Cheltenham has been a marginal Lib-Dem Conservative seat since 1992, when the Lib-Dems won it after it had been a safe Conservative seats for ages.
I had moved to Cheltenham before that election and was in the town during that campaign. John Taylor stood for the Conservative party. It caused controversy with some of the local Conservative members (who later were thrown out) saying they would not vote for him. The Lib-Dems took full advantage of this, with their dogwhistle racism campaign; their 'local' man beating the man from 50 miles up the road.
So I kept voting Labour, gradually becoming disillusioned with them during the Blair years, not because of the Iraq invasion, but because they were a centralising and authoritarian force. Following the Brown government I filled out one of those online surveys that matched what I felt was important to the party's manifestos, I scored roughly equal for Labour, Lib Dem and the Greens.
In 2010 I voted Lib Dem, because my views matched equally well with their manifesto as Labour and the Greens. Of course they quickly repudiated their manifesto and happily spread the lies about the need for 'Austerity' which they enthusiatically supported as part of the coalition. They also proved just how easy they were to outmanoeuvre. The price for giving up their principles was a referendum on proportional representation, David Cameron agreed, as long as he could choose which system, and he promptly chose the worse possible alternative.
So still not impressed with Labour, and knowing that the Lib Dems do not mean what they say I jointed the Green party.
Now the Green party has agreed a limited electoral pact with the Lib Dems. I am thus disenfranchised, and not at all happy.
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ReplyDeleteI wrote a little piece a while back about how the Greens, for whom I’m currently a former member, should not stand in this election at all, except in maybe two or three seats, such as Brighton, where they could win, because, for me, it’s far more important to not have a Conservative government. I, too, am furious about this pact with the yellow Tories. Because this frames the election around a single issue, and I’m sorry but it’s far far more than that. The environment, housing, education and the NHS are bigger issues than f***ing Brexit, but also the question of who truly rules the UK, is it the people, or is it just a small cabal of millionaires and billionaires. Who do we really want it to be?