Opinion: ‘In Delyn increase the vote for Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru on May 5th'

Harold "A week is a long time in politics" Wilson (above).
Many Delyn constituents have remembered the times when British Prime Ministers refused to bow before the bullying tactics of American Presidents

‘However you vote, the government always gets in’

According to the bookies David Hanson is odds on to retain Delyn on May 5th (Wales Yearbook) and David Hanson himself ‘does not even think about not getting re-elected’ (Guardian interview). The electorate in Delyn, however, have five other candidates to choose from too: Tudor Jones, Phil Thomas, Nigel Williams, John Bell, and May Eluned Crawford.

After careful analysis in the electoral microcosm of Delyn, Delyn Democracy encourages fellow constituents to consider showing their support on May 5th for one of the candidates/parties who have put forward the best arguments on the following matters:

• To protect the non-profit virtues of the public sector including schools and hospitals
• To strive to Make Poverty History both at home and abroad
• To make taxation fairer so that the richest people pay more and the poorest pay less
• To defend our hard-won civil rights from draconian legislation
• To expose and challenge the illegal Iraq war that was fought on an untrue case
• To support the entitlements and dignity of minority groups
• To challenge the increasing debts and financial deterrents that afflict students

In Delyn Democracy’s opinion, for this constituency the two candidates/parties at this election who have best done this job so far are Tudor Jones of the Lib Dems and Phil Thomas of Plaid Cymru. Of course, if constituents are sympathetic to this line of analysis then you still have to vote for one or the other. The Lib Dems are tactically better situated in Delyn whilst Plaid Cymru are arguably a more 'radical' party.

Labour’s introduction of the minimum wage and working families tax credits have been two of its best achievements since 1997, however, the last 4 years of New Labour has also witnessed rising inequality, privatisation and profit-making in schools and hospitals by stealth, a contradiction of the 2001 manifesto on tuition fees, the theft of civil rights, the illegal war in Iraq and subsequent cover-up, and the presidential leadership of Blair that undermines cabinet, Parliament and the independence of the judiciary.

Delyn Democracy sees no evidence at the moment that a vote for an arch-Blairite New Labour candidate in this constituency will change this crypto-Thatcherite, authoritarian and aggressive streak. A vote for New Labour in Delyn at this election is not an authentic vote for social justice or progressive politics.

If David Hanson is re-elected it has been suggested that Delyn Democracy arranges a series of Distance Learning Packages on ‘How to be an Effective Member of Parliament’. These might include:

• Lesson One: How to Listen to Constituents
• Lesson Two : Putting Constituents Ahead of Personal Ambition
• Lesson Three: Global Corporations, friends or foe?
• Lesson Four: Keeping the Public Sector positively Public.
• Lesson Five: Fighting Poverty rather than Wars