Editorial: Remainers must trip up Johnson in dash to line

Largely a battle between four main parties, the result will come down to seat-by-seat voting tactics. Pictured is Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo / AP

EDITORIAL

With less than a month to a Brexit-dominated British election, the race appears the Conservatives' to lose.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is hoping to emerge from the December 12 contest with a comfortable majority after a series of humiliating parliamentary vote losses over Brexit.

Strengthened Tory rule would send Britain out of the European Union next year. Can pro-Remain parties work together enough to prevent it? A hung Parliament could result in a second referendum. Unless Labour makes a late charge, a Jeremy Corbyn-run government seems less likely.

Largely a battle between four main parties, the result will come down to seat-by-seat voting tactics. The Tories and Labour will compete in more than 630 constituencies, compared to 611 for the Liberal Democrats, and 271 for the Brexit Party.

The @britainelects poll tracker last week showed the Conservatives on 37.2 per cent, Labour 28.6 per cent, the Lib Dems at 16.1 per cent and the BP on 9.3 per cent. An Economist poll tracker has the Tories ahead by 41 per cent, Labour on 29, the Lib Dems on 15 and the BP on 7.

The Tories, with a focus on immigration and Brexit, have the challenge of vowing to finally get out of Europe and create big changes, despite having already been in power for nine years. They also have spending plans, vowing to pour cash into the health service, policing and infrastructure.

Last week Labour tossed spice into the stew with a promise to introduce free broadband for all homes and businesses. The country's telecom BT would be part-nationalised and the £20 billion ($40.3b) scheme would be maintained via a tax on tech companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Google.

Labour walked a tightrope of trying to get its messaging and detail right in wooing the electorate.

A YouGov snap poll found 62 per cent support when respondents were asked about "a policy providing free broadband internet to all UK homes and businesses by 2030". However, when people were asked about how the free broadband would be achieved, 32 per cent supported nationalising BT Openreach and 31 per cent were opposed.

But as a simple and powerful idea, the policy could land with millions of Britons who have patchy, slow or no broadband at all. While criticised as being more expensive than Labour estimates, such a move could encourage more people to work from home or start online businesses. There could be impacts on transport and pollution, and to the costs to businesses of running offices.

Johnson described it as "some crackpot scheme that would involve many, many billions of taxpayers' money nationalising a British business".

Labour has vowed to nationalise energy providers, the postal service, rail and water firms. It would also introduce a green new deal. The Tories have promised a fund to plant trees and restore peatland, while the Lib Dems would plant 60 million trees a year by 2025.