So, further to my posts about the LibDems and Labour, it’s only fair to give the Tories equal treatment too, bless ’em.
But it’s a struggle to think of things that annoy me about the Conservatives. Not that there aren’t any: there is a lifetime of examples. It’s just that there are so many that it’s hard to know where to start; plus Labour have nicked most of them.
So I will try to think of things during this campaign that might be more original.
Firstly – and I must confess that this probably applicable to the Labour Party too – it annoys me when the Tories say that a vote for the LibDems will just let Labour back in. I can see their point. After all, the LibDems are probably more aligned with Labour than the Tories in some lights, both claiming to be left-of-centre (ish) progressive parties. If the Tories are to be believed, then, a vote for the LibDems will simply prop up Labour and give us Gordon Brown for another five years.
Rubbish, of course. After all, what inherent right to the Tories have to say that they are better than Labour, and that “another five years of Labour” is inherently worse than five years of them? A vote for the LibDems – or whoever – is nothing more and nothing less than a vote for the LibDems. Given that nobody has any votes at the moment, it’s all to play for.
Secondly, I am aghast that the Tories want to reduce the number of MPs in Westminster. It’s a reactionary, knee-jerk demand in the light of the expenses scandal when the Conservatives have been fighting to distance themselves from the worst of the sleaze and have pandered to the Daily Mail reader view that we should just hang all politicians because they are all corrupt.
Ideally, if we scrap the Lords and have a unicameral legislature at Westminster, we’ll need more parliamentarians, especially if – in an ideal world – we have STV as the voting system which would really need more MPs to cover the country and remove the argument about constituencies being too big.
Thirdly, does the “Big Society” idea created by the Tories – in which people take ownership of hospitals, schools and other public services – remind anyone else of Jamahiriya? Surely I am not the only one to see the irony in this.
I could go on. But as I say, it’s hard to find anything original to say about the Conservatives anymore. Suffice to say, they’re not the change we need, and I fear the prospect of five years of Cameron just a little more than I do that of another five years of Labour.
Are you going to write a post about the SNP, in order to keep your blog fair and unbiased?
While I agree they have some good policies, I’m not convinced by all of them… like removing ring fenced centralised funding for large infrastructure projects.
It would be fair, but to be honest it’s hard to think of enough to write on that front, other than a critique of their administration at Holyrood which this election isn’t about.
More to come on the topic of the election I am sure, and I may touch on the SNP.