issue subordinated to the points above.
If we could have economic growth, better health, global influence, better education and jobs, and cheaper housing, I'd be delighted. At the same time, I recognise all of these might require us to spend money we don't have, and they're all far easier said than done.
What are things you're looking for? What do you want our political parties to prioritise?
Edit to add: I have caused confusion with the way I posed this question. I didn't mean only things specific to the local elections. It just so happened that the local elections prompted me to wonder about what we're looking for in our political parties generally, at both national and local level, recognising those are very different things. Sorry, this was unclear.