A general election has been called for July 4 after endless speculation. The Comment Editor of The Yorkshire Post, Ismail Mulla, gives his thoughts as political parties gear up for the election campaign.
Pictures: Press Association
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
Pictures: Press Association
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Hello, my name is Ishmael Muller and I am the comment editor of the Yorkshire Post.
00:05 So after months, near years even of speculation, the Prime Minister has finally fired the starting
00:11 pistol on a general election campaign. The campaign will culminate with a vote taking
00:17 place on July 4th. Right up until the podium was wheeled out in front of No. 10 Downing
00:23 Street there was a lot of will-he-won't-he speculation around the election. There's plenty
00:29 for us at the Yorkshire Post to get our teeth into over the coming weeks so make sure you
00:33 keep checking yorkshirepost.co.uk for the latest news, comment and analysis as the nation
00:38 heads into one of its most important elections since the end of the Second World War. It
00:45 wasn't the most auspicious of starts to the campaign for Ishii Tsunak. The heavens opened
00:48 up soaking the PM while a loudspeaker nearby blared out 90s pop hit "Things can only get
00:54 better". People over the age of 30 will obviously recall it becoming New Labour's anthem in
01:00 1997 somewhat. But all of this is just noise. Sure, there will be plenty of hindsight about
01:05 the optics of the announcement once commented to start the autopsy post-election but the
01:10 important thing that will define the next few weeks and indeed the direction of this
01:13 country for years to come will be policy. The PM set his stall out. He talked about
01:19 the Rwanda plan, national security in an increasingly volatile world and he said the Tories had
01:24 to prioritise energy security and your family finances over environmental dogma. Perhaps
01:30 the key policy area that prompted the PM to pull the trigger on an election now rather
01:34 than wait until the winter is the economy. The PM was buoyed by CPI inflation falling
01:40 to 2.3% in April. It has long been Ishii Tsunak's aim to bring down inflation. However, the
01:46 reality is and I think his Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is acutely aware of this, the benefit
01:51 of this figure has not filtered through to the voter and the majority of people have
01:54 suffered a fall in living standards. And a lot of resentment towards the Tory stems from
01:59 the disastrous tenure of Liz Truss as Prime Minister, a tenure that mercifully only lasted
02:04 49 days but not before the markets had been sent into turmoil. So I suspect the PM will
02:09 use falling inflation as proof of his plan working but may not choose to dwell on the
02:14 economy too much because there really aren't many people who have been sheltered from the
02:19 harsh realities of rising living costs. Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been very disciplined
02:25 when it comes to the opposition's messaging on the economy. Labour finds itself in a position
02:30 where the economy is no longer its Achilles heel. Ishii Tsunak sought to characterise
02:35 Labour leaders, Sir Keir Starmer's, lacking conviction and courage and that in an uncertain
02:41 world he was willing to take bold action where Sir Keir Starmer wasn't. It'll be interesting
02:47 to see how things play out over the course of the election campaign but I don't believe
02:52 positioning Starmer as the unstable option is going to be successful given all that's
02:56 transpired in recent years. It's almost felt like the country's fortunes have had to take
03:01 a back seat to the never-ending psychodrama of the Tory party. There's a long way to go
03:07 in this campaign and it's going to take a lot more than just a soaking suit jacket to
03:10 define this election but you can be sure that the Yorkshire Post will be there with you
03:13 every step of the way. I'd like to hear from you if you've got any burning questions or
03:18 views you'd like to share, email me on ishmael.muller@nationalworld.com. That's ishmael.muller@nationalworld.com.
03:29 Don't forget you can get the latest election news, comments and analysis at yorkshirepost.co.uk.
03:34 Please consider subscribing if you haven't already, you get lots of exclusive content
03:39 and of course there is still the diligently put together print edition of the Yorkshire
03:44 Post throughout the week. Until next time, I'm Ishmael Muller, thank you for joining
03:50 me.
03:51 [Music]