The Labour Party has faced intense scrutiny in the last couple of weeks due to their position on the Gaza conflict, prompting some British Muslims to explore the formation of their own political entity in response.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party grapples with mounting challenges, notably the ongoing immigration crisis. Recent reports revealing net migration surpassing 700,000 only exacerbate their predicament.
However, the primary concern for the majority of voters remains the pressing cost of living crisis. Escalating energy expenses persistently strain households, compounded by alarming statistics suggesting an average £600 increase in food bills over the past two years.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party grapples with mounting challenges, notably the ongoing immigration crisis. Recent reports revealing net migration surpassing 700,000 only exacerbate their predicament.
However, the primary concern for the majority of voters remains the pressing cost of living crisis. Escalating energy expenses persistently strain households, compounded by alarming statistics suggesting an average £600 increase in food bills over the past two years.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Given that what's going on in Gaza and the desperate suffering we saw on the 7th of October
00:08 and beyond, it's a kind of storm in a teacup, dare I call it, but nonetheless it's clearly
00:13 sort of provided a lot of internal dissent within the Labour Party and we've seen some
00:19 resignations. Do I think it's going to play out in the general election when it comes
00:23 and if it comes, well it will be next year we believe, whether in May or later on. I
00:29 suspect not. This is not the big issue for all the people in this country, they're quite
00:33 clearly concerned. It may play out badly amongst certain Muslim voters in particular constituencies.
00:40 I don't think it's going to detract from what Labour are likely to do and the opinion polls
00:46 don't show much traction on this issue either.
00:49 For the Conservative Party, migration is their Achilles heel. Last week their MPs demanded
00:56 urgent action after it emerged that net migration, that's the number of people immigrating minus
01:01 the number emigrating, was a record 745,000 in the calendar year 2022.
01:08 What we've got to remember is that Brexit was about closing the borders, at least having
01:12 control of the borders and indeed there was an implied promise that net migration would
01:17 reduce. Just before we left the EU they were running a couple of hundred thousand and beyond
01:22 and they're now three times that figure. So quite clearly it's a big, big problem but
01:28 the fact is though we had a ready supplier of people who were coming over from the EU
01:32 and that has been cut off. That's what Brexit has done. There's not a ready supplier working
01:37 in this country so migration from other parts of the world has increased to make up for
01:40 it. It's a big problem and obviously it's causing a lot of consternation within the
01:44 Conservative Party and I don't believe there's any real fixes.
01:47 And just to state, we're talking about net migration which of course is the legal bit,
01:52 these are people who are allowed, this is regardless of the people coming over on boats
01:57 and of course they become asylum seekers, they claim asylum and that's costing the country
02:03 four billion pounds a year at the latest estimate by the Home Office.
02:08 The cost of living crisis is expected to be the big issue that decides the next general
02:13 election. There have been massive increases in energy prices and a recent report by the
02:18 Energy and Climate Intelligent Unit has suggested that food bills have been driven up by more
02:24 than £600 in the past two years.
02:27 People sort of don't feel better off and indeed the autumn statement talked about tax cuts
02:31 but of course we're not getting tax cuts. Taxes are going up as a consequence of fiscal
02:36 drag as it were, so people have been pulled into the higher tax codes, indeed paying more
02:42 than that. So the two peak cuts in national insurance is not going to make much difference.
02:46 So cost of living and of course the other big issue that we're hearing an awful lot
02:50 about is the national health system. It's on its knees, people would expect some sort
02:55 of statement as to how that's going to be fixed. This current government don't seem
02:58 to have any idea, Labour claim they've got some of the answers, we shall see when they
03:02 publish their manifestos.
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