Canterbury Elects 2017: Why You Should Vote in Canterbury

As students, we have the unique opportunity to choose between two constituencies in which to vote. 2017, and this General Election, are no different and the choice that you need to make is extremely important. Hard Brexit is on the table as well as crippling cuts to our public services. What Canterbury needs is for the student population to work together and head to the ballot boxes en masse.

General Elections are not supposed to be called whenever the Prime Minister wants, that’s why the Fixed Term Parliaments Act was introduced in 2011. Theresa May doesn’t care about that though and this June she’s seeking to increase her majority off the back of the struggling progressive parties and the fact that the UK’s student population will be busy studying in June. Luckily, this provides us the opportunity to hit back at the PM and make our voices heard. May’s snap election and snap in political confidence allows us to change the direction of this country three years early and turn some blue seats a more appealing shade of Orange, Red or Green. Let’s make May’s decision to put her MPs on the chopping block a critical error. Specifically, in the UK’s university cities like Canterbury.

It may be overkill to suggest that this June could bring about the end of May. Across the country, the Tories seem to be in a commanding position. However, if students cluster together and successfully remove right-wing MPs, the anti-Brexit voice, that is most prevalent across the UK’s metropolitan and student based areas, will be clear. Julian Brazier has been the Tory MP for Canterbury and Whitstable since 1987 and Canterbury has been a Conservative constituency since the creation of the Conservative Party. Now is our chance to bring about change.

The majority that Brazier gained in 2015 is not insurmountable. He gained 42% of the vote, one of his smallest majorities ever, with close to 10,000 votes more than his nearest rival. When the General Election takes place on the 8^th of June, there will be 40,000 students in Canterbury. I understand that many students won’t vote, and some could vote for him, but those of us who are against the way he votes in the Commons have a real chance to put the policies that we feel passionately about on the agenda.

This year UKIP have chosen not to stand a candidate against Julian Brazier, although this may help him, it does go to show how Pro-Brexit he is and how out of step he is with the 75% of young people who voted to Remain in the EU last year. The student vote does have him nervous though, for the first time in recent history he will appear at a hustings event at CCCU on the 26^th of May, an event he usually chooses to sidestep.

If students forego voting at home and vote for a progressive politician here in Canterbury they can not only make their second home a better place and more representative of their views, but they will also alert politicians to the fact that the student vote cannot be ignored.

Let’s stand up to BLUKIP Brazier and let’s fight for an MP which represents the vast and vibrant student population of the city. I believe we deserve better.