Local campaigner urges people to have their say in General Election

TWENTY-eight-year-old Elizabeth Adams grew up in North Solihull and is this year standing as the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate in Stratford-upon-Avon. She kindly found time in the middle of a busy election campaign to write this piece for Other Side of Solihull about the importance of people getting involved in politics.

I'm writing this post because I want each and every one of you to get mad. You need to get angry. Some of you are already angry. One of my funniest stories from the campaign trail was five years ago in one of the high rises on Chelmsley as I was delivering leaflets. As soon as I pushed the leaflet through the door I heard the voice of a woman shout “P***IN VOTIN!” That lady was clearly angry, but probably at all the wrong things.
The majority of people I talk to as a candidate are just fed up of it all. They are fed up with politics, they don’t understand policies, they don’t believe any politicians. “You’re all the same”. That phrase makes me mad. Because I’m not like most of the people on the TV. I grew up in Chelmsley, lived in one of those high rise flats for eight years and still have to manage on an ASDA wage, and no not a manager’s one. It’s not easy, I don’t really have enough time to ‘do’ politics. But it is worth it. Because if I don’t like what I’m hearing from everyone else, if I don’t think there’s anyone standing I can trust, then I’ll do it myself, and you should to.
You don’t have to be a candidate, that is a big commitment, but just get involved. Because believe me, there aren’t very many people sitting in that big expensive building in London, making up the laws that are making your lives more difficult, that have any idea what life is like for people from the ‘Wood, or many places around the country like here.
So get mad, get angry that they don’t know what they’re on about, get annoyed that it’s not fair and no one is listening, and then get INVOLVED. Especially if you are young. There is a reason the two main parties are now talking about scrapping housing benefits and unemployment benefits for young people. Who do you think they will target with spending cuts, the pensioners who always vote or the young people whose votes they don’t think they’d get anyway? If you don’t like the choices then be your own choice. Whatever you do, don’t just sit at home and waste one of the few bits of real power you have. If everyone voted, even safe seats might not be so safe anymore.