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| A giant radish from my polytunnel |
For the first time ever I am living in a swing seat.
Since I've been old enough to vote, here is where I was for each General Election:
1997 : Fylde (in Lancashire). Safe Conservative seat.
2001 : Hampstead and Highgate. Safe Labour seat (Glenda Jackson)
2005 : Vauxhall. Safe Labour seat (Kate Hoey)
2010 : Camberwell and Peckham. Safe Labour seat (Harriet Harman).
2015 : West Dorset. Safe Conservative seat (Oliver Letwin).
Whichever party I voted for, my vote had a negligible impact on who actually became MP.
In this happy-snappy General Election of 2017 I happen to be living in Wales in the constituency of Montgomeryshire. (I was in Wales in 2015 too of course but not yet on the electoral roll owing to the fact that my caravan has no address.)
Montgomeryshire has a long history of voting Liberal or Liberal Democrats. Lembit Opik was the MP here from 1997 till 2010 when he got pipped to the post by a Tory, Glyn Davies. That must have been annoying for Opik since 2010 was of course the only time the LibDems have managed to get into government in any form (albeit in league with the Tories.)
Glyn Davies kept his seat in 2015, trouncing the LibDem candidate Jane Dodds by getting 45% of the vote against her 29%.
However I think the seat is still entitled to be labelled “swing” as it is just about conceivable that the LibDems might snatch the seat back from the Tories. Jane Dodds has announced she will be standing again. The other parties trailed abysmally in 2015 - UKIP on 11%, Labour 6%, Plaid Cymru 5%, Greens 4%.
Although I couldn't attend, I heard all about a packed meeting in Mach last Wednesday on the subject of Tactical Voting in Montgomeryshire. Things apparently got very heated as arguments let fly over the pros and cons of voting tactically. Do you vote for the party you want or against the party you don't want? Are the LibDems on a terminal decline, or do they stand a chance?
Whatever happens, my vote will at least have a little more weight than in all previous General Elections.
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| Some of my tomatoes are in the ground, and two in a homemade growbag |
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