Politicians are so uninspiring

16/ 5/2008

IN RESPONSE to Philip Codd’s berating of Gordon Brown (Metro News May 9), I feel I should point out that the majority of people have already expressed an opinion on the state of UK democracy whether it be red, blue, green or yellow – that is, they did not vote.

The majority of people both locally, some 60 per cent, and nationally, some 65 per cent, were so uninspired by our politicians that they chose to avoid the polling booth altogether.

To give you a flavour of how ridiculous our electoral system is, I now live within a council boundary (Trafford) controlled by the Conservatives where less than one fifth of the voting age population actually voted for that party.

The figures for each individual ward vary but it is fair to say that of the 166,004 total ballot papers issued, 30,145 were returned with a cross for the Tories.

So 80 per cent of people living in Trafford didn’t vote for the Conservatives and yet here we are.

I could take some comfort from the fact that the figure is slightly less in my ward – only 70 per cent of the people didn’t vote for the Tories there – but they still won the seat, so I won’t.

Whilst I feel no affiliation to any of the major parties (there is virtually nothing to choose between them after all), I am interested in politics and I do feel that politics is important.

It is just a shame that present incumbents regard it as little more than a career choice whereby they look after their own interests above everything else (ministers’ expenses for instance) and, to our detriment, their behaviour does little to inspire the population.

Personally I would like to see democracy devolved downwards with the decision making taken out of the hands of the politicians and given to the people those decisions really affect – you and I.

STEPHEN RYAN

Thorley Lane, Timperley