Corazon Miller: Why I get to vote in the UK elections as it careens towards Brexit

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson exits the cab of a Union flag-themed JCB, after driving through a symbolic wall with the Conservative Party slogan 'Get Brexit Done'. Photo / AP

COMMENT: Corazon Miller is a former New Zealand Herald journalist living in London. She gives her take on the mood in England in the run up to the 2019 general election in the United Kingdom.

In a matter of hours millions of people in the United Kingdom will be going to the polls. I will be one of them — a New Zealand citizen, with leave to remain in this country ... until April 2020.

This, for me, sums up the illogical state of British politics. I am someone who has a mere few months left in England.

Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, centre right, has a selfie photo taken with supporters, while on the campaign trail in Nottingham. Photo / AP

Yet, I, and thousands of others like me, still get a say in the future of this country. A nation where, given I have no employment sponsor, significant investment capital or British partner on the horizon, is unlikely to permanently be "mine".

On the other hand, the millions of EU citizens who call the UK home after having moved here for love, to explore new horizons, to find better opportunities and who have contributed to the economy, and hope to continue to do so, have no say.

I will, of course, vote.

It will likely make no difference to me. But I will exercise this democratic privilege to make the vote I think is right. If not for me, but for those friends and colleagues I have met who will continue to call Britain home, long after I have left.

Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon launches the party's election campaign bus. Photo / AP

What that vote will be is likely evident to those who can read between the lines. But I am not here to preach my values.

In fact, while I think I know which box I will tick come election hour, like many around me, how I should vote and what difference it will make appears murky, clouded by the mess that has enveloped this nation since the 2016 referendum.

Of course politics has been messy since long before Brexit was added to the common vernacular. But, in the 16 months I have been here, a sense of frustration and weariness has grown.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks during the 'Final Say' election rally in London. Photo / AP

Even as we stare down the barrel of an early election no-one actually believes a resolution is in sight.

After all, the British have been here before. In 2017 Theresa May called a snap election. She hoped to win a Tory majority and secure enough power to get her Brexit deal through.

It is the exact same scenario Britain is faced with now — with a different master at the helm. In the time since, "deal or no deal" deadlines have been missed, there have been negotiations, and renegotiations.

People have hit the streets demanding the UK crashes out of the EU; others have protested in support of a second referendum.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson drives through a symbolic wall at an election event. Photo / AP

As election day draws close, many expect the Conservatives to gain a majority government — though, if recent polls prove to be correct, it is no slam dunk.

Among those I know, few are convinced that a Tory win will see much change.
A final resolution seems like a lifetime away.

"The year is 2192. The British Prime Minister visits Brussels to ask for an extension of the Brexit deadline. No-one remembers where this tradition originated, but every year it attracts many tourists from all over the world," wrote Belgian-British writer Julian Popov in a satirical tweet, that resonates strongly among those of us frustrated by the ongoing political stalemate.

Quite simply it seems ludicrous that three years on and Brexit is still more of a hypothesis than a reality.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson drives a JCB through a symbolic wall with the Conservative Party slogan 'Get Brexit Done' in the digger bucket, during an election campaign event. Photo / AP

Everyone remains on tenterhook waiting to see what a post-world Brexit will look like. Will employment pick up? Will trade suffer? Will those on EU passports be able to remain? What happens if they don't?

The fatalistic ask if it is time to start stockpiling food, medicines, or other vital supplies?
But for the most part we sit, we wait and battle through the routine of daily life.

There is, of course, genuine frustration and concern at the amount of resources focused on the Brexit dilemma.

But the reality is for Kiwis like myself, it matters little really. Either you have the right to stay (and therefore hold some of the aforementioned logistical concerns) or you don't.
Of course, in the grand scheme of things I'm one of the lucky ones. Yes I have no right to stay long-term, but that comes as no surprise to me.

And fortunately, my country of birth, imperfect as it may be, is one I left less because it had little to offer and more because the life it gave me provided me with the opportunity of choice.