Tuesday 4 May 2010 6:27PM

Voting Labour

Who, then, is prepared to look at the plain facts when choosing who to vote for in the UK General Election this Thursday?

Of course, the facts look very different from varying standpoints and everyone has their own agenda. Nonetheless, I can't help but feel people have blindly jumped on the 'not Labour' bandwagon, and for all the wrong reasons.

Who is the most personable candidate? Well I admit that it's definitely not Gordon Brown. But that's a poor reason for not voting Labour. We don't need someone slick or popular. We need someone strong and experienced. Neither Clegg nor Cameron meet that prerequisite.

Gordon Brown caused the recession? No, our bankers made the greedy mistake of getting involved in the American sub-prime mortgage market. It was the banks that caused the recession and it couldn't have been foreseen.

Gordon Brown should've stopped the banks! Perhaps this a good time to remind you that Margaret Thatcher and the Tories de-regulated the banks. Gordon Brown has been trying ever since to add more, multi-lateral failsafes. Besides, very few people in the world could really see what was happening.

OK, what about the MPs' Expenses scandal? This wasn't a Labour mistake, either. Labour MPs were involved, yes, but so were the MPs of all other parties.

But it happened under Labour governance! It's always been happening! It's an age-old problem. The lid has only just been blown off, however.

Fine fine. Afghanistan? All three main parties are committed to staying in Afghanistan until the Afghan Army no-longer need support.

Immigration. I agree that Labour has made mistakes here. They should never have stopped counting-out immigrants. They're bringing that back in, though. Moreover, most immigration is from the EU -- and we're not allowed to legally cap that. It's one of the problems that come with being part of the EU. David Cameron couldn't cap European immigrants even if he wanted to. Without withdrawing from the EU. And he doesn't want to do that.

Crime, Health, Education. All of these will be continuing problems under any government. Especially considering the global recession has hit hard our ability to pay for related services. I don't want to say that Labour will necessarily do any better than anyone else but I really don't believe the Tories or the Lib Dems will be able to make significant improvements under the circumstances.

So, what have Labour done exactly in the last 13 years? This possibly requires more research than I'm prepared to do right now but here's some examples:

Have Labour had a bad run? Far from it. There's always going to be much more work to do, and no party or leader is infallible, but I'm more than prepared to let Labour continue pushing things forward.

I'd like to be able to say vote for Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats if you've aligned yourself against Labour, but the truth is that seats for Lib Dems are seats lost by Labour meaning the Tories have a chance of reaching the majority. That'll be a disaster for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Northern England, Women and Gays everywhere. Guaranteed.

Vote Labour. For all our sakes.