A single post on X is the most fitting metaphor for this absolute clown show of a general election.
In the North London district of Hornsey, a member of the public spotted a sign tied to the railings outside a local church-turned-polling station:
Vote tactically to end the people who created this #ToriesIntoThird pic.twitter.com/M8dIsW1zzy
— dirty barry (@dirtybarry27) July 4, 2024
Foodbank shutting – a call for a Tory wipe-out
Naturally, people couldn’t help note the irony. After fourteen years of devastating, and deadly Tory austerity, a local foodbank had to shut up shop for the latest charade of political spot the difference:
Not sure which makes me more angry-the food bank being closed today, or the fact they’ve become mainstream in the last 14 years#GeneralElection2024 #ToriesIntoThird #ToriesBrokeBritain https://t.co/5T5RB0eFX3
— Jilly Will 🇺🇦 💙 Let’s Rethink the Future (@Gillian24448105) July 4, 2024
People were holding it up as the physical manifestation of the reasons NOT to vote Conservative. First there was eat out to help out. Now, it’s vote out, to even get fucking fed. But not today of course. Elections are only about establishment grifters on the ballot, didn’t you know?
How many more reasons for a #ToryWipeout ? pic.twitter.com/zdeJ6m6xHs
— monty and lottie. (emma) (@montysbiscuit) July 4, 2024
This should clarify the choice for the undecided. https://t.co/jAG5bIaHaQ
— Rachel Sowden (@rubyscat) July 4, 2024
What’s more, heating or eating met its match on voting day:
No need to feed on election day. https://t.co/PLZeNw34kb
— Citizen Paul Templeman (Betamax Male) 🇪🇺 #FBPE (@PaulTempleman6) July 4, 2024
The two-party Tory system
In effect, the broken electoral system, just got more screwed up. Putting political hootenanny above feeding folks about sums up everything wrong in two-party-Tory Britain:
The message is clear. The bureaucrats are more important than people going hungry….
— Wayne Fox (@WayneFoxUK1) July 4, 2024
Ultimately, it was the perfect allegory for the Tories fucking over poor, working class, and marginalised communities the UK over.
In the time since they took power, foodbanks have leapt in number from just 35 in 2010, to over 2,800 by 2022. Between April 2023 and March 2024, the Trussell Trust had to distribute over 3.1 million emergency food parcels.
However, it’s not as if a little parliamentary musical chairs with Labour is going to make much of a difference.
Tory Party 2.0 won’t scrap the two child benefit cap. It looks likely to push chronically ill and disabled people into work. On top of this, it has ditched plans to tax the rich. Not to mention it’s planning to funnel public money into the pockets of, you guessed it, more bloody billionaires – just greener this time.
So, if the foodbank closure this polling day is a symbol of all that’s wrong after over a decade of Tory governance, it’s perhaps also an omen of more to come under Labour too.
Maybe Great British Food Pantry is on Labour’s agenda next. Because taking a branding leaf out of ghoul Penny Mordaunt’s book wouldn’t look out of place.
Feature image via dirty barry – X
