Whilst visiting a rather damp Eastbourne town centre recently, I wandered into an independent trader to have a look around. The owner was very pleasant and he enquired if I had seen the TV coverage of the recent House of Commons fiasco, where the Speaker broke convention on an SNP Opposition Day to allow a vote on a Labour Party amendment.
I confirmed that I had, and we both agreed that the whole episode was an embarrassment to British democracy. A conversation then followed about the upcoming General Election and whom to vote for. I confessed that, for the first time in my voting life, I have no idea whom I would be voting for. I have always voted, and I have been decisive on whom to vote for. Since 2001 I have voted Liberal Democrat, but since the current party leader declared in May 2023 that “some women can quite clearly have a penis”, I am seriously considering avoiding the Liberal Democrats on polling day.
I was a member of the Liberal Democrats for years, I was a borough councillor, county councillor and Mayor of Eastbourne. At this point, it must be said that the method of electing our Members of Parliament is outdated. The ‘first past the post’ system just doesn’t work when you have several different political parties on the ballot paper, and the outcome, in the vast majority of cases, is MPs elected with less than 50% support from those who voted. And when you take into consideration the 30-40% who did not show at the polling station at all, the legitimacy of the elected Member of Parliament does come into question.
Anyway, back to the upcoming election and my dilemma. There are currently three political parties that I am thinking about. Regarding the Conservatives, I am not a natural Tory by any stretch of the imagination, but our local MP is a Conservative and a great constituency representative. My issue with the Tories nationally is that they have been in charge since 2010 and the country has never been in such a mess. Almost everywhere you look there are problems: crumbling schools, NHS backlogs, overcrowded jails, out of control immigration, crimes not detected, underspending in defence and a self-made cost of living crisis.
As I have previously stated, I have been a Liberal Democrat and have voted for the party on multiple occasions. But the only thing I have to try to make Ed see sense on the trans issue is my vote and therefore not to back the party he leads.
The third choice is Reform U.K., the former Brexit Party. I voted for the U.K. to remain in the European Union and marched in London for a second referendum. However, the EU Referendum is done, and no political party is advocating the U.K.’s return. There is much that attracts me to Reform U.K.: robust and fair policies to deal with immigration, to reverse the tide of woke policies, reform the NHS and to change the way we elect our MPs.
A lot can happen before the autumn election, and as it gets closer and the manifestos are published, my decision on whom to vote for may become clearer. As for the independent trader, well, I managed to persuade him to attend the polling station and write “none of the above” on the ballot paper, which was progress from his initial “I am staying at home”.
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