Sense of Entitlement

I listened to Jim Murphy on Sky News yesterday and he gave me the distinct impression that the Labour Party feel a sense of entitlement about the general election on 7 May.

While all the polls point to another hung parliament and historically low levels of popular support for both Conservative and Labour, the 'big two' two establishment parties clearly believe that they are destined to rule.

In Jim's world any vote that's not for the Tories or Labour is a wasted vote which is a ridiculous argument if you ask me, because the big issue is the need to bring some real democracy and more accountability to the Westminster Parliament.

If Labour were campaigning on PR for Westminster elections, home rule for Scotland within a federal UK, the use of referendums to increase direct democracy and the abolition of the House of Lords - then the party would certainly have my interest and possible support.

But they are not and even when a Labour Government was in power for 13 unbroken years between 1997-2010, with an overall majority of  Westminster MPs, the party failed to tackle these issues.

Just as it failed to do the right thing over equal pay, for example.

The real problem for Labour is that the party has lost its radical cutting edge and is now using the same old scare tactics to drum up support amongst voters who 'switched off' a long time ago.

So I would say they getting rid of the 'deadwood' Labour MPs who have propped up the Westminster Parliament for years is the best way of ushering in real political change - because these Labour and Tory turkeys are never going to vote for an early Christmas.