EDITORIAL - As Britain votes, expect same outlook on region

Britain goes to the polls today, and in just a few hours, considering the time difference, we will know who is to form the next government - not that this will make a big difference to United Kingdom (UK)-Jamaica relations.

By the public admission of its leader and the prime minister of the country, Gordon Brown, the Labour Party, 13 years in office, has become the "underdog" in the vigorous three-way race among itself, the Conservatives and a surging Liberal Democratic Party. So close is the fight that the polls have not been able to call the election with any real confidence. A hung parliament and some form of coalition government remained a distinct possibility at the end of the short campaign.

A novel feature of the British election campaign this time was the introduction of televised debates. The third and final debate in particular, which was held in Scotland, is widely believed to have given the telegenic and articulate Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, and his party, a significant surge in voter approval, while dropping Gordon Brown's and the Labour Party's rating. The televised debate has now securely become part of general election campaigns in Jamaica as a media initiative.

Annoyed by immigration issue

Jamaicans would certainly love if news on our election campaigns would be no more serious than a party leader caught on open mike calling a supporter a "bigot", as Gordon Brown was. At the best of times, going back to the 1940s, our campaign news has included stories of political violence and of vote-buying corrupt practices. While violence has been significantly reduced since peaking in the bloody 1980 general election, it is certainly far from having disappeared.

The woman who Gordon Brown called a bigot had questioned him closely - to his annoyance - about immigration, a matter of enduring concern in British-Jamaican relationships. Migration is a hot-button issue in British society. All three front-running parties are generally in agreement that immigration must be more tightly regulated, if not restricted. The Labour government has imposed a visa regime on Jamaican visitors, something which is not likely to be reversed should another party form the next government. In fact, for reasons partly of our own making, more countries are likely to join the growing list of those imposing visa requirements, like the British colony of The Cayman Islands.

What's ahead for the region?

As one of our contributors, David Jessop, in his 'This week in Europe' column has argued, today's election in the UK won't give much to the Caribbean, whoever wins it. As Britain embraced closer ties with the European Union (EU), our relations are more with the EU than with the UK itself. The region has lost its preferential market access for bananas and sugar into the UK-turned-EU market. Jamaica has signed on to the controversial Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU.

We note, too, that a great concern at this time in Ja-UK relations is the flow of British tourists, along with other Europeans, into Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean. In this regard, a point of difference between the three parties is that both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have pledged to repeal the Labour government's controversial and discriminatory Air Passenger Duty, which puts this region in a higher tax band than the United States. Of course, politicians the world over, seemingly, find it easy to make promises in election campaigns then promptly break them once a new government is formed.

We should begin to prepare the diplomatic initiatives to press our case for the repeal of the duty should a new prime minister be elected to serve at 10 Downing Street.

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