My Letter in today’s Daily Post – Principled Miliband will do the right thing

As well as my own personal words of wisdom in today’s Daily Post, there was an excellent article by David Williamson. The version in the Daily Post is titled “Don’t be put off by politics… it’s for the common good” which is a very important starting point. Whilst I understand cynicism, it is not a very positive emotion. It is deeply unfortunate that some who seek elected office failed to keep their promises but that doesn’t mean “they are all the same”.

It is the cynicism from politicians which is most damaging – I understand and accept people having a different point of view from me and genuinely believing a different solution would be better, but deliberately making promises that you know you cannot deliver if you are elected (or promising not to do something such as spending billions on reorganising the NHS because you knew it would be unpopular – and then doing it anyway when you are elected) is not just cynical it is downright dangerous. I hope that all candidates seeking office in May will be honest about what they will and won’t do and that we are then able to rebuild confidence in politics and its ability to make a positive difference in people’s lives. That may be expecting a bit much I know – and I’ll settle for those who get elected doing so having been honest and then doing what they said they would.