Candidate insists ‘voting isn’t the answer’ ahead of general election

A parliamentary candidate has insisted “voting isn’t the answer” to change.

Andy Bennetts will stand for the Class War party in the May general election and has already conceded defeat to Conservative candidate Michael Fabricant, insisting he could “go on holiday” and still win.

He also believes that the mainstream parties are too reliant on the “short memories” of voters: “Even in the most hotly contested seat going to a polling station on May 7 doesn’t offer a solution to anyone’s problems. Since 2010 we’ve had a government that nobody voted for imposing an austerity programme that didn’t appear in the manifest of any party.

“The Tories blame the deficit on 13 years of Labour over-spending but neglect to mention that they didn’t oppose a single Labour spending plan from 1997 to 2008, and in 2007 before the ‘election that never was’ George Osborne pledged to match Labour spending plans.

“Labour for their part accuse the Tories of stiffling the economic recovery by imposing deeper than necessary spending cuts but are not committed to rolling back a single one. Both are relying on us having short memories or not paying attention.”

But with UKIP and the Liberal Democrats also fielding candidates in Lichfield and Burntwood, there are other options for local voters.

However, Mr Bennetts believes they also fail to offer a solution to local issues.

“The Liberal Democrats have already declared themselves for sale as coalition partners,” he said. “The speed with which they abandoned their flagship tuition fees policy in 2010 suggests the number of ministerial cars they’ll be allocated is a greater priority than policy.

“UKIP is a party prone to gaffs, led by a millionaire City trader who wants us to blame our problems on foreigners when we should be blaming millionare City traders.

“The solution isn’t voting. The solution is Class War.”

The candidates standing in the Lichfield constituency in May are: