Every vote counts

Mum always voted. This is her, aged 93, partially blind and a little unsteady on her feet, voting at the local elections in England 18 months before she died. It would have been very easy for us to not bother, but Mum was adamant about voting. So I helped her walk to the polling station and I was permitted to go into the voting booth with her to help her mark her paper as her eyesight was too poor to read the card.

When Mum was born, not all women had the right to vote - equal voting rights didn't happen until 1928 so she didn't take this privilege lightly. She took it very seriously and saw it as her civic responsibility to do so. And if my late Mum at 93 could do it, then so can we all.

I will be voting next week in the local elections. This round of elections is particularly important for many reasons, not least that I do not want to see liars and charlatans get their way. Turnout for local elections is often really low so every vote really does count.