Thanks to everyone who has read this or voted for the Green Party. It has been an honour. Special thanks to the wonderful teams who are Dudley Green Party and WMGP.

We've got our first MP!
Well done Caroline Lucas

I got up at 6:15 as usual this morning, then went up to the school I used to teach at and voted for myself!
That's one for the mental scrap book.
Please vote. We need to reclaim democracy.

Not one of the Lib Lab and Con are telling you what they will cut.

Possibly, they cannot face the truth themselves. The leaders' six billion squabble over National Insurance is too trivial in the scheme of things to be anything other than a bit of sawdust in the voters' eyes. In fact, our whole world is splintering about us. We face the real problem of soverign default.

The admitted debt is rising by half a billion a day. The treasury says it will rise to one and a half trillion. It is actually more. And we have a rising old population and no money for their care and pensions, rising borrowing rates and a sinking pound.

If they were candid, we should all start to panic. In fact the climate change nuts are a useful distraction, even better than the nugatory 6 billion distraction.

If they won't cut, there is only one way out - hyperinflation. They will simply print the money we need. We shall all be beggars if this is the route.

Don't accept this. We have to cut down the size of Government. We have to face up to the cuts. The debt bubble is bursting. We have to make things again and trade them and we have to stop pretending Big Government can manage anything.

Sovereign default is terrible. People died in Greece today. For Heaven's sake, let's wake up and cut Government down to size. Vote UKIP.

This is the last real day of campaigning. Thanks if anyone has read this. A last bit of work today and we are doing the unthinkable and going into Birmingham to see 'The Infidel' at the 'Electric Cinema' this afternoon.
The house is a tip, the washing is piled up and my allotment is further behind than the Spring. I can hardly keep my eyes open and it's fish and chips for tea tonight from our excellent local chippy. I've got to bake some bread today so that I've got something to make Vicky's packed lunch tomorrow. I'm so glad we 'freecycled' the bread maker. it is so much more therapeutic doing it by hand.
Keep it Green!

It was a hard day out on the road today, but we managed to get a good number of leaflets given out. We'll be out meeting people again tomorrow and then visit some of the polling stations on Thursday. I'm pretty sure that I know who will win in Stourbridge, but the overall result is more difficult to call.
The amount of money the two biggest parties are spending is quite frightening. How many of us ignore the real policies and vote for the party that has sent out most leaflets and bought most space in the papers and posters? It pays to advertise I suppose..

Don't worry, Will. I don't actually think mankind really has much influence on the weather!

I do agree with you about policies and their importance for anyone who wants to vote on principle. Check out the UKIP ones here: http://sites.google.com/site/policyprompt/. We want less Government, more manufacture, less political correctness and less EU and more freedom.

Sorry about the cloudy weather Maddy, it wasn't a Green Party plot to hide your banner. We do have a huge job to pay off the debt, but we are no where near as bad as Greece. Hot on the trail again today after a lazy start. Another lot of leaflets to get out and then it is just a matter of trying to talk to as many people as possible. If you are still undecided I would urge you to try the 'vote for policies' web site as it gives a good range of parties and describes their policies honestly.
I really think that we need to do something serious about our electoral system as the party with the most personable leader can only be beaten by one with more money. Let us all please vote for the Party we believe offers the best policies and has a record of honesty. If you can't find one then join the Green Party like I did.

Sorry about the cloudy weather Maddy, it wasn't a Green Party plot to hide your banner. We do have a huge job to pay off the debt, but we are no where near as bad as Greece. Hot on the trail again today after a lazy start. Another lot of leaflets to get out and then it is just a matter of trying to talk to as many people as possible. If you are still undecided I would urge you to try the 'vote for policies' web site as it gives a good range of parties and describes their policies honestly.
I really think that we need to do something serious about our electoral system as the party with the most personable leader can only be beaten by one with more money. Let us all please vote for the Party we believe offers the best policies and has a record of honesty. If you can't find one then join the Green Party like I did.

Who saw the UKIP aeroplane on Saturday? It was a shared cost between us in Stourbridge, Dudley, Halesowen &c. I was out canvassing but I didn't see it - possibly because of the dark rain clouds.

