Snap Election Special

And so the nation prepares to go to the polls, a mere two years and a month after the last general election.

If the preliminary polling is accurate, Jeremy Corbyn will be leading Labour to its biggest defeat since 1935, and Theresa May’s gamble for a firmer handle in Brexit negotiations will have paid off. Whilst the left is riven by ideological crisis, the Conservatives have seen off the populist far-right challengers and absorbed the excess. But does anyone outside the Westminster bubble really care about the minutiae?

Life continues as usual for the majority of the British public, and even as austerity bites and Brexit regret lingers, many voters feel powerless to alter the status quo. Class is no longer the telltale political divider it once was, with the Conservatives attracting significant support from Labour’s heartlands.  Disillusioned by the major parties and too pragmatic to invest in smaller ones, a huge proportion of the voting public is planning to let inertia lead the way.

But what does this mean for the country? Will the Labour party recover from such a crushing defeat, and what will a Conservative victory mean in the years to come? And perhaps more importantly – how can we re-engage the public in democracy after it has lost so much faith in its processes?

Join our panel of pundits as they get to grips with #GE17.

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