A letter to my MP (David Hanson, Labour)

Hi David,

It is with a great deal of regret that I have to say that you have lost my vote and it is now going to the Lib Dems.

Granted, there have always been some matters of policy that we've disagreed on (Trident, detention without charge, anti-terror laws, parliamentary reform) but you've always been responsive in handling my questions.

But I'm afraid last night was just the final straw. Not only did your part fail to act in getting libel reform on the agenda but you yourself were true to the Labour mantra of "Bad legislation is better than no legislation at all" on the Digital Economy Bill. It is sadly representative of what your party has become.

I'm not a file-sharer. I work in the IT industry and believe that to agree with getting the results of someone's creative endeavour for free would be hypocritical. I like my TV and Movies a lot, but I believe that I should buy them and/or subscribe to them in order to ensure that they continue to be made. I don't think that piracy is theft, but I also don't believe in getting something for nothing.

I don't believe that broadband access is a human right, but I do think that it has become an essential part of living in the modern world. People without access to broadband are in a very real sense second class citizens.

But you must know that this Bill was seriously flawed. It has been pointed out to you and your fellow MPs on numerous occasions. Among other things - and in an echo of the aforementioned libel laws - it shifts the assumption of innocence to an assumption of guilt. It is an illiberal bill, a naive bill and one that panders far too much to the creative industry rather than creators themselves or indeed consumers. A creative industry that will fight tooth and nail to preserve it's outdated business model rather than adapting. The least that this Bill needed was a full debate.

So, after having being a Labour voter and supporter for all of my life this is a sad goodbye.

It's not me, it's you... and your party.

Chris Waller