SO the electorate has spoken and given the main political parties a big raspberry. I can understand why. Politicians of all colours are perceived as arrogant and out of touch.

In my conversations with you on the doorsteps the message is clear. Politicians aren’t talking about the things that bother you, we are all the same and you don’t believe a word we say.

So when a populist party emerges which is challenging the establishment it is attractive. Fair play to UKIP – we have no one else to blame but ourselves.

I understand if I want you to vote for me I need to inspire you to do so. It isn’t good enough just to attack the opposition. When everything that comes through the letterbox is negative it is hardly surprising that people are left cold.

Similarly, sound bites and speeches which go out of their way not to offend will simply not inspire. We need to get passion and ideas back into politics.

We should be saying what we believe in, not just saying all the other candidates are awful. We should be fighting on the issues that really matter, not constructing synthetic arguments to make ourselves look good.

It is still the case that many of you remain concerned about immigration. We are getting it under control, but we need to reassure you that is the case.

The economic climate is difficult and we need to continue to reduce the deficit, but reduce the burden of tax where we can.

I personally will continue to fight for school places where we need them, improvements to our local health services and investment in transport to get more jobs and growth.

For my part I always engage with you honestly. I say what I mean and I do mean what I say. I will always put what is right before what is popular.

It sometimes means taking positions which are unpopular, but if they are the right thing to do, they should be done.

As Tony Blair said “where you decide, you divide”.