Despite it really only being a two-horse race for me (see Why I won't be voting for James Plaskitt), Warwick and Leamington is really shaping up to be quite the battleground constituency. We've had door knockers for Labour and the Conservatives, I've had email conversations with James Plaskitt and Alan Beddow, and I spoke to Chris White on the phone this evening for a brief chat.

For the Liberal Democrats

Alan Beddow, who has some geek credentials as an IT Project Manager, got in touch on Monday. His email mentioned the Digital Economy Bill specifically, and it was interesting to hear what he had to say on the matter - specifically that Liberal Democrat policy will be to oppose it:

I have also been concerned about the Digital Economy bill and was one of the signatories to an emergency motion at our recent spring conference to debate this issue and we were able to get our policy amended. This was good news as one or two of our Lords and MPs had failed to spot the dangers, and those of us in the IT industry were able to put our case. I am happy to say that after this our party line has been to oppose this bill in its current form.

Alan was also keen to stress what they're planning on doing with regards to cutting waste using IT:

I have taken an active role in this group hosting an event at our party conference last year looking at how we can use IT to deliver better public services at a lower cost to the tax payer. Government IT Projects have had some bad press in recent years and having been involved in some I have a shrewd idea where the issue lies, and its not with the industry.

Having created websites for large companies, bodies in higher education and been involved in the quoting and procurement processes for some government websites in the past, I understand how IT projects can quickly get out of hand, with scope- and feature-creep causing problems when there's not a level head and strong project manager in charge. Even then, they can still spiral out of control.

If the Liberal Democrats get into power - either with a majority or in a coalition government - it will be interesting to see whether or not they can deliver on this - as a geek with the web at my heart, I certainly think it's the right direction to head in.

For the Conservatives

Chris White, a school governor who works in public relations, has no specific geek credentials as far as I can tell, but he does use a Mac, which is no bad thing - but certainly not a solid reason to vote for him. Chris' reply to my email offered nothing in the way of answers to any of my questions, only asking for a telephone number.

I obliged, and shortly after returning from my karate class, he called. For just over five minutes, we discussed listening to constituents, and Chris told me that if people take the time to call and get involved with an issue, then he would certainly make sure that he used his vote in parliament, going so far as to say that if enough of his constituents were supportive of or opposed to a particular topic, he'd suppot them, even if it went against the party line.

What now?

Both Chris and Alan were keen not to dismiss James or the Labour Party, and both spoke about what they would do, rather than attacking policies or practices of the other parties. I didn't get the chance to push Chris on his party's tactics of using very negative billboard advertising in the area - the smiling Gordon Brown posters - but then the Labour party are just as guilty of snide, useless advertising - "building a foundation vs. wearing it" springs to mind.

I'm going to be mulling it over right up until next Wednesday evening when I'm going to make my decision, but as the image above suggests, I think the Liberal Democrats are just edging out in front at the moment.

This election has caused me to think longer and harder about who I will cast my vote for than any other. Prior to the campaign getting in to full swing, my thoughts were restricted to a choice between the Labour and Conservative parties, with my thoughts on voting for the Liberal Democrats being that it would be a wasted vote (and look how wrong I was there).

I've been bored of our current caretaker PM for a long time, and I never liked the idea that there's someone running the country who I didn't actually vote for - and yes, before you comment, I know that I elected the party, not the prime minister - but my only perceived alternative always bothered me. I'm not really old enough to have experienced, first hand, the impact the last Conservative government had on our country, but my dad has enough vitriolic rhetoric on the subject to go round.

I want to try and make an informed decision, so given my recent interaction with him, I thought I'd scrutinise the MP that's done the job since 1997.

On the Digital Economy Act

James Plaskitt, our incumbent representative in the House of Commons, responded to my earlier email (see If you have a vote, make sure you use it!) asking for clarification on his voting practices that led to the passing of the Digital Economy Act:

I am keenly aware of the strength of feeling on this matter, and the campaign that the Open Rights Group has organised is to be commended. The House of Commons spent around 8 hours over two nights debating the Bill. This follows more than three months of scrutiny in the Lords. I watched the whole debate. I did not support the bill.

I'm not entirely confident in the ability of a body of unelected individuals, many of whom are largely unaffected by the bill, to effectively filter what got to the Commons. Perhaps that's just me, but my opinion is that the Lords have nothing to fear, as they aren't voted into or out of power.

As for debate in the commons, 8 hours was nowhere near enough.

What really bothers me is the weasely way in which politicians use phrases, such as James' last one of that particular paragraph. "I did not support the bill." But he didn't vote against it either.

I didn't vote against the Bill because that would have killed it off completely, which I don't agree with. There are important issues raised in the Bill, which need an adequate debate. So voting against the Bill would not allow these issues to be raised, either now or in the next Parliament.

I hope you don't think I ducked out of this vote - I was up until midnight on both nights of the debate! I decided I couldn't support the Bill (the 'main vote' is to decide whether it should proceed), so I voted against my party whip. But I was concerned that if the Bill had been defeated completely, then we would miss out on a chance to debate these issues.

This is an area where I have little knowledge in the process of debate of Bills and Acts, but surely it's better to debate laws before rather than after they've been passed? And, as I've stated before, I couldn't care less whether my MP votes with his party, it's about whether he's representing his constituents' wishes.

In the case of the Digital Economy Act, I feel let down. My MP didn't represent me at that vote, and by abstaining, he wasted my vote.

On the Iraq War

There are tons of great tools on the web that allow you to see what your MP is up to. Gone are the days when the public record was difficult to access, decipher or understand, and I suspect many traditional MPs are quite uncomfortable about having their voting record easily accessible to the public.

James doesn't like these tools either. From an email James sent to me on April 8th:

I would respectfully recommend that you do not rely on such websites. In my experience they are notoriously unreliable at presenting an accurate voting record. Their methodology tends to take an average of YES versus NO votes on any particular issue to produce a conclusion like "Voted Moderately in Favour Of..". This gives no consideration whatsoever to the content of the clauses. Theyworkforyou still says that I voted in favour of the Iraq war. I did not.

Now, in fairness to James, he didn't vote in favour of the war. He wasn't present for the vote on the 'weapons of mass destruction' fiasco. He voted in favour of requiring a second UN security council resolution, voted that the case for war was unproven, and that the case for war was not established. He did, however, also vote in support of the government.

So, technically, James did not vote in favour of the Iraq war, but in what looks like it could be a pattern here, he wasn't present for the vote on the declaration of war. He didn't vote against it either.

Sound familiar?

On other issues

So in the two cases above, I would posit that by not voting, James actually allowed his constituents' wishes to go unvoiced in parliament.

Saddam Hussein was a really, really bad person but, whilst I can't speak for the whole of Warwick and Leamington, I expect the majority of the conurbation was opposed to the war. And, likewise, I think if enough of my neighbours actually knew what the Digital Economy Act entitled the government and media corporations to do to them, I think they'd be opposed to that too.

James Harrison has created an excellent website called Politics Posters, which encourages local candidates to come and talk to you based on the voting history of the constituency's last MP. For instance, if you live in the Warwick and Leamington constituency, you can download James Plaskitt's voting history as a poster.

Based on this, James voted:

• Moderately against a transparent Parliament
• Very strongly for introducing ID cards
• Very strongly for introducing foundation hospitals
• Strongly for introducing student top-up fees
• Very strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws
• Moderately for the Iraq war
• Very strongly for replacing Trident
• Moderately against laws to stop climate change

Oh dear indeed.

In conclusion

I don't know what the other prospective parliamentary candidates would do differently, but I do know what James has done in the past. I suspect digging into each of the items above on the Public Whip website would reveal that he either did vote as suggested or abstained. I'd like my MP to do things differently, so I'll be voting for someone other than James Plaskitt on May 6th.

If you live in the Warwick and Leamington constituency, I'd urge you to do the same.

The right to vote is important, and if you have a vote, you should use it - it's no good complaining about the state of the UK if you didn't bother to try and shape its future. The wife and I will be casting our votes fairly early on May 6th - if it's a nice morning, we'll probably walk to the polling station, which is a 5 minute walk from our house - and I'd urge you all to do the same.

The recent passing of the Digital Economy Act has really annoyed me in this regard. Many of us used our vote at the last general election to put MPs in power that would make sure our voice was heard, but 410 406 MPs - four hundred and ten six - didn't bother using their vote, and didn't bother making the voices of thousands of concerned consitutents heard.

My local MP at the time, James Plaskitt, with whom I had a lengthy email discussion regarding the act, was one of these didn't use his vote. Many of these politicians will spin the fact that they did not vote into a claim that they did not support the bill, but whilst technically not voting against the bill can be classed as not supporting it, in this particular case I disagree.

Because my MP did not vote against the bill, I feel that my voice wasn't heard. So I've emailed him:

Hi James,

I wasn't sure if your parliament.uk email address would still be working, so I've emailed you at jamesplaskitt.com instead.

I've been reading through a lot of communications with the local parliamentary candidates, and I'm still - as yet - undecided as to who I'll be casting my vote for.

Everyone always talks about how important it is for us to use our vote - that if we want to make sure our voice is heard, that we need to use it. I'd say this is one of the most important things about democracy - actually using your vote and ensuring your opinion is counted.

Would you agree?

This is why the past few weeks have disturbed me a little - I've just been reading back through a few emails between us, regarding the Digital Economy Act, and one thing sticks out at me. Despite my email and our conversation, you didn't use your vote in the case of the Digital Economy Act. Not supporting the act and not voting against it are two entirely different things, yet many incumbent MPs have tried to suggest that they are one and the same.

I don't understand the intricacies of party politics - I'm guessing that by not voting, you wouldn't get in trouble with the party; by voting against the bill, perhaps you'd have potentially got into some trouble. Personally, I don't care about party politics or whether my MP gets in trouble with his party for actually acting for his constituents - I'd like an MP who listens to his local people - particularly those who take the time to get in touch - and acts upon their concerns.

One of your door knockers came round to see us last Thursday - and I mentioned that the Digital Economy Act is a point of great concern to me. I want to know what you and the Labour party are going to do about it. It's broken, and it desperately needs repealing and sorting out properly. As far as I can tell, the only party who have publicly pledged to do anything about that is the Liberal Democrats.

I'd love to get your thoughts on why you didn't use your voice... MY voice in parliament.

He's busy on the 27th of April, as are the other parliamentary candidates, so they can't join us at our Multipack event. But I'll let you know what he says if and when he responds.

Correction

I incorrectly suggested that 410 MPs didn't bother voting. It's actually 406, as the boundary changes which have taken place now weren't in place at the time of the Digital Economy Bill vote. It's still an appallingly high number.