Value of Your Vote

On May 6th 2010 it took on average

• 33,350 votes to elect each Labour MP
• 34,989 votes to elect each Tory MP
• 55,131 votes to elect each Plaid Cymru MP
• 81,898 votes to elect each SNP MP
• 119,788 votes to elect each Lib Dem MP

Yes there were hundreds of people disenfranchised across the country due to the queuing issues, but the figures above show a far larger disconnect between the value of the vote based on who you vote for. Time for a change and a fairer politics, time for electoral reform to include proportional representation or else the two old parties will continue to shore things up for their own benefit and not that of the people.

Democracy and Principles in Proportional Representation

So the general election, the effects of which I still feel in too many muscles, has resulted in a hung parliament, so what now?

As some who for as long as I have been politically active and aware know that our current electoral system is anything but fair I have seen yet another example of just how unfair that system is. The difference is that this time many of the people in our country are also aware of just how unfair that has been too.

Also I'm someone who has long been a supporter of a single transferable vote electoral system to elect multiple members to constituency as the best way to get that imbalance between votes and seats resolved. With such a system comes the result that you are going to have parties that have to act together to get things done, that is the nature of the beast. Of course the people have spoken in a certain way about certain keys issues and cast their vote accordingly.

The issue that arises after a vote is what are the key principles that a party stands for that cannot be written off to work along side another party. In this election the Liberal Democrats have had those 4 key principles outlined clearly all along.

• Fair taxes
• Fair start for our children
• Fair chance for our economy
• Fair deal for politics

Also through this election, and again yesterday, Nick Clegg had always said that the party with the clear mandate from the people, should be allowed the chance to attempt to form the next government. Political commentators at times wanted him to define whether that meant votes or seats, he refused to speculate saying it would be clear at the time. Indeed it is as the Conservatives have both the lead in seats and votes.

So that does lead to the question of the four key principles and where the two parties are separated. On our children and economy we are closest, though with the economy there is a major difference on when it is prudent to start making cuts in government spending, although the majority of the population have back the Labour and Lib Dem notion that it should not be straight away.

On taxes the Conservatives were not looking to alleviate the burden on the poorest, indeed what they were aiming for was to further relieve tax on the richest with their inheritance tax proposals.

However, it is on fair politics that the biggest gulf exists, but it is the one point that the public are feeling most strongly about. They at the moment really want their vote to count. Turnout was actually up across the country this time, people wanted their voice to be heard. The Tories talk of electoral reform in the last 24 hours has been but a mere tinkering around the edges. David Cameron is merely offering a conference on electoral reform. Personally I think it is not enough, for a second election in a row one party has got 1 in 4 votes yet has only 1 in 10 seats, while a party with 36% of the vote has 49% of the seats.

We no longer live is a two party system, indeed we have two parties taking their first seats in Westminster the Greens and Alliance Party, and two more losing their places Respect and the Ulster Unionists. First past the post works where there are two parties but most seats in this election where contested by four or more parties, never mind candidates. There is a need for change in how we cast our vote and how that vote represents the views of the people. Also then how that view is reflected in Westminster itself.

There is a need for parties, the people and other influences to realise that the voice of the people is no longer clearly advocating one way to do things, but several. That parties will need to work together but they must represent the views of those who have voted.

For thirteen years the Labour party have kept electoral reform on the back burner, bringing it up again to the fore only as the election approached. Therefore David Cameron's statement yesterday to merely kick it into the long grass of another conference is not enough, it is only a way of dodging the fundamental issue of what is wrong with our political system. People are already saying that for the Liberal Democrats to forego our principle on this is not acceptable, that is true of those who have turned to us from elsewhere on this occasion as well as our long term support.

I think it is time to draw that line in the sand and not cross it.

Campaign Diary Finale: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Ok at around 2:15 this morning the final result for Linlithgow and East Falkirk was declared. In case you did not see the result here it is:

Michael Connarty Labour 25,634 49.8%
Tam Smith SNP 13,081 25.4%
Stephen Glenn Liberal Democrat 6,589 12.8%
Andrea Stephenson Conservative 6,146 11.9%

So for a final round up of events I'm splitting things into three categories.

The Good

First off there were 6,588 of my fellow constituents who voted along with me for the Liberal Democrat change in our constituency so thank you one and all.

Of them there have been a number of you who have asked about and actually joined the Liberal Democrats, so welcome. There have been many offers of help and indeed some offers today of help for the next time, yes there will be a next time, and I look forward to working with an even bigger team next time to get the message out there.

The local media has been excellent. It was nice to see and indeed talk to so many of them last night at the count. Central FM interviewed me to go on air last night as did the Herald and Post and Falkirk Herald. The local media have actually been innovative in upping their contribution to this election campaign. Central FM did their radio hustings for the four local seats that they cover. The Falkirk Herald had us answering questions from the constituents and the Herald and Post asked us for comments about the first TV Debate.

