Last updated at 20:35, Thursday, 29 April 2010

AFTER a largely low key General Election campaign a grandmother from Rochdale might just have provided the spark to ignite flagging public interest.

Gillian Duffy’s contretemps with Prime Minister Gordon Brown put real people at the heart of this campaign for once.

It was a blast of fresh air after the previously sterile TV debates and stage managed walkabouts.

It was also good to see Workington constituency candidates put under the spotlight this week at a hustings organised by Cockermouth School.

There hasn’t been enough of this kind of thing.

So, at long last we’ve had a return to good old fashioned political knockabout and face to face debating.

If it focuses the voters’ minds, and makes making choices easier, it might be enough to overcome a creeping apathy that threatened a low poll turn-out and the unreliable Parliamentary representation that would be the consequence.

The big challenge is certainly to persuade people to vote.

There are massive issues at stake and, starting with last night’s televised showdown, we hope that the policies are now more fully explored.

It is crucial that people sense the urgency of the situation but that they also feel engaged fully by our politicians.

As Gillian Duffy showed, ordinary people can certainly make a difference.

And the best way to prove it is next Thursday at the ballot box.

First published at 19:30, Thursday, 29 April 2010
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk