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Voting Responsibilities

There’s a tired old refrain about no-one being interested in/ trusting/ respecting politics/politicians/Parliament/people in authority. And I wholly accept that people are angry and upset with so much in Britain and the World today. Our Broken Society, our broken economy, and our broken politics, all need urgent action, alongside so much else. But I just do not accept that that has led to apathy, cynicism and disillusion. My experience is the opposite. People seem to me to be more involved, interested and aerated about politics than they have been for many years, and my prediction is that we will see a record large turnout at the forthcoming General Election.

Just think of what’s been happening in the last week or so. The Tories’ poll lead has narrowed, which, if nothing else will sharply focus the voters’ minds. Can they afford to waste their vote by abstaining or voting for a minority party? I think not. People are increasingly realising that in this election their vote counts more than ever. I personally may be disappointed at the poll gap narrowing. But I welcome it as a stimulus to electoral excitement and democratic vibrancy.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s evidence to the Chilcott Enquiry was eclipsed by the retired military chiefs being astonishingly public the following day that he was being economical with the truth in saying that he had fully funded recent military adventures. Mr Brown may have missed those stories, since he was at that moment hotfoot to a photo opportunity with said well equipped soldiers in Afghanistan. His announcement of 200 armoured vehicles to replace the Snatch Landrovers was initially welcomed until it was discovered to be a rehash of an ancient announcement of 400 such vehicles.

Simultaneous tragic violence in Baghdad surrounded the elections there, at least leading some of us to wonder whether or not there really is any kind of fragile democracy emerging. Was it really all worthwhile? Will the Afghan experience be better or worse, and why is so much Afghanistan money being exported to the Gulf countries in apparent expectation of a collapse of the corrupt Karsai Government?

At home, questions were being asked, and mud slung about Lord Ashcroft, Lord Paul and Michael White, each of whom made substantial donations to the three main parties. (The third, of course, being a convicted fraudster who gave £2 million to the Liberal Democrats.) The Lord Chancellor is on the mat over whether or not he should have said more about the reasoning behind the re-incarceration of the murderer of Jamie Bulger. Was it right to leave it to the tabloids to leak it? The economy and housing market are failing to match the green shoots of early Spring; our hospitals are, or have been, shut down through MRSA and C difficile; immigration, law and order, education, long-term care. All are fully in the public eye.

Well with all of that and so much more happening in Britain and around the World, and with the crucial British Elections looking uncomfortably close, anyone who I meet on doorsteps who says they will not vote because they can’t be bothered will meet a withering stare if not worse. People around the world are losing their lives to get the vote; and it’s only a generation or so ago that women achieved universal suffrage here. The worlds in a mess; Britain’s a shambles. Lets all start to put it right by taking our voting responsibilities seriously.

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