Election Fever #1

The next UK election will most likely be held on 6 May 2010. So this is the beginning in a series of blog posts that will allow me to examine who the hell I'm going to vote for.

Why is it so important who I vote for? It's not like my vote alone is going to change the outcome of the election. Well, it's not likely anyhow. But I'm a politics graduate who wrote my dissertation on youth disengagement with the political system. I can't NOT vote and I can't vote for someone unless I'm CERTAIN it's the right thing to do.

So which of the three following candidates should I put my faith in?

1. Gordon Brown, Labour Party, who was first Chancellor and then Prime Minister in a government that invaded Iraq, introduced tuition fees for university, presided over the expenses scandal, did nothing to prevent the credit crunch (although I think it's unfair to blame him for it) and failed to do anything whatsoever to reduce the gap between rich and poor. On the other hand, New Labour also gave us gay rights, peace in Northern Ireland and the national minimum wage.

2. David Cameron, Conservative Party. Etonian oldboy who supports tax cuts for the rich, talks in patronising tones about "Broken Britain" every time someone gets killed and describes himself as a "fan" of Margaret Thatcher, the most evil British woman in history. An evil, soulless monster who despises poor people. I can state here and now that I will not be voting for any Conservative party candidate in this or any other election, even if a gun is held to my head.

3. Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat party. Leader of the most left-wing (and therefore best) of the three main political parties. Unfortunately, the party has moved slightly to the right-wing under Clegg, who calls for tax cuts and "more choice" for NHS patients (i.e. giving NHS money to private hospitals rather than concentrating on giving the NHS what it needs). They are still the least of the three evils, although they remain 100% unlikely to win.

So those are my options: reluctantly vote Labour in the hope that it will stop the Conservatives getting in, or vote Liberal Democrat because they have the least objectionable policies and hope I'm not helping the Conservatives in doing so. The aim of the blogs that follow will be to determine which is the best option, but there's one thing I already know for sure: the morning of 7th May is going to be grim.