‘Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Tory leader David Cameron and the Lib Dems' Nick Clegg agreed to election debates, on the BBC, ITV and Sky.It is the first time in British political history that the main party leaders have agreed to take part in a televised debate.’ , says the BBC website. But these people lead the political status quo – and that is more discredited now than it has ever been!! Can any of them say that they are proud of the political system they have created and are a part of?
The truth is that there is very little difference between them in practice and it certainly suits their political agenda to exclude others. People surely have a right to see and hear a broad range of political leaders, including the Greens, Scottish and Welsh Nationalists, UKIP, Respect? After all in the recent local and European elections the interest in parties other than Labour the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats was higher than ever – in Bristol the Green Euro vote was higher than Labour for instance. Why not conduct a poll and see which parties the public want represented in the leaders election debate?
A public poll to decide what's best? That would almost be democratic! A recent poll showed that the majority of people in the UK and Europe think free-market capitalism is either fundamentally flawed or has serious problems that need to be addressed. How many of our three potential leaders will address or discuss this issue? Or any of the other issues that the public are most concerned about?
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is little diference between the 3 parties, but there is a massive split between their views and the views of the public.
Out of all UK political parties only Conservative and Labout have a realistic chance of providing the next governmentso it is only the leaders of htese two parties who should take part in the proposed debates. All the other minor parties should continue to have political broadcasts to put forward their policies.
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ReplyDeleteCould you give us link or reference to that poll? Anything that gives weight to the idea of a disjunction between the political classes and the electorate is important. Otherwise they just come out with the same old crap about being the elected representatives of the people hence their opinions are those of the electorate.