Todays Daily Express carries a story on yesterdays student protest in London (http://tinyurl.com/cvclq2o) and it includes a piece by Mike Weatherly MP for Hove. In the piece Mike explains that:

‘The latest camp in Trafalgar Square highlights a particularly lazy style of rebelling more about having fun than fighting for a cause. When I first learnt this group of professional moaners had pitched up in one of the most iconic squares in the world, my frustration grew. Not just because the cause is so vague but more because it detracts from the most legitimate form of protest we already have – the ballot box. If the ballot box is not enough, those stealing public space could pack up and join a peaceful march. Protests are part of the democratic process and I welcome them on the whole. Marching for a good cause, without violence obviously, is something somebody should be proud of. But lying around should not be put on a pedestal. Defacing public spaces is a selfish form of protest both ugly and intimidating.’

Whilst I am pretty confident that many of these campers have been part of many peaceful marches in their time, my question for Mike is not so much that his view of those he is criticising is poorly researched, but rather that he has thrown down a bit of a gauntlet and I wonder if he is willing to back it up with action?

The ballot box is only an offer of democracy if its use is really accessible. Clearly we will have a general election by the 6th May 2015 but of course this is some way off. If Mike is seriously offering this to people who are currently dissatisfied with the way in which the country is being run, perhaps he might (say through the pages of the Argus Newspaper) invite readers to indicate using some form of polling that the paper decides, if they would wish him to resign and call a by-election now. Clearly this would be a high risk strategy but if Mike wishes to tell people to go home and wait for a general election, perhaps he could have the courage of his convictions and offer Hove residents their chance before 2015?