THIS Thursday sees the third day of elections this year – the first being the main county council elections, whilst the second and third have been county council by-elections.

This week’s is in Kidderminster and all local political parties have been hard at it for several months, electioneering and making many promises.

So in the absence of any new news, I thought I would share with readers a users’ guide to political electioneering.

Political parties will make all sorts of promises when they are up for election and it certainly becomes a bit of a bun fight.

But beneath all this are four golden rules; four questions that the electorate should ask of the political electioneer, especially in the context of policies.

The first two are pretty obvious. Firstly, are the policies on offer relevant?

Are the political parties offering policies on things that are important or are they talking about something that is of little interest or has no context in the current climate?

Many people, including politicians, feel passionately about certain things but they can be, frankly, the right thing at the wrong time.

Anyone who is focusing away from the important current issues is not relevant to the current scene.

The second question is: are the politicians on my side?

Are they proposing something that I agree with? They could be relevant but they may just take a contrary view to your own.

The third question is the most important: are they competent to deliver their pledges?

Anyone can promise the earth, but very few can deliver it.

A party elected to deliver a promise it made that it cannot deliver is utterly useless.

The answer to questions one and two may be a resounding ‘yes’, but deeper analysis into the methodology of delivery may reveal hollow promises.

Certainly it is the case that parties who promise one thing and then deliver something else or fail to follow through with action suffer a decline of support pretty quickly.

The final question is much more subtle.

Is the party united? This is very important indeed because it gives an indication of how likely the party is to change its policies mid-term.

It is also important for your local representative.

Had I been elected a Conservative and then voted against my party for the next five years, the Wyre Forest electorate may have thought it voted for a Conservative MP, but what they would have got was one behaving like a Labour MP.

It’s no different from going into a MacDonalds and finding the person behind the counter trying to sell you a bucket of fried chicken and chips.

So there we are: four ways to decipher election literature.

A bit late this time, but it’ll still be on my website next time we have elections.

CONTACT YOUR MP

  • Email: mark.garnier.mp@ parliament.uk
  • Telephone: 020 7219 7198 or 01562 746771.
  • Write: 9a Lower Mill Street, Kidderminster, DY11 6UU, or House of Commons, Westminster, London