One of my favourite comments from the night was from Michael Connarty. Who said that the people from his camp who had seen us in the debates had agreed with some earlier comments I'd heard that there were two candidates worthy to be heard in the Commons, they agreed that I was the other one. His agent actually came up to me saying I was in second at one point, until he looked properly through his box counts.

On a Northern note as I mentioned in my speech last night the success of Naomi Long in becoming the first Alliance Party MP pulling off a 22.9% swing in Peter Robinson's seat to take out the DUP leader. Also back home though there wasn't a change in MP North Down has returned to an Independent. Having resigned from the Ulster Unionist over the cosying up to Cameron Lady Sylvia Herman was returned in North Down.

Also thanks for all the kind comments on the doorsteps, via email and twitter. I even won the twitter exit poll with 66.7%. It is a pity that all my Internet aware supporters have an MP who singularly fails to understand the full implications of the Digital Economy Act 2010.

The Bad

The bad included actually trying to avoid speaking to the Edinburgh Evening News on Tuesday. My friend Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting had inadvertently 'leaked' postal verification data for some seats including my own and none to subtly pointed the finger at me. I couldn't have made comment easily without breaking electoral law myself and that was the dilemma I'd found myself in on Monday night.

In the end the three seats in question were not as tight as the news indicated, it does lead one to wonder if the SNP deliberately wanted that information out there to boost their share of the votes on polling day in those locations to avoid an embarrassment on the day. The fact that the national press did comment on the thrust of Jeff's blogpost and mention the Linlithgow name in each means that there was third or even fourth hand misinformation being circulated. If so that may have had a squeeze effect on me losing 511 votes from last time, there was surprise from both Labour and Conservatives that I wasn't doing a lot better against the SNP.

There is also the sad loss of Willie Rennie in Dunfermline and West Fife, having worked hard to win that seat in the first place and been there for that joyous night last night was the antithesis. Also the failure of good friends Kevin Lang, Fred Mackintosh and Katy Gordon to take their seats, the former two managing to reduce the Labour majorities heartbreakingly in Edinburgh South from 405 to 316. Also the loss of Paul Holmes, Dr Evan Harris, Sandra Gidley, Susan Kramer, Julia Goldsworthy and Lembit Opik.

The Ugly

As I blogged the other day the SNP had issued an accusational indeed potential libelous comment from their agent about accusations of defacing their posters by the teams of the other three parties. Aggravated by the leaking of the postal verification would have been ugly enough, however, I was also told by a constituent of a incident on their doorstep when an SNP canvasser used a homophobic message to try to dissuade them from voting for me, I'm glad to report that plan backfired. The SNP accused the other parties of using gutter politics, I'm not sure if this is an isolated or widespread method they used on the doors, but it suggests that they were anything but the positive campaign they claimed.

Also on ugly I was considering posting a picture of the blisters on my feet. Some of which have been there for almost 2 weeks now but want to spare you the horror.

Again thank you for all the support during the campign and the offers of continuing support. As you may be aware we now have an hung parliament and we as Liberal Democrats have a roll in helping Parliament to move forward in the way you the people want it to. Feel free to either tweet or email your opinions on what that should be, after all the Liberal Democrats may call a special conference of members to decide and I want to know what you think about that in advance.

Time to Get Voting

Polls are now open. They will stay open to 10pm this evening giving you 15 glorious hours in which to cast your vote.

In this election, more than many before. your vote can make a difference. Make it count for a change that works for you and vote Lib Dem.

One final comment, some of you have been letting us know that you have not received your polling card. DON'T PANIC you don't actually need this to cast your vote, just turn up at the polling place (station if you are outwith Scotland) and give them your details and you will be allowed to vote.

Also if you have yet to return your postal ballot you can hand it in at any polling station in the constituency today as well.

Final 48 Hours #lef #ge2010 #libdems

I have been neglecting this blog a little over the last few weeks. I hope my regular readers will appreciate that this is because I have been dealing with the hundreds of email and letters that I have received in the course of this campaign. (I still actually have a few to reply to now)

I would like to thank the many people who have offered me their support either in person about the constituency, via email or twitter. All have been greatly appreciated and if you haven't already sent in a postal vote remember to turn up to vote between 7am and 10pm on Thursday. Your polling station will be on you polling card.

For the many of you who I've met or written to but are still undecided I'd like to remind you of why your vote is important in this election.

You can make a change in this election, you can make our country a fairer place. A vote for me would ensure that your local voice in Westminster will make sure that you have:

• Fair Taxes that put money back in your pocket
  
• A Fair Start for every child
• A Fair Future creating jobs by making Britain greener
• A Fair Deal by cleaning up politics

For taxes the Liberal Democrats would make the first £10,000 you earn tax free, a cut of £700 for most people, lifting 3.6 million low earners and pensioners free from tax completely. It will be paid for by closing loopholes that unfairly benefit the wealthy and polluters.

For our children that includes ensuring children get the individual help they need by cutting class size. Made possible by investing £2.5bn in schools targeted to help struggling pupils. Plus we'll give schools the freedom to make the right choices for their pupils.

