May has had her Day

I did my postal vote today as I'll be away on local elections day. I am hoping the volume of political ridiculousness in the news in recent years has inspired more people to vote in local elections. I haven't always been clued into voting at this level either and I imagine turnout to be fairly meagre historically. The outcome of local elections should be a useful indicator of the public's mood and I hope the momentum of Conservative losses from last year's general election continues to gather pace. In Cambridge city constituency I don't think there are any Tory councillors, but that hasn't stopped cuts caused by austerity hitting here as they have everywhere else (less so in places like rural chocolate box Oxon and Bucks). Council taxes haven't shown any sign of reducing of course.

Taken alone, the sheer explosion in homelessness since 2010 should be enough to prove this government is failing its most vulnerable people, after a 75% drop in rough sleeping under the previous Labour government. Contrary to popular opinion, Labour doesn't want to wreck the economy by giving each homeless person a five bedroom detached house and an estate car. They actually believe in tackling unfair tax dodging and in decoupling the kind of conflicts of interest that conflate decision-making and profiteering by influential people, often MPs.

On social media the number of people who are willing to trot out lines such as 'labour are in it 4 themself' [sic] is baffling. If being 'in it for oneself' means believing in restructuring the unequal distribution of wealth in the UK, then Labour Party members are guilty as charged. When Labour MPs raise in the House of Commons that it's embarrassing to have a canteen with subsidised catering when all public services face austerity, there is no hidden agenda. They are not just saying it for the cameras. They would happily pay more for their brie and grape baguette, because they realise the unfairness of the situation, and their salaries can support the extra £2.50. Their values would be good for this country and should be supported by the electorate.