Over the past few weeks the media, and I include us in this, have been guilty of focusing too much of our time on the MPs' expenses scandal.

Don't get me wrong, it‘s important - the topic received a lot of coverage and it does still need to be reported on - but we need to start moving on now. Next week we are going to the polls to vote for the local and European elections and what do we know about the political parties? Probably very little.

We need to remember that there are still good MPs and MEPs out there. Yes, we need to punish the ones who have taken our votes and our taxes for granted, but we need clear, rational heads on our shoulders right now. This isn't the time for irrational knee-jerk voting.

To allow you to vote for the party you feel best suits your values I'm going to post some snippets about the top seven parties below but I urge you to check their manifestos on the links provided. First off I want to address the people who are thinking of not voting in protest over the expenses scandal.

It's a valid point that if you don't respect any party there should be no reason to vote, but it will be the radical parties who probably represent your values the least that will benefit from this approach, not us.

 

Labour

It seems as if there's no way back for Labour, they are well and truly floundering. Experts predict that they could lose almost half of their 500 seats, which would put them into third place behind the Lib Dems. Its best chances of winning in the locals rely on Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Lancashire. It shows just how far they have fallen that they will be somewhat relieved if they are still in control of a single English county come results day.

See their policies here.

 

Conservative

Despite being hit hard in the expenses scandal Cameron has come out smelling of roses. He said the right things at the right time, and that could filter through to local constituencies. He's even taken a leaf out of Barack Obama's book and will try to factor the word "change" into all of his sentences.

Experts are predicting that a likely low turnout will improve the party's chances of winning power in all seven of the county councils they do not currently control. They are defending around 1,200 of the 2,300 seats up for grabs and are expected to boost their total by more than 100 seats.

See their policies here.

 

Liberal Democrats

Nick Clegg  has been on a roll of late. He championed the victory for the Ghurkas, which Cameron later piggy-backed on, and he has come out of the expenses row well due to the fact he has been calling for an expenses overhaul for years. He was also the man who first called for Speaker Martin to step down. But it seems this hasn't filtered down to local level and the party is flatlining in the polls while the Green Party and UKIP are on the incline. In the locals they are defending around 500 seats, nearly a third of those being contested.

See their policies here.

 

The Green Party

As one of the most prominent parties outside the big three, the Green Party is expected to do well out of the benefits scandal. They were expected to do well anyway due to a large focus on the environment as a key political issue. The Greens are trying to portray themselves as a ‘universal' party with developed policies on the economy, employment and health care but it will likely still just be keen environmentalists that will vote for them in serious numbers.

See their policies here.

 

UKIP

They are constantly calling for Britain to end its EU membership and as a result probably won't be of much use to any of us in Europe as they will just drag their heels. Locally though they are expected to be one of the major benefactors of the expenses fall out. Leader Nigel Farage is doing his level best to distance the party from being tarnished with the same brush as the BNP, despite a very similar stance on issues such as immigration.

See their policies here.

 

BNP

The Telegraph has labeled them as a racist party, David Cameron has branded them Nazi thugs and I'm certainly not going to argue with either of them. They do not allow non-whites to act within their party and promote racial tension wherever possible. Many media outlets are cautious when talking about the BNP in an attempt to avoid handing them publicity. They are also expected to benefit from the expenses backlash.

See their policies here.

 

Jury Team

A very peculiar party which is more of an amalgamation of individuals than a real political group. They support candidates with a diverse range of views, and have no policies of their own. They see this as a trial for next year's general election but are not expected to pick up too many votes as a result of their confusing outlook.

Read about them here.

 

Related content: What does the European Parliament do?