Vote for your right to complain

The General Election is exactly one year away and already the main parties are staking out their ground and emphasising their differences.

The European elections take place next week and the controversial issues of immigration and “Who rules Britain?” may be decisive in voting preferences.

Cynicism and indifference will take their toll on the number of electors who bother to turn out.

Yet, think back to a time when only the freemen of a town or constituency were able to vote.

Think of the hard-won campaign for women to be enfranchised. Imagine a country where our brightest and best prefer to earn a living in banking, law or business rather than entering the political arena.

There are ominous examples of where men without integrity or moral standards assume power, sometimes as a result of public apathy.

St. Paul was proud to be a Roman citizen although he knew the Empire was not perfect. Yet it provided a political structure, security, a legal system, a postal service, protection for its citizens and a bulwark against barbarism and international chaos.

St. Paul exhorted the first Christians to pay taxes, to acknowledge temporal powers, and to be respectful.

We have a political system to uphold. It is right to pray for those in government as well as holding them to account.

We have a duty to vote, to exercise a right denied to many. If we don’t, we cannot complain if our country takes a turn for the worse