Into the last lap...

After a late night at the Provost's annual charity ball (a great night was had by all and a tremendous sum raised), I was up early this morning to go leafleting in central Greenock.

With the general election having become more like a presidential campaign, we can be forgiven for forgetting that we actually live in a parliamentary democracy and that on Thursday we are voting to elect the 646 people who will serve in the House of Commons for the next 4 or 5 years.

We are being told by the Lib Dems, and some of the so called liberal press, that the election is now a two horse race between David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

What utter nonsense.

Even on the most optimistic opinion polls for the Lib Dems, they have no chance of winning the most seats in the House of Commons never mind an overall majority.

It is certainly the case that on the basis of the opinion polls Labour faces an uphill struggle.

That really should not come as a surprise.

We have just come to the end of the first ever 3 term Labour government: a fourth term was always going to be a huge challenge, given some of the mistakes we have made over the last 13 years, the MPs' expenses scandal and the current world economic turmoil.

The fact that the Tories are not running away with the election clearly indicates that the majority of voters remain to be convinced that David Cameron's new look Conservative Party really is fundamentally different from the party that was roundly rejected in 1997 after 18 years in power.

While there is no doubt that Labour Governments have made a number of mistakes over the last 13 years they have also done much to improve the quality of life of many people in our country. Gordon Brown has played a huge part in this and, in my opinion, in terms of substance is head and shoulders above both Cameron and Clegg.

That having been said, I come back to the point I made earlier: the only people voting for Brown, Cameron and Clegg on Thursday will be in their respective constituencies.

On Thursday we will be voting for who should be the MP for Inverclyde.

Fortunately, in terms of style, substance and any other quality you care to think of, our Labour candidate is head and shoulders above any of the others.