Pirate Party leader Loz Kaye believes Ed Miliband’s Labour campaign has lacked a ‘compelling alternative’ as momentum appears to favour the Conservatives this morning.
The BBC’s exit poll suggested the Tories would fall just short of a majority, and as the votes trickle in, it appears David Cameron is in a strong position to remain as Prime Minister.
Kaye, who is running as candidate in Manchester Central, says Labour’s policies have failed to invigorate voters into making a change.
He said: “The exit poll has come as a big surprise. That does not tally with the polling we’ve been hearing up to this point.
“It’s another of those points where the Labour Party really didn’t have a compelling alternative.
“It was something we pointed out, these half or one-third measures, such as tuition fees. They were saying to cut it by £3,000 while we wanted to say education needs to be prioritised by getting rid of them completely.
“To me, you will not win if you going to say, ‘well we’re going to be slightly less crap’. That’s not a compelling message so that is why voters more widely have just planted with what they know.”
With regards to Manchester, Kaye, along with Cris Cresha – who is running in Manchester Gorton – are hoping the smaller parties can make an impact.
“We’ve stood in Central and Gorton before but what is very difficult is, like with the other small parties, that there’s been this big push to scare voters into either Miliband or Cameron,” Kaye added.
“And that’s not really relevant for the voters of Manchester. It’s about the people around here. It’s hard but we have to push for the alternatives.
“It will be more of the same with a cross next to the blues or the reds.”
