Cameron's bid to paint Kent blue

Local papers are full of David Cameron's visit to Kent and the Tory targeting of Labour held seats here. His intention is to have all 17 Kent seats in Tory hands.

While it is clear that the Tories are gaining ground on the back of Brown's incompetencies, there are two issues which worry me.

Firstly, acknowledging that a week in politics is a long time and therefore 20 years is not just a generation but a millenium, people seem to have forgotten what the Tories stand for and are capable of. Our planet is in need to progressive, radical politics that move us away from greed and environmental destruction, not further towards it.

Secondly, 17 Tory MPs in Kent and no representation for the majority of Kent who are not Tory is not a hallmark of democracy. In the last general election Labour assumed total power after just 22% of the electorate voted Labour. I'll have to work out some numbers for the number and percentage of unrepresented people if the Tories pull off their plan. People forget that there is another way and shrug their shoulders saying, that's the system.

It doesn't have to be this way - proportional representation works and is much fairer. Labour even promised us it in their 1997 and 2001 manifestos. See the Make Votes Count campaign and Electoral Reform Society for more details.