This weekend, as expected, there has been a flurry of activity on social media following the election.
We are being told ‘you lost, get over it’ and ‘well, at least now we can have Merry Christmas’. We are not bad losers, we believe in democracy, so why does this feel unreasonable?
The reason is because we wanted and voted for social change. No-one was under any illusion this was going to happen overnight, but this is what we wanted. We are unable to treat this election like a football match and just continue on with business as usual as there is now more work to do than ever. It seems to be surprising to people that we still want to talk about it. They are genuinely flummoxed by our sadness. Our sadness is not down to one day, to one result, we have long memories and we are concerned about the next five years and what that will bring for the most vulnerable people in our society.
We wish we could bury our heads in the sand to what this government has already done, but we can’t. To us, food banks should not be the norm. Children in hospital corridors on piles of coats should not be the norm. Oversized classes should not be the norm. An increase in knife crime should not be the norm. People who are so privileged that they can afford to look the other way should maybe think what they can do to help others.
This government needs to change its path, or it needs to be held to account. If we are wrong, we are happy to be wrong but this government needs to earn our trust.