Time to vote for real change!

Today, the people of Leicester and Leicestershire have the chance to help bring one of the most squalid eras of modern British history to a close.

During the past 14 years of office, the Conservative Party have become synonymous with sleaze, greed and national decline. Their widely-perceived reputation as efficient managers of a reasonably stable national economy, which propelled them to a series of election victories in the past decade, now lies in shreds.

None of its last three leaders, including current incumbent Rishi Sunak, have proved themselves to be fit for the office of Prime Minister. An incessant stream of scandals during the last four years has pushed the Tories’ level of public support to its lowest level in decades.

But while their imminent demise will not be widely mourned, attention will turn to who is likely to replace them in the corridors of power.

Every national opinion poll published during the election campaign suggests that Labour will win a convincing victory. Yet the message of “change” being promoted in public by Sir Keir Starmer is notably different from the one he has delivered in private discussions with big business and media tycoons.

Starmer’s unequivocal endorsement of every Tory foreign policy during the past five years – from Brexit to the Middle East – as well as his decisions to leave failing utilities in private hands and retain punitive employment laws – does not suggest that any government he leads will be remotely capable of repairing the damage its predecessors have wrought.

Voters and communities must therefore look beyond the two main parties to find the solutions required to fix our broken politics. Many are sufficiently consumed by despair to turn to Nigel Farage and his latest vanity project, but the toxic levels of bigotry, ignorance and hate among many of his colleagues and associates – which. all too often, he has been willing to indulge and even endorse – ensure that he can never be seriously considered as a candidate for national office.

However, there is a sizeable bloc of candidates promoting progressive ideas at this election, who deserve more attention than the national media has given them. The Green Party has been particularly prominent in calling for radical policies, and while much of its current platform is heavily influenced by the manifestoes Labour published in 2017 and 2019, it deserves full credit for being prepared to raise a wide range of issues – not least global climate change – which mainstream parties prefer to ignore.

Although a vote for the Greens in most areas will not be enough to secure a victory for the their candidates, it would send a clear message of disaffection from mainstream politics which could develop in future elections to become a powerful force for change,

Leicester Voice would therefore recommend a vote for Green candidates in all local constituencies bar one.

The exception is Leicester East, where sitting MP Claudia Webbe has performed far more creditably during her time in Parliament than many of her detractors would acknowledge. Despite well-publicised personal difficulties – many of which have been politically and racially motivated – she has maintained an impressive voting record which has earned respect among constituents and should inspire them to re-elect her to office.

Although Webbe faces a formidable challenge from predecessor Keith Vaz (standing this time under the banner of “one Leicester”), the reasons that forced Vaz’s exclusion from public office at the last election have not disappeared in 2024. Indeed, should Vaz secure a NINTH term of office, there is every prospect that at least one suspension pending from his previous time in the Commons would be reactivated and prompt a swift by-election.

Whatever the outcome of this election, political turmoil will persist at both local and national levels for some time to come. It is to be hoped that the representatives we elect are prepared to confront – and overcome – the many challenges that await them.