This, frankly, is something that we should have done years before now. But it’s never too late to start.
One of the most annoying and undemocratic things about modern politics is the ease with which MPs and candidates can simply ignore the electorate. I’ve attempted to politely ask my own MP, Wera Hobhouse of the Liberal Democrats, a question on several occasions and had only dead air in response, and many readers report similar from their own representatives.
What that means, among other things, is that it can be impossible to have any idea what someone stands for on a given issue before you vote for them. And that’s plainly unacceptable in a democracy.
However, when there’s an election on, there’s something you can do about it.
Because at elections, not only do politicians go around knocking doors directly, but they also appear at meetings and hustings to set out their stalls. (Sometimes they actually set out stalls.) And if you’re face to face with a politician, it’s a lot harder for them to just ignore you. It doesn’t look great to everyone else in the room.
So here’s the plan. We want to have someone – preferably multiple people – in every constituency in Scotland. They have to be people who are willing to actually go out on a cold night to some wee village hall and directly (and politely) ask candidates of all parties straight questions, on behalf of both our readers and voters across Scotland, so that we know what they believe and can compile the data for all to see.
(Refusal to give a straight answer is of course a type of data.)
So we need volunteers. If this is something you’d be prepared to do over the next few weeks (and perhaps in the future beyond this election), drop us a line using the form below and let’s stop politicians hiding behind silence.
Your message should include:
– your real name
– your Westminster constituency
– your Holyrood constituency
– a phone number we can reach you on
DATA PROTECTION: None of this information will be shared with any third party. It is for the sole use of Wings Over Scotland in connection with this project. You will NOT receive any marketing communications, solicitations for money etc, nor anyone else’s contact data.
