Prime Ministers Make Moves

As if acting in concert the Prime Ministers of three Commonwealth countries have made moves designed to ensure re-election.

The most significant is the UK's Theresa May calling of a snap General Election. A brave move and we'll soon see if it pays off. No doubt May is hoping for an affirmation of her Brexit negotiations and 'hard' exit. I think she'll get it. Whether UKIP can build will be also of interest. The Tories are after their share of the vote.

A side bar is which way Scotland will go. Will they vote SNP or Labour? The debate over Scottish independence I'm ambivalent about, have they not checked out New Zealand? Technically part of Australia, it goes its own way, with its own currency, but on trade and immigration has a flexible relationship with Aussie. There is no reason why Scotland couldn't do a similar thing with England and the rest of the UK. The world does not come to an end, trust me, NZ has been doing its own thing for over 170 years.

Talking of downunder, the PM's of Australia and NZ must have been talking on the phone, as they've both introduced immigration reforms at about the same time. They're both thinking of the electorate. NZ PM Simon English has been even more cynical in also raising pay rates for women working in the care industry. It's an election year bribe, if the National Party wins, they'll take the pay increase away with tax hikes next year, maybe putting GST up.