Now it is sunny and lovely, two days later. I am taking my dog for a bound in the bluebells. But tonight I am with Mike Natrass, your UKIP MEP, to answer EU and voter questions at the Fox in Lye.

Don't count on the glorious morning weather lasting all day! I think that there is a risk that, in these lovely spring days, we forget the national crisis we are in and voters might not quite comprehend how bad Labour spending has been. We are broke, we do face a crisis as bad as Greece's and we have to cut down the cost and size of Government.

Thank goodness for a bit of rain, but does it have to be at the week end? My allotment really needed it! The potatoes are coming through and the asparagus is thriving. Everything is beginning to really shoot up, unfortunately it is mainly the weeds as I've been so busy doing this politics stuff
I'm catching up with e-mail enquiries today while Vicky (my lovely wife) continues preparing her lessons; a seemingly never ending task. I'm also getting some housework done and the meals prepared as usual. We managed to get out together for about an hour this morning walking the dog. We also had a visit from my son Will who wanted advice on who to vote for as the Greens haven't been able to field a candidate in his constituency.
Back on the campaign trail again tomorrow with help from fellow Green Party members and supporters. We've got lots more leaflets to deliver.
I've got another dozen e-mails to deal with, so I'd better do that and then get the washing up done. A househusband's work is never done.

Hmmm. Will is a very good co-candidate and a delightful person and I am so pleased to have met him. But I don't agree with his blog.

He says, of the Bridge Radio Debate with us and the Independent candidate, "It was however interesting to see the areas we agreed on: Help for small businesses, electoral reform and the need to take care of our resources for instance (I don't think I'm misrepresenting them)."

Well, we agreed on some subject headings. That's it! Our policies could not be further appart.

For example, on small business, our view is lower tax, no National insurance - a tax on jobs - and deregulate by removing the 120000 Brussels regulations.

As the country is completely broke, facing catastrophe of sovereign default and unpaid government bills, like Greece, UKIP is up-front that we need to face radical cuts and the public sector must be reduced to a minimal thing.

For example, we would cut out the £50bn worth recommended by the taxpayers' alliance, as well as other cuts - Europe, Climate Change Act, aid etc. This would mean the removal of the intermediaries that let Government direct our services. This would be good as it would at last allow local headmasters or Matrons to make the decisions themselves without the target and paperwork waste. But this plan does mean cutting jobs in the unproductive public sector so that manufacture and small business can grow. We have to say this striaght.

The Greens say no cuts at all to services, no job losses and raised National Insurance. They even want to carry on supporting other countries with aid. They think government can 'invest' (and we say this won't work); in fact we think most green industry is probably more wishful thinking than a real business opportunity (like the banks) if it has to be state-subsidised.

It all comes back to a basic problem the Left has. Particularly Gordon Brown. They think money is something just there to be shared around. If someone is richer, they say, it is because the poorer are deprived.

Money is not something just there as of right for everyone. It is the result of individuals working hard, producing things other people want and saving for their families. Having money does not mean you deprived other people of it unless you are a thief, a taxman, an overpaid chief exec of a public body, or a subsidised banker!

If they don't cut, the Government, of any party, will end up just printing more money to pay debts as the lenders aren't going to lend any more to a country that makes nothing.

Printing money will dilute its value. We face high inflation and reduced real incomes. Without cuts, our debts are too large to pay another way . And this will rob anyone who did save pensions, or pay off a mortgage; because inflation taxes savers. In fact, we are all going to pay for the wasteful Labour years if we can't cut Government down to size.

I have had a complaint that I haven't responded to a question. I was, of course, very grateful for the compliment that I was a 'skilled politician'. It was the first time that I had ever been called a politician and it is a bit of a shock.

I'm sorry, there seems to be some problem with the messages as the site tells me that nobody has even viewed my blogg (which my wife promises isn't true as she looks at them). If you want to ask me anything then my e-mail is wjduckworth@hotmail.co.uk.

