If you're a UK voter and aren't sure how to vote, try Vote for policies. I already had a feeling about how I was going to vote and it's just confirmed it for me.
After the Digital Economy bill passed a third 'reading' last night and through the House of Lords today, my vote isn't going to be Labour. In particular, it isn't going to be Meg Hillier. I'm not a one-issue person, and I've kept a vague eye on the voting habits of my MP since I moved to the UK, so her vote for the digital economy bill was really the final straw.
As the Guardian said in Who should a scientist vote for?
My representative toes the party line with the drone-like fidelity of an ambitious career politician, and with a 10,000 majority Meg Hillier is safe. Her voting record typifies that of a government that has performed as if ideology driven, but where the only philosophy was "not old Labour". "Yes" on ID cards, "yes" to replacing Trident, "yes" to 42 days detention, "no" to an investigation of the Iraq war. Obsessed with courting a non-traditional vote, they have managed to nurture a climate of paranoid fear, where CCTV and absurd terror warnings (be furiously vigilant, swivel-eyed citizens, it's Severe!) are part of their legacy. Meg Hillier's loyalty is a depressing reminder of how Labour lost its way.
I've started to suspect that she's just a thinner version of The Thick of It's Nicola Murray. You'd honestly never know that she is meant to represent the voters of Hackney.
Consider signing up to the Fawcett Society's 'What About Women' campaign. As they say, "Worried about parental leave? Think the rape conviction rate's a scandal? Whether you have a minute, an hour or a day, you can add your voice to the What About Women campaign."
The What About Women campaign is calling on politicians to take women seriously in drawing up their election policies. The Fawcett Society is coordinating a movement to get women up the political agenda - we want thousands of women to sign up so we can get politicians to give us some proof they are giving us policies, not just platitudes. Join us, and sign up here (http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?Pageid=1032)!