It’s only a couple of hours since I announced my candidacy for the General Election and I’ve received a lot of lovely messages of support but at the same time I have received a number of messages from Labour supporters expressing negative opinions about possibly splitting the anti-Tory vote.
I will not be replying to all of these messages, I feel that we need to move away from negativity in politics but I will address them by saying that all the while that Labour rejects the idea of progressive alliances and purely expects other candidates to stand aside without reciprocation they have little grounds to complain.
If you want to vote Labour vote Labour, if you want to vote Conservative do it, if you want to vote LibDem or Green, go right ahead. But if you feel, as many who have messaged me feel, that you are politically homeless and want an alternative then vote for me.
I will not be flooding the streets with supporters, I will not be spending millions on my campaign, I am simply giving people another option and if you object to that then we obviously have different views of what democracy is. It’s time to move away from the binary politics of left versus right and start thinking about what is for the best of the country.