Commons Column 15th April 2008

It’s election time again. The sometimes warm spring days, bright tulips and blossoming wisteria are always accompanied by piles of different coloured leaflets falling through the letter box and canvassers calling to see if they can count on your vote.

For some of us, this is exciting – democracy in action. But for others it’s a bore – what do we have to vote on this time?

Obviously, I would like to encourage people to vote for my party. I do, however, have total respect for people who have honestly-held convictions in other directions – and I will never criticise them for sticking to their principles and voting for other parties. Democracy wouldn’t work at all if everyone thought the same way!

It does, however, worry me that some people don’t seem to realise that, in our system – for better or for worse – there is no such thing as a vote against something. A negative vote does not exist. You can only vote for something.

So a “protest vote” is a bit of a loose cannon. It might be the voter’s intention to vote for a minority party in order to show his or her displeasure with the majority parties but, in doing so, the voter is, in fact, endorsing the principles of the minority party. That can be quite a dangerous thing to do. Seemingly harmless minorities can grow into powerful majorities.

I always encourage people to use their vote. But I would also warn that it might be wise to think twice before making a protest that might be misinterpreted when the votes are counted.

Whatever happens at the elections on May 1st, we are so fortunate that because people have fought in the defence of freedom and democracy, our elections will produce honest results – whether we like them or not!