Election battle buses traversing the country and photo ops in factories showcase the beauty of Britain in all its infinite variety, say John Oxley
It sometimes feels like British politics never really extends beyond the circulation zone of this newspaper. The Cities of Westminster and London constituency forms the nexus between business and political power, the hub of intrigue and the heart of lobbying. Today, however, it is just one of 650 seats up for grabs and the general election should be a great reminder of the variety and challenges of our national politics.
It has been refreshing to see our politicians and the circus that trails them go on the road. Following the campaign, you see sides of life you never normally experience, whether it’s rural hamlets, sprawling suburbs or mid-size towns. There are businesses and slices of industry you never understood existed and challenges and concerns very different from your own.
It is easy to moan that politicians are out of touch, but so is almost everyone. The most hardworking of our candidates and campaigners probably have a better overview of our country than most. Few others will spend a morning with the fire service, an afternoon in a fishery and the evening with financiers. Within their constituency, they will have spoken to more people and heard more opinions than almost any of us.
Watching all this unfurl, whether over the last few weeks or as the results come in tonight is a great way to fall back in love with our country. There are the constituency names that speak of places you barely knew existed – only the keenest geographer could likely place South Holland and the Deepings, or the Isle of Axholme on a map. Each of the 650 with its own pockets of prettiness, local peculiarities and perfect pubs, from the densest city seats just a mile across to the vast rolling rural constituencies.
Within them lie a range of identities and grumbles you can only understand by getting on the ground. In a city where constituencies are compact and permeable, it’s hard to imagine how territorial some can be. This year boundary changes have seen some places rankle at the new grouping of towns that they have been put into. In others, tensions arise between how much money is focused on one end of the patch versus another. Never mind Holyrood vs Westminster, there’s as much rivalry between villages sharing the same town hall.
Above all though, the election is a reminder of how much people care about the place and things that matter to them. We often bemoan the apathy and disillusionment of modern politics but forget the enthusiasm. Today, thousands of candidates will stand, helped by many more activists. You might disagree with many of them, but almost all are motivated by a desire to make things better. Across the country, millions of votes will be cast with the same sort of hope, even if it is begrudging or frustrated.
Tomorrow we will start to move on from Electiontide. Politics will likely zoom in once more to a patch between Buckingham Palace and the Barbican. Many will forget the campaign, or else see it as nothing more than a time of gaffes, slogans and sleep deprivation. It is though the best reminder of why all this happens – the concerns, worries and views of everyone in every part of the country, in all its diversity, charm, quirks and complexity.
However the result turns out, the last six weeks have been a useful reminder of the scale and variation of our country. It is a great place, in many ways, and more than equal to the challenges it now faces. As we put away the balloons and ballot boxes, we should not just remember, but revel in the way political power flows from the ground up.
John Oxley is a political commentator and associate fellow at Bright Blue