Ljepojevic: Voters will punish Conservatives in Britain, Labour won't bring major changes in Foreign Policy

Citizens of Great Britain will head to the polls tomorrow, and surveys indicate that a Labour victory is on the horizon. However, journalist Siniša Ljepojevic suggests that the expected outcome will be more of a punishment for the Conservatives rather than an endorsement of the Labour Party, as there is fundamentally little difference between them.

A Labour victory, in his view, would not bring anything new.

"Labour and the Conservatives are on the same political line, which is the so-called neoliberalism. Additionally, there is the significant influence of 'woke' culture—issues of the rights of sexual minorities, people of color, and so on. Another factor in this election is that the Conservatives have been in power for 14 years, and in Britain, parties tend to alternate in power roughly every 12 to 14 years," Ljepojevic told Kosovo Online.

He adds that the political scene might change slightly due to the emergence of Nigel Farage's Reform Party, which could somewhat disrupt the dominant two-party system.

Regarding potential changes in London's foreign policy if Labour leads the future government, Ljepojevic says it is important to note that "Great Britain is a subcontractor of American projects."

"British foreign policy will not change because it is, as they say, in the clutches of American foreign policy. What will happen with American foreign policy, we do not know. Britain itself does not have the capacity for its own foreign policy, as it has long been under America's influence since leaving the EU. When it comes to the Labour Party, there might be a different narrative about the Western Balkans because the entire team leading the party is Tony Blair's team. Blair is still the most influential figure in the current Labour Party. Since Blair has a significant culpability regarding the Western Balkans, the Labour Party might adopt a slightly more intense narrative," Ljepojevic explained.

Explaining why Conservative supporters are dissatisfied, he notes that the ruling circles in the Conservative Party have betrayed the principles of the party.

"People want to punish them. They have betrayed everything they promised in 2019 when they won a large majority in the December snap elections on the wave of Brexit. Everything they said then, from Boris Johnson who led the party in those elections to today, has been betrayed. During this time, they have practically changed three prime ministers. Voters want to remind them that they need to stick to their principles if they want to get votes. Labour, for instance, has not betrayed its principles. They remain committed to their agenda of cancel culture, neoliberalism, and interventionist policies, while the Conservatives were not supposed to be that. Therefore, most people will either not vote or will punish the Conservatives," Ljepojevic assessed.