The Evening Stanners Endorsement: Time For Reform

To anyone who supports the Conservatives, this endorsement may come as a shock. But after due consideration, and after five years of considering what David Cameron and his party have had to offer, the Evening Stanners has lent its support to the Liberal Democrats. It also encourages those who are unsure of how to vote to back the candidate they relate to most: and, should they wish, to vote tactically if they believe in it.

For 65 years, Labour and the Conservatives have been elected on a system that is designed to ensure stability. It is supposed to guarantee a certain party more than half the number of seats, even if it does not get more than half the vote. This also has the advantage of keeping out smaller, extremist parties: UKIP and the BNP being just two examples, the Communist Party another.

Yet since the 1970s this system has resulted with economic chaos in every single decade, regardless of which party has held power. Even in 1997, when Labour won by a landslide, they only received 46% of the vote. So this system needs changing. It tries to ensure democracy, yet creates millions and millions of wasted votes. No vote should have to be wasted in a democracy.

If the Conservatives, and not the Liberal Democrats, were the ones proposing to introduce proportional representation, then perhaps this endorsement would differ. But it is not in the nature of Conservatives to implement such radical change. It is no surprise that the most successful leader of their party was a woman who came from Lincolnshire, and was thus a rank outsider. By way of contrast, there is not a single woman that currently occupies any of the top four posts in any party: nor has there been a single female Chancellor. This must change, and radical reform will only come from outside the two parties.

This is not a call to consign David Cameron to the scrapheap of politics: that is for the voters, and then for the Conservative Party, to decide. But while many of his policies are honourable, such as the idea of a Big Society and scrapping the rise on National Insurance tax, they are unfortunately too idealistic. His party has assumed, as it did in 2001 and 2005, that Conservatism becomes acceptable to the masses after Labour has been in power. It is like thinking a former lover will come back to you when they've realised what an awful decision they made in running away: and its naivety is remarkable.

Mr Cameron is only human, and his attempts to reform the Conservatives have been much more effective than his predecessors, such as Iain Duncan-Smith and Michael Howard. But like his performance in the last two televised debates, it could hardly have been worse than what came before. He has good intentions, but so do the writings of Karl Marx: and while his potential to do well in Government should not be ignored, he is quite simply the right man in the wrong party, with the wrong sort of support.

If the Conservatives had elected Kenneth Clarke as their leader - ideally in 2001 - the situation might have been very different for them. Clarke is still popular with the public, is a well-known Europhile, and is one of the best Chancellors that we have had in modern times. The Conservatives rejected him as leader three times; yet their decision to bring him back in 2009, whilst being an astute one, was made much too late. Their reluctance to embrace the possible benefits of Liberal Conservatism, while not necessarily surprising, may well prove fatal.

In fairness, the Conservatives cannot take full responsibility for the damage done in recent times: that responsibility belongs to a Government, and the Government has been Labour. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown hold a remarkable number of achievements between them, not least the introduction of the minimum wage; but their inability to work cohesively as Prime Minister and Chancellor has proved fatal for the economy. After 2005, Labour spent two years tearing itself apart over when Blair should go: in those two years, any hope of avoiding a recession were eradicated.

For every good thing Labour has done, it is the bad things that people remember. The Iraq War, supported by the Conservatives; the reckless borrowing; the gaps in the pension fund; the damage to the environment caused by failed talks on climate change; the cash-for-honours scheme; the chaotic system of immigration; the overreliance on computers in the NHS; and the Prime Minister who was not even elected leader of his own party. This is why Labour cannot hope to avoid heavy losses this time round. It has some credible politicians, but thanks to the expense scandal, those who wear red rosettes have found it difficult not to be tarred with the same brush.

Until the first-past-the-post system is abolished, it is only the Liberal Democrats, working as part of a coalition government, who will be able to negotiate the introduction of proportional representation. They are the ones being toughest on the banks: and they are the ones being fairest, because over the past 65 years, the electoral system has refused to be fair to people who vote for them. Plans to adopt the Euro as our currency, and the idea of an amnesty for immigrants, may not necessarily work: but ultimately, that is for the people to decide, not the politicians.

Of course, the Conservatives should be involved in a coalition government if such a situation arises, and they have considerable talent within their ranks: William Hague and Michael Gove have much support throughout the country, and there are many good Tory MPs. But they have failed to be open with us. A cap on immigration will not work; a carbon emissions plan that sets its targets for 2050 will not work; and refusing to work in a coalition government that the electorate has voted for will not work. And they continue to misjudge the anger within.

The Evening Stanners has e-mailed several Conservative MPs, has canvassed with the Conservative Party in order to see what they do on a local level, and has talked to many people who support the Conservatives. But if, after five years, David Cameron cannot convince 40% of the country, or even a Liberal Conservative, that he is the best man for the job, then this writer suspects he either needs more time, or has had all the time he needs. Whatever happens on May 6th, he will need to learn from his mistakes.

When you go out to vote, remember that it is only an irrelevant vote if you want it to be. Politics is about changing things for the better. Wasted votes should be changed into votes that matter. For this reason, the Liberal Democrats; the Green Party; Plaid Cymru; the Scottish National Party; the parties in Northern Ireland (Sinn Fein, the UUP, the DUP and the SDLP); all these should be given a say in this country's future.

It's time for the majority of voters to stand up to the majorities of Parliament.

It's time to stop passing the parcel and introduce proportional representation.

It's time.

The Evening Stanners