This Election Matters

I was lucky enough to attend a live debate held by Radio5Live locally as part of their election coverage. Hosted by Victoria Derbyshire, it covered the issue of trust; can we trust politicians? I thought the issue got sidelined into the fairly narrow, if emotive and understandable, concern with expenses. Personally, if a cabinet minister needs to know her husband's needs are catered for to do her job better, or a member of the loyal opposition can keep the government under scrutiny better if he's happy his ducks are kept warm at night, that's fine. I'm more worried by the tendency of ministers to fawn over wealth, celebrity and fame, and the suspicion that this may influence policy. Witness the advertising fudge in favour of Bernie Ecclestone, the hobnobbing of both Osborne and Mandelson with Russian oligarchs, and the accepting of holiday accommodation from famous friends by Tony Blair, while Prime Minister. I want policies to be decided on the basis of the needs of the country, not conversations had on yachts off Caribbean islands. Admittedly, not yet up to Italian standards of dubious probity, but enough of a concern to me, and in my view a direct descent from the issues with the Major government we were assured had been fixed, and a spur for the hunt by soon-to-be-former MPs for jobs lobbying for special interests.

It's clear from the passions that were generated that those attending the event are clearly engaged with, and interested in, the political debate.

However, outside this event, where people interested had self selected themselves to attend, a more worrying trend has emerged. A continuation of something that has been growing for several years. A view that it doesn't really matter. They're all the same.

Regardless of political hue, this time I must disagree. For the first time in many, many years, this election matters. For businesses, for individuals, for the future - there are some choices to be made.

In my own work my major concern is to do with babies. Specifically, those sat in bathwater that I can imagine any incoming government - whether new to the job, or presenting itself as reinvigorated - will want to throw out. As a speaker at a recent CBI lunch said "Once a quango starts doing what it was originally established to do, it's usually a sign that it's going to be scrapped." There are issues with the support structures and funding routes available for high growth businesses in the West Midlands, and elsewhere in the UK. There are too many bodies, with overlapping briefs, and different agendas, and the lines between private and public initiatives are sometimes too blurred. However, some of them do some startlingly good work in certain areas. I have a suspicion that the rush will be to scrap the lot, leaving the area with nothing, until some new framework is pieced together and given time to find its feet. Or not.

My wish is for an incoming administration to check what is working, because some of it is, and use that as a model to replace what is not, before rushing to begin again.

To me this is more important than narrow concerns about NI, or even taxes and public spending in a broader sense. The nurturing and growth of the next generation of successful British businesses, based on innovation and imagination, is what has the potential to fix both the public finances and, perhaps more importantly, our recent national slump into poor self esteem.

In any event, this election matters. For the future, vote!

(And no, I haven't decided yet - but I will.)