The reasons for not voting Tory don’t need to be explained. Chig may be slightly bonkers, but he is not insane and he does see a world beyond his own back yard, so voting Tory will never be an option. But why won’t Lefty Chig be putting a cross in the Labour box?

1) Because I never will until the Labour Party supports a fair electoral system.
If people thought their votes would count, they would be more likely to vote. It’s not rocket science. In the meantime, Labour’s ‘I’m alright Jack’ complacency sees democracy withering and dying away. Radio 1 Newsbeat’s survey yesterday revealed that only 31% of young people intend to vote tomorrow. That’s already down by another 7% from last time. It’s shameful. Don’t even get me started on postal voting…

If you’re a Tory in Scotland, a non-Tory in Sutton Coldfield, or a Green Party supporter anywhere, your vote is almost worthless (although I still say vote for who you believe in – you’ll feel much better about yourself). It’s time to change. If our first past the post system is so wonderful, why is it that not one of the Eastern European countries that emerged from the shadow of communism 15 years ago adopted our electoral system? Did South Africa adopt the UK system when they had the chance to wipe the slate clean and start again? Did they my arse! Because it’s unfair and undemocratic and it’s a stain on the image of this country.

2) Because Blair took us into an illegal war, based on lies.
A war founded on useless ‘intelligence’ and 100,000 people in Iraq are dead because of it. Even if Blair truly believed the intelligence he presented to Parliament (and I don’t believe that for a minute), he deserves to be punished for overseeing such bloody useless intelligence agencies. How many other things have they got wrong?

3) Because here in Birmingham we don’t need to vote Labour – we have corrupt Labour councillors who will be doing that for us, whether we like it or not.
So does Bradford. Goodness only knows where else they are fiddling the figures too.

4) Because the Labour government thinks that detention without trial and trial without jury are a good idea in a modern, Western democracy.
I’m ashamed to live in a country where the state can imprison people without telling them what they are supposed to have done, and without ever bringing them to trial. These are crimes against humanity.

5) Because yesterday Blair threatened to bring back David Blunkett.
This is a man who makes Genghis Khan look a bit woolly round the edges.

6) Foundation hospitals.
A ridiculous idea, if ever I heard one.

7) Council tax.
Because it’s a mess, and unfair. A local income tax would be much fairer and, crucially, would be much cheaper to collect. The Inland Revenue already exists. We would just use them and scrap the bureaucratic mess of each council’s Council Tax department completely. No more valuations of property needed either.

8) Because Roger Godsiff is one of the laziest, most complacent MPs in the country.
Don’t take my word for it, look on They Work For You.com. He clearly doesn’t. He’s known around here as the absentee MP. He hardly ever features in local media, and hardly turns up in Parliament either. So what is he doing with his time, in between trips (of vital interest to his poor, unemployed inner-city constituents – not) to Botswana and Vietnam? Answers on a postcard….

9) Peter Mandelson.
Enough said.

10) Student fees.
Because Blair told a blatant lie to all students last time round. We will not introduce top-up fees, they said. And then they did. To think that I spent my time at university in the late 1980s campaigning against Tory proposals for education charges, and then Labour brings in a system that’s even worse. It’s a complete betrayal. We can’t believe a word Labour say.

I would never tell anyone how they should vote. I can live with people having opinions that differ from mine, but what really angers me is people who have no opinions at all. I just ask that you vote. If you don't vote, the rest of us will assume that you're happy with the way things are, on every issue. That's not the case, is it? If we don't vote, we have also lost our right to complain about anything the government does for the next four or five years, because we did nothing to influence it. People died so that we could vote, so please, please do it. Think of the people in Zimbabwe and Iraq, who have willingly risked their lives recently in order to vote. Think how lucky we are, even if our electoral system is the most unbalanced and unfair in Western Europe.

Just do it! Please.


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