‘Quod Justum Non Quod Utile’ – my old school motto.

For those of you that are not Latin scholars, and believe me I am one of you, it reads ‘Do what is right, not what is easy’. (For those that are Latin scholars I’m sure you’ll tell me it’s mistranslated in some way!)

At school I, like many other children, paid no attention whatsoever to my school motto. In adulthood I have come to realise there is no better maxim to live your life. My worry is that in the political arena all too often we take the easy option.

In politics taking potshots at the opposition is doing ‘what is easy’. How easy is it for political activists on the right to point at us as ‘lapdogs of the unions’ or ’empowering a benefits culture’? In the same way we line up to point the finger at a ‘government of millionaires’, who are ‘in the pockets of bankers’.

We have all heard the accusations made by activists of both left and right and we must acknowledge that, while there are elements of truth to such partisan comments, they don’t paint a fair picture. In broad terms we are taking the easy route.

Nowhere is worse for taking the easy option than Twitter – it’s so much simpler to get a pointed barb out in 140 characters than a reasoned argument. I could point you to many ultra-partisan accounts that do nothing but pour out drivel about the opposition. The problem is that, while their circulation is limited, many activists read them and their acceptability perpetuates.

Doing ‘What is right’ is the challenge. Talking about how we want to make a difference is ‘what is right’. Taking out the attacking of personalities and opposing truly weak policies is ‘what is right’. For those of us who are elected, being good caseworkers is ‘what is right’.

In May I was elected to Leicestershire county council by taking a seat from an incumbent Conservative. I said at the start of my campaign I would only take part in positive campaigning and, even when the Lib Dems put out negative leaflets about me, I stuck to my word.

I believe my campaign was successful because voters recognised and welcomed the lack of negativity. I believe I ‘did what was right’ and was rewarded for it.

Writing in today’s Times Peter Kellner of YouGov makes the same argument (£). Positive campaigning can win elections.

In his piece he writes ‘Today more than ever, with years of austerity combining with years of scandal to drive the reputation of politicians to previously unplumbed depths, a new discourse is needed.’

I fervently agree with him.

Politics shouldn’t be first and foremost about winning. Politics should be about representing the people to our very best ability.

We can only represent our community, or our nation, if we engage and we can only engage by rebuilding trust. Political negativity does nothing to rebuild that trust – that is why we see turnouts at elections plummeting.

I have no doubt we do need a new discourse. A discourse based on all politicians and political activists doing what is right.

It is time for our leaders to make that case. The people of Britain deserve it.

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Leon Spence is a county councillor and Labour lead for children and young people at Leicestershire county council. He tweets @CllrLeonSpence

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Photo: Dominic Campbell