Russell Brand urges people to vote for Labour

RUSSELL Brand has urged people to vote Labour in nearly all of England and Wales at the General Election.

A screengrab taken from Russell Brand's YouTube channel of Labour leader Ed Miliband meeting with comedian Russell Brand. Picture: PA

The comedian and activist has previously repeatedly urged people not to vote, believing it does not make a difference.

He altered his stance slightly last week by encouraging people to back Green Party candidate Caroline Lucas as she bids to be re-elected in Brighton Pavilion.

But Brand, who has released new extracts from his interview with Labour leader Ed Miliband, has now gone further in a direct appeal aimed at ending “the danger of the Conservative Party”.

He said the election on May 7 would not change things overnight, adding on his YouTube channel The Trews: “There’s load of things I could complain about with Ed Miliband.

“There’s Trident this, the (immigration) mugs - but what’s important is this bloke will be in Parliament and I think this bloke will listen to us.

“So on May 7, vote Labour. On May 8, more democracy, more power to more communities for all of us.”

Brand tweeted the video to his 9.61 million followers.

Following the final extracts of his interview with Mr Miliband, Brand said he believes the Labour leader understands “people are pissed off” and have had enough of their needs being neglected at the expense of big business.

He claimed the UK is in a “dangerous position”, explaining: “The Conservative Party is planning to further dismantle our community assets, to tear apart the very fabric of our society. That’s not something we can allow to happen, simply because people can’t be bothered or don’t want to vote.

“I know I’ve been ‘Mr I don’t vote’ but actually what I mean is politics isn’t something that we can be involved in once every five years. Democracy is for every day, not just for elections.

“Democracy has to be something you’re constantly involved in, whether you are students occupying your university, whether your community is coming together to reclaim your housing, whether you’re people running worker-run co-operatives.

“We have to confront big business, we have to confront the people who are tearing apart London and socially cleansing it.

“What I heard Ed Miliband say is if we speak, he will listen.

“So on that basis, I think we’ve got no choice but to take decisive action to end the danger of the Conservative Party.

“David Cameron might think I’m a joke but I don’t think there’s anything funny about what the Conservative Party has been doing to this country and we have to stop them.

“So my view is this: if you’re Scottish, you don’t need an English person telling you what to do, you know what you’re going to be doing; if you’re in Brighton I think it will be a travesty if we lost the voice of Caroline Lucas in Westminster; but anywhere else, you’ve got to vote Labour.

“You’ve got to get the Conservative Party out of government in this country so we can begin community-led activism so that we can be heard continually - on housing, on poverty, inequality, on working, on all of these things for the most vulnerable, for the most powerful, so we have the voice and that we can build a society.”