Why Independent?

Dear Neighbour,

In Battersea, at the last General Election, only 47.4% voted for Conservative and Labour combined. This means that the majority of you (52.6%) voted for minor parties – or, more likely, you did not vote at all.

As a result, our Labour MP has had five easy years in the House of Commons, in which time he has voted for his party in 98.3% of his votes cast. None of us has had a say in any these votes. Yet 76.2% of us did not vote for him in the first place!   

Is it surprising that our society is more divided than ever before? I believe I can help bring people together to achieve convergence rather than divergence.

Please let me tell you how. But first, let me remind you of what Neil Kinnock, then Labour Leader, said to his Party Conference in October 1985:

“I'll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far fetched resolutions. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the years sticking to that, out-dated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs, and you end in the grotesque chaos of a Labour council—a Labour council—hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers. I'm telling you - and you listen - you can't play politics with people's jobs and with people's services.”

We are about to be bombarded with 'impossible promises' from all the parties before the General Election. The party system has become 'out-dated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs' yet, over the next few weeks, Labour and Conservative will be 'playing politics' with your jobs and your ‘front-line’ services.

Now, 25 years later, Neil Kinnock's words are true on a national not just a local level.

Yet, while all this political posturing is happening, even while we are at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, who will be telling us about what is good about Britain and the positive things that bind and unite us: freedom, human rights, the rule of law, the difference between right and wrong, the importance of education, respect for others, ‘do as you would be done by’, tolerance, kindness?

The answer is that none of the political parties can do this. Nor can they deliver on what Neil Kinnock called their ‘impossible promises’. We face a very dangerous future. We all need to think more carefully than ever about who we are voting for.

This is why, in Battersea, I would like to ask you to consider voting for a local Independent candidate like me – and not Conservative or Labour.

As a ‘floating voter’, who has voted both Labour and Conservative in my time, I have discovered, to a far greater degree than I imagined, and even among my closest friends, that many people have what I can only describe as a ‘tribal’ loyalty to the Conservative or Labour parties.

It is like being a football supporter. Once you have decided you support Arsenal or Manchester United, even if you have never been there, you can’t change your mind. You have declared your commitment. You are a fan for life.

Now, I know some of you, in fact most of you, like me, are not inextricably linked to Conservative or Labour or any party at all.

To extend my football analogy, you may not like football, you may find football boring and you may think there is far too much football coverage in the media.

You may think this about politics. You may not like politics, you may find politics boring and you may think there is far too much politics in the media.

You are a ‘floating voter’ and you are a target for these parties. But what if the system is wrong - unfair, unequal and inefficient? This is what has happened. And it is as true here in Battersea as anywhere in the country.

So, please remember that your vote is very important.

Throughout history some very brave people, particularly ethnic minorities and women, have fought for the right to vote. Surely you owe it to them to vote for who you think is the best possible candidate for you and your community?

Most importantly, if you are disillusioned by politics; if you feel detached from the ‘career politicians’ who have looked after their own interests rather than yours; if you are disgusted by the way MPs have behaved in regard to their expenses; if you agree society is broken because the system is broken; if you are a ‘floating voter’ - then please consider me, Hugh Salmon, as a serious candidate for your vote.

I would like to bring my experience of ‘real life’ to the benefit of everybody who lives in the Battersea constituency.

I have some ideas which I know, if you vote for me, I can apply across all the parties, which will encourage us to converge, rather than diverge, and which will make Battersea and Britain a great place to live.

I believe, as an Independent MP, I can force these 'career politicians' to bash their heads together and agree on the good things about Britain that I have identified above.

Because I won't be tied to, or 'whipped', by any party I will be able to cut across their petty bickering and help create a better politics for a better society.

In Battersea, this will mean better educated children, better behaved children, better health services, better traffic, better parking, better train stations, safer streets, cleaner streets, more bicycle lanes and a new spirit of community and kindness.

We, the people of Battersea, can do this. We can lead the way. Yes we can!

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The Independent Network

"You are not a Floating Voter – you are an Independent Voter"

Hugh Salmon has been endorsed as a suitable candidate to be an Independent MP by The Independent Network (IN) - a non-profit organisation that provides support to candidates who are not members of political parties. Independent candidates do not have access to a large national party structure with its human and financial resources.

The Independent Network was formed to attend to this inequality and will encourage the electorate to acknowledge the success and influence independents are having in Parliament and in local government.

98.5% of the population are not members of a political party, yet there are only two directly elected independent MPs – Dai Davies and Dr Richard Taylor MP. While the vast majority of the electorate remains interested in national and local issues, most people in the UK feel that they do not have a say in how the country is run.

This public frustration and disillusionment with career politicians and party politics demonstrates an urgent need for independent candidates elected to public office.

Members of the public who support non-partisan politics are encouraged to support the efforts of the IN to get more independent politicians elected to public office.

The IN is not a political party and does not impose any political views on supporters or candidates. However, the IN does insist that all affiliates are non-racist and non-discriminatory and have no affiliation with any group or party that embodies beliefs contradictory to these principles.

The IN aims to create a sense of cohesion and identity for Independent candidates and hopes to establish national credibility for its affiliates, enabling the electorate to vote Independent with greater confidence that an Independent vote is a vote for a more representative government at all levels.

More about the Independent Network can be found here.

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THE BELL PRINCIPLES

The Bell Principles are the first ever code of conduct for elected representatives - they demand that politicians behave to the highest of standards. Candidates endorsed by The Independent Network pledge to abide by these principles which were formulated by the former independent MP Martin Bell: