-Internet battle before the general election
The U.K. is heading towards one of the most unpredictable general elections in its history to break the deadlock in parliament that saw a three-year-long process for the U.K. to leave the EU in which no breakthrough was made.
While the Conservative Party is seeking a majority government to focus on delivering Brexit, the Labour Party is trying to appeal to voters with promises on issues that will have a direct impact on their everyday lives like the free super-fast broadband pledge. This has allowed the Labour Party to refrain from taking a definitive stance on leave or remain.
Last Thursday, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed free superfast broadband for every home and business in the country by 2030 – a striking promise that the Labour party equates to being just as important to every citizen as education and a well-functioning health service.
-How can Labour’s free broadband pledge be achieved?
The Labour Party plans to take back into public ownership the parts of British Telecomm (BT) that own and maintain the U.K.'s internet network while investing in the country’s fiber-optic infrastructure to make it accessible to all.
According to the Independent daily newspaper, other countries are far ahead of the U.K. on fast broadband as just 7% of U.K. premises have full fiber-optic connections compared to 71% in Spain, 97% in South Korea and 99% in Japan.
The two main parties, Conservatives and Labour, clearly differ in their election strategy.
The U.K. Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the opposition Labour’s election pledge a “crazed communist scheme.”
Speaking on his Conservative battle bus on Saturday, Johnson, focusing on his Brexit strategy, described Brexit as the angioplasty that would clear the arteries of the country to allow the government to focus on other projects.
According to the latest poll conducted for Good Morning Britain by Survation, the Conservatives have a 14-point lead over Labour. The survey conducted from Nov. 14 to 16 put the Conservative Party on 42% of the vote and Labour on 28%. The Liberal Democrats were left on 13%, while the Brexit Party was at 5%. The Greens were on 3%, while other independent parties made up 9% of the vote.
However, history has born out that polls have not always been right as was seen in the last general elections, the Scottish Independence referendum and the EU referendum.