David Johnson's Blog

This is a party election broadcast by the lets-all-fight-like-children-and-avoid-actually-commenting-on-any-real-issues party.

So I’ve seen the election broadcasts by Labour, The Conservatives, The Lib Dems, UKIP and The Green Party. And I’m seriously beginning to wonder why people vote for the big three parties. Here’s what I thought of each broadcast (my political orientation being cast aside for the moment).

The Labour broadcast was funny. Not only funny, but also rather correct with regards to the comments they made about the Tories. But so what? So they’ve spent a while slagging off the Tories and making people laugh – while managing to completely avoid talking about any of the critical election issues. What I think is also interesting (as an ex media student) is that they were criticising things the Tories have done in the past, without actually saying that they would have done anything different, or will do anything different if they stay in power. The audience assume that Labour wouldn’t do anything stupid like the Tories did, but they don’t actually say that, do they? They also seem to have forgotten that these are local and EU elections, not a general election and completely avoided saying anything about local issues.
Labour should be focusing on saying what they will do if they win local or EU seats, not on trying to scare people into not voting for the Tories.

So now onto the Conservatives. Again, rather like Labour’s broadcast, they focused on the questionable things Labour have done while in power. Again, factually correct without any useful information. Would the Tories have done any different? What will they do different if they get into power? Again they are using the assumptions of the audience against them.
They claim that Labour basically lied during their election manifesto. What’s new? Isn’t that the norm for any government?
Again, they have also avoided any local issues. This should not be a popularity contest, but an opportunity for the public to decide who will actually provide the best local services and EU representation.
This slagging match between Labour and the Tories is becoming rather tiring. They need to stop being so bloody childish and get on with running the country. Although I must admit that it makes “Prime Ministers’ Questions” (shown on BBC Parliament) one of the funniest “reality” shows on TV!

Anyway, let’s move on the the Lib Dems. I have to be perfectly honest here: I watched their broadcast and took absolutely nothing away from it. I can’t even remember it. And if I can’t remember it, it can’t have been very good can it? It may have been filled with useful election material but if I can’t remember it, it can’t have been very interesting. So sorry, I can’t comment on it.

So on to UKIP. I thought this was a very good broadcast. It was filled with good election material on UKIP’s views and I found it quite insightful. They’d clearly done their research on the facts, focusing on material which is very relevant at the moment (namely the expanding membership of the EU and immigration) and it was all presented well. It was also very interesting that they included quotes from (probably) a UKIP representative from every constituency. This allows they audience to actually see something relevant to them and I think this will make a difference to people who think politics has no effect on them. A big part of this election is local issues of course – something so far ignored by the other parties.
Based on this broadcast, I think UKIP are going to do well in this election.

And finally, The Green Party. I watched this broadcast yesterday and was quite impressed. Not only is it funny, but it also tackles important issues both nationally and locally. It’s also very nice to see that the Greens are not only focusing on traditional green issues, but also on other important issues which affect everyone. The most memorable issues in the broadcast were Iraq, public transport and the Euro. These are all issues which are likely to win the Green Party votes.

Based purely on these broadcasts, I would say that this election should be between UKIP and The Green Party. But naturally it will be between Labour and the Conservatives as per usual. The two biggest parties have done absolutely nothing to convince me to vote for them. In fact if anything, they’ve convinced me NOT to vote for them by doing nothing other than slagging each other off.

I have to wonder why anyone votes for Labour or The Conservatives at all.