By Community Correspondent William Caruana UK voters will elect the next government on May 6th after Gordon Brown called a General Election last week, but who, if anyone, will you be voting for this time round? The Liberal Democrats have held the Richmond Park constituency seat since 1997 but will it change this time round? Susan Kramer and Zac Goldsmith amongst others are the ones who want your vote in the Richmond Park constituency, but are you going to vote after the disgrace of the recent MP’s expenses scandal?

Susan Kramer, the Liberal Democrat candidate, has held the seat for Richmond Park constituency since 2005 and aims to continue. Her main objectives are saving Kingston Hospital’s A&E and maternity services, the battle against a planned 3rd runway for Heathrow airport and improving the standards of secondary schools in your area. Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate, also targets stopping the planned 3rd runway at Heathrow as well as eliminating anti-social behaviour, deploying more police on the streets and tackling the economy. Both candidates also aim to scrap the proposed parking charges in Richmond Park if elected.

You may wonder why I have not explained the Labour candidates’ aims and views. The truth is, they can’t win here. Since 1997, their best result has been only 12.5% of the overall vote with it decreasing each year. In 2005 Labour claimed just 9% of the vote compared to the Conservatives 40% and the Liberal Democrats 47%. Some people use tactical voting, whereby Labour supporters will vote for the Liberal Democrats in order to stop the Conservatives gaining a seat in Westminster, which affects the overall result of the General Election. The Conservatives target this area as one of the 117 key constituency seats that they must win to change the government so they are appealing to Liberal Democrat voters to elect a Conservative MP so that Labour are not re-elected to Government.