I have found it quite shameful over the past few days to watch Labour and especially Tory politicians fall over themselves in their attemps at scaremongering against hung parliaments, and trying to rubbish the Lib Dem influence on these elections.

Essentially I believe it’s an insult to the electorate. What is clear now in this election is that people want change, but not any change – not the pendulum change of the past, but the fundamental, radical change that would lead to a clean up of politics, reform of our institutions and Government a sensible measured approach to cuts, and an injection of fairness into our tax and benefits system and society in general.

But the hitherto unmentioned factor has been the demand for real choice. People are now telling the pollsters and the politicians that they won’t accept the old two party, either/or choice of the past. They want to be able to choose Lib Dem, Green, UKIP etc in the knowledge that a vote for their choice will count. That’s real democracy too.

As such it looks like the Lib Dems are now the beacon carriers for real choice, not just now but in the future. However this election ultimately turns out, surely elections can never be the same again. 

When the polls close on May 6th the people will have decided, the politicians must not just accept that result as the will of the people they have to listen and act responsibly in taking a new Government and parliament forward. Anything less would be a travesty and a deceit.