Why the Conservatives won the elections in the United Kingdom

Ein Gastbeitrag von Will Denayer
Last week, David Cameron did not only win the elections, the Tories also gained the majority (although a small one) in parliament so that they do not need a coalition partner. The conservatives got 331 seats, five more than necessary for a majority. Labour got 232 seats. The UK has a winner takes all system. In a proportional system, UKIP, the anti-Europe party, would have gained many more seats. The Liberal Democrats lost, as was expected. But the big question is why Labour performed so badly.

Many are currently dissecting this question. Many voters obviously did not trust Ed Miliband, the former leader of Labour. His discourse on 'productive capitalism' sounded suitable for a lecturing hall but was as such inadequate for an election campaign. A long series of fights and feuds within Labour alienated ever more voters; the unions opposed Miliband's policies and a large segment of the press sided with the Conservatives. All of this is true, but my explanation is different. In my view, the conservatives won the elections because they succeeded in portraying their economic policy as a success: after all, the state deficit went down by 50 per cent, there are more people at work, the British economy is growing, recovery is on its way. Who can be against that? In fact, conservative economic policy has been an absolute disaster. To speak with Steve Keen, their policies have been nothing less than idiotic and utterly counterproductive (see here, here, here and here). Labour's problem, however, is that it could not say this. Labour was unable to emphasize the failure of the conservative policies because they agree in principle and lack alternatives.