In one of my former lives, I was a district Councillor for Hyndburn in Lancashire for 8 years, the impetus for this was a general feeling that things could be made better. Once the fiddly process of actually being elected was out of the way, I rose through the ranks and spent my final 4 years as a Cabinet member, where I was in charge of parks, leisure services, education, allotments, pest control and cemeteries.
It was one of the hardest jobs of my life, the money was far below minimum wage and the constant abuse online was sometimes a bit much (especially when it's not the done thing to answer back with what you're really thinking). However, I wouldn't has missed it for the world and I'm glad I did my little bit to balance the books and help to cope with the cuts imposed on my fellow residents in a responsible way.
Despite the odd bad apple, the people who go into politics generally do so for the best of reasons and so today, rather than thinking that 'they're all the same', spend five minutes going to your polling station to make your views known.
Whether Labour, Conservative or other, at local level it really doesn't make any difference. What you need to look for is who is likely to actually do something. Have you heard of them before? Are they active in your local community already on volunteer groups, etc.? Are their leaflets promoting positive ideas or just rubbishing the opposition?
The people elected today probably live only a few streets away from you so you can actually visit them at home with your concerns.
Use your vote, everyone. It's important.
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