If they backtrack on ID cards, I will leave

It is difficult for me to even contemplate using the words “I”, “will”, “leave”, “the”, “Conservative” and “Party”, however there are two scenarios in which I would have no alternative but to utter them and become independent.

The first is related to ID Cards. We now know that the system’s full introduction will stretch well into the next Conservative government. If they decide, in their infinite wisdom, that, once they get into power, they can’t in fact stop the introduction, this would not only constitute a grotesque betrayal of trust, but also my own personal beliefs that ID Cards will be a dangerous waste of money.

The other issue concerns the local Party. At the risk of becoming unpopular, I shall not name the main suspects in this situation. However, by some fluke, I came across a graphic illustrating the areas around the Black Lion Leisure Centre and which of the three phases of the Medway Park development, if any, they came under. I was angered to find that my Air Cadet squadron was included in the phase 3 area, so I did the only thing I thought was right: I emailed a local councillor with my concerns.

I was responded to by a senior Medway Council official involved in the project, with a highly dismissive email. To me it read as though he really couldn’t care less about the issues I raised in my email, moreover he’d rather boast about phase 1 (of which I have seen no plans, public consultations or relevant planning permissions to date, only a couple of second-rate videos on Youtube, despite work starting last December).

If the national party backtracks on ID Cards, and if the local party shows blatant disregard for our youth in chasing a risky olympic pipedream by fighting our present landowners for the land our squadron is built on (technically Government-owned, anyway), then my disgust will reach those dithering heights at which I can no longer associate myself with the Party.

And as no other Party fits my ideology, it would be Alan Collins: the Independent against the wind. Now there’s a hypothetical position I’d rather not be in!