Look what arrived today @LibDems !!! #LibDemFightback pic.twitter.com/ECXZOJVDoj
— Richie Edwards (@Richie_LD) June 19, 2015
I’ve always had an interest in politics. I’ve never obsessed about it, like I’ve obsessed about football, but I’ve always read and followed political stories and I’ve certainly always voted. My vote hasn’t always been heard, but that’s another issue.
I feel strongly about environmental issues. We must take more action, and soon, to tackle climate change. We, as a family of four, only fill our black landfill bin to less than a quarter full once a fortnight, but our blue recycling bin is always full to overflowing. More can be done by our district council though. A friend of ours can put all the recyclables that we can into their bin(s), plus their recycling bins can take glass and food waste. I also believe in clean energy so choose my energy supplier accordingly, and I’m paper free wherever I can be.
About that other issue I mentioned earlier, I’m also in favour of electoral reform. I live in a safe seat that’s been Tory since it was created in 1983. As I said above, I’ve always voted, but I’ve never voted for either my current MP, or his predecessor. You might wonder what the point is in voting How can it be right that a party who only got 36.9% of the vote got 50.9% of the seats, but another party got 12.6% of the vote, and only 0.2% of the seats. In Scotland, around 50% of the electorate are represented by 56 MPs, but the other 50% are represented by just 3 MPs. The ‘First Past The Post’ system worked fine when more than 90% of people voted for only 2 of the parties, but that has changed, and so must the way we vote, to engage the electorate, and let everyone feel they have a voice.
So why the Liberal Democrats? I’d always considered myself to be a floating voter. But surely a floating voter doesn’t always vote for the same party? At general elections, I’ve only once voted for anyone other than the Liberal Democrats, and that was for Labour in 2005, when arguably, the Liberal Democrats were left of Labour. By 2010, with Nick Clegg as leader, I was back as a Liberal Democrat voter, and I’m totally convinced that Nick did the right thing in taking the party into the coalition government. In the run up to the 2015 election, I also felt, like Nick Clegg, that the result wasn’t going to be as bad as predicted for the Lib Dems. How wrong I was!
I was working nights on election night, and the coverage was being shown on the TV during my breaks. I felt strangely numb and disappointed as the results came in, and it became apparent that the party was going to be reduced to a handful of MPs. It was around this time that I watched an interview with Paddy Ashdown, during which he likened being a member of the party to an overcoat, and that it just felt right and comfortable. That’s how I felt. I also felt I needed to do something to help the party recover from such a disastrous night. So I decided to join a political party for the first time in my life.
We now have a leadership election in full swing, and I feel we have 2 very strong candidates, and I won’t be disappointed in whoever wins, but I’m a Normtrooper. Despite the fact that he’s a budgie supporting season ticket holder at Rarrot road, the bitter local rivals to my beloved Ipswich Town. See, I can still obsess about football!
* Richie Edwards is a new member of the Liberal Democrats from Sudbury
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Weekly Road Report - West End Ward #dundeewestend
Care homes under threat after Labour policy change
Three less conventional ways of looking at who supports Reform - The Week in Polls
Layla Moran on Gaza: "Starvation shouldn't be a weapon of war"
Peter Martin
Daniel Stylianou
Simon R
John Waller
Mick Taylor
10 Comments
Please bear in mind that the Tories have lost about half of their members over the last five years and are heavily dependent on their ability to raise money.
In Ribble Valley I met a guy who said he was 77. He had lived in the same area all his life and had never been able to vote for a candidate who could win. He was in tears because he knew we were going to win, which we did with a majority and the Tories abolished the Poll Tax.
Safe seats are there to be won, partially because other parties think they are not worth contesting.
We had previously won Eastbourne and went on to win Bath, Harrogate, … etc.
Plaid Cymru won in the Rhonda Valley. from Labour.
Our friends in the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland won East Belfat in 2010 with the largest swing in the UK.
Normtrooper? Sorry but this I s a serious leadership election not a computer war game.
@norman Rimmer
Richie is an enthusiastic new member who doesn’t need superior put-downs. What welcome!!!!!
Welcome to the party Richie! It’s great to have you with us!
The surge of support we’ve had since the election has been a silver lining in an otherwise terribly dark cloud.
I’m supporting Tim in the leadership election in part because I think he’s the candidate most likely to enable us to reconnect with voters. It’s not like we had loads of bad policies in the election, not like we had a terrible or indefensible record. But voters just weren’t prepared to listen to us, or to trust us. I think it’s crucial that our new leader be able to stand out from the Westminster crowd and make people feel in their gut that he is on their side.
Welcome Richie .You will not be alone with your environmental credentials you will find many like minded souls within our ranks. Many of whom frequently campaign rather just complain about how we treat our planet and how we can better manage and not abuse our dwindling natural resources .
Need to forget about FPTP, turkey’s won’t vote for Christmas unless forced too.
In 2010 had you said that changing the voting system to FPTP under the new boundaries that the Conservatives wanted with some additional List MPs (the AMS system used in Scotland and Wales) had to be parliament’s first act with a three line whip then we would have proper PR now and many Lib Dem MPs who lost their seats would be list MPs. But the party didn’t do this.
But the Tories would never have agreed to that whilst they (rightly) believed that the Lib Dems would settle for less and not throw away the chance of a coalition over PR.
None of the big parties will give PR unless they have to, and in the event of a coalition if they (correctly) believe you will settle for less then they don’t really have to.
Until you get that chance again and this time insist on PR (which I don’t believe the party did) there will be no PR. This is because you won’t manage to mobilise the public to force it with protests, petitions and letter writing because the public don’t care enough.
@Jonathan Brown. Off topic but I believe you are right, the public don’t trust the Lib Dems. It doesn’t matter what you say or what you promise if people believe you are a liar. The Lib Dems first act will have to be to rebuild trust.
@brianD “superior put downs”? I’ll give you a superior put down. Grow up and put your brain in gear before engaging you typing finger.
Lord, what a delicate lot some people appear to thin k our new members are. If they were as delicate as you suggest, they would never have joined us after the recent election result!
I guess that makes me a Tim-inator! 😉
Kevin
Or a Wee sleekit Timrous beastie? But I am for the Tim-fibrulator as well!
@ Mr Wallace
I agree with that 100%! I take it you are endorsing Tim Farron from your position of obscure detachment?