Dai Havard

Labour Party | Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney

Not just a single issue!

I have many letters about ‘single issue’ campaigns like, trading in Ivory, or the NSPCC ‘Full Stop’ campaign. I sit on a committee in Parliament that changes existing Primary Legislation outside the Chamber of the House. I see many individual campaigns claiming they are not about politics, but ironically, demanding a political response or remedy! Often their concerns are expressed as single issues or as being about people not organisations. At the root they are all about collective issues.

I had more letters recently about the Ivory Trade than about Top Up Fees in Universities, maybe because my opposition to Top Up Fees for Universities was already well known. I suspect it was, in part, a reflection of modern politics. People often do not want to see their own particular concerns in the context of the established political system, but rather in some way abstracted from it and a personal response to the world. That raises challenges for elected politicians and parties.

In my option is it’s wrong that people are not concerned with politics, or in some way feel separated from it. It was encouraging recently to see so many of the current Higher Education students prepared to demonstrate and organise collectively and politically, on behalf, not just for themselves, but for the next generation of students, their children and grandchildren.

Politics is not something of yesterday to be ignored. On June 10th we will vote for local Councillors and Members of the European Parliament. Those standing will find that politics is certainly about people, but single issues cannot be dealt with in isolation, and need collective and organised political responses. Attempts to give a false consciousness to people about politics must be resisted. All of us with the opportunity to vote, especially first-time and younger voters, should show we are not fooled by making our individual statement in the collective political processes that make our society work.