Anna Fowlie says it will be difficult, but the voice of the voluntary sector must be heard amidst the election clamour
I’ve always been someone who loves an election and been frustrated by low turn-out and people who say “politics doesn’t really affect me” – it affects us all.
We pay tax, we should have our say in how it’s spent; we should all have a say in what our country feels like to live in.
Since devolution, the things that matter day to day have increasingly resided at Holyrood. With the exception of the welfare system, the matters dealt with at Westminster have felt increasingly remote.
However, with welfare reform and Brexit, the importance of the overall economy and international relations has come back into sharp relief. The feelings of division and lack of community cohesion are at a level I haven’t seen since the 80s, and indeed are probably even worse because the whole way we do democracy feels broken.
We have a campaigning role on every issue you can think of from the environment to human rights, poverty to pensions
Anna Fowlie
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At a time when people, especially the young, feel more disenfranchised than ever it is crucial that as many people as possible vote.
The voluntary sector engages with a lot of those disenfranchised people and it’s our duty to encourage them to vote, regardless of who they want to vote for.
Voluntary organisations and the sector as a whole are inherently political, while not party political. We have a campaigning role on every issue you can think of from the environment to human rights, poverty to pensions.
The snap nature of this general election makes it virtually impossible to influence manifestos but, while Brexit is the single most significant event to hit the UK since the second world war, it’s important that this doesn’t become a binary issue poll.
This is a chance to make sure people’s rights are respected and protected, the climate emergency is front and centre and that we strive for an inclusive, wellbeing-focused economy that isn’t all about profit for big business or a few individuals.
I hope that our UK politicians will listen to the voices from the voluntary sector and most of all that as many people as possible will turn out to vote.
Anna Fowlie is chief executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.
