Your country needs you to vote today more than ever before

THE last stump speech has been made by the party leaders, the final leaflets delivered by the activists, the candidates have knocked on any doors remaining to be knocked, babies can be safely walked in public without fear of being accosted by a politician. The 2010 election campaign is all but over. Now for the important part: casting your vote.

Many voters will breathe a sigh of relief that the many and all-to-often vacuous exchanges between the parties have come to an end, but there can be do denying, as we noted yesterday, this has been a remarkable campaign given a new dimension by the prime ministerial debates between the leaders of the three main UK parties.

In this space yesterday, we set out this newspaper's hopes for this election and what it might bring, but our message that these are serious times for the country was reinforced yesterday by the publication of the European Commission's latest economic forecasts, which highlight the parlous condition of the UK economy. Taking into account existing policies, by which it means the measures introduced in this year's Budget, the commission expects the UK fiscal deficit to be 12 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010, the highest of any European Union country. To put that into perspective, Ireland is second placed at 11.7 per cent of GDP.

Furthermore, the commission also expects that in 2010 the UK will have the EU's largest primary deficit, at 9.3 per cent of GDP, the largest cyclically adjusted deficit, 10.4 per cent of GDP, and the largest cyclically adjusted primary deficit, a mere 7.6 per cent of GDP.

It is easy to become inured to numbers, but these figures paint a bleak picture of the economy that the next government will inherit from a Labour administration that has been forced to take unprecedented steps in an effort to counteract the devastating effect the banking collapse had on the British economy.

If we needed reminding, these forecasts provide further evidence that whoever wins today's vote will be forced into making deep and inevitably unpopular cuts in public spending, which will have an impact on everyone across the UK. Scotland, despite what some may claim, will not be immune.

Against that background, it is even more important than in previous elections that the electorate's voice is heard, that the democratic process achieves what is it supposed to achieve: the best choice is made and there is a clear mandate for action.

In a Scottish context, none of the parties has effectively articulated a coherent programme for the coming years, but clarity at Westminster is going to be essential if decisive action is to be taken to get public finances in order as swiftly as possible. And turn-out is as important to a mandate as a majority – abstainers can have little complaint if the policies of the next government are not to their liking.