Beyond the big three

Rather than being fed up with politics altogether, perhaps British voters are simply fed up with what the three main parties have to offer.

Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats. Blue, red, yellow. Different bottles, same wine all as bad as each other, say some.

While this conclusion leads many people to stay at home on election day, increasing numbers are embracing the smaller parties instead.

For those who want Britain to withdraw from the European Union, there is the UK Independence Party.

And for those who wish to reject parties backed by and serving the interests of business, there are the Greens and the Socialists.

In recent years, particularly since the introduction of more proportional voting systems for some elections, smaller parties have seen the share of their vote rise steadily.

Of course, the mainstream parties would consider the minor parties an irritation, siphoning important votes away to the margins of political debate.

And the downside is a handful of successes for the British National Party but not in Swindon with its race-driven agenda of voluntary repatriation.

But most democrats would have a hard time arguing that giving people a wider choice at the polls is anything but a good thing.

Green Party

THE local elections come at a good time for the Green Party in Swindon.

Two of their strongest campaigning issues proposals for a university campus in Coate and a football stadium on the site of Shaw Community Forest both of which they oppose, are fast becoming hot topics for the town.

They will be hoping to pick up votes from some of the many residents resisting the developments who feel the main parties are failing to speak for them.

But the Greens are more than single-issue campaigners, and have brought together their ideas in a holistic analysis of the direction in which the town is heading.

"There should be no more major developments in the rural buffer zone, which seems to have been abandoned," says Green leader Bill Hughes, a 65-year-old retired careers adviser, who is contesting the Old Town and Lawn ward.

The Greens emerged from the protest movement, and Mr Hughes is keen to keep alive the party's spirit of rebellion, calling on the council to ignore government orders to build 26,000 houses between 1996 and 2016.

"At the moment all the power is in central government," he says. "Local government should have more power to say no."

Mr Hughes is not opposed to all construction, and says there is a need for more affordable social housing.

But the problem, as he sees it, is that the development of the town's infrastructure is lagging behind its expansion.

"Swindon has doubled in size over the last 20 years, and used to boast it was the fastest growing town in Europe," he says.

"We need a breathing space to consolidate what we have already."

The party's manifesto for Swindon calls for more paths and cycleways, a tram system, lower bus fares and more wind farms.

Council tax and business rates would go up under a Green-led administration, but the party believes voters would accept them once they had seen the results.

The Greens, standing in 11 of the 20 wards being contested this year, know the first-past-the-post voting system means they have no chance of winning any seats.

But they are looking to the longer term, and Mr Hughes hopes to see the first Swindon councillor elected within five years.

Swindon Socialists

Conventional wisdom has socialists down as high taxers and big spenders.

But Andy Newman, leader of Swindon Socialist Alliance, is calling for council tax increases to be limited to the rate of inflation.

"Council tax is an unfair tax on the poor, which hits pensioners and those on low incomes hardest," says the 43-year-old telecoms engineer from Old Town.

Instead, a socialist-led council would demand extra funding for Swindon from central government to pay for extra investment in schools, transport and affordable housing.

And if the money was not forthcoming?

"We would take a stand," says Mr Newman. "Swindon is under-funded and needs to fight for more money."

The socialists say the town has been badly let down by councillors too afraid to stand up to the government when it matters.

"We would take a different approach because socialist-run councils are prepared to break the law," he says.

Running a deficit budget by going into the red and leaving central government to pick up the bill is one possible tactic. Bussing council workers up to central London to picket the House of Commons is another.

It is not, as Mr Newman admits, a recipe for stability or the quiet life.

"We could make things very uncomfortable for the government," he says.

"But all we're demanding is as much money as Slough. It's not a socialist revolution."

Ultimately, the socialists who include two Socialist Alliance candidates (Central, Gorse Hill & Pinehurst) and one Socialist Alternative (Moredon) want the Government to tax the rich to pay for services for the whole community.

"A millionaire currently pays the same amount of tax as someone earning £35,000," says Mr Newman.

"We believe people earning over £60,000 should be paying 60 per cent tax."

In between battling with the government, the socialists say they would introduce bus conductors to reduce fear of crime, and invest more money in schools, while imposing a moratorium on Swindon's expansion.

If elected, the socialists have pledged to spend their £5,000 annual expenses on community campaigns.

"The socialists are standing in the tradition of what the Labour Party used to stand for," says Mr Newman. "We are real Labour."

UKIP

Michael Morton is contesting the Western ward for the UK Independence Party.

"I would take the money wasted on the European project and spend it within the UK," he says.

"The extra money can pay for tax cuts and increases in public spending."

Mr Morton, a 45-year-old procurement officer from Rodbourne, is campaigning to keep open Even Swindon Library and for an all-weather path to be built at Rodbourne Rec.

He wants to see a new central library in the town centre, and is opposed to development on the town's green spaces.

The UK Independence Party was founded in 1993 to seek Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.

Since then it has gained three European MPs and 40 councillors across the country.

This year it will be hoping to exploit fears over the European constitution to take more votes from the Conservative Party.

The party has received high-profile backing from celebrities such as Robert Kilroy-Silk, Joan Collins, Stirling Moss and Patrick Moore.

Independent

Jim Withey is standing as an independent candidate in Shaw and Nine Elms, in protest at proposals to build Town's new football stadium on the site of the Shaw Community Forest, which is near his house.

The 61-year-old engineer from Sparcells, a former member of the Conservative Party, says: "People are so angry they are prepared to stand in front of the diggers.

"If elected I would do everything in my power to stop this stadium from being built. I don't want a football stadium staring me in the eye."

Talking politics

THE ADVER is giving YOU the chance to put the political leaders on the spot before deciding where you will put your X on the ballot paper.

We are holding our own election question time on Mon-day, June 7, at Drove Primary School in Drove Road at 7.30pm.

The leaders of the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green parties have been invited to defend their policies and answer your questions at the free meeting.

The debate will be chaired by Evening Advertiser editor Mark Waldron.

Spaces are limited so those who want to secure a seat are advised to get there in good time.

Andy Tate