Jeremy Rowe LD | Egloshayle, St Breock, St Ervan, St Eval, St Issey, St Mabyn & St Tudy
A post-election rant…
The polls have finally closed and no one’s propaganda can make the blindest bit of difference now. The national campaign seems to have been painfully long and negative, without shedding too much light on the issues that will make the most difference to people’s lives. I’m glad it’s over.
Here in North Cornwall I really hope Dan Rogerson is re-elected – he’s been a fantastic local MP for the past ten years and, in my opinion, fully deserves to carry on the good work.
Nationally – in spite of a really nasty set of exit polls – I hope the numbers work out in such a way that the Tories are nowhere near government this time. Their wilful disregard for the vulnerable and disadvantaged has only been mildly tempered by Lib Dems in coalition and I have no desire to see a repeat.
Regardless of who forms the next government here is my wishlist of the things I hope they remember:
1. Please make sure that any debate about the future of Europe is based on the facts, not emotive propaganda led by tax exile newspaper owners with vested interests.
2. Please stop making scapegoats of immigrants. The vast majority work extremely hard and help provide so many vital services – the NHS, for example – that we take for granted. Be nice, people!
3. Please take a good hard look at whether our ‘First Past The Post’ system and an unelected House Of Lords are really relevant to 21st Century Britain.
4. Please don’t just accept the ‘austerity’ agenda without question. Much harm has been done in the name of deficit reduction and the suffering has mainly fallen on the poor and vulnerable rather than the super-rich speculators who caused the crash in the first place.
5. Please stop playing politics with Scotland and ‘The Union’. I don’t see any reason to be scared of Nicola Sturgeon, and the constant assault of the right wing press will only increase divisions and make a permanent split inevitable.
I leave you with the words of my great political hero, Abraham Lincoln, which I hope are at least partially relevant:
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
Post-election rant over…