I had a lovely time on 'The Bridge' radio station this morning. I did get on my soapbox a little and the listeners had to suffer a few rants. I was with two other candidates and we had some heated discussions. It was however interesting to see the areas we agreed on: Help for small businesses, electoral reform and the need to take care of our resources for instance (I don't think I'm misrepresenting them). It showed me that if we do end up with 'no overall control', as we do in many councils across the country, It will not be a disaster. I find it quite interesting that we have a party promoting less government interference, also complaining that a hung parliament won't be able to do much.

Well the Leader's Debates are over and we are into the final week of the election campaign. What impact have they had and where is the election going now?

After Nick Clegg's clear victory in the first debate, Cameron and Brown improved their performances, so that while the first debate changed the nature of the election - into a genuine three party battle, the following two tended to be awarded to the leaders more or less in line with current opinion polls. These are consistently indicating that the three parties line up with the Tories in a narrow lead, the Lib Dems in second and Labour in third. What is crucial now is how the undecided voters make up their minds. This is clearly all to play for, though encouragingly for the Lib Dems, according to the pollster Angus Reid, the undecided voters preferred Nick Clegg's performance (37%) to Cameron (25%) and Brown 22%) in last night's debate.

What does seem clear is that the debates have got more people interested in the election and have given them access to the key debates in a new and easier way. I was sceptical about them before the first debate, but was rapidly won over to the format. They seem sure to become a standard part of general elections from now on and I welcome that.

The final week of the campaign will see the Tories trying to use their narrow lead as a base from which to push on and win outright. I believe that if they do it will be very bad news for our country. Their economics team are inexperienced and have made bad judgments in recent years. They are the weakest of the three parties on the crucial environmental issues (with the risks to our oil supply being symbolically highlighted by events in the Gulf of Mexico as I write). And very depressingly, after the excitement of the election campaign, a Tory victory would condemn us to another 5 years of old politics as they are wedded to the First Past the Post electoral system.

We need real change on all these issues and its the Lib Dems who are flying the flag of reform across the country. Please give us your support, when you come to cast your vote.

There is a wonderful Father Ted episode in which the Fathers want to smooth out a tiny dent in an otherwise perfect car: a tiny adjustment, counter adjustment, tap, finishing touch, another touch, here, there, just one last.... The scene indicates time passes.... And the car is a bizarre crushed and amorphous tangle of bashed metal. The moral - do not tinker!

The Left's last 60 years' search for 'fairness' has been like Father Ted let loose on a car. They want a more equal society. This chimes with us if we take perfectly natural offence when some people are very rich and others are in want. And the answer from the Left is that those who are rich have taken a share that morally belongs to the poor, and deprived them.

But except at the extremes of wealth, this is simply not true. And like the Fathers, the more the Left re-distribute, the more unequal we get.

The Labour Government has tried harder than most to even things out: tax credits, minimum wage, non-dom tax, money for poorer children in education, the regional development funds for poor areas, task forces on deprivation, .... I could go on for pages.

This massive redistribution of wealth has ended with the rich richer than ever, and the poorest relatively poorer. The bottom centile has got poorer by all measurements. The GINI coefficient has widenend - we are more unequal. Social mobility has declined. And rather than pay for this, the very rich just move, while the 'coping classes' who work and pay taxes, have to cough up ever more in their pay packets.

Socialism does not make us more equal. And this Labour Government, with their special interest friends - MPs,bankers, big business partners in PFIs and outsourcing, highly paid chief executives of councils - all these get richer with special patronage from Government.

The problem is that Labour targets, like Father Ted, here and there. T ax credits are for those that work so many hours. New Deal for Communities applies here and there. They also like targeting people who are the more-well-off-poor particularly because it is cheapest to give them a little money and raise them out of a poverty category.

And this is so unfair. If you work hard, get qualifications, find a job, save money, each time you get on in life, you are in Left terms, depriving the poor and should be taxed more. A big misunderstanding of the Left, is that they wrongly think riches are just there and should be shared, rather than something that each of us, more or less makes when we work or save.

And finally, one cannot have equality of outcome and equality under the law. These things are mutually exclusive. As soon as you decide someone deserves to get more, you are treating them differently.

