Pledge to Vote for What You Believe In 2 - Sara Hyde

With a month to go till the General Election, we are inviting people to pledge to vote for what they believe in, according to the values outlined in our election paper.

To help focus our thinking, we've invited commentators from across the political spectrum to explain how the values are integral to their electoral choices. We are publishing a selection of pledges not to endorse any one party but to demonstrate how different people have responded to our values and are pledging to vote according to their beliefs.

Our second pledge comes from Sara Hyde of Christians on the Left.

I work in the criminal justice system. Working in prisons re-ignited my involvement with politics because of the oppression and injustice I saw there. How can we ask individuals to change their behaviour, when the context, the systems and structures, are so messed up, unequal and unfair? We have to seek to change the context too.

Whether we like it or not, one (or two!) of the political parties will be running the country after 7 May, so if we want to see the ten principles outlined by Ekklesia, we have to be involved in the parties making those decisions. The Labour Party’s founders were Christian Socialists and the party’s genesis is in favouring the poorest and most vulnerable. They understand the need for everyone to fare well and that this will not come through high youth unemployment, the Bedroom tax, the Work Programme or benefit sanctions.

We can have a society where everyone thrives, we don’t have to be in thrall to the markets, but only by being involved in those decisions can we steer ourselves away from the neo-liberal course we have previously navigated along. We need imagination, tenacity and courage to make it so. A group of engaged activists, who don’t give up. Which is why pledging to vote for my beliefs for me means voting Labour.

* If you would like to pledge to vote for what you believe in, please leave a comment on our election website here or on our Facebook page or email your pledge to votebelief@gmail.com.

* More on the issues in the 2015 General Election from Ekklesia: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/generalelection2015