When the recent General Election was first called, many people (MPs included) thought that the results were already a sure thing, with little chance of any upset. How misplaced their certainty proved to be when the performance of almost all major parties in the polls defied expectations, for better or worse.

Significant losses for the Tories and SNP despite both parties’ confidence heading into the election, coupled with big gains for Labour that Corbyn critics had previously thought impossible meant May’s gamble to try and increase her majority and Sturgeon’s calls for another imminent independence referendum had failed. This arguably proved that division and doubt within the country’s political landscape and disillusion with politicians are more widespread than ever, with many questions about why this is soon emerging in the fallout from the results.

A party for the people

While canvasing for votes in the run up to an election, most parties repeatedly claim to be the best representatives for the working class; a party for the ‘real’ and ‘ordinary’ people of Britain. The trouble with this is that the stereotypes associated with the mere phrase ‘working class’, and perceptions of the people who identify with the term are outdated and unreflective of the society we now live in, which may account in part for the shifting loyalties and shock results of various votes and elections in recent months and years.

The decline of manual labor

When MPs talk about wanting to connect with voters, you’ll quite possibly see them standing amidst a circle of men on a construction site, kitted out with a hardhat and Hi-Vis vest, as this is the kind of environment that once encapsulated the epitome of the working class. Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics show however that since comparable records began in the late 1970s, the number of jobs accounted for by the manufacturing, mining and quarrying industries has fallen by nearly 20%, with jobs in the services sector increasing by 20%, to now account for a whopping 83.5% of jobs.