We must help the very poorest to the essentials of life; but above that we must treat everyone equally. The state should stop levelling us out. It should allow some people naturally to do better because that makes the whole country richer. It should encourage grammar schools, wealth creation and saving. Real equality is the consequence of evenly applied laws.

I was almost on the panel on Midlands Today with some real 'big hitters' from the three largest parties and the deputy leader from the BNP. They gave me a good chance to get the Green Party message across.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s8yll/Election_2010_The_Midlands_Today_Debate/

I also had a great time at the 'Churches together' hustings last night and was told that i came across as a 'skilled politician' I don't want to be a 'skilled politician'. I just want people to know and understand our policies and those of all the parties and then vote for what they believe in. Maybe I am just a hopeless idealist.

The hustings was well organised and the other candidates, on the stage, were all friendly.

I was greeted with incredulity when I said I was unconvinced by climate change, but with some encouragement when I said that investment banks should be allowed to die if they took risks that didn't pay off.

I met some charming people, including a lady who had worked with prisoners and a most interesting poet.

The interesting thing was that someone in the audience said that they thought it was wrong to mock people who did not 'believe' in climate change. Thank you whoever that was. Why is it a belief, all of a sudden? Science must be disprovable, or it is not science. The un-manipulated raw data from East Anglia and the McIntyre analysis would suggest doubt. However, if climate change is a religion, its followers do not care for apostasy.

A sad question from a lady from Zimbabwe had me totally at a loss. Apart from moral support and medical aid, I do not know what we can do or afford to do. I felt guilty, particularly after the sad death of cousin Peter out there, that I could pledge nothing more than my sympathy.

Thank you, Churches Together, for your hospitality and democratic service. It was a pleasure to talk to Phil on Bridge radio and a great pleasure to meet the voters.

Got up at 6:20 today to get breakfast for Vicky and see her off to work. Unfortunately that's about all I can manage as I feel rotten. I've been to bed for a while and feel a little better, but still rather dizzy and have a nasty headache. I need to feel better for tonight and the BBC.

I had a lovely time this morning at the Elmfield School, What lovely people!

Tomorrow it's serious with BBC1 filming for the election debate, which will be shown from 10:50 to 11:30 tomorrow evening.

I'm trying to get the seed beds prepared on the allotment in the morning. I wonder how many other candidates are worrying about getting their food grown for the rest of the year.

Well; after half an hour of interview they showed 14 seconds of me talking about the difference between the Green Party and the Lib Dems. It will do nothing to dispell the idea that we are a single issue party even though I spent most of the time talking about how we will find and spend £44,000,000,000 on creating jobs in the construction industry along with transport and health.

I'm getting nervous now. I should be appearing on the BBC1 Politics Show today. Starts at 2pm today because of the London marathon. This will be available on replay so I can be tortured with it in the future.
It is so hard to get our message across and there are still lots of people who think we are just a single issue party. The single issue we have been pushing most is JOBS. We almost assume that people who understand and care about the environment will look carfully at our policies and the 'big three' and realise that we are the only party that 'gets it'.

With the election just 11 days away, its interesting to reflect on how much has changed during the campaign. For the first week it seemed like a traditional Tory vs Labour battle with the poll of polls fairly static with the Tories on around 37%, Labour 31% and the Lib Dems on 20%.

The first Leaders's Debate blew that apart and lots of people looked again or for the first time at the Lib Dems. Since the surge in our support from that debate, things have become more stable with the poll of polls now showing the Tories on 34% the Lib Dems at around 30% and Labour in third place on 27%.

This implies that the surge in Lib Dem support has come from a mix of Labour, Tory and the smaller parties in roughly equal proportions, however to me it feels that there is a bigger shift from Labour. Certainly when you compare these figures with the 2005 general election figures, you see that the Tories are stable or slightly up, while the big shift is from Labour to the Lib Dems.

The right wing media certainly see the Lib Dems as the big threat to the Tories now - and there was a clear and concerted attack on us on Thursday. I take this as the best compliment we can be paid - it shows the progress we have made, and our opinion poll rating has held up well agains the attack - I think the public understand what is going on and recognise that we are being attacked because of our success in the campaign so far.

