Sunday 26 April 2015

Who do I vote for?

How do?

As you may know it is less than two weeks until the UK's general election, and I have the arduous task of trying to decide who to vote for. It is a hard task as we have to endure many, many hours of ill fought debates, and needless mind games all for it to be wasted on promises that are hardly ever kept.

For a country that was once "Great" by name and status, I feel like we as residents of the UK, whether born in this country or not, have no pride in our national identity and feel almost embarrassed by our government. We have lost a lot of global respect and I feel we aren't taken as seriously anymore because of our political choices of late.

Now I don't know enough about the politics in the country to even begin to comment on what we could have done better to stop this, that or the other happening, but I do have some point to raise and questions to ask. My own main concerns are:
- The development of the educational system, to give equal opportunities to students whether they choose to go as far as GCSE's or on to Further Education. Even if they do require extra help to get them there.
- The investment into our own unique health system, so that the work of the doctors and nurses isn't stretched, and also that their long haul shifts doesn't go unnoticed.
- And finally, what will our leaders do to reduce the £1.56 TRILLION debt in this country? Even if the deficit has been reduced, the debt of the UK will still rise due to the interest that we have to pay, and who has to pay that? Of course, it's us, the tax payers.

(Just so you know - I do not intend to force any of my opinions. I am making my own decisions from my own research)

Reading through the different parties' manifestos, I can see many attractive qualities to them and why people would vote, however at the last election only c65% of eligible voters actually voted, meaning that roughly 15m people didn't vote. Why was this? Listening to a variety of different sources, it appears that the majority of the non-voters in 2010 didn't vote because they didn't believe it would make a difference. The fact the Conservative party received 10.7m votes shows that spread over the different jurisdictions, it could have changed the last 5 years in british politics.

Another reason behind the large numbers of non-voters was because they didn't feel that they could trust any of the party leaders, and if I'm honest, this is why I am reluctant to vote. I don't want to vote for David Cameron, or the conservatives, although he has reduced the deficit, I don't feel I can bring myself to vote or him or the party. The Green Party of England and Wales aren't particularly established in the Southwest so voting for them this year wouldn't really have that much impact. In 2010 I voted for the Liberal Democrats but this time what difference would it make when Nick Clegg only has 8% of voters backing him according to the opinion polls - I also think that he has lost a lot of respect from the UK from looking like David Cameron's lapdog also, promising to reduce students tuition fees if it went to hung parliament and not succeeding in doing so. Nigel Farage of UKIP is even doing better than him with 17% of opinion polls, but I will not vote for him. Finally Ed Miliband of the Labour party, I just cannot take him seriously, despite his party's manifesto being very effective. I was listening to him on Radio 1's newsbeat as part of their election coverage and he was invited to answer questions from a range of voters and in all honesty he just couldn't hack it. He was evasive, unprofessional and constantly repeated "Let me explain why…" when we already know why policies need to change, we just want to know how they will change, and what way will it affect us! I just don't know who to trust.

I am not really any closer to deciding which party to choose, but I'm sure that on the day, I will not be the only one questioning whether the decision made, was the correct one. I hope for the prosperity and credibility of Great Britain, that something happens now for the better.

- Ciao 

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