So.
After being promised that we’d be out of the EU by now, we’re not.
And after being promised that we were not going to get a general election, that’s now exactly what we are getting.
Anyone who has ever spoken to me for longer than ten minutes will know that I’m an avid Remainer.
So, ultimately, yes, I’m glad that Brexit didn’t go ahead on October 31st.
But I’m much more glad that we’ve been offered the election.
I’m so glad.
But I am not glad because of Brexit.
I’m not glad because of a better deal, or a second referendum – even though I want both of those things.
I’m not glad because I’m an unpatriotic remoaner.
I’m glad because we now have the chance to oust the Tories.
We have a chance to save this country.
For the last three years, all we’ve done is argue.
We’ve had our little factions and bickered over Brexit whilst our politicians have lied and played games and had meaningless vote after meaningless vote.
And whilst we’ve been bickering over Brexit, austerity has tightened its grip.
Since the Tories came into power, they’ve cut basically every public service they can get their hands on.
They’ve given massive tax breaks to the rich, whilst cutting benefits to the poor and the needy.
They’ve hit us with VAT hikes, and stagnated public sector wages, whilst the super rich get richer.
It’s costing us more to live, but our incomes are going down.
They’ve cut free school meals to needy children.
They’ve forced cancer sufferers back to work.
They’ve caused an increase in homelessness but, instead of giving them aid, they’ve given them spikes to sleep on.
They’ve cut our schools so much that our education system is failing and our kids are struggling.
Our police force are so underfunded that they just don’t have the staffing levels to keep up with the crimes being reported.
Firemen are having to work second jobs just to keep food on the table.
Nurses are using food banks.
Our NHS, envy of the world, is being intentionally cut and sold off to make way for private healthcare companies to make money out of our illnesses.
Yet we just sit about wittering about Brexit.
We keep voting for parties who promise to deliver Brexit, instead of the parties that promise to deliver safety, security, a good quality of life.
They point the finger and we look the other way.
Brexit isn’t going to be the answer to all our problems because, despite what the media would have you believe, it’s isn’t Europe who has caused the mess in this country.
It’s us.
We did.
By voting for a government that consistently undermines our needs and treats us like nothing.
That laughs about there not being a “money tree”, yet hoards vast amounts of money in off-shore bank accounts so they don’t have to pay their taxes.
Tell me again why we’ve voted them in.
Because we don’t want “extremist” Jeremy Corbyn, right?
And why the hell not?
Genuinely, we must have spent the last few decades moaning about how everyone in Westminster is cut from the same cloth, and how there is never any real choice yet, when we finally get someone different, we run scared and refuse to vote for him.
Since he first made an appearance in the Labour leadership contest, Jeremy Corbyn has been a victim of a horrendous smear campaign and I would urge anyone to fact check anything and everything you read about him.
The media hate him with a passion.
And that, in a nutshell, is precisely why I’ll be voting for him.
He’s a danger to the establishment.
And that’s exactly what we need.
People have been sucked into this idea that he’s a terrorist-sympathising communist who hates Jews.
But he’s not.
He’s a man who was instrumental in negotiating peace in Northern Ireland, and even got awarded two international peace prizes for his efforts.
He’s a socialist who believes in decent public services and wants to renationalise our railways and NHS and repair our education system.
He doesn’t believe that people should be billionaires when others are starving to death.
He isn’t anti-Semitic, he’s against some of Israel’s policies – and he’s not wrong.
He’s spent his entire political career fighting for the rights of groups that he isn’t even a part of; women, disabled people, ethnic minorities.
He’s pro-animal rights and is an advocate of green environmental policies.
His policy regarding Brexit is to negotiate a sensible deal and let us vote on it – far removed from Boris Johnson’s gung ho “lets just drop out and hope for the best” attitude.
But he’s “unelectable”?
How is a man like that deemed “unelectable”?
Because the media tell us he is.
The media moguls who would be forced to pay more tax under a labour government, seek to scapegoat him and make you vote for the Tories.
Tories, who benefit them, not you.
The media isn’t unbiased.
The media is owned by people with an agenda.
And those people aren’t your friends.
They don’t care about you.
They care about money and profit margins.
Jeremy Corbyn is a danger to those profit margins, so they tell you he’s a danger to you.
He’s not.
The real danger isn’t the man with an allotment, who rides a bike and who wants an end to poverty.
The real danger are the people who will leave thousands in poverty to protect their billions.
We’ve been given a chance to change the course of this country, and we need to take it.
The NHS cannot survive another 5 years of Tory cuts.
It can’t.
It’s either going to collapse, or be sold off.
We’re going to lose everything.
And for what?
To line another fat cat’s pocket?
Wake up.
Please wake up.
This isn’t about Europe, or immigrants, or Brexit.
This is about a greedy, selfish government using public funds to line their own pockets.
Please don’t let them.
No more cuts.
No more deaths.
No more apathy.
For goodness sake, wake up.
For once in our lifetime we have someone with policies worth voting for, and we’re running the other way.
The Tories are pulling this country apart at the seams and we’re just letting them.
Now we have a chance to change that.
If you care about this country.
If you care about other people.
Our children, our elderly, our social workers and our teachers.
If you care about universal healthcare.
If you care about the rights and safety of others.
If you care about our animals and don’t support badger culling or fox hunting.
If you care about anything other than money.
Please don’t vote Tory.
Vote Labour.
Or Lib Dems or Green on SNP if you need to, but not Tory.
I’m voting Labour.
I’m voting Labour because they have the best chance of beating the Conservatives.
And I’m voting Labour because I stand with Jeremy Corbyn.
Not because I’m an extremist or a hippie or a snowflake, but because I want a better future for everyone, not just for myself.
And I think a Labour government has the best chance of doing that.
I think they’d be hard pressed to do much worse than what we’ve had this past decade.
So my plea to everyone who wants a better future is this.
Vote.
If, like me, you are a moderate misfit who wants better than this, then put your X on your ballot paper and make a stand.
No excuses about being powerless.
You want change, then you vote for it.
On our own we won’t make much of a difference, but together we can make waves.
Philip Davies is the MP in my constituency.
He won last term by just 5000 votes.
Let’s oust the anti-feminist, anti-LGBT+, pro-hunt up-skirting advocate and replace him with someone who actually gives a shit.
Let’s have an MP actually worth sending to Parliament.
Moderate, decent people too often spend their lives being quiet.
But we’ve been quiet too long and we’ve let this happen.
We can’t let it happen anymore.
December 12th.
Vote.
Vote for what is right.
Vote for change.
Vote Labour.
Don’t give the Tories another term to take more of what is ours.
Don’t do what the media tells you.
Don’t be the turkey that votes for
Christmas.
December 12th.
Vote.
Get the Tories out.
Our lives are not currency.
Our futures will not be gambled.
Keep your hands off our NHS!