Trump win forces Theresa May rethink on immigration & globalization
Trump’s surprise victory in the US presidential election has put pressure on politicians the world over to respond to voters’ demands for change by curbing the tides of globalization and immigration, the British prime minister will say.
In a speech at Mansion House in London on Monday night, Theresa May will pledge to turn the government’s attention to the concerns of the marginalized working class who feel they’ve been left behind.
“Change is in the air. And when people demand change, it is the job of politicians to respond,” she is expected to say.
“They see their communities changing around them and don’t remember giving their permission for that to be the case.”
The PM will say that President-elect Donald Trump’s victory last week has exposed the need for a “new approach to managing the forces of globalization.”
During his campaign, Trump repeatedly blamed globalization and international trade deals like NAFTA for the demise of America’s manufacturing sector, appealing to the Rust Belt voters that helped clinch his victory last Tuesday.
“We can’t deny … that there have been downsides to globalization in recent years, and that – in our zeal and enthusiasm to promote this agenda as the answer to all our ills – we have on occasion overlooked the impact on those closer to home who see these forces in a different light,” May will say.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called Trump’s win a “wake-up call to the world,” and accused the former reality TV show host of failing to offer any viable solutions to the frustrations of people who feel marginalized and ignored by the political elites.
“Donald Trump tapped into real problems: stagnating or falling wages, underfunded public services, insecure work and housing, years of being left behind and neglected, frustration that your children’s prospects look bleaker, and anger at a political elite that doesn’t listen,” he said at Labour’s South East Regional Conference on Saturday.
“But instead of offering real solutions or the resources to make them work, he offered only someone to blame - everyone, that is, apart from those who are actually responsible for a broken economy and a failed political system.”
