New Year is a time for looking forward to the year ahead.  Since I’m a politician and 2010 is an election year it won’t be difficult to work out what I’m hoping for.

Of course, elections bore some people stiff. This is a shame because living in a democracy is a wonderful thing.

We say that we ‘fight’ elections but in fact we don’t ‘fight’ at all. We argue, we debate, we put our case and we campaign. In the end we leave the decision to you. If most of you vote for the Government, the Government stays in power. If most of you vote for someone else then power changes hands, almost overnight.

And in the process, no-one has to die, no guns get fired, no rocks get thrown. The army does not need to be called in and no coup is required. The decision gets made by the people not the men with guns.

Most people in the world are not so lucky. That is why we should be grateful to all those from our history who did have to fight, and sometimes to die, to establish our democracy.

So, when the election comes, quiz the candidates, all of us, mercilessly. I have no problem with answering every question that is thrown at me and neither should the other candidates. You can write to me, speak to me, telephone me, email me and contact me on-line. It has never been easier to quiz your MP and I welcome the scrutiny and so should my opponents.

After nearly thirteen years as an MP I have never hidden from my constituents and I won’t start now. I believe I have a good record to defend and I will do so vigorously, all I ask is that you apply the same scrutiny to my opponents and judge us according to what you find.

And, if you get the chance, involve your children or other young people in your discussions so they also learn to respect the process of democracy and to be grateful to those who sacrificed so much to win us the right to vote.

I hope you had a great Christmas and I wish you a happy New Year.