“The Country risks imploding”

The forthcoming national elections are the most unpredictable in the history of Britain and also those that could forever change the UK. There are less than two months ahead of the election of 7 May, and surveys show that none of the two major parties, Conservative and Labour, will have the majority needed to govern alone in Westminster. Meanwhile, the Catholic as well as the Anglican bishops with respective documents invite voters to go to the polls, equally concerned about the removal of Christianity from public life. Clifford Longley, former religious correspondent of the “Times” and the “Telegraph”, now a commentator for the BBC and for the Catholic weekly “Tablet” explained to Silvia Guzzetti for Sir Europe the profound transformation ongoing in Britain. If the Labour Party – given a slight lead in the polls – won the next election, it would require the support of the Scottish nationalists in order to govern, while in turn the latter could demand greater autonomy from Westminster. Is there a risk of implosion in regions such as Wales, Yorkshire and Cornwall, determined to become independent from London? “More participation in political power would benefit the Scottish National Party, which continues gaining votes precisely because the Scots feel distant from a conservative party formed by Englishmen who live in the south of England. If, on the contrary, the nationalists of Edinburgh were part of the government, or in the position of having to support the government from outside, they would start to feel that they really do influence the issues that affect them and this would secure Scotland within the United Kingdom”. Why is British politics increasingly breaking up into “minor” political parties as the anti-European UKIP, the Greens and the Scottish Nationalists, that make it hard for Labor and the Conservatives to achieve the majority, needed to govern? “There’s a lot of disillusionment with politics throughout Europe, and the result, in Britain, is the weakening of the two major parties. Politicians are considered a separate caste; experts who devoted themselves to this career since they graduated from college, and belong to a tribe that is distant from the man of the street. Since the end of the Cold War we no longer have what could be described as a true socialist party, but rather two versions of social democracy. Conservatives and Labour are competing to better manage this country and ask voters to decide on the basis of this”. Do voters have the tools to choose? “How can simple citizens face such a complex situation? Deciding who is able to best handle the economy? It’s a question of management, which many have nothing to say about. Even though are aware of the occasional malfunctioning of public services and of the national health system, we are certainly unable to know which experts could deliver the best results. As a consequence, the constituency grows increasingly distant from political life and less interested in casting their vote”. Catholic bishops wrote a letter to the faithful asking them to go to the polls. This invitation echoes that of the Anglican leaders of past February. Are Christian Churches concerned for the low turnout in the past elections? “They are extremely worried since they consider the democratic process extremely important for several different reasons. The Church of England believes that democracy is part and parcel of the Christian identity of this Country, while the Catholic Church considers it the best system to combat abortion, assisted suicide, gay marriage and to defend Catholic schools”. Does the Anglican document titled “Who is my neighbour?” reflect elements contained in Catholic social doctrine? “It does to a large extent. It’s interesting to see that Church social doctrine becomes the fundamental philosophical foundation of the letter drawn up by Anglican bishops. It’s a positive fact because the ‘Church of England’ is the State Church, and therefore Catholic ideas in this way reach out to a significant audience”. Catholics and Anglicans today work against the backdrop of secularization. Is this a further challenge? “Fifty years ago no member of the State Church could have imagined the degree of secularization of Great Britain today, where Christian heritage is at the margins. A university Professor told me that most of his students never heard about Moses or the Good Samaritan. This viewed with great concern by the Anglican Church in particular, as they strive to believe that this nation no longer consider them as important as it once did. This is true also for Catholic but to a lesser degree, as they have grown used to being a minority”.