The Politically Homeless

In the world of politics something is going wrong. There is an ever increasing number of people who don’t vote. It is not through lack of political interest or because they are apathetic. It is because they have no ‘policies’ to vote for. These people are ‘politically homeless’.

Many Conservative voters of the 80’s and 90’s no longer support the Tories. My reasons for voting Labour in 1997 have evaporated. (Top-up fees, not taking the railways back into public ownership and the Iraq war – for a start) As for the Lib Dems in Ryedale. What do they stand for? What are they campaigning for?

There is no need for the Liberals to criticise the other political parties. The public are doing it in their droves. People used to vote for the party with the policies that they supported. Then we had a period of time when people voted tactically. They voted to ‘get people out’.

Meanwhile the number of people who don’t vote is increasing. The usual response is ‘it is our duty to vote’. No, it is the politicians’ duty to give the public ‘policies to vote for’.

The Ryedale Liberals were launched in the spring of 2003. Our two candidates (John Clark and Nelly Trevelyan) stood for Ryedale District Council and were both elected. Even more encouraging is that the turn out in those two wards were the highest in Ryedale. Not ‘proof’ but at least a good start. One of the Ryedale Liberal’s aims is to put forward policies that are radical, environmentally sound and people based. Our hope is that this will create a home for many of the politically homeless in Ryedale.