Letter: Vandalism Is Wrong But Politicians Should Mend Their Ways

Published on: 7 Mar, 2024
Updated on: 7 Mar, 2024

Graffiti attack on Jeremy Hunt’s constituency office in Hindhead Photo Georgia Hase

From: Mark Stamp

In response to: Jeremy Hunt Says ‘We Won’t Be Deterred by Idiots’ After Attack on Constituency Office

Whatever your political views, it is incumbent on us all to reject this kind of action.

That said, I can see why the public is increasingly resorting to more extreme actions and viewpoints because for many years politics has been drifting towards becoming a game played by a select few and not reflecting the needs of many citizens.

There are some things which I think all political parties should commit to doing, and sanctioning representatives who do not, as we approach the next general election in order to counter this declining trend and start to restore some trust in our system:

1) Commit to the Full Fact pledge for honesty in campaigning.

2) Commit to a citizen’s assembly or Royal Commission on reform of the voting system to ensure more people’s votes are reflected in parliament. Should 43 per cent of the vote translate to 70 per cent of the seats, as might be the case if Labour win as expected?

3) Commit to engaging respectfully with the public, including not hiding from rigorous questioning by the media in long-form interviews rather than just repeating soundbites.

4) All parties, and especially governments, should commit to respecting each other and the other parts of the constitution including both Houses of Parliament and their select committees, the independent judiciary and any statutory bodies who are tasked with holding the government to account.

5) Work together more to get the right legislation rather than watering it down to appease a handful of rebels in the governing party when the opposition would support it.

Agreeing to these points may start to restore the trust in our politicians but there is a long road ahead.

Responses to Letter: Vandalism Is Wrong But Politicians Should Mend Their Ways

Olly Azad Reply

March 8, 2024 at 11:26 am

This is outrageous behaviour and I condemn it in the strongest terms. Whatever political views you hold, either for and and against, but daubing graffiti with paint and vandalizing property shows that the real miscreants are those who indulge in this kind of criminality.

Of course we may have disagreements with political parties and politics in general, but the best way to address them is through the ballot box and to vote for a change.

I hope the constituency office belonging to Jeremy Hunt MP has sufficient cctv in place to get any mugshots of those that were involved in this lawless act.