In my last posting, I mentioned the good results the Conservatives had in the elections for Essex County Council. This was repeated in the European Elections, with Conservatives coming top in Harlow and across the Eastern Region in general. Nevertheless, looking at the European results again in the cold light of day, it was clear that there was a big swing against the established parties, in favour of some of the smaller fringe parties. I am not surprised that this has ocurred given the expenses scandal in Parliament, and the anger felt by everyone to some of the abuse of taxpayer's money by some of our more greedy MPs.
The good thing about democracy, and particularly mid-term elections, is that it allows everyone to register a protest and say "enough is enough".I wish, though, the BNP had not had had such a good showing - including winning two Euro-Parliamentary seats in the North of England from Labour. The BNP stand for the politics of hatred and division and must be confronted head-on. The Government's failure to develop a coherent immigration policy, its appeasement of extremist Islamism and its populist rhetoric (remember when Gordon Brown said "British jobs for British workers" - now a BNP election slogan), explains some of the rise in BNP vote.
But it was not just expenses or immigration issues that people were voting about: the broken economy, rising crime, failing public services, and disenchantment with Gordon Brown were all motivating factors. For my part, as Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Harlow, it is my job to persuade the voting public, that the only way to get rid of Gordon Brown and the Labour Government is by voting Conservative. The local and European results were an important step in acheiving that goal.
