#GeneralElection #PositiveCampaign

Dear Politicians, Political Parties and Media Editors,

Thank you MPs for giving the British Public another opportunity to vote on important issues that will shape the short and middle term future of our country. As much as many of us (the electorate) are reasonably fed up with the whole process, democracy is a good thing if for no other reason than it makes our leaders think hard about the general public and our needs and desires. (Of course it is not always true to say that the general public knows what is best, but that is another discussion.)

However, it remains true that a vast number of us are fed up with the whole process, and for my part I know why. I am fed up with the school yard bickering that we see in parliament week after week. Where issues that involve the lives and livelihoods of the people of our nations are always at stake, too often our MP’s are more concerned about making a clever remark that insults or belittles the opposition rather making a coherent and well-argued statement that contributes to a debate. What is especially frustrating is the higher your position in your party is, the more prone to this you seem to become.

The media, of course, rarely seems to help. So much of their coverage is negative and sneering. The reporting of facts and carefully researched stories seems to fade away behind sensationalist headlines and misleading hearsay. I don’t pretend to think any of this is likely to change. It obviously sells newspapers and gets people watching your media channels. But I pray it would.

To politicians, parties and media editors, this is a plea from an ordinary man for some clearheaded sanity. You are the people whom we have trusted to run our country, represent us and report on the reality of what is happening in our nations and beyond. You have significant influence over what we think and how we think and the information that enables us to weigh up our options.

Please can we stop the negative, inflammatory and often downright nasty campaigning and reporting. I would love to know what my local candidates think about local and national issues. What plans they have to produce positive change. How their parties are seeking to tackle the current crises in education and the NHS. What their vision is for post-Brexit Britain and how they will get us there.

I am not interested in you when you start to make fun of or insult your fellow candidates. By all means explain to me why you think their policies won’t work or will be bad for us locally and nationally. A joke isn’t out of place, it can even be helpful, but please what is at stake is too important for this petty squabbling. Let’s have a positive campaign.

In more recent elections I have voted for what seemed like the least worst option, the option that would make the least negative difference. People and parties have lost my vote, no one has won my vote. I want this election to vote for the person who has won my vote with persuasive arguments for their policies. I want to walk into a polling station with a little bit of hope that the person I am voting for will make a positive difference.

Can we please have a positive campaign.