I’ll be honest from the start; I am traditionally a Tory voter. I was brought up a Tory, and remember going to visit the Houses of Parliament as a child and being somewhat disappointed that Maggie Thatcher wasn’t there, leading to a friend of her private secretary arranging for a signed photograph from the PM to be sent to me.
I did go through the “New Labour” phase that so many in my generation did regardless of their usual political opinions (I’m pretty sure Tony Blair utilized the same tactic as The Master, as played by John Simm, in Dr Who).
Yet, I still came back to the Tories and have voted for them in the last two general elections, believing that they were the right party to form a government. I believe in good conservative values of hard work being rewarded. Of people striving to make a go of it, and not relying on others.
Now, I have that out on the table, you are probably wondering why I would go from the right to the left? Why would I vote Green?
Truth be told, I can’t really pinpoint a moment when I started to look at them as a viable option. I can’t really recall when I became, what can only be described, as a disgruntled Tory.
Was it their push for the high speed rail link that will destroy local countryside, including a lovely waterpark I use on a daily basis, and benefit no one but those that will be able to afford the high ticket prices - and in the 21st century, business people need high speed broadband to make conference video calls, not fast travel to get to meetings?
Could it be, the mismanaging of the public spending cuts? As someone vehemently against striking I have found myself supporting the fire service strikes. Cuts to the frontline are not good. Changes in pensions are not good. When a company goes through a cost cutting exercise, it does so using marginal cuts and by stopping wastage. If cuts were needed, then look at the wasteful bureaucracy of middle-management in the various public departments.
Having friends in teaching has meant I've seen first hand what happens to good teachers driven almost crazy by changes in education in the last five years. As a parent of a child who will be school during the next term of government, I want him to be taught but happy teachers, not teachers under constant pressure. I also want him to develop at his own pace - the zero tolerance the Tories are proposing for children not meeting certain levels in maths and English by certain ages is disgraceful.
If there was one certainty on my switch to Green, it is simply because when you become a parent, that what is important to you changes and you start to think in terms of what the world will be like for your child when he or she is your age. Yes, I am better off under the Tories, but will my boy be better off living in a world they want? I think the answer is a big no.
Do I want him growing up in a world where we as a nation we spend billions on a nuclear weapon system that belongs in a time where the nuclear threat came from other nations, but groups with no fixed abode? No, I don’t.
Do I want him growing up in a world, where the divide between rich and poor gets bigger year by year? Where food banks become the norm for more and more people year by year? Where corporations cheat the tax system? Where people who are rich lose sight of their basic humanity?
Do I want him growing up in a world where non-renewable energy sources are not replaced with cleaner, renewable energy sources?
Do I want him growing up in a world where the science and research budget is cut, leading us to slow down development of new technologies that could progress us as a culture?
Do I want him growing up in a world, where humans are treated differently, just because they come from another nation, or because they were plain unlucky to be born in one with extreme poverty and war as norm? A world where we don’t want to help our fellow human being?
No to all the above.
Am I wasting my vote, especially when I live in a constituency that swings from Labour to Tory (Tories won by 50 odd votes last time)? I don’t believe a vote is ever a wasted vote. People throughout history have fought and died for the simple right to vote in elections, so we should all vote in my humble view. However if anybody reading this is considering voting for someone not expected to win, do so. If we all do this, that so called safe seat may not be so safe after all.
So, with all the above, it is clear Green is the party for me. They won’t win. They won’t get enough to help form a coalition, but if they can add to the one seat they have, it will be a massive victory and will help them grow in the coming years.
Society needs to change for the better. We’ve swung between Tory and Labour for decades now, one messing up the country, with the other promising to sort it out, before messing it up again to restart the viscous circle. Russell Brand has his detractors (as well as a very big thesaurus), but he is spot on when he asks for a change in the way our politicians are elected. He is wrong to not vote, but he has that right. Voting green will help that change get implemented.
For my son and for all our sons and daughters futures, I will vote Green.
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