AS THE decade draws to a close, where are we as a country compared to 2010?

For many months now, numerous contributors have stated the political system in this country is not fit for purpose, and it is clear it is not when in the current situation regarding Brexit the Conservatives, rather than do the correct thing by consensus, deliberately throw away their majority by ejecting the sensible moderates, then declare that Parliament is not fit for purpose and go for the option of yet another election which may solve nothing whatsoever .

They are quite frankly a self-indulgent disgrace and ought to be thrown out of government without delay.

The problem is, who replaces them? We have the Liberal Democrats, who are jointly responsible for the austerity programme, increasing tuition fees, massive cuts to public services (which are on their knees), council taxes rising inexorably and much else, including the Brexit referendum among other things. All these have damaged society immeasurably and were a political choice, not a necessity.

Ironically, now an election has been called there’s bags of money to spend on everything the Conservatives and their partners cut. Has the deficit been eradicated? No. Has the national debt been reduced? No; actually it has doubled.

In 2010 Cameron promised he would fix “broken" Britain and instead he and the Lib Dems smashed it up completely on the rocks of Brexit. They are complicit in changing this country forever, but not for the better. They joined in the divide-and-rule policy the Tories have used strategically for decades.

I fail to see how ordinary working people could imagine the Conservatives are on their side, although I’m sure psychologists have a term for it. People are living and dying on the streets, millions use food banks, millions more are in work poverty, schools are having to help feed children and their families in this country in the 21st century! No social care, no help at all in fact for anyone looking after a loved one except a paltry £64 per week. Wow!

The Brexit Party is a one-trick pony that, if elected, would have less idea of governing this country fairly and equitably than this lot. They are no more than insurgents led by a man in Farage who shouts loud and long from the sidelines but does not want to stand for election himself, having done so and failed several times already. Again, the idea that this man cares a fig about ordinary people's lives is a myth. He cares little about any economic damage done as a result of a clean break from the EU , and even less about sorting it out .

The Greens are a party that are hugely underrated and dismissed as "happy clappers" but in fact have many sensible policies. Alas, coming from such a low base to becoming highly influential seems unlikely, to be honest .

The Labour Party seem to be poorly regarded due to the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, in particular, which seems unreasonable as it’s highly unlikely he will be around for long anyway. However, given the damage done to the services that everyday people rely on to actually live, then they seem a viable option at least for a while. Furthermore their position regarding Brexit is actually quite sensible and would give a satisfactory choice for everyone’s point of view to be respected, if only the media would stop calling it confusing and muddled .

So, as someone that really couldn’t care less about Brexit, my feeling is that if people vote solely with that in mind and not taking into account the havoc that’s been wrought on most people’s daily lives, you may well get Brexit but live to regret who you elect to rule over you for the next five years, with more Tory cuts to come.

The last ten years will surely go down in history as a wasted period of self-harm. As with Brexit , this election is the wrong thing, at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons: a very sad and depressing state of affairs indeed.

And when immigration still runs into the hundreds of thousands and people still can’t get a dentist, a school place, somewhere to live, a job, then maybe the voters will realise it was the austerity programme and Tory cuts that was the problem, and not the EU.

Answer provided Friday, December 13; talk about bad luck!

Robert Boak

Allithwaite