Labour's victory

Only one day after hundreds of millions of people worldwide celebrated the May Day holiday marking the international triumph of workers and unions, the British Labour Party clinched an overwhelming victory over the Conservative Party which had ruled the United Kingdom for the past 18 years.

Labour Party leader Tony Blair's historic victory yesterday came as no surprise as for months he had held a commanding lead in the opinion polls. The results mirrored the predictions so much so that the outgoing Conservative prime minister John Major could not but admit that the Conservatives "have been completely defeated."

Although business has boomed under the Conservatives, the majority of voters believed that Labour was better suited to tackling problems such as reducing National Health Service waiting lists by 100,000. Not to mention increasing education spending while maintaining the present income tax rates.

The rise of Blair to the premiership, we believe, reflects that a significant proportion of the voters have no clear memory of previous Labour governments; for young Britons the Conservative Party represents a status quo despite its success in pushing down the number of unemployed.

Besides, 18 years of rule is too long a time for one party to dominate the government, especially in an industrialized and democratic country such as the United Kingdom. Much of the generation which has never experienced a Labour rule appears to have been enticed to vote for something new, something more vigorous, as was reflected in a CNN interview with a young voter who said that he favored Labour simply because what he wanted was to see a change.

There were many voters, particularly those categorized as young, married and middle class, who knew all too well that the promised Conservative tax cuts -- one of the issues raised in the 1992 election campaign -- never materialized, at least not to satisfy their expectations. Combined with a series of scandals that tainted the six-and-a-half years of the Major government, it is all too obvious why most Britons preferred a change in their government.

Right-leaning Britons wanting to reject a stale policy and status quo and vote for a more energetic leader to take their country into the next millennium could do so with fewer qualms than ever before. For the "New" Labour Party, under Blair, has been completely transformed. Out have gone traditional socialist policies, most notably the scrapping of the party's dedication to public ownership, and in has come the courting of business and industry circles.

Although both the Labour and Conservative parties share a common stance in maintaining Britain's herculean role in the international political arena, Labour's acceptance of European laws governing work and wages indicates that the incoming government will probably be more prepared to work with its neighbors in the European Union than the Conservatives were.

It stands to reason that Blair's victory was welcomed far and wide, including by leaders in the Asia-Pacific region.

In light of this, it is our expectation that Blair and his new government will implement the promised domestic reform programs, spending more time and money on the welfare of the British people rather than on arguing among themselves as it seemed the previous Conservative government's major preoccupation was.