Murphy's letter from Edinburgh

 

Scotland votes this year

This year Scotland goes to the ballot box to vote for it's own parliament, and again there will be those who will vote and those who will not vote because they believe that whatever they do they still won't be represented properly no matter who gets into power.

I will vote, but there again, I still believe that I will not be represented in the way I would like my Member of the Scottish Parliament to represent me.  But I do accept that this is the way that the system works.  You can ask me why I bother when I know that the politicians will do many things that I do not agree with?  Things like the smoking ban in all public places including the pub and many other issues that make you ask if the politicians have lost the plot?  A one size fits all attitude, when it doesn't.

I have always voted for the Scottish Nationalist Party which is no secret, but I live in a Labour Party stronghold.  So no matter how bad Labour become as a party there are those who will vote for them because they have always done it, and their parents and grandparents always voted them because they were a socialist party.  I say were a socialist party lightly because they were always supposed to be for the working man.  But they are not the kind of party that I would call a socialist party.  They lost their way many years ago and act more like a party of dictatorship.

The Conservative Party were the party that were supposed to be against the working man and more for the upper classes and the money people.  If you were to believe everything that is said about all of the political parties you would not bother voting at all as it can become very confusing for some people.

I have lived in my house for 25 years now, and in all that time I have never had a politician at my house to set out their stall telling me exactly what they are all about.  I  with the other residents in this stair get the leaflets promising us the moon and a better future, along with all the other clap trap that they publish to get you to vote for them, they usually end up in the bin, because you know that they will always do the opposite of what they are stating.  How many people who vote see the full manifesto from any party before they vote?

A lot of people are put off voting, and a lot couldn't even tell you who their Member of the Scottish Parliament is, who their councillor is or who their Member of parliament is because they don't go out of their way too tell you who they are and what they have done for their constituents while they have been in parliament on your behalf.  Politics needs to change in Britain and Scotland so that more people can become more involved without having to be a party member.

They will hold their hustings and meetings for their party members, but if you are not a party member you won't hear a word from them telling you where these meetings are so that more people can become engaged in the political system.  They then ask why the turnout in our elections have such a low turnout.  In some areas the turnout is as low as 49% of the electorate turning out, and they call that democratic.

I can understand why so many people are turned off by politics and their politicians, and why they think that their vote will not count, and it might be time for a box to be put on the ballot paper stating none of the above.

I will vote for the Scottish Nationalist Party instead of the main parties because it's time for radical change as the world changes.  But they won't get a yes vote from me on the referendum for independence that they say they will hold if they win in the Scottish elections.  They have never held power to run a government and I would like a lot of information from them before Scotland goes on its own as an independent nation.  I need to see if they are going to be like the rest of the parties before they get my vote on this issue.

The Scottish Nationalist Party have a long way to go before they can convince most people on this issue that this is the way for Scotland too go.

The questions they have not answered yet are, what's in it for us?  And what will Scotland gain now that its industry has all gone due to being part of the European Union?

What we really need from our politicians is more honesty and straight talking, something that is sadly lacking from all political parties.

Written by Andrew Murphy 25 January 2007

Back to the main letters page