TO MAKE EVERY GENERAL ELECTION VOTE COUNT
Opinion by BrianMay
Published in DAILY MIRROR
5 May 2015
Queen guitarist Brian May has launched his own vote campaign group, Common Decency.
This is about persuading all those people who are thinking there is no point in voting because they live in a safe seat to go out and vote.
Common Decency is a scheme for making every vote count.
We’ve been asking for feedback on who is actually a decent candidate and who would listen, genuinely act for the interests of their constituents, whichever party they are from. That candidate becomes our recommendation.
It’s about voting for the Common Decency recommendation and getting all your mates to do the same to create a snowball effect.
We are trying to unseat MPs in all these safe seats. Often the percentage of people who didn’t vote is greater than those who voted for one party.
Brian May VIEW GALLERY
I sympathise with people who feel there is no point in voting. I don’t think it’s apathy.
I strongly believe that the whole electoral system needs overhauling because it’s unfair and denies us having a proper voice. This is about trying to change that.
Rather than having a bloody revolution, which is what Russell Brand has been proposing a lot of the time, this is an attempt to use a very imperfect, flawed and unfair system to change the system.
The whips system is one problem. My frustration was born through my lobbying work on animal rights.
I realised you can’t give anyone a voice in this country because the system has been corrupted and perverted to the point where it keeps the common man out.
I thought the petition page on the government’s website really was democracy working, I thought it was really good. We put up a petition about the badger cull which more than 300,000 people signed. We got our debate and we won the vote. At that point we thought, ‘We’ve made a difference. Democracy works’.
But nothing happened because Owen Paterson, the Conservative Minister for the Environment, just shrugged his shoulders and said we will still do what we were going to do anyway.
I realised that all these groups who are exerting their democratic right to have a voice are all being ignored.
Common Decency started because we are all coming up against a brick wall.
I think the system has been abused for a long time, but I think the Conservatives have really developed it into a fine art.
Owen Paterson was operating from the point of view of extreme bias. I don’t think he was able to listen.
I think Cameron really has taken Conservative policies way back into the Dark Ages. What he stands for is himself, and privilege and all his mates who want to hang on to their privilege. How he’s managed by sleight of hand and smooth talking to convince people that he’s the party of the working man is absolutely beyond my imagination.
I think if you get rid of Cameron and his clique then Conservatives would resume their position as a decent force in the world.
I have a very strong preference for David Cameron not being there next time. I make no bones about that. I think he represents the rot that has really deeply set into Britain. He is about preserving the riches for the rich. I wish he was honest enough to say so.
The mere fact that food-banks exist to me is a complete condemnation of where we are at this point in Britain.
I really hope and pray that the LibDems don’t go into another coalition where they’re sleeping with the enemy. It’s destructive for the country.
I think Ed Miliband is a good man; I think he’s a man of conscience.However I don’t want to see the elimination of the Conservative Party. In fact, Common Decency is supporting a few Conservatives.”
For more information on the Common Decency recommendation in your constituency go to http://www.commondecency.org.uk/