Diary of a Floating Voter: I am so bored!

I am now so bored of the run up to the UK Election, that I am wishing it was 7^th May already. The last ten days have shown us what a shabby process we have for selecting who leads the country under an archaic, arthritic electoral system whereby the losing party can still potentially end up with the greatest number of seats (MPs). How is that fair, exactly?

I am unsurprised by the ‘bigotgate’ or ‘Duffygate’ faux pas of Gordon Brown – his ill humour and bad temper are well known (wasn’t he accused of lobbing telephones at aides at one point, or was that Naomi Campbell?). I even have some sympathy for David Cameron, cornered by a dad about school choices for special needs children. Mr Cameron managed to hold his cool and repeatedly state that his party’s manifesto was all about offering parents a choice rather than restricting anyone. Nick Clegg has been embroiled in some saga over monies paid into his personal account by party donors. To his credit, Clegg immediately published his bank statements to show that the money was used to pay for researchers and aides. Kudos to the man for publishing his bank statements - personally I can barely bear to look at mine, let alone publishing them for the world to see.

This election has been a grubby affair: protests outside venues where TV debates were being held, relentless media attention on wives, partners and endless commentary from pundits, gurus and nobodies on just about everything. Am I “any the wiser”? No! The situation is so grim that I’ve forgotten the parties that politicians represent, candidates are all blurring into a singular, uniform mass of oneness.

Still, it could be worse! A recent debate in the Ukraine Parliament about a treaty with Russia on the latter’s ships in the Black Sea resulted in a hail of raw eggs, smoke bombs and a right royal punch-up leaving one parliamentarian nursing a bloodied nose. Shocking!

8 days to the election

So, I am still rooting for change. And I’m going to be voting for the one person who, for me, represents an agent for change and that’s Nick Clegg. [Note to self: look up who my local LibDem candidate is and pray that he doesn’t wear socks with sandals!]

Diary of a Floating Voter: Proportional Representation.

Shock! Horror! This weekend’s poll by YouGov for the ‘Sun’ newspaper puts the Liberal Democrats ahead for the first time since polling began! City AM newspaper writes “This has the potential to turn into a cataclysmic event and change politics for ever. There would be a hung Parliament, a Labour-Liberal coalition with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister with Nick Clegg’s support, in return for a full proportional representation parliamentary system”.

Proportional representation (PR) - yes, that’s exactly what I want. PR is described in Wikipedia as “a type of voting system aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections, and the percentage of seats they receive” rather than the “first past the post” system we currently have. Critics of proportional representation argue that it is administratively cumbersome, unconstitutional and complicated – thus confusing voters: it can be expensive and leads to legislative gridlock and unstable coalitions thus reducing the power of government and lengthening the process of passing new legislation. Interestingly, critics also say that PR encourages political extremism as smaller parties get the same share of ‘voice’ as larger parties.

As an ethnic, female immigrant all I can say is “proportional representation – bring it on”. I want a coalition government that spends more time discussing and cogitating before passing bills – at the moment commercial ‘lobbying’ means that richer parties are having undue sway on both the House of Parliament and the House of Lords - the Digital Economy Act is a good example of that. If it takes longer to pass bills, that is good too. Britain is already a “nanny state” burdening us all with seemingly endless bureaucracy. If, in the future, it takes ten times as long to put this bureaucracy in place…that’s a good thing, in my opinion.

Finally, I want PR so that my voice is heard and is represented. Women, ethnic minorities, the disabled are all badly served by major political parties. Little has been done to encourage change on these issues. The current nightmare of PPC selection means the chances of being selected are remote and the chances of actually winning are nigh on impossible – this is why Britain currently does not have a single Asian woman MP. If PR allows smaller parties and independents to have a greater share of ‘voice, then this will encourage many into Government in the future. As for encouraging extremism – surely extremism is created when there is no reasoned or informed debate, no middle ground?

18 days to the election

If I were voting today, it would still be the Liberal Democrats. I want proportional representation and I am willing to vote for any party that is going to make that happen.

One brownie point to The Liberal Democrats party for sending me an excerpt of their manifesto on 'Liberal Democrat Policies for Racial Equality' - music to my ears!

Diary of a Floating Voter: Clegg for PM?

I was enervated by the 90-minute live TV Election Debate tonight – it is the first time my interest in the UK General Election has been raised to this level. And the reason? Well, leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg gave a blistering performance: friendly, knowledgeable, straight-talking and warm in comparison to the slight over-rehearsed wooden performance of David Cameron and the frankly dithering tone of Gordon Brown. I finally caught sight of what three-party politics could look like. And I think it might actually work.

The debate was all a little bit Harry Potter with Ron (Brown) and Hermione (Cameron) bickering about who had the better magic manifesto while the audience was busy listening to Harry’s (Clegg) dream of a better future after he’d seen off Voldemort (Budget Deficit) by scrapping Trident. Well, OK, the analogy is a little contrived….but…you get the idea.

