Would you go to a restaurant, read only the first two items on the menu and then place your order?
No, you wouldn’t. Even if you do eventually pick the second item on the menu, chances are you look at what else is available before you tell the waiter what you want. When you go out for a meal, you usually know what you sign up for. Often menus detail ingredients, alongside allergy and dietary information, so that you can make the best decision for you.
That’s exactly the same as politics.
The logical thing to do is to familiarise yourself with everything on the political menu before placing your order, or else you may miss out on something tastier. But for many people, politics feels like eating in a foreign country; they aren’t always certain what the different parties come served with due to the political language barrier. When it comes to the time to place their order, voting is akin to “making do”. Voters might go for something their parents recommend, and then end up complaining when it gets served to them. They might end up ordering something that causes them to have an allergic reaction.
The trouble is that you can’t send the government you voted for back if they aren’t up to scratch when served. Therefore it’s imperative that before casting your vote, you know full well what you’re getting yourself into. It’s important that you have carefully scrutinised the different manifestos and picked out the one with the most appealing combination of ingredients. It’s important that you choose a party that you like the sound of, not one that your parents once voted for.
But how do you do that without spending hours on Google trawling through hefty party manifestos, though? Well, the televised debates between party leaders present the perfect opportunity for voters to see what’s on the menu at the next election. Not only that, but they can do so from the comfort of their own living rooms, too. It’s like ordering a takeaway, except you don’t have to pay for anything and you don’t get fat!
A study by Rick Nye demonstrated that nearly two-thirds of the electorate would ignore the “signature dishes” of the last three decades if they cast their vote based on an assessment of policy alone. This highlights the fact that Britain is no longer a two-party, or three-party arena; the inclusion of the Greens and UKIP in these debates alongside the more traditional serving of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats is vital to ensure peoples’ growing political appetites are satisfied.
Of course, there is the argument that television debates would see voters influenced by personality rather than policy. Just like how you might dislike Lord Sugar on The Apprentice, there is a risk that Ed Miliband might not be your cup of tea. But that’s okay, because the inclusion of minor parties, like UKIP and the Greens, would increase the chance that you’ll find a compromise; a party with a tolerable leader and some good ideas as to how they’d run the country.
I truly believe that if the BBC makes sure their menu is more varied then there will be more keen voters wanting to place their order at polling stations in May 2015.
Words by Beth Kirkbride