United Kingdom Elections Could Pose Problem For U.S.

With the upcoming election in the United Kingdom, the world watches and waits to see what happens because it will affect more than just the United Kingdom.

The May 7 elections are being watched closely by Americans, and according to Newsweek, “might just merit putting aside that latest exposé on Hillary Clinton’s hairstyle.”

All joking aside, the elections in the United Kingdom could prove to be detrimental in world affairs to the United States because what was once the U.S.’s “most stalwart and visible ally” might just be not as inclined to offer assistance.

The United Kingdom has long been “the first place American policymakers went to understand how U.S. foreign policy would be received beyond their shores.”

Basically, if it was unacceptable in the United Kingdom, it wouldn’t be accepted by any other foreign nations. This has been an American political strategy since the days of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but with a new prime minister, that might not work as well.

Also, according to Fox News, the current Prime Minister who is up for re-election, David Cameron, while being a Conservative has also been “a moderate conservative – pro-gay marriage, pro-European Union and committed to environmental issues,” and has made it a priority to keep the alliance between the United Kingdom and the U.S. strong.

But if Cameron doesn’t win, who will?

That’s where a potential issue for the United States could come in. Cameron’s opposition is the Labour Party’s Ed Miliband, who just so happens to be “the most left-wing Labour leader in decades.” It has been suggested that Miliband will form a coalition with the Scottish National Party’s Nicola Sturgeon.

A Miliband and Sturgeon coalition means “soaring taxes – that include a new “mansion tax” and a 50 percent income tax rate on top earners — and spending that would undo all the pro-growth work of the previous government, Miliband and Sturgeon’s policies have severe implications for the international situation.”

Both Sturgeon and Miliband have openly opposed Trident, the United Kingdom’s nuclear defense system, and according to Fox News, “the anti-American streak sears through both Sturgeon and Miliband.”

And it doesn’t help that Mehdi Hasan, an Al Jazeera presenter, gushed that Miliband isn’t “America’s poodle” who “could become the first British prime minister in a generation willing to stand up to the United States and chart a distinctive path.”

So, as elections in the United Kingdom get closer, the world watches to see just what will become of the United States’ strongest ally.

[Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images]