Even though the other two parties had the thicker manifestos, Clegg managed to bury some great ideas in mind. He lamented the ‘conveyor belt’ of crime and described prisons as ‘over-crowded colleges of crime’. He talking about ‘regionalising immigration’ to where its most needed rather than introducing a blanket cap and he was the only one to mention the need for creativity and freedom in education. It got so bad, that at one point Brown and Cameron were both agreeing with Nick Clegg to such a degree that he retorted “The more they (Brown & Cameron) attack each other, the more they sound the same”! Great Stuff!

Cameron had the better physical position (being in the middle) which he squandered taking cheap shots at the Department of Children, Schools and Families calling it the ‘Department of Curtains and Soft Furnishings’ and talking about their prayer and massage rooms, bleating on about how Labour has had thirteen years to fix things and proposing reform and less bureaucracy at every turn. Cameron’s only real strength was the suggestion of a Fundamental Defence Review when it came to the funding of our Armed Forces and the war in Afghanistan.

I am suddenly looking forward to the next two televised debates!

22 days to the election

If I were voting today, it would still definitely be the Liberal Democrats – Ace performance by their Leader tonight. History has already been made as we are now talking about three real leaders in the context of the UK General Election.

Diary of a Floating Voter: Too far right?

The Conservative Party launched its political manifesto yesterday (13 April 2010) - a hard-back book bound in a sombre blue - amidst much fanfare at the former Battersea Power Station in London. Tory leader David Cameron issued an “Invitation To Join The Government of Britain” to the public. Yeah, right!

The manifesto hopes to return power to ordinary individuals allowing them to set-up their own schools, elect their own police chiefs and sack their local MP is necessary. Whilst, laudable, I can’t help thinking that this is expecting a lot from the hard-working public – do we really have time to do all this? And aren’t we paying and electing leaders to do just that for us? It seems we already have several layers of Government: European MEPs, Peers, MPs and Local Councillors. On top of that we have devolved government in Wales and Scotland and a raft of agencies (like Regional Delivery Authorities) to rollout initiatives. I thought the Conservative Party was all about reducing all this bureaucracy?

The Conservative Manifesto does however tackle the issue of reducing the debt crisis – so one brownie point to them.

23 days to the election

If I were voting today, it would still be the Liberal Democrats. Coalition government might bring greater scrutiny to public spending and ideologically move politics to the centre. The LibDems also issued their embargoed manifesto last night – the official launch is today, so perhaps my opinion might have changed by tomorrow?

Diary of a Floating Voter: Too far left?

By Lopa Patel, 13th April 2010 -

Labour launched its political manifesto yesterday with Gordon Brown promising a lot more of the same with a lot less money (so how does that work then?). Education, Health and Public Sector reform were the headlines. Personally I am a little nonplussed. We’ve poured billions of pounds into Education, the NHS and Public Sector – have we had the best return-on-investment? I think not. Perhaps what is needed is less money and less meddling…allowing creative ideas to emerge.

If all the billions that have been invested in education, health and the public sector had been invested in manufacturing instead, we certainly would not be in the mess we’re in now. And if the billions spent on propping up banks had been invested in the newly-emerging digital economy, perhaps the UK would have become epicenter of the digital world. Nirvana!

24 days to the election

If I were voting today, it would still be the Liberal Democrats. Coalition government might bring greater scrutiny to public spending and ideologically move politics to the centre.

Diary of a Floating Voter: Jane Austen to decide!

In her classic novel ‘Pride & Prejudice’, Jane Austen says of her two leading male protagonists (Mr Darcy & Mr Wickham) “There is but such a quantity of merit between them: just enough to make one good sort of man. One has all the goodness and the other all the appearance of it!” I can’t help thinking that Austen could be speaking of our two main political leaders: Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Of course, Austen has a third character, the slightly ridiculous Mr Collins who has the good fortune to marry the eminently sensible Charlotte Lucas and so ensure his elevation to become a peace-broker in the future. Sounds a little like the leading characters in the UK General Election 2010, doesn’t it? So I’ve decided to let an Austen-like approach decide how I’m going to vote on 6^th May 2010.

Firstly, let me declare that I am one of the “floating voters” out there. Partially engaged (as I often have to write about policies) and partially disengaged (well…its all so boring, isn’t it?). One thing is clear. I will exercise my right to vote. As an immigrant I value this right the most - many Britons forget this very fundamental right to freedom, the democratic right to vote. You have to register by 20^th April 2010 to vote so this leaves you about a week to get your act together.

25 days to the election

If I were voting today, I’d vote for the Liberal Democrats. Nick Clegg – genuine person, straight talking and friendly has the added advantage of a very sensible wife who has decided to focus on earning a crust rather than adding to his PR campaign – great stuff! Vince Cable would also make a great chancellor – well certainly better than Alistair Darling (current incumbent) and George Osborne (Shadow Chancellor). In the event of a hung parliament, Clegg may look to install Vince Cable as the Chancellor, although I’m not really sure how well this would work in practice.

Register to vote (closing date 20^th April 2010):
http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/register_to_vote/elections_2010.aspx