* because they have made the wrong people pay for austerity. The bankers who caused the problems have got away with it whilst nurses, teachers and the poor have paid the price
* because they promised to put an end to top down re-organisations and then introduced the biggest ever re-organisation of health, education and welfare
* because they will be too busy arguing amongst themselves over Europe to run the country properly
* because it took George Osborne four and a half years to discover the attractions of a northern powerhouse and his colleagues will forget them for another four and a half years.
The Labour Party don't deserve your vote:
* because they lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and created a dangerous legacy
* because they told us they had put an end to boom and bust - when all they had done was let a boom get out of control
* because they have lost touch with the people who used to support them and forgotten their needs
* because they too will make another £30 billion of cuts
The Liberal Democrats don't deserve your vote:
* because they gave a guarantee that they would abolish tuition fees and then raised them by £6,000 a year
* because Vince Cable promised to control the bankers and has made not a single important change to the banking industry regulations.
* because they also want to inflict austerity on the poor - just not as rapidly
UKIP don't deserve your vote:
* because we won't solve any problems by leaving the EU - we'll just have to obey EU rules without any say in making them
* because they want even faster and even deeper cuts than the Tories.
* because they think the world will go away and all will be fine if we just get rid of those foreigners who they believe are causing all our problems.
* because their leaders aren't racists but after a couple of drinks some of their followers get deeply unpleasant
So who do you vote for. I stood for the Greens knowing that they had many faults. But I did think they had got three big things right:
* They are serious about dealing with an increasingly urgent environmental crisis. The sooner we start the less it will cost and if Britain invests in the right science and technology then it will be at the forefront of the next phase of the industrial revolution.
* They bravely stood out against a whole series of badly thought out wars. We cared enough about Libya to drop bombs on it - now we don't care enough to save the victims of war from drowning.
* They have consistently fought against austerity being inflicted on the weak and the vulnerable as a way of hiding the responsibility of the wealthy bankers who caused the crisis
The Greens deserve your vote. And if you want to see the impact that a single Green MP can make then look at what Caroline Lucas has achieved. She has done more good than any other MP in the last parliament. We need more like her.
If you want to send a message that you want a more decent and honest approach to politics then:
* why not vote for people who are prepared to say unpopular things when they believe them to be true
* why not vote for the party with the best principles instead of for the one with the best insults
* why not vote for principles that are worth believing in rather than people who promise practical politics - and fail to deliver.
Vote Green.