To enable a fair future we will break up the banks and get them lending again to protect real businesses. We have been and will be honest with you about the tough choices needed to cut the deficit. We'll encourage green growth and jobs that last by investing in infrastructure.

Finally as part of that fair deal we'll put trust back in politics by giving you the vote the right to sack corrupt MPs. Restore and protect hard-won British civil liberties with a Freedom Bill. Overhaul Westminster completely; fair votes, an elected House of Lords, all politicians to pay full British taxes.

As I said in closing in the last hustings on Sunday night a vote for the Lib Dems will give Britain the government and the voice that the people actually want. Of course the above are just the highlights of our manifesto, as many of you who have spoken or written to me know there is a lot of details into specific areas, you can read more details here in our manifesto.

I probably won't be online much between now and the close of poll at 10pm on Thursday so I may not get back to you by email, but you can find my contact details on the party website and I will try to give you a quick answer.

Despite what you may have heard speculated about in the press this election in Linlithgow and East Falkirk is wide open. It's why one of the parties appears to be making silly, or maybe deliberate, mistakes. None of the parties can really tell you how it going to go because that is up to you if you vote here. There are still a lot of people making up their minds how to vote, even now, so vote for what you believe.

Also despite what the others are telling you a vote for the Lib Dems here can lead to you getting a Lib Dem MP. You don't get either of the other two, you'll get Nick Clegg and Vince Cable and the team, with your new Scottish voice (with a Northern Irish accent) standing up for you.

This Thursday you can make your vote count for real change and vote Liberal Democrat. I'm the second name on the ballot paper.

I'll see you online again in the wee hours of Friday morning.

Condemnation Given: But Stung By Accusation in the Tail

There is an issue of SNP posters being defaced and removed in the Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency, I am using this blog post to publicly condemn such action. I know that nobody involved in my campaign has been involved in such action and I trust that from my experience that neither the Labour nor Conservative camps would have been either.

However, I also take offence at the strong and untrue wording of the SNP agent Martyn Day over on the SNP candidate's blog. While asking quite correctly calling for the three candidates to join in publicly condemning such action he also says:

"[The SNP] will not lower ourselves to the kind of gutter politics we so often see coming from the London parties"

In the nine years I have been involved in local politics I have never known any of the five major parties to go around defacing and removing other parties' posters. To throw such a comment in at the end of such a statement asking for an apology and clean campaign is sinking to just such a level.

I would actually like an apology for such an accusation being made by the agent, who is also a local councillor and should know better. To cast an accusing finger so publicly to all the other parties is not in the keeping of the friendly co-operative approach that local politics in this area is renowned for.

I have and will continue to fight this campaign on policy and the ability to serve the people of this constituency. Those are the sole criteria on which the voters should decide who will be their next MP.

An SNP MP Will Cut Your Local Voice

The SNP are standing as they say at this election your local champions, saying that more Nats will get a stronger voice in Westminster. However, one of the answers from our local SNP candidate throws serious doubt on their ability to achieve that.

One of the questions asked at the Linlithgow hustings last night was is £180,000 in expenses an appropriate amount for an MP. This was £7,000 short of the greatest amount our Labour MP had claimed when he was the UKs most expensive member.

As I pointed out none of the four of us sat at the table would have a say in what was the appropriate limits of your MP's expenses from now on, or on their salaries, this was a matter for an independent commission.

Before me however Tam Smith plucked a figure of £60,000 out of the air. He was going to save money by not running a local constituency office and only holding one surgery a week. It would also appear from that amount that he would be hard pressed to employ more than one member of staff whether that was at Westminster or locally to help him out. He had already agreed with me that answering all the election correspondence by yourself was a time consuming matter, so one wonders just how he would survive on such a tight self imposed restriction.

There are ways to save money under the independent expenses cap and I will be aiming to do that. Booking travel tickets well in advance to save money. Looking for London accommodation that is accessible from Westminster but not necessarily within walking distance of the Commons where rents*are extortionate. So that would be somewhere that is within cycling distance, having cycled in London as a student I know that things have improved since then. I'll also use panniers to carry my papers etc not a chauffeur driven car like David Cameron.

Yes there is a limit, but that is not what you should spend to. You can be frugal within the rules and within the limits and that is what I aim to do if elected. But you also need to provide a suitable level of service to your constituents.

That is why if I am elected on May 6th I will also run a local office. Just the one mind, I don't agree with Michael Connarty that you need two to be able to deal with two different council areas, two health boards, two police authorities etc. You merely need staff that are able to pinpoint which part of the constituency someone is in and deal with the correct authority. I think it is important to have a staffed local office so that local constituents do not have to call a London or mobile phone number to get hold of you during working hours.

What Tam is looking to do is cut the service you would receive from an MP if he were elected, rather than aim to give you value for money. He is also going to be cutting the effective voice of local people.

* Yes under the new rules I would have to rent once elected, no more buying of second homes.