REBECCA RONCORONI WRITES: In the past weeks, many Islanders have been angry with the Isle of Wight Council, elected last year. Complaints include, and are not limited to, cuts to services for our most vulnerable, cuts to the fire service, the Implementation and Sustainability Plan that frankly not many of us have a clue about, but know it will lead to bad things, because these things always do.

Complaints are made about ‘so-called consultations’ because it is widely felt these are a pointless box-ticking exercise given as a sop with the decisions already made behind closed doors.

I get that. As a someone who has worked as a nurse for both the NHS and social services, I have witnessed first hand how under-funded services can have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable in our society. Children and young people in care, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill, the carers.

The people working within ever-shrinking services dealing with heart-breaking situations every single day.

One example: when I worked as a community psychiatric nurse, suddenly, all carers were entitled to have a ‘carer’s assessment’ At first, I thought that was great, finally carers were going to get some support with what, at times, can be the hardest job in the world.

Then I realised that nothing happened with the assessments unless there was a critical acute need i.e. someone was in imminent danger of serious injury or death. A carer could be assessed as needing weekly respite but there were no resources. They would be filed under ‘unmet need’ and perhaps used for auditing purposes, at some time.

It was soul-destroying, especially for the carers but also on the workers carrying out this pointless exercise.

That is just a tiny example of the unseen cruelties those who need help are subjected too when we don’t care enough to fight for the services we need.

The IW is one of the poorest wards in the country. With this in mind I am mystified as to why people don’t use their democratic right to vote.

What has happened between 1981 when the turnout was 70 per cent and 2017 when the turnout was just over 35 per cent?

When I was canvassing for the Wootton seat last year, I knocked on more than 1,700 doors. I met many lovely people who said: ‘I don’t vote, they’re all the same, what’s the point? I don’t do politics.’.

How many of those are angry about how useless this council seem to be at advocating for the Islanders who elected them? Well, to be honest, tough.

If you don’t engage in the process, you don’t get to moan about the result. Those who don’t vote have as much influence on who wins as those who do put their crosses on the ballot paper. The problem is the non-voters’ role is a passive, negative ‘whatever’ role, which ultimately impacts on everyone.

People lost their seats in the election by tiny margins. The Binstead incumbent lost by two votes. Those votes counted. They all count. Even spoiled ballot papers communicate protest.

Maybe it’s time we made voting compulsory. Maybe if people had to vote, we would have government at central and local level, that reflected the views/needs of those who elected them, as opposed to what we have now, government elected by a minority of the population?