Westminster Diary - 4th May 2006

Thursday, 4th May 2006

Today is polling day in local government elections across the country, including in Rugby. Thousands of would-be councillors will stand in town halls tonight, waiting to see if all the door-knocking and leaflet-delivering they have done over the last few weeks has paid off. I know how they will feel, because one year ago tomorrow, I was in the same position. I know too that in those town halls tonight millions of votes will not be counted because they have not been cast. In many cases this will be because of a general disenchantment with the political process and with politicians in general. There is no doubt that those who hold political office have a bad reputation at the moment, which is only deserved in a very few cases. I am not one of those who believes in blaming the electorate when turnout at elections is low – it seems to me that the way politics is practised in this country is more often to blame and that if none of the candidates have offered you anything worth voting for, you can hardly be blamed for not voting at all. Still less do I believe that voting should be compulsory, as it is in some other countries. I think that choosing not to vote is a choice which you should be able to make.

I do hope, however, that choosing not to vote in these elections is not a popular choice. Good democratic government, local or national, requires the active engagement of the public at the very least at election time. Local councillors take decisions on many of the subjects which affect us most regularly and about which we complain the most – from the collection of council tax to the collection of the rubbish. Your choice of councillors can therefore make quite a difference to you. Finally, it is always worth challenging the stereotype. In my experience, those who stand for election as councillors, regardless of their party affiliation, do so because of a genuine desire to serve their communities. If elected, they do a great deal of hard and unglamorous work keeping our communities operating. Today, they put their case to be the ones to do that work before us. It deserves our consideration.

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Updated on Thursday, 4th May 2006