With the polls so close, the next 11 days are going to be fascinating, very exciting for all politics watchers and no doubt exhausting for the candidates! I wouldnt have it any other way.

I had an interesting chance to compare my usual canvassing in Stourbridge to canvassing in Birmingham today when I supported my friend and colleague, Waheed, PPC for Hodge Hill in a staunchly Labour area of Birmingham.

It made me wonder if Labour support will collapse in even their most loyal areas. So many Labour supporters told me they were just not going to vote, if I can judge from today. The non-voters from Labour in Hodge Hill seemed to be ex-car factory workers. If the purpose of Labour was to give a voice to workers, then as the jobs have gone perhaps the raison d'etre of Labour has gone, too.

We live in a different world now and future manufacturing is going to be in small, highly skilled and innovative comopanies. I have seen some of these thriving in Stourbridge with exports up despite the recession. One of our branch members runs a small company and he says that the workers are as close as family - not surprising after 20 years of close collaboration and solving business problems together. I cannot help but think it is better when workers and managers are close and while the capital risk taker may get more profit (or loss in a bad year), there is a basic equality.

Under Labour the gap between the highest paid and the lowest has grown. The poorest tenth have got poorer because they do not benefit from redistributionist tax credits or minimum wages, that centile being largely unwaged. Labour, for all their wealth re-distribution, created an ever more unequal society. And particularly in the public sector, top salaries are far too high. Socialists do not do capitalism well. They favour big business, special friends, special interests and over-paid mandarins. Their complicated tax and benefits system favours the very rich and the devious. The middle income workers carry the largest load of the tax.

UKIP are unusual. We accept that some will do better than others. I personally eschew social justice entirely. And we have no wish for equality of outcome. We want instead equality before the law, equal treatment, and therefore equal opportunity. You can't of course, as the philosophers have often pointed out, have both. If you treat everyone equally, they won't all end up the same because some are cleverer, luckier, better at this or that. This shows in our pro-grammar school policies, our simple flat rate of tax.

We propose that nobody pays tax on the first £11,500 of income so that the very poorest do not pay at all. Above that sum there is just one tax of 31% and no National Insurance, and no difference in corporation tax.

Volumes of tax code are reduced to one simple A4 piece of paper. In countries who have done flat tax, revenue rises because low tax is good for business and there is no point in avoiding tax as there are no loop-holes.

The benefits system would be similarly simple. You can roll all the benefits - jJobseeker's Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Income Support, Carer's Allowance, Statutory Maternity Pay and student grants into one flat-rate Basic Cash Benefit ('BCB').

If people claim BCB they forfeit their tax free personal allowance of £11,500. BCB will not be means tested so fraud prevention costs and administration costs will be low.

So if someone is on benefits and they receive an offer of part time work, they lose nothing by taking up work. (This is not true at the moment where people often lose money if they take up work.) In the new system the worker simply pays tax on their wages. If their work increases at some point they will gain if they switch from the benefit onto their personal allowance. The exchequer gains, the person gets the chance to work without penalty and the employer finds it easy to get a flexible workforce.

As the meerkat says: simples.

Another lovely day! I've just taken Poppy and Flynn out for a walk in the park with my wife Vicky. I've done a telephone interview on The Bridge radio station and am in the middle of answering lots of e-mail questions from voters (wjduckworth@hotmail.co.uk). I really think that the internet gives us a real chance to connect with the people who want to represent us. Unfortunately the more successful the politicians are the less likely they are to even answer their own e-mail questions. I have had offers from Green Party members to help me out, but I will never let anyone pretend to be me in that way. The internet and sites like http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/ can be used to help us make decisions about how we vote.

Back to the day job. I've got to get this place fit to live in. Filming for the Politics Show yesterday and I met the independant candidate for Stourbridge who turned up in a beautiful Aston Martin and said that the current parties do not understand 'the man in the street'.

The BBC hate UKIP. We never get fair coverage from them. So today, I wasn't surprised that my visit to the Politics Show bungalow in Stourbridge was so strange.

