More negativity

Tweet The Channel 4 news team spent what seemed like an awful lot of time with us yesterday for the few seconds which made it onto the programme. It was a pleasant surprise to see, in the finished item, the extent to which the other parties seemed to be concentrating their attention on potential Plaid supporters. They've clearly recognised the extent of our support.

Both the Tory and Labour candidates were extremely negative in their approach though, as we have seen throughout the campaign. The best that Nick Ainger came up with was that people should vote for him to keep the Tory out - and the best that Simon Hart could come up with was that people should vote for him to get Labour out. Not a positive idea between them.

Even if some people followed each of them, the votes would end up just cancelling each other out. But it's the underlying assumptions that I reject. Labour seem to be assuming that Plaid supporters are more interested in keeping the Tories out than giving Plaid a strong voice - and the Tories are assuming that the same people are more interested in getting Labour out than giving Plaid a strong voice. They can't both be right - but they can both be wrong.

As for the poor Lib Dem who's been fighting a lonely one-man campaign - well, he said that perhaps the upturn in Lib Dem support nationally means that it's worth buying a few posters after all. That sums up the state of the Lib Dems locally far better than anything that I can say.