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5 in the Morning — 12 December 2019
5 in the Morning is a daily digest of interesting, relevant, and underreported news stories curated by Skylar Baker-Jordan.
Gap between Labour and Tories narrows with result in balance — The Guardian
Today, the Great British Public votes in what is the most critical and consequential election since Margaret Thatcher swept into Number 10 in 1979. The Conservative Party, led by the Trumpian Boris Johnson, has maintained a steady lead throughout the election, but in recent days some polls have shown the gap between Johnson’s Tories and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour narrowing. An interesting thing that I’ve noticed is that while the rise in the polls has encouraged Labour’s social media-savvy activists, they have moved the goalposts from an outright majority to rather preventing the Conservatives from forming a majority (a situation known as a “hung parliament”). 2016’s Brexit result is a prime example that surprises can still happen in British politics, and in the 2017 general election Labour did much better than expected. Still, a victory for Corbyn would be one of the greatest political upsets in British history. I predict the Conservatives will have an outright majority, and Boris Johnson will become Prime Minister, leading to a hard Brexit.
