Tomorrow as I walk to the polling station and enter the building to collect my ballot paper I will once again get the feeling of connection with all the women that have gone before me. Behind me and around me will be the ghosts of memory of the suffragettes, brave women determined that I should be counted, that all women count within our electoral process. I will also walk alongside all the women of the Labour movement who have campaigned to make life for women in this country more equal.  I will feel my connection with the generations of my family who believed in socialism, in fairness, in the rights of the working people and the hope for future generations to come. I will feel the force of the men in my history who protected each other in the workplace and who wanted better for their daughters.

Tomorrow my daughter votes in her first General Election, her first chance to have a say in the government that will effect and influence her life for the next five years.  She will come with us to the Polling Station and I will remember my first vote for a government, when, accompanied by my Mum, I walked tall out of the building knowing I had been part of the election process.  She is excited and interested, she understands the issues and knows which party she will support.  She will also feel her history on her shoulders as she places her cross on the ballot paper.

I hope that people will come out to vote tomorrow, the weather is set to be fair and sunny which will help, I hope that we will wake up on Friday morning with a new party forming a government and we will be able to move towards the fairer and more equal society that my ancestors campaigned for.

I want to live in a country where the weak are supported.  Where the scared are kept safe. Where the sick are nursed to health. Where we are judged not by what we are unable to do, but by what we can contribute to society.  I want my taxes to be spent wisely. I want a safety net to catch everyone who may fall.  I want people with more money than me to contribute more for the common good. I want understanding and justice for those who need it.  I want to live in a society where hope is not misplaced. Where life is valued, and where everyone is encouraged to fulfil their potential.

I think tomorrow we maybe able to begin the process of creating the world I want to live in, I hope that it will be so.