ANOTHER election over. No doubt Labour will be pleased they have finally taken Thurrock Council outright for the first time since 2004 and the Conservatives can take comfort that their losses were less than might have been anticipated.

But if I take a message away, it is “a plague on all your houses”.

UKIP and Independent candidates polled well against the established parties, but the simple truth is that the mainstream parties are not inspiring people to turn out and vote.

The familiar refrain is “you’re all the same” and “you haven’t done what you promised”.

Neither statement is correct, but people can be forgiven for thinking so given the political debate they witness on their TVs.

Prime Minister’s Questions resembles a schoolboy debating society. The media is more interested in the soap opera of who met Rupert Murdoch than the cost of living and the state of the world. Meanwhile politicians are more concerned with not offending anyone than showing leadership.

Political parties need to do two things. They need to start talking about the things that really matter to people.

I was struck on the doorsteps by the view that the coalition hasn’t done anything to reform welfare or curb immigration. We have done a lot on both counts.

We need to do more to explain what we have done. I suspect some don’t want to talk about it for fear of looking nasty. But politics is about showing leadership and having the courage of your convictions. If it is the right thing to do, we should say so.

And we need to be clearer about what we believe in and give people a positive reason to vote for us. Too often in Thurrock the debate is negative political point scoring, added to vindictive character assassination.

It is hardly inspirational and it is no wonder voters are so willing to turn to minority parties and independents. We can all do better and for the sake of democracy we must.