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Charlotte Church has written a passionate open letter criticising the Conservative-led government and backing Labour.
Writing on her website , former opera singer Church has urged Ed Miliband to be a "trailblazer in progressive politics" and argued that David Cameron has ignored pressing issues such as the poverty gap and the power of the media.
Church has urged people to engage with politics and said she believes that politicians try to control people by making them afraid.
"So much of the electioneering that those on the right have done has been based upon fear," she wrote. "Fear of immigration, fear of economic instability, fear of welfare claimants and the unemployed. The politics of fear is the politics of control...
General Election 2015: The alternative power listShow all 19 1 /19General Election 2015: The alternative power list General Election 2015: The alternative power list Rick Edwards He may have started his career as a T4 pinup - best known for saying “awkward” and “now, for more Friends” - but Rick Edwards has re-launched his career as a politico. Edwards' book None Of The Above was published this year, and he was praised for making the prospect of voting and getting involved in politics exciting for young people. He gave a TED talk last summer, in which he gave suggestions for how politicians could get under-24s to become passionate about drawing a cross next to a candidate's name.
General Election 2015: The alternative power list Ant and Dec The Geordie cheeky-chappy TV presenters recently took a turn as political pundits when they discussed their disillusionment with the Labour Party in February. Ant McPartlin said: “I voted Labour all my life but last election I voted Tory because I was thoroughly disillusioned with the Labour government. Now I'm thoroughly disillusioned with a coalition government. ”I feel we're both staunchly Labour and would vote Labour if we could, but I don't know what their philosophy is any more.“ Declan Donnelly added: ”I'm not sure I could picture him [Ed Miliband] as prime minister.“
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Cheryl Fernandez-Versini The singer gave a candid interview about her political beliefs, saying that as she paid a "f**king lot of tax" she was obliged to pay careful attention to what each party is saying. Fernandez-Versini, who normally supports the Labour party, told the Telegraph: "I’ve always been Labour all my life but I want to hear what [the other parties have] got to say for myself. Now that I’m a mature woman."
Sport Relief/Gary Moyes
General Election 2015: The alternative power list Jack Monroe A food blogger who spent years on the poverty line struggling to raise her son as a single mother, Jack Monroe has come out as a supporter of the Green Party. In 2014, Monroe was mired in controversy after saying that David Cameron uses "stories about his dead son as misty-eyed rhetoric to legitimise selling our NHS". Her contract blogging for Sainsbury's was not renewed.
General Election 2015: The alternative power list Armando Iannucci The Thick Of It creator has been a loud voice for reminding people to vote, and believes that if you don't go to the polling station on 7 May, you're more likely to be penalised by whoever comes to power. A supporter of the Liberal Democrats in the 2010 election, Iannucci has said he doesn't know who to back this time around, but has been critical of the Tory party's attempted takedown of the SNP.
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Simon Cowell X Factor founder Cowell said that David Cameron had the “substance and the stomach to navigate us through difficult times”.
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Harry Leslie Smith The 91-year-old war veteran is a Labour Party supporter and a ferocious supporter of the NHS. Smith, who was invited to speak at Labour Party Conference in 2014, has 32,000 followers and published a book - Harry's Last Stand - in which he outlines the danger of privatisation. As the most cursory of glances at his Twitter feed will tell you, he really doesn't like the Tory Party.
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Eddie Izzard A staunch Labour supporter, comedian Eddie Izzard has been on the campaign trail with the party's candidates from Southwark to Crewe. Izzard has said he will stand as the Labour candidate for Mayor of London in 2020 and has been a party donor since 1998. During the 2015 campaign, he has been dismissive of what he believes is the Conservative party flaunting their wealth by erecting giant billboards.
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Al Murray the Pub Landlord South Thanet’s finest, comedian Murray is running against Nigel Farage in his constituency. Leading new party Free United Kingdom Party, Murray’s policies include bricking up the Channel Tunnel and giving the public a British moon on a British stick.
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Russell Brand Despite famously saying there was no point in voting, Brand has now urged his followers to vote for Green MP Caroline Lucas in Brighton, and told the rest of England "You gotta vote Labour". Brand's YouTube channel The Trews has prompted debate, and he hit back at David Cameron describing him as a joke, saying that he didn't think there was anything funny about the Tories cutting public services.
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Joey Essex The Only Way Is Essex star – famed for wearing a watch around his ankle and shoes a size too small so they don’t turn up at the toes – has now dipped his toe into politics. Essex (real name) interviewed Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg for ITV. He didn’t learn a lot, but reckons voting is “reem”.
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Robin Grey – aka David Cameron’s favourite busker In April, as David Cameron strolled through Alnwick, Northumberland, a ukulele-playing man who told the Prime Minister to "f*** off back to Eton". That ukulele player was Robin Grey. He told The Independent: "I started singing it ('f*** off back to Eton') [and] I was like, that's a bit crass, I thought I could do better than that. But I just kept on going, because it was coming from the heart."
Kiran Moodley
General Election 2015: The alternative power list Steph & Dom from Gogglebox The super-posh couple from Sandwich staged an interview with Ukip leader Nigel Farage. Very little actually came out of the debate – apart from Farage spilling a drink down his slacks – but the couple got on with him like a house on fire. While the couple never expressed their political allegiances, they managed to humanise Farage even more, and we can't exactly see them voting Green at the polls.
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Royal baby The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s daughter Princess Charlotte could sway the election in favour of the Conservatives as people will be happy with the status quo. If it was a boy called Edward, Tories had worried it could sway the public in favour of Labour leader Ed Miliband.
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Myleene Klass The Hear’Say singer turned businesswoman gave Ed Miliband the grilling of a lifetime, saying that his proposals for mansion tax were unfair, and that: “You can’t just point at things and tax them.”
General Election 2015: The alternative power list Madonna Posting a picture of Margaret Thatcher, the singer showed her support for the often-controversial Conservative Prime Minister. Apparently free milk in schools and miners rights are less important than a de-regulated financial market to the Like A Virgin singer.
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Martin Freeman Bilbo Baggins has poked his head out of his Hobbit home to endorse the Labour party. Freeman has filmed passionate messages for the public to encourage people to vote for Miliband’s party.
General Election 2015: The alternative power list Gary Barlow The Take That singer endorsed the Conservatives in the 2010 election, joking: “I've only known David Cameron for about year. In fact, I was slightly worried at first, because he thought Ronan Keating was part of Take That.”
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General Election 2015: The alternative power list Caitlin Moran Perhaps the essential Twitter follow, and a booming voice for the left in Britain. Times columnist Moran constantly writes thought-provoking articles about women and being working class.
"If the economic definitions of Left and Right are that the Left want to increase taxes and spend on public services, and the Right want to lower taxes and reduce spending on public services, then never has it been more glaringly obvious that the Rightwing getting their own way [sic].
"Multi-national companies are paying less tax than ever before, whilst the NHS has already been carved up and is primed to be sold off. The trickle-down economics that we have unwillingly propped up since the 60s is so far from functioning as to make it farcical."
Church had more choice words for Cameron's party, opining that: "David Cameron has presided over the most capricious, shambolic government that there has been in my lifetime. They are scandalous, and they cannot be the right people for the job."
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She also had Ukip leader Nigel Farage in her sights, saying he "has got a romanticised view of the past".
Church added: "He wants to turn our future into: some Postman Pat paradise, where you know the name of the milkman; where you HAVE a milkman! It’s 2015, Nige!"
In recent years, Church has become a high-profile campaigner for press regulations. She called Piers Morgan a "pr**k" and said David Cameron was patronising when she met him for a meeting about phone hacking.
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