Why this Election Matters

I’ve alway thought it a good principle to try and leave the world a better place than it was when one was born.

What kind of legacy do we want to leave? That is what this election is about.

I was born into a Britain proud of its NHS - and I, and my parents and my children have benefited from it when we needed it most. Now it is being (not so) slowly starved of the resources needed to do its job. Private healthcare firms are looking on and salivating at the killing they will soon be making.

I was the first in my family to enjoy the opportunity of going to university straight after school - and getting the chance for better work and prospects. [Both my parents who were denied the opportunity as teenagers got their degrees later in life thanks to Labour’s initiative - the Open University]. This opportunity for me came without tuition fees - and with a grant! Now students are forced to take on debts averaging £44,000.

Because I left University debt free, and graduates had real opportunities for careers - like many of my contemporaries, I was able to buy my first house whilst still in my twenties - which today fewer and fewer young people are able to do.

There weren’t beggars and the homeless living in the streets, - or the need for food banks - when I was young. Now that’s a part of everyday life.

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS - we can choose the legacy we leave- 

Debt for our children, and a return to the days when we there was NO effective NHS NOR the opportunities for ALL children to have a good education and be able to afford to go to university?

Or can we renew the promises that were made to us about a better future?