LAST week, our country came perilously close to splitting up. In the Scottish independence referendum, it was brilliant to see a majority of voters rejecting independence and choosing to stay with the 307-year-old United Kingdom.

While Scotland may seem a long way away to the people in Wyre Forest, many of us have friends and relatives who live north of the border and a ‘Yes’ vote would have had a political, economic, social, constitutional and psychological impact throughout the whole country.

However, despite a welcome result it is worth considering why a sizeable minority of voters flirted with independence as it does reveal how much the people of Wyre Forest have in common with people throughout the UK. Among those who voted ‘Yes’ there were two reasons cited which stand out.

The first was a general dislike of Westminster politicians who were regarded are being out of touch with the concerns which effect most people on a day to day basis. It is clear many people have not forgiven or forgotten our elected MPs and the expenses scandal. That feeling is shared in Wyre Forest.

Secondly, many ‘Yes’ voters despise the Tories with a passion. One of the most popular slogans used in Scotland was Vote ‘Yes’ and never get a Tory government again.

Time and time again ‘Yes’ campaigners raised the bedroom tax, food banks, stagnating wages and the encroaching privatisation of the NHS as reasons to vote to guarantee against a Tory government. Again, these are concerns which many people in Wyre Forest share.

Therefore, the recent actions of local Tory MP Mark Garnier must add to the sense of frustration and anger which many voters feel. Two weeks ago, MPs voted to scrap some of the worse aspects of the hated bedroom tax. It didn’t go far enough and Labour is committed to scrapping it completely. However, even the modest proposals were opposed by Mark Garnier who seems blind to the hardship this policy causes.

In contrast to Scotland, the only way the people of Wyre Forest can declare “independence” from this government is to vote Labour in May 2015.

Dr Matt Lamb Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Wyre Forest.