Wirral Council Leader Dave Jackson writes exclusively for the 'Wirral Globe'.

WELL, the local election is over and it's back to business as usual. Thanks to everyone (whichever party you voted for!) who made the effort to come out to vote on a cold, raw day. It's your commitment that keeps democracy working.

Sadly, there seems to be a growing number who sit back and rely on your dedication to keep things ticking over without taking any responsibility themselves for voting. It's not so very long ago that the right to vote was taken so seriously that individuals were prepared to die in the fight to be given the vote. Now we take it so much for granted that we're in danger of letting it fall into disuse.

If you think I'm going on (and you're feeling slightly uncomfortable because you had meant to get out, but what with the weather being bad, and your neighbour dropping by, and the rush on at work and the 'phone going and the kids arguing and then the good television starting, you never quite made it . . ), then look at the figures. Turn-out around the country nationally was around 25 per cent - that's just a quarter of all those entitled to vote who bothered to do so. Turn-out in Wirral was around the same.

One of the reasons for not voting, is the belief that it's pointless voting in local elections because it doesn't make any difference. If you really thought that, then I would be very worried.

Of course, you can argue that what we do is affected by decisions taken nationally, and that we don't have as much control locally over the money that is available to us as we used to in days gone by.

That's true but there's a lot of different ways of spending even small amounts of money. Some of those can be harmful, and some can be of real benefit. It all depends on the choice you make. And the first choice you make as voters is the choice of who you trust most to make the right decisions in your interests.

Not bothering to make that choice is a bit like putting all your money for the week on the kitchen table and not caring who in the family spends it or on what.

On a more serious note, it really does matter what we do in local government. In a report on Inequalities in Health in the North West it shows that we are still in a position where if you live in some of the poorer urban areas in Wirral you're much more likely to have a heart attack than in some of the better off areas and statistically your baby runs double the risk of dying.

Poor housing, unemployment, low incomes, air pollution, heavy traffic, lack of qualifications, poor diet, reduced access to the services needed all play a part. Just as in the last century, local authorities made a major difference to the health of the nation by instituting a massive public works programme laying sewers, providing public washhouses and cleaning up water supplies. So, as a local authority today, we have our work cut out to really tackle some of the underlying causes of ill health which place some of you in Wirral at such a disadvantage.

Next time, use your vote. It DOES matter.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.