Hustings Part Two

Well, as I said last night, we had a great hustings meeting in Staines last night. There was an excellent turnout, and a broad range of questions. We were asked about everything from Education, to Trident, Government support for Faith Groups, and Immigration. We were well tested on our respective parties policies, and also on issues that are traditionally left to individual MPs to make personal decisions on. The audience were keen to hold us to account, and talking to many people afterwards, they said it had been helpful for them to hear us live, and it would inform their voting intentions considerably. Facing a large audience is a good test of a prospective MPs mettle. It is amazing how quickly the microphone seems to reach you as you gather your thoughts (very quickly!) to give your answer. When a question comes out of left field, suddenly even the keenest of candidates looks at the mic as if it was on fire! We have another hustings event tomorrow night at Kempton Park, and it will be interesting to see how that goes now we have heard each others answers to a lot of questions!

Hustings Part One

I have just got back from tonight's hustings meeting in Staines. I am going to get some shut eye so will not do a post on the whole thing tonight, but I can say that I had a really good time and the questions were excellent. The audience were great, and I can't wait till Friday in Sunbury!

Sofa Politics

Tonight I was invited into a family home to discuss the election and answer some questions. It was almost a warm-up for tomorrow night's hustings in Staines! I was asked about the economy, environment (including Runway Three), hung parliaments and schools. They had clearly discussed all these at great length among themselves, and grabbed the opportunity to get a candidate in the flesh to elaborate on their policies. It is a feature of this election that the majority of people really are engaged in it, and want to know what we all stand for. They have strong opinions that they want to share, and are taking a lot of care exploring what the parties have to offer. I am very hopeful that there will be a better turnout than in 2005, which I would have thought scarcely possible 12 months ago. In case you're wondering, I was assured I had the support of all the family on May 6th. If only I could get to every living room in Spelthorne!

Ransom Demand

Today the country heard a ransom demand. It was badly disguised as a plea for help, but it was a ransom none the less. David Cameron told voters to 'vote for him or else'. All other options are doom and destruction apparently. But what he believes would be acceptable is a Conservative party that would cut taxes only for the rich, fail to reform the banking system, leave the broken political system unchanged and threaten the recovery with big cuts this year. A vote for them is not change. It is a vote for the same old party that is even now being told by their own leader of Kent County Council, the man running the biggest education authority in the country, that Tory education policy would see cuts for normal state schools. The change in this election is a vote for the Lib Dems. One of the questions YouGov asked in a poll last week was: "if you thought the Lib Dems could win, how would you vote?" The answer: 49% said Liberal Democrat. Funnily enough The Sun failed to use that figure in its editorial. The Lib Dems are winning in constituencies across the UK. There can be change, with a vote for us.

Mandate

Today Nick Clegg spoke to Andrew Marr on the BBC. One of the inevitable subjects was about a hung Parliament and what the Lib Dem position would be. Quite rightly we have said it is for the British people to decide, not us. Nick has spoken before about working with whoever has the strongest mandate. The trouble is, we have a voting system so unfair, that it is possible for Labour to get less votes than either us or the Tories, but still end up with the most seats. This is clearly madness, and utterly undemocratic. Even senior Labour figures have had the good grace to look embarrased by this. But sadly, both of the two old parties, the Tories and Labour, have perpetuated this ridiculous system. They both talk about reforming politics, but only want to tinker around the edges. Let's get a system that delivers a democratic result!

Policing Pledge

I have just signed up to the 'Real Policing Pledge'. This asks candidates to sign up to:

Commit to the office of constable as the bedrock of modern policing
Maintain the number of warranted police constables in England and Wales
Ensure that all constables are adequately trained to do their jobs
Commit to maintain an effective ratio of constables to support staff on community policing teams
Honour the PNB (Police Negotiating Board)

I think it is vital that we have an effective police force that feels that it gets support as well as criticism from politicians, so I am more than happy to back the pledge.

Get Out...

...and vote! Some people are already casting postal votes, others have just over 12 days to wait before they can cast their ballot. It's worth remembering that we have fought wars, vested interests, discrimination and ourselves over the right to self determination. Democracy was born thousands of years ago, and is still not perfectly modelled by any means, but it does give each of us a voice (unless you are insane, under 18, in prison, serving in the armed forces abroad or the Queen!) It seems to me that after falling turnout for the last few General Elections, something has fired people up about this election to get more people out to vote. A lot of those I have met locally who did not vote last time have said they will this year. Whilst some will not in the end, I think we will see more people casting a vote in 2010. There are certainly more candidates standing than ever before in any GE. Over 4000 people nationwide have put their money where their mouth is and been nominated. That too is good for democracy. All we need now is a fully elected second chamber, a fair proportional voting system, fixed term Parliaments, the right to sack corrupt MPs and caps on funding for political parties and we'll be sorted.....