Dumb and Dumber: Britain's Two Party System

Britain is devised of a two-party system, the belief in a democratic society is almost comical. The Tories and Labour have for years dominated elections, passing the baton back and forth, with one of the parties often getting selfish and not wanting to let go. The 2019 general election strongly reinforced just how prevalent the British two-party system is, with ,82% of all votes being awarded to either party. While some may see a two-party duopoly as a symbol of stability and control, it is in fact more a symbol of a failing democracy, as it limits the possibility of alternative views reaching government. Voter apathy is also on the rise, as the public feels misrepresented and misunderstood by the two key parties. Following Jeremy Corbyn’s defeat in the 2019 election, our descent into right-wing territory furthered. The Tories and Labour have for long been seen as two polar opposites, with the Conservatives acting as the right-wing party and Labour as their left-wing counterpart. This juxtaposition allowed democracy to not necessarily flourish but survive, as long as the opposition government did as it was supposed to, oppose. Under the new Labour leader, Keir Starmer, this was not the case. Under Starmer, Tory corruption and incompetence have been allowed to proliferate, as he has transferred Labour’s position from left to centre. With Starmer as a leader, Britain’s political system more resembles the plot of Dumb and Dumber than an actual competent government. Starmer’s centrist approach allowed Johnson to continuously, meanwhile he himself did several things to kick the British public in the teeth. When the Tories announced their plans to take over Liverpool, Starmer not only gave them the go-ahead but offered his ,support. Just before the Easter period, the government decided to scrap free school vouchers and offer children measly food parcels instead. The food parcels, if they could even be described as that, were far from enough. Despite a public outcry on social media, Starmer did little more than slap Johnson on the wrist with a couple of remarks during Prime Minister’s Questions and left the rest of the work to footballer Marcus Rashford. Rashford, a man with no political experience, was able to rally up enough support to pressure the government into changing their free school's meals approach for Easter. Starmer's role as Labour leader has had a deteriorating effect on the party and its chances to win the next general election. According to ,YouGov, if an election were to be held tomorrow, 45% would vote Conservative and only 30% would vote Labour, bringing Labour’s vote share down by 3 points. Starmer and Johnson’s list of mistakes is slowly but surely becoming more comparable. Although on the surface it may seem that Bojo’s extensive corrupt acts are more impactful, Starmer’s inability to hold power to account is just as destructive. The most recent of Starmer’s failures include losing the Hartlepool by-election, where the Tories won by a quite big majority. Blame was thrown at Corbyn, who managed to win Hartlepool twice, blame was even directed at other members of the Labour party, but the real blame lay on the shoulders of Starmer. ,ITV found that 57.4% of the electorate in Hartlepool didn’t vote, reinforcing the prominence and growth of voter apathy under our two-party system. With Starmer in power, Labour has further distanced itself from the needs of the working class, as well as left-wing policies, leaving many voters unsure of who to vote for. With Starmer and Johnson as their only real two options, the election for a lot of people was having to pick the best out of a bad bunch, which for most is simply a wasted vote. So while Dumb (Keir) acts as little more than a figurehead, Dumber (Boris) has been allowed to dish out money to his already rich friends, ignore COVID-19 medical advice, miss Cobra meetings, disrespect the NHS, use taxpayer money to redo his Westminister apartment and so much more. Boris Johnson’s time in power has perished the UK, as he focused on boosting the economy with his Eat Out to Help Out scheme and reopening for Christmas, he not only put lives at risk but actually managed to damage the economy. The UK suffered the ,worst recession out of all of the G7 countries, and one of the worst in the whole of the EU. Meanwhile, Starmer just idly watched with a few minor remarks here and there. Despite Johnson's blatant failure to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, and inability to better Britain, YouGov found that only ,48% of people think Johnson will perform badly, in comparison to the astounding ,65% of people who think Starmer will perform badly. It seems as though the public would rather an incompetent leader with a clear set of values than an incompetent leader who seems on the fence about every little thing. Perhaps in this version of Dumb and Dumber, it is, in fact, Starmer who takes on the latter role. Ultimately, however, our politics would not be trapped in the plot of a bad Hollywood comedy if it wasn’t for the restrictions of Britain’s two-party system.