UKIP came first in the region in the Euro elections last year. THere are two UKIP MEPs here. We have local councillors and have nearly filled all the PPC vacancies. We are the only genuinely different party and the voters need to know about us to make their choice. Yet, in spite of this, I was excluded from debating with Lib Lab and Con who were coming later; and told to talk about the campaign alongside Will of the Green Party.

Actually it was very pleasant to meet Will who is very likeable and amazingly, since UKIP thinks Climate Change alarmism is dangerous nonsense and Will clearly thinks it very important, we did find a few common points. One was that the other three parties were the same and at least we offered the electorate a choice - in his case he said, really green policies instead of sham ones - in my case the only party offering to cut down the size of the state.

Anyway the BBC wanted to film us staring into a window with balloons and party stuff so they could say we were being shut out of the main parties' party.

I can't understand why we should want to show ourselves this way. IT is after all the BBC who were shutting us out this evening. THey are making the story and have their own predefined ideas. I thought journalists should find stories, not make them. Badly done, BBC.

At least its better than the other day when they said they would film me if I found a horse and supported fox hunting - I turned that one down as totally irrelevant to Stourbridge. They were asking, by the way, because Labour wanted a class war story. Why are they so pro-Labour?

[This paragraph has been the subject of a complaint and has been suspended. The complainant has retracted the facts on which the opinion was based.]

It's getting serious now. I'm meeting up with David Thompson of the Politics Show to do an interview that should go out ationally on Sunday.

Despite the impact of the Icelandic volcano, which has demonstrated just how small we can be in comparison to the forces of nature, the environment has hardly featured at all so far in the General Election campaign. Not one of the questions in last Thursday's Leaders' Debate mentioned the subject.

And yet how we repond to the growing pressures on global resources (most urgently the end of plentiful cheap oil) and the threat of climate change, is likely to be one of the defining issues for the lives of our children.

The Lib Dems have put a huge emphasis on the environment in our manifesto. We believe in a big investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy production, with an aim that 40% of our energy will be come from clean non-carbon emitting sources by 2020, rising to 100% by 2050.

The current rise in petrol prices, driven by higher oil prices, which are rising despite a major economic recession, is a sign that we have to be much more frugal with the world's resources. Transforming our energy intensive economy into a low carbon economy is the way forward and we need a Government with the vision to make the big investment to get us there. The Lib Dems have that vision.

I've spent 5 hours today stuck at the laptop catching up with e-mails and messaging people in the area who have contacted me.

We are staring into an abyss. We are broke. Our taxes will be spent on debt-interest; so will our children's taxes, and their children's. They will be s working hard if they have jobs, just to pay interest on the debt. Government's purpose is to protect our freedom and yet we shall be enslaved.

Gordon Brown's spending on banks, wars and grandiose socialist transformation schemes has done this.

Which brings me to my point. To avoid Zimbabwe-like poverty, what can we do? I have to point out that the three old parties are not going to do enough.

The Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems have identified only a few billion pounds of cuts. Meanwhile they simultaneously commit to more spending.

As the total debt is heading for thousands of billions. £1,400,000,000,000 officially (And Mr Brown has hidden possibly about as much again off balance sheet), it is quite clear these cuts won't be nearly enough. And borrowing is rising by half a billion more every day. Brown's borrowing is like drinking in an alcoholic who needs a liver transplant.

What we have to do is cut far more, and quickly. Nothing short of a complete transformation of state activity will do.

Here is a start of £100 billion: most of the £50 billion a year spent on quangos, stop the Climate Change Act (£18 billion), overseas aid (£7 billion) quit Europe (6 billion a year), IT projects (13 billion), Afghanistan (£4.5 billion) Government, consultants (£2.5 billion), 'perk credit cards for public servants (£1 billion), public servants earning over 100K a year (£1 billion) public sector publicity (£250 million),

But that's not enough. Our population is aging and we are wasting over half our health budget on administration. We need a smaller state. Services should be run locally by good professionals, not ruled from Whitehall. Headmasters should run schools, matron should rule the wards and local bobbies should be given far more discretion. Cut government down to size.

Only UKIP wants Government to do less.