What logic says that voting Tory will give us a better government? Nothing about David Cameron’s behaviour would suggest it. On Monday 4th Jan, in front of a billboard of himself looking like a botoxed Oil of Olay model, Cameron made some grand “promises” on paying off debt while protecting the NHS. It was a sham.

Within hours, both the Liberal Democrats and Labour had exposed a £34 billion hole in Cameron’s figures. By the afternoon, Cameron was reversing many of the things he’d promised, such as 45,000 single-bed hospital rooms and tax-breaks for married couples etc etc etc. Just when every penny matters, the man who would be Prime Minister had shown he couldn’t count.

Cameron’s acolytes whinged that the other parties were deliberately putting forward Tory aspirations as promises. Well, you can’t fill an election manifesto with aspirations. I aspire to a Britain where no-one pays tax, everyone has the job they want, world-class free education and healthcare are on tap, war and crime are abolished, poverty eradicated and everyone is permanently happy. People don’t want to hear aspirations. They want facts, commitments, leadership and hope.

By the end of the day, Cameron had to admit that the only thing he could commit to is that anyone who dies leaving more than half a million pounds in assets won’t pay tax on the next half a million. It’s a two year old promise affecting around 16,000 people. That’s it.

The only thing that has made the smooth-talking, silky-skinned Cameron look good is Gordon Brown. But that is only a reason to vote against Brown, not for Cameron.

Surely we should be aiming for better, not just different government? Using the election simply to punish the incumbent is cutting our noses off to spite our faces. It’s our government and whoever is voted in will rule our lives for the next few years. Swinging back to the Tory world view is no improvement, especially for those whose jobs are at risk or who are on or below average income.

Thanks to successive Labour and Conservative maladministrations Britain is in trouble. If we really want better government, we need to do more than vote against the current lot. There are other choices we can make so, how about these Liberal Democrat commitments?

Make the first £10,000 of everyone’s income tax free by taxing capital gains at the same rate as income, closing the £40 billion per year of super rich tax dodges and taxing the big polluters.

Reduce the size of education department bureaucracy and spend the money on smaller classes and targeted support for disadvantaged children. Give adults access to free learning that broadens their career opportunities.

Break up the banking industry to reduce the risk on us, get them to pay back the money we gave them and let the gamblers underwrite their own mistakes.

Establish accountable and more localised government so voters can sack their MPs and have more control over local healthcare, education and policing. Stop ex-patriot millionaires sitting in the House of Lords or funding political parties as Belize resident, Lord Ashcroft funds the Tory party.

If there’s one thing that scares the Tories and Labour, it’s the idea that the Liberal Democrats might get elected. They use phrases like “wasted vote” to dupe the public into playing safe and voting for them. They spread the myth that nobody votes Lib Dem. At the last election, six million people did - 25% of those who voted. There are currently over 60 Liberal Democrat MPs and Lib Dems run many of the cities of Britain. The voting tide is turning. The number of people voting for parties other than the Tories and Labour has risen from 2% in 1960 to 40% last year.

In the internet age it is much easier to find out what your candidates and their parties stand for (even Dr Taylor has a party, though it doesn’t offer any plans for pulling Britain out of the mire). So, read all the websites; watch the news; read the press and the blogs; consider, discuss and decide. The way the election goes will affect your future in a big way. So vote, not on the basis of which party you think has a chance of winning but on the basis of what you want for Wyre Forest and Britain.

Neville Farmer Parliamentary Candidate Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats