So, who do you vote for in May?

The manifestos aren't even out yet so how can one choose who to vote for in May?

That's assuming, of course that what's in the party manifestos will make any difference to how you'll vote. Chances are it won't.

You know how you're going to vote already. You have done for some time and very little will shake your convictions.

I'm always amazed by the pre-election bribes offered up by the incumbents - a penny off beer for example - which they think will change the way people will vote. The regularity of this tactic suggests that it works, which I find very sad. It suggests that we are so shallow and have such an ignorant view of the world that we can be bribed by such meaningless crap.

Are there really people in our midst who will vote for one party or another on the basis of a penny off a pint of beer? As opposed to voting for one party or the other on the basis of how they run the country when in office? Whether we're better off individually and as a country or worse off?

You'd have to be seriously selfish and small-minded if a penny off a pint of beer swayed your voting intentions. I think you might agree with that contention?

So let's broaden this out a little. You're not so stupid as to fall for the penny off a pint of beer bollocks, so what would you fall for? What could a party offer that would change the way you vote?

There is only one thing that would change the way you vote. It's if the other party promised, credibly, that you would personally - and meaningfully - be better off if you voted for them. 'Credibly' is the key word here: In a way which you believe to be true. In a way which would actually make you better off.

Your vote is essentially based on that conundrum. Because of course they all say that voting for them will make you better off. The question is who do you believe. And a sub-question is of course what do you mean by better off - better off now personally or better off as the country in which our kids will live?

Let's 'park' the sub question - because although it's the most important issue it is not what most voters think about in our media-driven, have it all now, get rich quick society. Sad but true.

So the question becomes: who is offering the most credibility? Who will make your life better in the short term?

Well we don't know do we? That's in the future and we do not and cannot know what the future holds.

Perhaps one of the parties will find a way to achieve universal happiness and prosperity and at a single stroke will deliver what we all want - a peaceful, safe, interesting, meaningful and comfortable life for everyone.

Possible in our dreams but unlikely in reality if we're honest.

So how do we choose if this utopia is in the future and therefore unknowable? Do we vote Labour on the basis that we have done so for 50-odd years and we're still poor? Do we vote on the basis that under the Tories rich people are getting richer and leaving us behind? Do we vote for the Lib Dems who don't have any principles but just want to be in government? The Greens who want us all to live in caves and never go anywhere? UKIP who quite rightly want to get us out of the EU but who are, if we believe what the MSM tell us, peopled by nutters?

You have to look at track records. It's the only thing you can go on as a pointer to future performance. Who has, in government, made the UK a better place in which to live, and who has made things worse.

Who has fixed often difficult problems and who has created, ignored or hidden  them?

And if you can bring yourself to consider what's best for our future as a nation as opposed to what you'll get next week,  the argument becomes overwhelming. It really does.

If you seriously consider voting for the very same people who almost killed our nation between 1997 and 2010 you're either stupid or selfish beyond belief. I don't think you're either. I think you know, in your heart of hearts, what the right thing to do is.

Do I think, therefore that you'll do it? No not really. What's that old chestnut about madness? 'Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result'?

Of course the Tories are not perfect: they have not balanced the books, they have reduced the deficit but not eliminated it. How big a crime is that given the absolutely disastrous mess they started with? Labour criticising the Tories for not balancing the books when they actually created the biggest peace-time deficit in our history is just laughable. Look at the economy, employment rates, job creation, the growth of small businesses and manufacturing, the reform of welfare which is not more generous than it was under Labour because it is not meant to be a lifestyle choice but a safety net. It certainly is much fairer and more equitable now than it was in 2010.

Of course the Tories and the country have a long way to go until we (as a country) balance the books and stop being hamstrung by having to pay-down Labour's debts. We have a long way to go to unpick a welfare system which sees many if not most 'hard-working people' working full-time and still needing hand-outs in order to live decently.

A long way to go to mend Labour's 'education, education, education' system which lowered the bar and saw us plummeting down international league tables for educational standards.

A long way to go to sort out the NHS. But perleese don't give me this 'Tories will privatise the NHS' bullshit. Labour 'outsourced' more than 4% of the NHS in its last term, a process that has continued to the tune of 2% this time. And the outsourcing is dome to help achieve batter outcomes for patients. If it's free at the point of delivery (which it is and will remain) what's wrong with bringing in other providers to meet the health needs of the population? Would you really rather people die for a want of healthcare (whoever provides it) in order to suit your ideological stance? We both know that's mad and is born of sheer envy, like much of what Labour's 'pull' is based upon.

I give Dave plenty of stick on twitter - on immigration and foreign aid and his utter weakness on the EU (we need out and so do most European countries - because if we left the whole inept undemocratic, failing monstrosity would soon collapse to the benefit of most Europeans, not just those of us in the UK). And if Dave really threatened Juncker et al with the prospect of our leaving he'd get whatever reforms he wanted, but he won't.

But the fact is if you look at the reality of where we are now - fastest growing economy in the G7, rising employment and prosperity - and where we've been in the past (track record), there is really only one positive choice in terms of how you cast your vote. I'm actually amazed that so many of us feel the need to point this out, it's so obvious. The very same people who we kicked out in 2010 for their utter incompetence, are the ones trying to make us believe that it will be different this time. And if you still hold on to the quaint belief that Labour is the party of the 'worker' in Britain, you are completely deluded. They may have been at one time but certainly not now.

There are as many 'toffs' on the Labour front benches as the Tories'. They don't represent and fight for you (the worker) you're just their support group which enables them to keep their lucrative jobs. The difference between the two sets of 'toffs' is that the Tories' toffs want to grow their wealth in a strong economy which, as a by-product delivers opportunity for everyone, while the Labour toffs don't care about that stuff, so long as they keep their cushy jobs. Indeed the difference is even more acute than that:- the Labour toffs want to keep you poor so that you keep voting for them for ever more.

It's up to you of course. I'll be voting Tory. Not because it's what I've always done, but because it's right for me and for my kids, even if they don't yet agree (largely because of the 'left leaning - was there ever a more inadequate description of our modern education system particularly at University level than this one?). But they will eventually agree once reality sinks in, because the alternative is about promises that are never delivered and an ideology of lowest common denominator, envy and the sharing of misery equally.

The question, on May 7th is about what's best for this country. If you look at the facts and the Parties' track records over the last 50 years, it shouldn't be a difficult decision. If you're intelligent and honest about it.

Your call.

Thanks for reading