The party conference season is slowly trundling to a close, and not before time, I hear many people say! But this season is more important than most. Next year is a general election year and the parties are putting forward how they will behave in government. This time, however, whilst the Conservatives and Labour are proposing what they will do as the government, the Liberal Democrats are talking about how they will behave as a coalition partner; what they will do to stop the larger parties (with maybe 8 times the electoral support of the Lib Dems) putting forward their manifestos as promised in the election and as voted for by the electorate. IN that respect, this will be a very different election.
What is also apparent is the messages coming from each party about the other parties’ policies. It is truly remarkable, speaking as an individual who is closely involved in all this, to hear how messages can be misinterpreted, twisted, manipulated and plainly lied about. It is no wonder that there is little respect for the political class when listening to the recent ramblings of some politicians about other’s policies.
It is inevitable that there will be comparisons of policies and who has the better approach to resolving a problem than another; who wins on social justice; who understands economics and managing public finances better; and who has the best and most sensitive way to resolving the issue of immigration and the EU.
From a personal point of view, I have always believed that to win an election it is important to win the argument on one’s own policies, not destroy another’s. If you can’t win the argument on your own ideas, how will people believe in what you can achieve?
Over the coming months, the parties will start to publish their manifestos. Each candidate will stand on the basis of that manifesto and that describes how the MP, when elected, will behave for the next five years. The election is important: it is not about a protest, or about sending people messages. It is about this country’s position on the global stage, how we resolve our fiscal problems, how we deliver social justice and how we continue to help people on lower incomes as we already have done. Because that choice on the 7th May next year will be with us all for five years after. It’s worth reading the manifestos.