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Brand Backtracks On Voting To Back Labour

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Russell Brand is urging voters to support Labour - after once telling people not to vote at all.

There was speculation the comedian-turned-activist would back the party after he interviewed its leader, Ed Miliband, on his YouTube show The Trews last week.

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He has now announced: "David Cameron might think I'm a joke, but I don't think there's anything funny about what the Conservative Party have been doing to this country and we have to stop them.

"So my view is this: if you are Scottish, you don't need an English person telling you what to do, you know what you're going to be doing.

"If you're in Brighton, I think it will be a travesty if we lost the voice of Caroline Lucas in Westminster.

"But anywhere else, you've got to vote Labour, you've got to get the Conservative Party out of government in this country."

Brand said there were "loads of things I could complain about with Ed Miliband".

"But what's important is this bloke will be in Parliament and I think this bloke will listen to us, so on 7 May, vote Labour," he added.

Brand also said the UK is in a "dangerous position", claiming: "The Conservative Party is planning to further dismantle our community assets, to tear apart the very fabric of our society.

"That's not something we can allow to happen, simply because people can't be bothered or don't want to vote.

"I know I've been 'Mr I don't vote' but actually what I mean is politics isn't something that we can be involved in once every five years.

"Democracy is for every day, not just for elections."

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Brand has long preached about the futility of voting, saying the political system must change because it has created a "disenfranchised, disillusioned underclass".

After it emerged that the comedian had interviewed the Labour leader, Prime Minister David Cameron responded by saying he didn't "have time to hang out with Russell Brand".

"He (Brand) says don't vote, that's his whole view, don't vote, it would only encourage them or something," Mr Cameron said last week.

"That's funny, it's funny. But politics and life and elections and jobs and the economy is not a joke.

"Russell Brand's a joke. Ed Miliband, to hang out with Russell Brand, he's a joke."

Meanwhile, TV cook Delia Smith has also thrown her support behind Labour, warning that the NHS is in "grave danger".

During a campaign visit to Brighton with Mr Miliband and Ed Balls, she declared it her "coming out day" and described herself as a "passionate" supporter of the Labour Party.

Smith is a long-time friend of the shadow chancellor due to their shared passion for Norwich City FC.