Friday 9 April 2010

Should we vote for a local candidate or a leader?



Today Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg joined local Leeds MP Greg Mulholland at the Headingley rugby stadium to have a game with children in a training session.



This boy even got an autograph (below). To be honest I was very tempted to ask! It was a great move to be seen playing rugby with young people. Has Clegg kissed a baby's head yet?




Clegg won my vote today. He is the only politician to give a proper answer to the question about student top up fees. No the country can't afford to make Higher Education free at the moment, but he has a 6 year plan that will make free education a reality again. BRILLIANT! Why can the other parties not offer me this? And, what's more, I think I have a bit of a crush on the man as I definitely felt myself blushing!



But I have real problems when it comes to voting and things aren't going be as easy as they seem. I strongly dislike what I see on Mulholland's voting record - so how can I vote Lib Dem in this area?



I have a massive dilemma. Am I meant to vote for someone to who will vote in the house of commons in the way that I would vote or am I meant to vote for a leader and a party as a whole? I always though it worked that you voted for someone to represent you. And so how can I vote for Mulholland when he doesn't represent my views.

So I'm left to debate whether I should put my X next to Mulholland as a vote for the Lib Dem party as a whole or if I should give my X to a candidate in Leeds who I agree with......

Also, check out the Lib Dem bus. Love it! Definite election fever today.

6 comments:

  1. What specifically don't you like about his voting record? The only obvious thing I can see is his absence during equality legislation being passed... and he didn't vote on the Digital Economy Bill, which pissed me off a little.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interested to know what you think is so terrible about Greg's voting record Virginia?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm glad it wasn't just me that was a little confused... can't see anything especially objectionable?

    ReplyDelete
  4. If I'm meant to vote for someone who will vote the way I would if I was in the house than Mulholland isn't a good choice for me.

    He will never answer questions about how he has voted on gay rights and abortion. (Because he hasn't voted as you would expect a liberal to). He also always seems to be busy when LUU invites him to LGBT related events.

    And being absent is not good enough. Gay rights issues are so important in our society that he should have planned to present for these votes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Greg has consistently defended the rights of LGBT asylum seekers both within and outside of parliament.

    I'm only aware of him being invited to one LGBT event at Leeds Uni, an event which neither the Labour or Tory candidate turned up to either.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The equality legislation was never in danger of not passing, I would prefer that he'd voted for this but there could be any number of reasons why he didn't vote and it ultimately didn't effect the outcome. The stats on they work for you can be pretty arbitrary. Greg is a liberal at heart and if pushed to by tory legislation I have no doubt he would vote in the right way.

    ReplyDelete