Bill Carmichael: Thank goodness it's all over '“ let's vote to have a break from the ballot box

I am more interested in politics than most, but even for me this has been an election too far.

Readers have the advantage on me this morning. By now you know the result, but at the time of writing I did not.

But one thing I know for sure is that it has been a dispiriting and uninspiring campaign – so much so that the last six weeks has felt more like six months.

And I am looking forward to a summer where I can switch on the radio without having to listen to some dimwit career politico churning out rehearsed soundbites.

Of course we shouldn’t really complain. Elections are key features of self-governing democracies and offer a powerful, although imperfect, way for ordinary people to influence the
policies that have a big impact on our daily lives.

Once we are free of the shackles of the unelected European Union, the people of this nation will once again be able to make our own laws and hold our rulers to account like a properly sovereign country. It can’t happen too soon.

And we should never forget that across much of the world, from China to Iran to Cuba, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe, oppressed people would like nothing more than the chance to vote out of office their corrupt socialist and Islamist overlords. But they never get the opportunity.

We are incredibly fortunate that we live in a part of the world where our ancestors fought and died to bequeath us the liberties that we enjoy today.

But as much as I love democracy, it can’t be denied we’ve had a hell of a lot of it over recent years.

For example this is our third General Election in seven years, and the last one was only two years ago. We also had the EU referendum last summer and the elections to the EU Parliament in 2014, as well as a referendum on the voting system in 2011.

In addition there are countless local authority elections. Where I live that means voting in different elections for three local authorities: a county council, a district council and a town council. Plus there are the elections for Police and Crime Commissioners. For many areas across the country, there has also been elections this year for the new ‘Metro Mayors’.

Some parts of the country have had even more elections. Scotland, for example, had the referendum on independence in 2014 and elections to the Scottish Parliament last year.

There have also been elections to 
the Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies and the London mayoral elections last year.

Since 2010 I have taken part in five national ballots, and so many local votes, that I have lost count.

I think we could all do with a break from the campaign trail for a bit, not least the politicians themselves.

Last June, I was tasked with writing a piece on the EU referendum to be published on the day the result was announced.

Like today, I did not know the result at the time of writing, although Remain was tipped for a comfortable win by pollsters and bookies alike.

Wrongly convinced my side had lost, I made a plea that after a divisive and acrimonious campaign, people should come to together in a spirit of conciliation to try to make the result work.

I wrote: “The winners should
show magnanimity in victory and the losers have to accept defeat with good grace.”

Of course that didn’t happen. Far from accepting defeat with good grace, the Remain side reacted like an over-tired toddler denied a lollipop. They set up a chorus of incessant screeching, whingeing and foot stamping that shows little sign of coming to an end almost 12 months later. Sore losers doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Is it too much to ask that this time it could be different? The answer to that is probably yes, but I will make the same plea again.

Whatever today’s result, losers and winners should accept the will of the people and come together to get the best Brexit deal possible, make our economy as strong as we can and deal with the evil scourge of terrorism.

And perhaps we’ll all feel the benefit of a welcome rest from the ballot box?