Today is the last day that you can register to vote. It takes five minutes. This has not been so important for many a year and hence the reason why I am writing this post today, along with many other bloggers under the hashtag #NotThe33
In the last election in 2015, only 66.1% turned out to vote. That means that 33.9% of the population left the state of the nation to chance and other people's voices and opinions drowning out their own.
There are a lot of people who are not interested in politics. They think that whomever ends up in government will be mostly the same as any others; so why bother. I used to be one of those people. But then I started reading the occasional news story and my response was an ever increasing "What the hell? WHAT THE HELL?"
I started to read more and more, looking more into the views and stances of the various political parties, especially given the rise of UKIP and I found myself becoming more and more political. When the BNP had political aspirations it was laughable. Everyone knew that thugs were not going to get into parliament, even with my knowing at least one person who had voted for them.
But then UKIP emerged with the odious Nigel Farage pegged as "the working man's politician" and everything changed. Although UKIP are not a party that will gain anything meaningful in this election, many of its voters have moved to the Conservatives.
I am not going to tell you how to vote or even ask you to vote for one party or another. All I ask is that YOU VOTE. We are now into the two long years of negotiations for Brexit and we need the right party there speaking for us. But this isn't just about Brexit. This is about the lives of the British people and those who choose to come to our country to work.
It was not a requirement in writing this post to share who you are voting for. But I am happy to share my particular vote, which will be Labour.
While I am not a particular fan of Jeremy Corbyn, I believe in the policies that Labour have put forward in their manifesto. I believe that Labour are for the people, all of the people, unlike the Conservatives who are blatantly for only for the rich.
I cannot vote for a party that want to continue the £9000 a year tuition fees for students.
I cannot vote for a party that want to take pensioner's winter allowance away from them (plus how much is this means testing going to cost? That has not been specified) One Daily Mail reader suggested putting hot water bottles next to windows??
I cannot vote for a party that want to take away free school lunches from pupils who for some, is the only hot meal they have that day. Any savings gained by offering breakfast is laughable considering that schools will have to employ more staff and pay more hours in order for this to happen. Which comes of their ever decreasing funding.
I cannot vote for a party that want to reinstate fox hunting. A blood sport where foxes are ripped to pieces for people's entertainment after hunting them to exhaustion. There is no argument that justifies this.
I cannot vote for a party that wants to make the elderly pay for their own care, after their death by taking their houses. What happens to the many family members who move in with their relatives to provide that care and then have nowhere to live?
There are many other examples but frankly, we would be here all day.
You cannot look at this election and think only about immigration, which I know is a factor for many. But the truth of the matter is that we need immigrants. As one example, we do not have enough doctors or nurses. FACT. The Conservatives have already taken away nurse's bursaries enabling them to study and don't get me started on how they treat our doctors. EU Immigrants put 20 billion more into the system than they take. FACT.
But regardless of what you think of immigration, this cannot be your own only reason for voting. Look at the manifestos in their entirety or even just the main points. The most important thing is to VOTE.
