Dissolution

I was too young to vote in 1997 (I was 16) but I remember the tremendous feeling of change in the air, young people who had voted for the first time had felt they had changed the world. A new party, an exuberant leader with fresh ideas rocked into Downing Street. I was gutted I was too young to be part of this, I’d have voted Labour too.

We’re not a Conservative family, for a start my parents divorced when I was 3. I grew up on a Council estate and went to a state school (albeit a strange one). Both my brother and I managed to get to Uni (although only one of us, Stavros, finished). We never claimed benefits and our mother worked long long hours to do this.  I have long detested the stereotype of single parent families who sit on their arses all day popping out children and claiming all they can from the state – The Tories push this stereotype too much for my liking.  Just one of the reasons why I will NEVER vote Conservative.

In 2001, I was at University during the election. I registered to vote in Warrington and voted Labour. I felt I’d done my duty and that my vote really did count. Labour won.

A couple of years later, while I was working for a Community radio station in Wolverhampton a friend introduced me to his friend Tom Watson, MP for West Bromwich East. We became friends. Tom loved the idea of starting a similar radio station in his constituency and put me in touch with some people involved in the creative arts projects, namely The Public, a community arts organisation.  Together with the help of some good people at The Public we created a company and submitted a community licence application which we won.

It was my feeling that no other party would have made the commitment to these sort of community arts projects other than Labour; they saw the potential in Community Radio, projects like The Public and people like me.

At this time the Iraq war was kicking off, it was something I didn’t believe in.  I was adamant is was the wrong thing to do, however, in my mind Labour had made my life better.  I stuck with them.  .

Again, I voted Labour in 2005, they won.  I didn’t want Tony Blair as Prime Minister but I was sure that he was probably best of a bad bunch of leaders and I’d always hoped that he would have been ousted as leader and Gordon Brown would take over, I had faith in Gordon Brown to do a good job. I even joined the Party at some stage

All did not go well with The Public and they soon went into administration, this meant that the great support and staff that was instrumental in our Community Radio station’s progress all but stopped.  The Administrators made it clear that my project was now not financially viable, it was a great blow to our project as a whole and to me personally.

Over this period my unease with Labour’s governance was growing, from my outrage over the Iraq war and it’s atrocities to the seemingly increasing efforts to throw away our much loved (but not constitutionally bound) civil liberties.  I still hoped, deep down that Labour were the party for me.

For the past 5 years I have worked for an Internet Service Provider as a network/systems engineer, it’s a relatively small company with 100-/+ employees.  I still have a love and desire to do radio and I’m working on another project which will hopefully come to fruition in the next 12 months (more on that soon).  Yesterday a sweepingly wide bill, The Digital Economy was rushed through Parliament before the General Election.   This bill stands to have serious detrimental effects to my industry and at it’s very worst could cost jobs or even businesses.

Less and 40 MP’s debated the bill for it’s third reading yet it was whipped though the house with 189 votes to 47.   187 members voted without even being present for the debate (419 didn’t turn up), the whole bill with a few amendments was voted within a total of 7.5 hours of parliamentary time.  Despite calls from major players in the industry such as Google & Microsoft, Twenty thousand emails or letters to MP’s and serious concerns of a few knowledgeable MP’s to halt the bill and debate in the new parliamentary term.

The bill covers such a sweeping list of area’s such as copyright infringement, Digital Radio, Photographic works, Ofcom powers and many more that for the Government to push this bill through the ‘wash up’ stage of Parliament is a disgrace and slaps the democratic process firmly in the face.

This was the final straw for me, and looking back I’m wondering why I didn’t say this when I was so outraged at the Iraq War, the slaying of Jean Charles de Menezes, the conduct of the police at the G20 protest or the persistence of the ID cards issue.   For that I feel ashamed, that I did not protest my anger then, but now is the time.

Labour no longer have my vote.  It is sad, because for years I’ve believed in Labour but it’s more than evident that they no longer believe in me.  I really do hate the idea of the next 5 years being lorded over by the horribly saccharine David Cameron and his band of Bullingdon chums, I really do.  It makes me feel sick.

Labour haven’t lost my vote forever, they could get it back.  To do so they have to be prepared to listen, for too long they have simply pretended to.

For years I harangued any friends who said they wouldn’t  bother voting; “Well, they’re all the same aren’t they Merk”.  I’m starting to think they were right*.

My ballot paper will be spoiled this year, if I vote at all.

*Tom Watson’s dedication to opposing elements of this bill is to be commended, Tom is one of a few constituency MP’s who is caring, dedicated and knowledgeable. Regardless of my anger with Labour, Tom remains a friend and I wish him luck for the Election.