Heiko Khoo

After years of tumultuous twists and turns and parliamentary machinations over Brexit, the gloves are finally off for a December 12 general election. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, officially launched his campaign on October 31 in London. Corbyn claimed to be launching the most ambitious and radical program the country has ever seen. He promised a massive "people-powered election campaign" encompassing and expressing the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population, regardless of how they voted in the Brexit referendum. 
Labour's message of change aims to transform and rebuild the country. Corbyn has been visibly energized by the electoral challenge, and by the opportunities that it provides to expound new policies and a vision of a new society.
Corbyn accuses the Tories of standing for vested interests and elite privilege; by contrast, he promises that Labour will put wealth and power into the hands of the many. In response to critics who say that Labour's demands are too radical, he suggests that free personal social care for the elderly, higher wages for workers, a well-funded National Health Service (NHS), rent controls and a massive house-building program, the abolition of tuition fees for students, and the re-nationalisation of rail, water and the Royal Mail are popular and urgent necessities. Labour also proposes a Green New Deal, which will create jobs and help protect the environment. 
Corbyn says that Johnson's failure to leave the EU on Halloween was his own fault, and claims that the government's Brexit proposals will entail a U.S. trade deal, which will include selling off parts of the NHS to U.S. corporations. Corbyn describes Britain as a decimated economy, in which many high streets resemble ghost towns, and former soldiers sleep on the streets. He claimed that Labour represents the interests of nurses, students, office workers, engineers, and pensioners. 
The December 12 election will be the first December election since 1923. Despite early nights and the possibility of freezing temperatures, Corbyn promises to run a dynamic and energetic mass campaign to bring about dramatic change in the balance of wealth and power in society.  
On Brexit, Corbyn promises to renegotiate a deal with the EU based on a customs union, and then to present this deal to the public in a second referendum. The electorate would then have a choice between Labour’s deal or remaining in the EU. Labour would hold a special conference to determine which of these options it would support in that referendum. 
Since Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership contest in 2015, most Labour MPs opposed his radical agenda. He easily fended off a leadership challenge in 2016 and fared unexpectedly well in the 2017 snap election called by Theresa May
While PM Boris Johnson will try to frame the entire election around Brexit by attacking parliament, Corbyn will spend most of the election discussing social and economic issues not defined by Brexit. Labour plans to spend just two days of the five-week election campaign discussing Brexit.
The central question is whether the electorate is so angry about the Brexit paralysis that it will not listen to Labour’s message, or whether Brexit weariness will in fact enable Labour to shift the political debate onto its radical vision of social change.
--China.org.cn